I can only beg for your forgiveness for how long it has taken me to update this story! Thank you to everyone leaving comments or messages and favouriting.


6. Fresh Blood

"Sweetheart, lemme tell you, you're gonna wanna fold."

The casino was buzzing with the sound of people throwing their money away without a care in the world. Sure, there were the occasional cheers from the tables where someone had struck lucky. But luck didn't last forever, and people never knew when to quit. But who cared? This was Vegas.

I locked my gaze on the guy sitting next to me at the table. "Oh no, Franklin, I think you'll find it's you who needs to fold. I think you might find yourself getting rather…lucky if you do." Letting the innuendo hand in the air, I crossed my legs, my thigh on display through the slit in the black dress I'd worn to the Dead Man's Hand party/heist. Seeing as I was never going to wear the thing again, I decided to give it one last spin—especially considering the price of it had all but bled me dry. And as the flash of skin had gripped Franklin's attention, I figured it was going to come in handy tonight.

"Damn, I never can resist a beautiful woman telling me what to do." Looking just shy of sixty, I didn't doubt that Franklin had experienced his fair share of women giving orders.

He laid down the cards he had in his hand. He had a two pair. And I had… nothing. Except of course his chips. He'd fallen for the flirtations hook line and sinker. Men really were so easy sometimes. I almost felt a bubble of sympathy in my heart. Almost.

I laid my cards down face up and Franklin whooped. "Ah! You little minx." He placed his hand on my thigh, giving it a gentle squeeze.

I picked up his hand and moved it off me. "Careful now, Franklin… I bite." I winked and he whooped again. I didn't know if that was just a Franklin thing or if it had something to do with the constant orders of bourbon he'd placed throughout the game.

"You do know if you keep this up, he's gonna have a heart attack, right?" Sam asked from his seat on the other side of me as I placed my winnings in front of me. His whispered concerns didn't bother me.

"Would serve him right," I replied with a smirk. "He's been leering at me ever since I sat down. I'm just giving him a taste of his own medicine."

"And you haven't been encouraging it at all," he said playfully.

I grinned back at him and held up my fist. He chuckled, shook his head, but bumped his fist into mine regardless.

"Woohoo! I'm a winner baby!"

Sam and I turned at the shout from across the room. Dean seemed to be enjoying himself—maybe a little too much. His white shirt sleeves were rolled up and he had long since discarded his suit jacket. He pumped his fist in the air as he let out another whoop. Him and Franklin would have made great buddies.

"I still feel like we shouldn't have left him unsupervised," I said to Sam.

He sighed heavily. "Yeah, you're probably right. I'll check in with him, remind him not to make a fool of himself, then I'm probably gonna call it a night."

"You sure?"

"Yeah," he said, before nodding over to my new-found prey. "Try not to have too much fun with our friend."

I smiled at his concern. "No promises. Night, Sammy."

"Night." With that, he stalked over to his brother, and I turned back to the issue at hand. I took one look at the cards in front of me then called, "All in." I threw in my chips without missing a beat.

Franklin raised an eyebrow, nodding his head slowly. "An interesting play little lady." He said it with full-blown condescension. He twisted a chip in his hand as he continued his little speech. "Now I've got a pretty strong hand here. And I think you're playing me. You see, I've been watching you and you've got a tell."

The only thing he had right, was that I had been playing him. Just not in the way he thought. I'd been twitching my eye ever so often, knowing he'd make it out to be a tell.

"All in," he said with overwhelming confidence. "I hate to break a beautiful woman's heart but…"

Before he could reveal his hand, I laid mine in front of him. "Royal flush. Must be my lucky night."

His jaw hit the floor. "Goddamnit."

"It was nice playing with you, Franklin." More like it was nice taking all your chips, Franklin.

I stood up and began to collect my things.

He placed his hand on my wrist. "I've got another game we could play together." Those grey eyes of his sparkled with glee.

Once again I removed his hand. "Trust me… you'd lose at that one too."

I walked away, Franklin whooping as I crossed the floor to Dean who was still having the time of his life.

"Are you gonna stop any time soon?" I asked him as I stood by his side.

"Never. I'm on a roll," he said, not taking his eyes off the table.

To be fair, he had a fair stack of chips. But like I'd said before, some people didn't know when to stop. "Not heard the phrase 'quit while you're ahead'?"

He waved me off. "That phrase is for losers."

"Ok, then."

"Come on, you beauties," he said, shaking the dice in his fist. "Gimme that sweet ol' six."

He rolled a seven.

"It's ok, it's ok," he said to himself. "Just a bump in the road."

That bump in the road turned into a damn mountain.

"Damn it," he growled before side-eyeing me. "Can… can you go away? You're bringing all the bad luck."

I scoffed. "How charming of you to say so."

Dean was gonna lose it all if he carried on like this. Some kids had to learn the hard way though. Just as I was about to walk off to find my own new target, I had a change of heart. Dean was laser-focused on the table once more, and his chip tray was sitting right there. I couldn't resist. I took the tray in hand and began to head to the elevator, now ready to call it a night. To be honest, the thought of Dean losing his shit once he realised his tray was gone, would be a delightful thought to drift off to sleep to.

I turned back to see Dean had already realised his chips were gone. I laughed to myself as panic flared in his eyes and he frantically searched the table and floor for his tray. He must have sensed my amusement across the casino floor as his attention turned to me, his focus lasering in on me—he looked like a demented meerkat. I smirked and held up his chip tray, wiggling it in my hand. His eyes narrowed and he came for me. Too bad I was already at the elevators. I couldn't wait to see his face morph even further into anger when the elevator doors closed on him. The doors opened and I stepped on, only when I turned around, he was a lot closer than I'd thought he would be. I leaned over and repeatedly stabbed the button to close the doors, but he just kept coming. Gaining, gaining, gaining. Just as the doors were shutting, he slid through, and I had no choice but to back up until my back hit the wall. Damn it. This wasn't how the plan was supposed to go.

"I think you'll find those are mine," he said, every bit the predator who'd caught his prey. Or thought he'd caught his prey. I was no easy catch.

"It was for your own good," I replied.

"You gonna give them back?" He stepped closer to me. I couldn't back up any further.

"Hmm… haven't thought about it yet."

"You know I could just take them from you, right?"

I smirked at the challenge he'd laid down. I never could resist besting Dean Winchester. "I'd like to see you try."

At that, he closed the last of the space between us and dove, not for the tray, but for my mouth. Our tongues and lips collided as one of his hands raked through my hair and clasped the side of my head, angling it the way he wanted. My free hand rose up and clutched his shirt. Down by my side, Dean tried to grab the tray with his other hand, but I wasn't going to be distracted by any amount of kissing—no matter how fiery it was getting. I clutched the tray with all my might as he tried to pull it from my grasp, not breaking our kiss even for a fraction of a second. If he thought he could get his way by seducing it away from me, boy did he pick the wrong person to play with. Gently, I raised my leg, lifting my knee and rubbed it ever so softly between us in just the right spot. He groaned. His grip on the tray loosened and his hand rose to join the other, clutching my face and pulling me further into him, even though there was no more room between us.

The elevator reached our floor and, only stopping for a second to take a breath, I pushed Dean backwards. Before his back hit one of the hotel room doors, he switched our position so my back hit the door with a thump, and our lips continued their dance.

"Is this your door? Cause it's not mine," I managed to gasp out as his mouth started working down my neck.

"Nope." I don't think he'd even looked at where we were.

"Maybe we should move then," I suggested with a complete lack of urgency.

"Uh huh." He bit and pulled my bottom lip between his, then soothed the sting with a swipe of his tongue. The man knew how to kiss that was for sure. If only he wasn't so annoying when our mouths weren't connected.

His cell started ringing. Neither one of us took much notice… until it rung again.

I pulled my lips from his, both of us panting like we'd run a marathon. "You gonna get that?"

"Nope." He pulled my mouth back to his.

And then the phone rang again. Three times in quick succession was never a good sign.

Dean pulled back and dug his cell out of his trouser pocket and growled, "Goddamnit, what!?"

There was a pause as the other person spoke.

"Am I busy? Actually, Bobby, I'm very, very busy." He accompanied that with a look that said he was planning on eating me alive. I wasn't going to say no.

"Well, the bloodsuckers can wait an hour…" another look that ran down my body. "Make it two."

There weren't many occasions where I would gladly let a guy take the reins, in any situation, but right then, Dean could do whatever he—

Wait… bloodsuckers?

I snatched the phone from Dean and put it to my ear. "What's up, Bobby?"

"I thought you guys were busy."

Dean was miming a 'cut the call' gesture by slicing his hands across his throat. I ignored it.

"Dean was busy losing at craps. What you got?"

"Three young blonde women have gone missing in a small town and in the same time frame, a string of bodies have been found… drained of blood."

My lust faded in an instant. "Vampires."

"That's what I'm thinking," Bobby said.

"We'll check it out. Thanks Bobby." I ended the call and handed the phone back to a dumbstruck Dean.

"Let's go," I said, pushing away from the door and heading down the hall.

"Wait. What? Now? Why?" Dean complained, still standing where I'd left him.

I jogged back to him and grabbed his arm, pulling him with me. "Yes, now. Move it."

"But I—"

"I said move it!" I shoved his back and he stumbled. "Get your brother up and pack your stuff. We can leave in five."

I got to my door first and closed it behind me. A second later there was a knock.

Dean's head poked through the gap as I opened it. "Can I at least help you out of that dress?"

I closed the door on Dean's face.


"You've got ten minutes boys, then we're rolling." I threw Sam their motel room key and with mine in hand, headed for my room. When we'd pulled up, there wasn't another car or human in sight. When I went in to book the rooms, there was a single freckle-faced teen sitting behind the counter and he'd jumped out of his skin at the sight of me. And judging by the state of the furnishings and wallpaper, this place hadn't seen a customer in weeks… probably even months. That suited us just fine.

"Since when are you in charge?" Dean asked.

"Since the first time I threw you down on your ass," I called back without turning round.

"I feel like we should do as she says," Sam commented.

There was a pause, no doubt filled with Dean shooting Sam a withering look. "Grow a backbone, Sam!"

I chuckled at Dean's annoyance. "Nine minutes!"

We'd driven for a fair while since our last pitstop. I figured ten minutes was more than enough time to freshen up before we got out on the hunt. Hopefully we could wrap this up soon. Not for any other reason than taking a vamp and their nest buddies off the face of the earth. It would all be in a good night's work. Then and only then would we rest. Damn, it always got my blood pumping, knowing I was out on the hunt for one of them.

True to my word, nine minutes later, I met Sam and a grumbling Dean out front, and we set off further into town. We scoured the places Bobby had given us; searching alleys, abandoned buildings, warehouses, the usual vampire hidey-holes.

"Oh look, another alleyway," Dean moaned for the fiftieth time that night. "What a surprise."

"For the last time, would you just—"

We stopped in unison. Our flashlights moving as one as we all noticed the pool of blood on the ground. We were in the right place. Finally. We rushed round the corner to find a middle-aged man lying on the ground, his hand desperately clutching at his neck which was covered in red.

Sam got to him first, immediately kneeling beside him. "Hey. Hey, don't worry. We're gonna call you some help, ok?"

"Where did it go?" I asked.

The man's breath rattled from deep within his chest. He struggled to raise his hand, but managed to point a single finger behind us. Dean and I took off, leaving Sam to deal with him. We followed the general direction of where he had pointed but got to a fork in the alley. I nodded for Dean to take the left, while I took the right. I tried to keep as quiet as I could while I ran, knowing those sneaky bastards could move as silently as shadows. Yet it was all quiet. The man had only just been attacked. The vamp couldn't have gotten far.

"Come out come out wherever you are," I whispered, knowing full-well the bloodsucker would still hear me. I wanted it to hear me. I wanted it to attack.

In the distance I heard Dean shouting. I couldn't make out what he'd said, but I didn't waste time trying to figure it out. I sprinted in the direction he'd headed but came to a sudden stop at what I saw when I found him.

The vamp was standing ahead of him and Dean was… lowering his machete?

"Come on!" He said to the female vamp. "Free lunch!"

She sprinted for him. So did I. But she got to him before I did, teeth bared and aiming straight for his neck. Why the hell was he letting it come at him like that?

As she dived for his neck, he grabbed her by the hair, whipped out the needle full of Dead Man's Blood and plunged it into her neck. She growled at the burning sensation that I knew would be running through her dead veins. Staggering back, she fell to her knees and was out.

"Woo!" Dean said before turning to face me. The wide grin set on his mouth faded as soon as he got a good look at me. "Ah, you've got that 'it's time to yell at Dean' face."

I stormed over to him and grabbed hold of his arm. There was a deep cut that was steadily dripping blood. "What the hell is this?" I asked, even though I knew the answer.

"Uh…"

I flung his hand away, feeling the all-too-common rage building inside of me. "Are you stupid?"

"What?"

"Dropping the machete. Offering yourself up like that. You got a death wish?"

He shrugged it off, only infuriating me further. "Ah... I was just chummin' the water. Worked, didn't it?"

That was so not the point. "Were you actually gonna let her tear into your throat?"

He scoffed. "No. Of course not."

I grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him down to my level. "You pull anything like that again, a vampire bite will be the least of your problems."

"Hey, I just—"

Just as I had with his arm, I pushed him away. Sam approached, and by the look on his face, he'd caught Dean's stupidity in action too.

I looked down at the unconscious vamp. We couldn't just kill it here. We needed information: we needed her nest. As I stepped over her, I ordered the boys, "Get this thing up."


We carted the vamp back to the motel and tied her to a chair while she was still out. There wasn't any need to worry about people overhearing what was about to happen—I was pretty sure we were the only guests.

While we waited for the vamp to rouse, my aggravation at Dean's stupidity gnawed and gnawed. It hadn't been the first time Dean had been reckless, it had been happening all the way back since we took out those Deadly Sins. But this? With a vampire? It pissed me off. Did he not know how careful he had to be around them? Those bloodsuckers could rip your life away in a flash. They could take someone away from—I screwed my eyes shut. I couldn't let myself go there, not back to the past, not right then. I took a deep breath and put my frustrations to the side.

It took around a half hour for the vampire to wake up, but as soon as she began to stir, the inquisition started. Her eyes widened as she looked up to find the boys standing in front of her. Her gaze travelled over to me where I rested against the countertop. For some bizarre reason, she looked at me like I was going to save her. She wasn't getting any help from me.

"You with us?" Dean asked, making her jump at the sound of his voice. It was at that point she realised she was tied up and she began struggling against the ropes. "Oh, yeah, sorry. You're not going anywhere."

"Where's your nest?" Sam asked.

"What?"

"Your nest!" Dean wasn't too fond of her play at ignorance. "Where you and your bloodsucking pals hang out."

"I don't know what you're talking about." There was a roll of the eyes from all three of us at that one. As if we hadn't heard that a thousand and one times. "Please! I don't feel good."

I grabbed another dose of Dead Man's Blood from beside me and held it up. I cleared my throat, drawing her attention my way. "Wanna feel worse? Cause if you don't start talking, you're getting another dose of this."

She tried to sink back further in the chair. "Just let me go."

"Yeah, you know we can't do that," Sam said.

"I'm telling you the truth! I'm just... I took something. I'm freaking out! I don't know what's going on!"

Wow. This one must have been an actress before she became a blood-sucking fiend. The performance really was one for the books. Too bad none of us were gonna buy it.

"You took something?" Sam asked.

"Yes!" The brothers looked questioningly at each other at her emphatic response. Please tell me they weren't going to fall for this.

"I can't... come down," the vamp continued. "I just want to come down."

"What's your name?" Sam asked.

"Lucy. Please. Just let me go."

"All right, Lucy, how about this? If you tell us what happened, we'll let you go."

Really, Sam? I mean, I wasn't actually thinking he was going to let her go, but I didn't get why we were wrapping this monster up in cottonwool. It was a vamp. If she wasn't going to tell us what we wanted to know willingly… then we could force it outta her.

"You will?" she asked, looking up at Dean.

Dean smiled back down at her. I couldn't stop the shake of my own head.

She seemed to buy it as she closed her eyes and thought back. "Uh, I don't really... um, it's, it's not that clear. I was at Spider."

"Spider?" Dean asked.

"The club on Jefferson. And there was this guy, he was buying me drinks."

"This guy," Sam said "What's he look like?"

"He was old, like thirty. He had brown hair, a leather jacket..."Gee, thanks Lucy, that really narrows it down. "Deacon or Dixon or something. Said he was a dealer, he had something for me."

Dean began to stalk around her. "Something?"

"Something new. Better than anything you've ever tried. He put a few drops in my drink."

Ok, so maybe it hadn't been an act after all. She'd been duped. Still. Didn't matter how you became one… a vamp was a vamp.

Dean chuckled somberly. "Was the drug red and thick?" She nodded in response. "Well, genius move there. That was vampire blood he dosed you with."

"What?" she asked, stunned.

"Yeah, you just took a big steamin' shot of the nastiest virus out there."

"You're crazy!" she shrieked. "He gave me roofies or something! No. The next thing I know, we're at his place, and he says he's gonna get me something to eat, just wait. But I get so hungry."

Yeah, that was obvious by the state of the dried blood still smeared across her chin.

"So you busted out?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. But it won't wear off... whatever he gave me."

And it wasn't going to wear off. Not until we dealt with her.

"Lights are too bright? Sunshine hurt your skin?" Dean asked.

"Yeah. And smells... And I can hear blood pumping!"

"Well, I hate to tell you this, sweetheart," Dean said, "but your blood's never pumping again."

"Not mine... yours. I can hear a heart beating from half a block away. I just want it to stop."

And there we were in agreement. I was more than happy to make it happen for her. I could see by Sam's face she was getting to him. He was always so tender-hearted. But me? I didn't feel an ounce of empathy. No remorse. The girl that Lucy was, was dead. She was never going to be the same again. Never going to be human. We'd be doing everyone a favour by ending this now.

Dean bent down closer to her. "All right, listen, Wavy Gravy. It's not going to stop. You've already killed two people, almost three."

Her eyes began to water as she shook her head. "No, I couldn't. No! I was hallucinating!"

"You killed them, all right? We've been following a sloppy trail of corpses, and it leads straight to you."

"No. No." She begged. "No, it wasn't real! It was the drug! Please! Please, you have to help me!"

Sam tilted his head, indicating for us to follow him into the bathroom. Dean followed. Me? I wasn't going to waste any more time with small-talk. Instead of following the boys, I got up and reached for my machete.

I strode over to the vamp, her eyes filling with fear as I approached. "Wait! No! Please!"

I swung the blade through the air. Her head came clean off as the blade struck her neck. The boys darted back into the room, their eyes bouncing between me and the severed head that had rolled towards them.

I shrugged. "There was nothing more to discuss."


I went back to my room next door to clean off my blade and get ready to head back out. Looked like a vamp was taking a non-traditional way to make new pals. At least we had enough info to know where to start. There was still a good hour or so before the club, Spider, would be closing, so there wasn't much time to waste.

Dean entered, without knocking, then closed the door behind him and stared at me.

"What?" I asked as I shrugged my jacket back on.

He hooked a thumb at the wall. "You wanna tell me what that was all about?"

He'd lost me. "What was what about?"

He raised an eyebrow. "You know what I'm talking about."

I really didn't get what his issue was. I wasn't playing dumb. "Erm… do you mean when I killed that vampire? I'm a hunter, Dean. That's what hunters do." From the scowl on his face, he didn't appreciate me talking to him like he was five. But hey, ask stupid questions, expect to get treated like an idiot. Instead of answering me, or biting back, he just continued to stare.

I scoffed. "Come on. Are you mad that I killed her? Were you and Sam actually going to let her go?" I knew they weren't going to, so I really didn't get what the big issue was.

"Of course not," he finally replied.

"Great. Glad we cleared that up." I headed for the door and went to move around Dean, when he stepped into my path.

"Where are you going?" he demanded.

I sighed. "Were you not paying attention at all? Spider. The club. It's where the vamp is going to be. So it's where we need to be. Do I have to hold your hand and walk you through it?"

"It's almost sun-up."

"Yeah… but not yet. So, let's go." I once again went to move around him, but again he blocked me. This was getting annoying and fast.

"We're not going to find anything or anyone before the sun rises," he said. "Let's get some shut-eye and come up with a plan of attack later."

"Hmm." I pretended to think. "Ok. New plan. You get some sleep and I'll go and kill the vampire."

"You're antsy."

I scoffed. "Antsy? We should be out there doing something, before someone else becomes a walking, talking snack-box. But you want us to, what? Nap?"

A fire finally started to burn in Dean's eyes. Good. I'd rather argue with an angry Dean than one that was trying to be all rational. "Seeing as some dictator made us drive for hours on end to get here, then go straight out hunting… yeah, we're supposed to nap. You should too."

Was he actually expecting me to apologise for doing my job? "I don't need to nap."

"Tell that to the bags under your eyes." Asshole. "Besides, by the time you get to the club, the sun will be up. They're not going anywhere."

Maybe he was right. I knew we didn't have a lot of time, which was why I'd tried to get out as quickly as possible… before I was blocked by Bigfoot. Still, even if I couldn't get to the club in time, there were other ways to get the job done. "We could still be out there, tracking them down."

He crossed his arms. "And where would you like to start?"

"I dunno, an abandoned building, a factory basement. Hell, we could search the local library for all I care, at least we would—"

Dean grabbed my face and pulled me into him, smacking his lips against mine.

I jerked back. "What do you think you're doing?"

He shrugged with that little smile I found so damn irritating. "Shutting you up."

I gritted my teeth. "You can't just—"

He pulled me in again, this time taking the kiss slower, deeper. He began to walk us further back into the room before releasing my mouth.

"I'm still pissed," I panted.

"Yeah… I know."

He kissed me again and began moving again, before suddenly pulling away and pushing me back. I landed on the bed and immediately propped myself up on my elbows to find Dean walking back towards the door.

"Now get some sleep for cryin' out loud," he said before firmly closing the door behind him.

What the hell just happened? "You better sleep with one eye open, Winchester!" I screamed.

Fine. I'd play by his rules for now. Maybe I was a little overtired. And yeah, maybe I wouldn't be able to get much done during the daylight. But if he thought, even for a second, that he could manhandle me to get what he wanted… he had another thing coming.


The bass of the music vibrated through every inch of me as I stood at the bar. Spider was crammed and just from the quickest of scans, trying to find a specific brown-haired, 30-year-old guy in a leather jacket was gonna be impossible. Needle, meet haystack. Thankfully I had dressed for the occasion. I could only hope that standing alone at the bar, legs on full display in my leather shorts and blonde hair flowing down my back, I might just attract our vamp's attention.

"Hey."

I turned find a guy wearing a leather jacket leaning against the bar, eyeing me up and down. In this light his hair looked closer to black than brown, but he seemed to be the right age.

"Hi." I may as well see where this led, but my senses weren't screaming 'vampire'.

"Can I get you a drink?" he asked. He still hadn't looked me in the eyes yet, his had been elsewhere on my body.

"Sure."

He turned and gave the order to the bartender, obviously not caring what I actually wanted to drink. He turned back and finally met my gaze. "You look like you could do with a little something else."

Hmm. Maybe this could've been our guy. "Oh yeah? What's that?"

He smirked and leaned closer to me, his lips grazing my ear. Gross. Then he started telling me all the things he thought I needed. My eyes widened. My jaw dropped. And if we hadn't been in public…

I leaned away from him and sent him my most deathly of glares. "If you don't get away from me in the next five seconds, you won't be sticking that thing anywhere… not after I've sawn it off."

This time when he looked me up and down, it wasn't in a pleasant perusal. "Crazy bitch."

"Oh, you have no idea," I called to him as he walked away.

I had a bad feeling this was going to be a regular occurrence. Why did men have to be such pigs? And speaking of pigs…

"What the hell are you doing?" Dean asked as he stormed up to me, murder in his eyes. Probably because I didn't tell him about my little plan. Sam had called me earlier to meet up with them to go through a plan for tonight. I had other ideas.

I rolled my eyes and turned back to face the bar, taking a sip of whatever the creep had ordered. Huh. He may have been a creep but at least he had decent taste in drinks. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Setting yourself up as bait," Dean growled, crowding me as Sam approached.

I gave Dean a smile and a wink. "Gold star for you."

I was pretty sure smoke was about to shoot out of his ears. "We should have talked about this, don't you think?"

I shrugged. It served him right for thinking he could boss me around last night. "Why waste time? Also, a little hypocritical of you, don't you think?" Afterall, he'd been king of on-the-spot, going-against-the-plan thinking these past couple of months.

"Now do you mind? You're cramping my style." I waved him away, but I could still feel his towering, glowering presence next to me. I paid him no attention, knowing that would irritate him further.

Dean finally turned to his brother. "I'm gonna kill her. Right here. Right now. I mean, she… she just…" He growled and stalked away.

I looked over my shoulder to find Sam still there. "Rae, are you ok?"

I raised a warning eyebrow. "Sam…"

He nodded, albeit reluctantly. "I'll just go… watch out." He walked away, presumably in the same direction his brother had taken off.

With that bomb safely defused—for now—I turned back to the task at hand. The next hour was spent either trying to subtly get the attention of guys that fit the description or swatting away unwanted attention from guys trying to get lucky. Every time one of them approached me, I swore I could feel Dean's wrath emanating across the club. Tough. He was just going to have to put on his big boy pants and suck it up. If he didn't like my plan, he should learn not to piss me off in the future.

"Hey, you look a little lonely." The hand placed on my back was a little forward. I was ready to bite as I turned to face whoever had come up to me, but when I got a good look at him… I knew. This was the guy. Time to put my game face on.

"Well, it's my first night in the city," I said, as coyly as I could. "I was hoping to make some friends."

He smile deepened once he'd heard I was alone. "Looks like you're in luck." Just as the first guy had, he ordered new drinks with the bartender, only this time he actually asked me what I wanted. What was the world coming to when a vampire showed more decency than a human?

He handed the glass over to me. "Thanks." I took a sip. I'd been steadily going through my drink earlier, not wanting to drink so much that I'd be off my game. "God, I need something stronger than this. You don't happen to know of anything I could get my hands on? If you catch my drift." I looked at him pointedly. I hoped I wasn't playing it too fast, but I figured he wouldn't have wanted to waste time either.

I assumed right when he smiled wider. "As a matter of fact, I might. Come with me." He held his hand out to me, and I grabbed it before he began leading me out of the club. I didn't bother trying to look for Sam and Dean in the darkened corners. I knew they'd been watching and would be following me out.

He led me round the corner of the building and down a dark, deserted alley. He gently stopped me and backed me up into the wall.

"What've you got?" I asked.

"Something that's gonna turn your world upside down," he said with a feral grin.

"Is that a come-on?"

He laughed, then pulled out a vial of blood from the inside of his jacket. "You ready, sweetie? One taste of this, you'll never be the same."

He raised the vial in front of me, waiting for me to open my mouth. Instead, I pushed his arm away and head butted him. Ouch! I held my hand to my head with a wince as he stumbled backwards. "Dammit, that was stupid, Rae," I groaned.

Footsteps pounded on the ground, followed by the sounds of fists being thrown. I shook my head and blinked away the stars that had appeared in front of me. I really should have used my fists over my head.

The brothers were fighting the vamp… until they weren't. The vamp shoved Dean, who fell back into Sam; the pair falling like dominos. They pulled themselves up and we chased after the vamp. But as we rounded the corner, we came to a skidding halt. Instead of the vamp, there were two shadowy figures standing at the end of the alley. They started walking towards us, stepping in to the dim light from the streetlamp above. One of them I recognised. It was Crazy Eyes, the guy that had gone stir-crazy on us during the whole commotion with the rabbit's foot. But it was the other one that drew our attention. As he took another step forward, he drew a gun and pointed it right at us.

Great. Here we go.

Dean grabbed one of my arms, while Sam grabbed the other, as we darted behind an abandoned car, shots firing around us. Glass smashed and metal groaned as we hunkered down behind a wall.

"Let me guess…that's Gordon."

I didn't get a response and that was response enough.

"All right. Run. I'll draw them off," Dean said as the guns fell silent. It wasn't going to take long for them to reload.

"What?!" Sam and I shouted.

"No, you're crazy!" Sam exclaimed.

Before we could argue any further, Dean leaped out from our hiding spot and ran for it. Instantly, the gunfire restarted.

"Dean!" I went to go after him, but Sam pulled me back.

"Come on. We gotta move."

With one last glance back at Dean who was clambering over another car, Sam and I ran in the other direction. We hot-footed it back to the motel, constantly checking over our shoulders. When we got back, we tumbled through the door, slamming it shut behind us. We peeked through the curtains, scanning the empty parking lot and beyond.

"You think they followed us?" I asked. The parking lot seemed clear. Everything looked still. For now at least.

"I don't think so," Sam replied.

"So, Gordon's really got a thing for you, huh?"

Sam kept his gaze out of the window. "I don't think he's gonna buy me telling him I don't have my psychic powers anymore. He's out for blood."

"Alright, next question..." I said, dropping the curtain back in to place and turning to Sam. "What the hell is wrong with your brother?"

"He's just—"

"Just what? Gone rogue? Gone kamikaze? Gone straight-up insane? What gives?"

He struggled to find an answer. He knew what I was talking about. And he must have known what was up with his brother. Yet again, I was being met with secrecy.

"Sam, he's going to get himself killed. Or someone else. What is going on?" And I wasn't wrong. Through all the times he'd thrown himself into danger needlessly, he'd been damn lucky to come out of it unscathed. No one could keep up that kind of luck for long.

Still, Sam didn't seem to know how to respond. "I… I don't know. He's just… going through some stuff I guess."

"Yeah? Well there are better ways of going through stuff than trying to dodge bullets."

With nothing left to say, we both settled down and waited. And waited. And waited.

"Call him again," I said.

Sam had tried getting into contact with his brother to no avail. Yet he picked his phone up again and put it to his ear. He shook his head and threw the cell back on the bed. "No answer."

And so we went back to waiting. We both knew that Dean could take care of himself. Usually. But with how rash he'd been recently, there was no point in denying things could have gone south.

"Maybe we should look for him," I suggested. "Something doesn't feel right. He should have been back by now."

Sam sat on the edge of the bed, wringing his hands. "I know you're worried about him. I am too, but—"

"I never said I was worried. Just stating a fact." And I wasn't worried. It's just we had things to get on with and he was holding us up. Really. I wasn't worried.

But something flashed across Sam's face. It was gone as fast as it had appeared. He caught me watching him and tried to turn away.

"What? What's that look for?" I asked.

"There was no look." No amount of those puppy-dog eyes was going to deceive me. He'd been thinking something. Something he didn't want me to know.

"There was definitely a look." At his stony silence, I walked over and stood in front of him. "Sam… spill it."

He looked up at me, squirming, before letting out a deep sigh. "I'm just saying it's ok to be worried about him. I get it."

"Get what?" More silence. More squirming. "What, Sam?"

He winced. "I… I know… about you and Dean."

Ever had that feeling when your heart stops, just for a split second? But that second felt like years and it felt like you weren't able to breathe properly? Yeah… I thought I was gonna die.

I managed to clear my throat and strangle out the words, "I don't know what you're talking about." Even to my own ears, that sounded strained and guilty.

Sam scratched his brow before looking anywhere but at me. "The walls in some of the motels have been umm… kinda thin."

Forget stopping beating, my heart, lungs and every other single organ in my body twisted themselves into knots and began to shrivel. Fuck!

"Oh my God. Oh my God." I raked my hands through my hair as I strode to the other side of the room, as far away from Sam as I could get. He couldn't know! Why did he have to know?! God, this was so humiliating!

"It's ok. I think it's—"

"Oh, no, no, no!" I cut him off, not caring or wanting to hear what he had to say. "It's not what you think." I began pacing up and down, my lungs failing me, my brain going into manic overdrive. So this is what dying felt like. At least I hoped it was dying, because I would never recover from this if I lived.

"You don't need to explain yourself to me." For once, Sam's consoling wasn't going to work.

I took a deep breath and just let the words flow. My brain wasn't working, so I wasn't even sure what was going to come out of my mouth. "Look. Ok. I am going to say this and say it only once. It meant nothing. Guys go and hook up in bars or wherever all the time. They can get their needs seen to and everyone thinks they're so cool for it. Well guess what? Women have needs too, ok? I'm not one of his brainless bimbos, you know. I have an IQ higher than my shoe size. He was just there and it was convenient and it's done now, so we are never, ever, ever, talking about this again, ok?" I was breathing heavily. Unfortunately I was still alive and the ground hadn't swallowed me whole. Maybe I was having a panic attack and hyperventilating. This was so much worse than any life-or-death situation I'd ever been in. This was mortifying!

Sam didn't know how to respond after my tirade. All he could say was, "Ok."

With that, the room went back to silence. But it was uncomfortable and suffocating. This was why I never wanted him to find out. Was he going to think less of me now? Hell, I thought less of me. Sleeping with Dean was a moronic decision. Sam right now was probably looking at me and thinking—damn it! I was still dressed in my outfit from the club. I even looked like one of Dean's hook-ups now. Great. Just great.

"You know what… I'm just gonna go and get changed." Without a backwards glance, I left for my room. I flung my clothes off, not caring where they landed and shrugged on jeans and a sweater. I wanted to be as covered up as possible. I should have known he'd find out eventually. He wasn't stupid. Unlike myself. I took a deep breath and tried to quiet my brain. Was I overreacting? I mean, it was Sam. He wasn't really going to judge me. Was he? And why would I even care if he did? Because I liked him. That's why. I cared what he thought. God, meeting the Winchesters really was the worst thing ever. I never had to worry about anyone's opinions before. God I hated this but I needed to suck it up. It was my turn to pull on the big girl pants. I'd get over the humiliation… eventually. Right then, there were more pressing issues to worry about. Vampires. I had to focus on the vampires. And Gordon. I could bury my head in the sand later.

Feeling a little more like I was on solid ground—ok, maybe more like 'less shaky' ground—I headed back to Sam. He was still sitting on the bed, his head hanging down.

Ok, I could do this. I just had to act like the last ten minutes hadn't happened.

"Any word yet?" I asked. See? Perfectly normal.

"No."

"You don't think they caught up with him, do you? I mean, not that I'm—"

He quirked a single eyebrow. "Worried?"

"Alright," I said as I perched on top of the dresser on the opposite side of the room to the bed. "Maybe I'm a little worried. But I'd be worried about you too."

A small smile graced his mouth. "I know you would be."

The smile eased whatever humiliation I was still feeling. It was Sam. He wasn't going to hate me or judge me—at least the judging would probably be kept to a minimum.

"Stupid Winchesters," I muttered to myself. "Worst thing that ever happened to me. Now I'm all… feely."

Nothing good ever came from emotions. You only had to look at us: sitting here, fretting. I needed to keep my mind off of it. Dean would be fine. And only Sam had to wait for him. I could be doing something more productive. There was still a vampire on the loose.

"Look, I can't sit here anymore." I hopped down from the dresser. "I'm gonna go out and track down the vamp. You wait here for Dean."

Sam stood from the bed. "That's not a good idea."

"We can't sit here hiding while that vampire is out there."

"Right now, the bigger threat is Gordon. If he sees you, he's the type to shoot first and ask questions later. Which he kinda already did."

So I just had to make sure he didn't see me. "He's not after me. I'll be fine."

"He knows you're with me. Guilt by association."

Sam worried too much.

"I can't let that vampire go off and hurt someone else because—"

"I know you hate them. If I were in your shoes, I would too."

That had any argument I was ready to throw back at Sam lodge in my throat. It wasn't the words exactly. It was the way he said them… like he knew…

I sighed. "I figured Dean told you. He's got a big mouth." I knew he must have mentioned it to Sam at some point. Sam had just never brought it up. Until now.

Give Sam credit, he looked about as uncomfortable as I felt. "I know your sister was killed by one, and my dad was there to save you. That's all I know."

Now I wished I could go back to the conversation about me and Dean. What was this? 'Make Rae as uncomfortable as possible' night?

"You're never going to be able to kill all of them, you know."

At that, I looked up at Sam's concerned face. "I'm not trying to."

"Are you sure about that?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but no words were ready to form. That wasn't what this was about. I wasn't on some ever-lasting revenge rampage. It wasn't that. Was it? Instead of looking too deep into my psyche, I did what I do best… deflected the issue. "What's with the sudden third degree?"

Sam's shoulders lowered. "Sorry. I didn't mean it like that. It's… well, call it selfish, but it helps take my mind off the fact that my brother could be lying dead somewhere while we sit here."

Damn. Now I felt bad. He was worried sick, of course he was. I could understand that, if nothing else.

"I'm sorry," he said again, waving the conversation away as he dropped back down to the bed. "I shouldn't have gone there. I didn't have the right to. But I still think it's best that we wait here together."

Silence fell again, only this time, there was guilt heavy in the air. Or maybe not so much guilt as it was empathy. Sam was sitting there looking like a loyal dog that had lost its owner. It may have been a slightly shitty card to play to keep his mind off his brother, but hey, life had been throwing up too many occasions recently where I had no choice but to confront the past. What was one more time? And if it took the worry off of Sam's face, even for a moment, then wouldn't it be worth it?

"Long story short," I began, hoping to get the words out as quickly as possible and be done with it, "she snuck into my truck as I was going on a hunt. I killed all the vamps that I thought were there… but I missed one. I didn't realise my sister was there until I heard her scream. I tried to get to her but I was too late."

My plan had failed. I knew it instantly. Sam still had that worried expression on his face, only now, the worry was for me.

He said, "It wasn't—"

"Please spare me the 'it wasn't your fault' speech." I'd heard that enough from Dean.

He shook his head. "That's not what I was going to say. It wasn't you who killed the vampire was it?"

Strange. I found that such an odd question. "No. It was your dad."

"Do you wish he hadn't?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you wish it had gotten away? That way you could have tracked it down, killed it yourself, maybe gotten some sense of revenge… of closure."

Now it made sense. Why he thought I was out to get every last vampire on the face of the earth. If I couldn't kill the one I so desperately needed to, well then, I'd just have to kill all the others. Was that what he really thought? More worryingly, was he right? I didn't think so. But had I ever really thought about it? No. Of course I hadn't. The last thing I ever wanted to do was analyse myself. But his line of questioning made sense. After all, he and his brother knew all about getting revenge on the monster that destroyed your life. Hadn't Dean and Sam been hellbent on ending Yellow Eyes? They at least had something to chase after.

"I don't know," I finally answered. "I've never thought about it. Guess I'll never know."

Would it really have made a difference to the anger and guilt I'd felt for so long if I had destroyed the thing that had taken her from me, from this world? It didn't feel like anything would have made a difference. Like I'd said… I would never know for sure.

"I can't imagine the pain," Sam's quiet words reverberated around the room, "the guilt of losing a sibling, of knowing you could've, should've done something to stop it."

It wasn't so much what he said but how he said it, that had me looking at him. Really looking at him. He wasn't talking about me anymore, at least not talking just about me. He looked lost in his own world. And whatever that world was… it looked like it caused him pain.

"So, I'll save you the 'it wasn't your fault' speech," he continued in that same despondent tone, "and just say I'm sorry that it happened, and I'm sorry you feel the way you do."

I wasn't even thinking about myself anymore. Or about Sophie. Something had just changed in the conversation, and I was pretty sure I knew the cause of it.

"Sam? What's going on with you and Dean?" I asked. "The fighting. The whispered conversations. The agony I see in your face when you look at him sometimes. What is it? And please don't tell me it's not my business."

He smiled sardonically. "That's just the thing… I think it is your business."

I frowned. Just what the hell was going on?

"What is?" I asked.

Sam looked away, shaking his head ruefully. He was debating with himself. "He's gonna kill me…"

I knew it. I knew something was going on. Knew there was something being hidden from me.

"Sam?" I pressed, when he said nothing else.

Just as he opened his mouth to respond, the door opened, and in strolled Dean.

Sam leapt up from the bed, our conversation forgotten in a flash. "There you are!"

"Yeah, sorry, I stopped for a slice." He patted his stomach with a care-free smile.

"You stopped for a slice?" I asked. We'd been sitting there worried, while he'd been stuffing his face?!

"Nice move you pulled back there, Dean, running right at the weapons!" Sam said, following after him.

Dean shrugged off his jacket and threw it on the bed. "Well, what can I say? I'm a bad-ass."

"You stopped for a slice?!" I asked again, getting more and more pissed by the second.

With a shrug, Dean said, "I was hungry."

"Your brother was sitting here, worried out of his damn mind and you stopped for a slice?!" I yelled.

The light-hearted attitude finally fell from his face. "I had to make sure they were off my tail before coming back here."

Bullshit! I saw red. Did he really think we were gonna buy that? And just what was Sam going to tell me, because I had a feeling it would explain these constant asinine, thoughtless moves of Dean's. But that would have to wait. Sam wasn't going to say shit with Dean around.

"So, I guess Gordon's out of jail," Dean continued.

"Uh, yeah, I guess so. You know, how the hell did he know where to find us?"

I hadn't even thought of that. We couldn't explain it away with a rabbit's foot this time.

We stood there, figuratively scratching our heads, until Dean's eyes widened. "Bela. That bitch." He dug in his jeans pocket for his cell.

Hearing her name had my back going up. "I'm sorry, what does Bela have to do with this?"

Dean instantly looked abashed. "She called yesterday. Asked where we were."

He didn't need to complete that train of thought. "And you told her?!" I shrieked. "You just get dumber and dumber by the minute, don't you?" The idiot!

He had no grounds to argue with that conclusion. Instead, he called her.

"Hi, Bela. Question for you. When you called me yesterday, it wasn't to thank me for saving your ass, was it?"

He'd bought that?! I knew he could be dumber than a pile of rocks at times, but this was taking it to the next level.

"Excuse me?" He said. "I don't know, maybe pick up the phone and tell us that a raging psychopath was dropping by?!"

I couldn't even be mad at Bela. She was a self-serving, vile piece of trash. I wasn't shocked at what she'd done. No. This was on Dean.

"He tried to kill us!" He continued on his tirade, clearly unhappy with every word Bela was spewing on the other end of the line. "There were two of them." Dean's manner calmed. "Bela, if we make it out of this alive, the first thing I'm gonna do is kill you."

Now that was a plan I could get behind.

"Listen to my voice and tell me if I'm serious."

With that final dagger, he ended the call.


Dean was sat at the table sharpening his machete. Sam was beside him, cleaning his gun. Me? I was itching. Itching to get moving, to get hunting, itching to drag Sam by the ear into a quiet corner and demand he tell me what was on the tip of his tongue before Dean had returned. It felt like I was sitting on a timebomb: something was about to explode.

"That vampire's still out there, Dean," Sam said.

I was glad he'd been the one to bring that up; I didn't feel like getting another therapy session from Sam.

"First things first," Dean said.

"Gordon."

I wanted to be mad that they were putting taking him out above the vamp. Actually, I would have been lying if I said I didn't feel like that to some extent. But I had to face the fact that Gordon was out to kill them, maybe even me, and that would mean the vamp getting away.

"About that," Dean said, turning his attention to his brother. "When we find him, or if he finds us... well I'm just saying he's not leaving us a whole lot of options."

"Yeah, I know. We've got to kill him."

Both Dean and I took a second to take in Sam's blunt response.

"Really? Just like that?" Dean asked. "I thought you would have been like, "No, we can't, he's human, it's wrong.""

"No, I'm done. I mean, Gordon's not gonna stop until we're dead... or until he is."

It was a fair assessment. He wasn't wrong. Seemed like Sam had certainly started to change. Maybe he'd finally lost those rose-coloured glasses of his.

Dean's cell rang. I didn't need to bother asking who it was as he took one look at the caller ID and snarled. "What?!"

Just knowing she was on the phone had me gritting my teeth. And before anyone got any wild theories, no it wasn't out of jealousy. I just simply…hated her.

"You're a hundred miles away," Dean said. "How the hell did you—"

Great. What had she been up to now? Though Dean didn't sound too mad, so it couldn't have been anything too evil.

"Thanks," he said with a sneer.

Bela must have been giving some serious talk as Dean frowned. It only deepened before he ended the call.

"That your buddy again?" I asked.

"Looks like we have a lead," he said.

Apparently Bela had taken Dean's threat seriously. She'd used her mumbo jumbo to find Gordon's location. I didn't fully trust her. I mean, who would trust a backstabbing, narcissistic bitch? But hey, we didn't have anything else to go on. We just had to keep our eyes peeled.

We took the Impala and drove to the location Bela had given Dean. We pulled up outside a warehouse down by the river front. As we got out the car, we drew our guns and headed for the door.

"We're all aware this could still be a trap, right?" I said.

A silent gaze passed between the three of us. Yeah, we were all aware.

Dean opened the door, it creaked on its hinges, but no other sound emerged. The door led to a set of steps that took us down into the basement. Blood coated the floor and its coppery tang hung in the air. As we descended, we got our first sight at what lay ahead of us. My stomach churned. The vampire that I had met in Spider was kneeling with his back to us and before him hung two girls. Well, most of them were hanging there: their heads were missing.

With soundless footsteps, we crept closer. Dean signalled us to keep moving forward as he reached for a knife that was laying on top of a table.

"Go ahead. Do it. Kill me." The vamp's shaky words had us all stopping. What was going on? That wasn't the welcome I'd expected.

"What happened here?" Sam asked.

"Gordon Walker." The vampire stood, and we went back on alert. "I never should have brought a hunter here. Never. I just..." He turned to face us and I got even more confused. There were tears spilling down his cheeks. "I just wanted some kind of revenge. Stupid... exposing him to my family."

It clicked. The women hanging by their wrists weren't human. They had been vampires. The scene didn't seem so gruesome after learning that.

"Oh, yeah, you're such a family man," Dean said.

"You don't understand."

Sam and I circled the vamp, making sure we had him covered from all angles.

Dean sneered. "I don't want to understand, you son of—"

"I was desperate! You ever felt desperate? I've lost everyone I ever loved. I'm staring down eternity alone. Can you think of a worse hell?"

Someone tell me he wasn't standing there, professing to actually care for his so-called family. To profess his love for them. He was a monster. A soulless, leech from the dark. He disgusted me. How dare he talk of family and love. My hand curled tighter around my blade's handle, begging me to swing.

"Well, there's Hell," Dean commented.

"I wasn't thinking. I just... I didn't care anymore." The son-of-a-bitch's chin started to quiver. Oh, do me a favour…"Do you know it's like when you just don't give a damn? It's like... it's like being dead already. So just go ahead. Do it."

"Guys," Sam said. He'd walked over to where the female vamps were hanging. "Head wasn't cut off, it was ripped off. With someone's bare hands. Dixon… what did you do to Gordon?"

It was the worst lightbulb moment. Dixon hadn't killed those vamps. That only meant… we were fucked.


We split up. The newly vamped-out Gordon had to be hunkering down somewhere in the city, and while the sun was up, it was our best chance of finding him. After I sliced Dixon's head off, we headed back to the motel and scoured over a city map to find places that looked like it could house a rabid hunter-turned-crazy person-turned-vamp. Safe to say there were a lot of places. Before we left, Sam even made us replace our phones, for fear Gordon could and would track our location. Sam wasn't playing with this threat.

I'd been looking for hours and now found myself in front of an old office building. The place had seemingly been empty for a number of years and it was a good a place as any to search. I was quickly running out of locations to check out.

Just as I got to the door, my cell rang. "Yeah?"

"New plan," Dean said. "Get back to the motel. Sam's gonna cover our scents and we'll wait out the night. We can hunt again tomorrow morning."

I opened the door to the building. The only thing that greeted me was a scurrying rat darting past my foot. "That's a waste of time. I'm not gonna hide when he could be out tearing the heads off innocent people."

"Rae, daylight's nearly out. Get back to the motel." Uh oh, he had his serious-Dean voice on.

"I've still got a few more buildings to check," I said as I continued on.

Either there was a major issue with the piping, or Dean was growling down the phone. "Rae, I swear to God—"

"Gordy? You home?" I sang out, ignoring Dean's little temper tantrum. And ok, maybe I said it hoping it would provoke him off even further.

"Don't think I won't drag your ass back here myself if you—"

"You know what? I'm kinda hungry. Think I'm gonna stop for a slice."

Yeah, it was definitely Dean growling. "Goddamnit! You little—."

I hung up. It was about time he was dealt a little of his own medicine. He wanted to play reckless hero? Well two could play that game.

I finished checking out the building but there was no sign of anyone or anything. The sun had long since set by the time I scoped out another two spots and got back to the motel.

"You know, you're really starting to get on my damn nerves!" Dean erupted as soon as I walked through the door.

"Only starting to? I need to try harder then." Just as he had done before, I shrugged off my jacket and threw it nonchalantly on the bed.

Dean was hot on my heels. "I told you to—"

"You know what, you can cut the lecture Dean."

"It's not a lecture if you would just—"

"If you're not going to shut it, I'll just head back out." I went to move to grab my jacket but he stepped in front of me.

"You're not going out by yourself, not while amped-up Gordon is running about."

"Yeah, ok, Dad."

Dean put his hands on his hips and his head drooped down. "I get it, alright."

"Please enlighten me on what you get."

He looked back up at me. "After the case with the ghost ship, after everything it brought up, I know you think you need this but—"

Here we went again. Psychoanalysis round two. I realised I could stomach it slightly better when it came from Sam. With Dean? I had my claws out. "Don't talk to me like you know me. You don't know shit."

His voice lowered to a serious tone. "That's not true and you know it."

If he wanted to play like this, then I was all game. "Well, why don't we talk about your little run of suicide missions, huh? Offering yourself up as vamp food and using yourself as target practice… what's all that about? Huh?" Dean looked away. "Come on, I thought we were sharing our feelings." He remained still, avoiding every accusation that was spilling from my mouth. "Yeah, I thought so."

It was only then I realised Sam was standing by the window, keeping a look out. The skin around his eyes was creased in concern. Though I was pretty sure it was caused by something other than our little back and forth. No, that was the same look he always got when the brothers had one of their arguments. I wanted to scream at Sam to tell me what it was all about. But there was no point in wasting my breath.

We sat in stern silence for a while. The heaviness was broken when Dean's cell rang.

"You've had that phone two hours, Dean. Who'd you give the number to?" Sam asked.

"Nobody." He put the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

Dean's face darkened. "How'd you get this number?"

It had to be Gordon.

"Well, I guess you'll just have to find us, won't you."

Of course Dean was toying with the vampire that was trying to kill him and his brother. I wouldn't have expected anything less.

"What's the matter, Gordo? You're not afraid of us, are you? We're just sitting here. Bring it on!"

Whatever Gordon had said next, had Dean's face falling. "Gordon, let the girl go."

Shit.

"Gordon! Don't do this. You don't kill innocent people. You're still a hunter."

Something told me Gordon wasn't going to be swayed by that.

Dean ended the call and sprang up from his seat. "We gotta go."


"Maybe you should wait out here, Sam," I said as we approached the factory. He was going to be target number one when we walked in there. Maybe it was best we didn't serve him up on a silver platter.

"What? No!"

"She's right," Dean said. "It's you he's after. We can't just parade you around in there like a poodle—"

"And he won't hesitate to kill either of you to get to me. I'm going in."

Before either of us could argue any further, Sam stormed towards the building. Those brothers were just as hard-headed as each other. Dean and I shared a look before we followed after him.

The lights, however dim, lit the way through to the back of the factory. Wasn't it nice of Gordon to make sure we could find our way round.

We heard muffled sobbing and turned the corner to find the woman gagged and tied to a pipe. The boys ran over to her to untie her and help her up while I kept my eyes peeled.

"Hey, we got you. Don't worry," Sam said. "We're gonna get you out of here. Get up. Watch your head."

She'd managed to stagger to her feet through her tears, but the weight of the experience was too much for her and her legs began to buckle. Without hesitation, Dean swung her up and into his arms.

"Stay close," he said.

I followed behind Dean, with Sam bringing up the rear. We started to make our way back to the entrance. But where was Gordon? Things were going a little too well to—

A shutter slammed down, separating Dean and I from Sam. I'd jinxed it. Gordon had what he wanted. Sam, separated and alone.

Instantly, Dean placed the girl down and both of us started banging on the shutter.

"Sam!" We called out.

"Dean!" Sam shouted back.

"Damn it, Sam!" Dean placed a well-aimed kick to the centre of the shutter. But it was no good. That thing wasn't going to budge. He was on his own.

"Sam, be careful!" I yelled.

Dean ran for the chain at the side of the shutter and tried yanking on it. Jammed. He picked up his shotgun and repeatedly slammed it against the chains.

"I'll go round, see if there's another way in." I dashed back for the entrance and ran round the side of the building. The only two doors I came across were all locked up tight. "Damn it!" I sprinted back towards Dean and to the sound of a single gunshot echoing down through the factory. I sped up and when I got back, I saw the single gunshot wound to the woman's head. The wound was still smoking. Her eyes were wide, so was her mouth; her fangs on clear display.

I looked to Dean. "What hap—"

With an almighty crash, the wall exploded. Through the cloud of dust, Gordon had pinned Sam to the floor, before grabbing him up and launching him across the room into a stack of shelves. Dean was suddenly behind Gordon and raised the Colt to his head. In a blur of speed, Gordon spun around and threw Dean down, before hauling him up and diving for his neck.

"Dean!" I ran to them and grabbed the back of Gordon's shirt and ripped him away from Dean. Before I could lay a single punch, Gordon threw me across the floor. I only stopped moving when my head and back collided with something hard.

"No!" I heard Sam scream.

It took me a while to stagger to my feet as I clutched my head. I must have been down for longer than I thought, because when I turned to Sam, he was standing there, frozen, with blood-soaked barbed wire in his hands, and Gordon's headless body by his feet. A groan from behind me stole my attention. I rushed over to Dean.

"Let me see." I pulled the neck of his shirt away. Gordon had taken a solid bite out of him. "It's just a scratch." It was probably going to need a stitch… or two. I helped him to his feet.

Dean staggered to a stop when he got a good look at Sam and what was left of Gordon. "You just charged a super-vamped-out Gordon with no weapon. That's a little reckless, don't you think?"

I rolled my eyes and dragged him forward. "Come on, smartass."


We were a few days into our drive to Bobby's. I trailed behind the Impala in my truck, the gritty vocals of Brian Johnson keeping me company. The drive was taking longer than usual as we were stopping more regularly than we normally would have. Safe to say we were all a little tired and beat. And yeah, looking back, maybe I had been a little… dictatorial. I wasn't wholly sorry for it, but I could see why some of our tempers had worn a little thin during the case. Whatever my motivations or reasons for it were, I knew I'd probably always have my back up when it came to vampires. I was hard-wired that way. Had been for years.

Up ahead, the Impala slowed and pulled over to the side of the deserted backroad. I pulled up behind them and got out as Dean lifted the Impala's hood. Oh, this was gonna be good.

"Baby got a problem?" I said, not able to control the shit-eating grin on my face.

Dean scowled at my expression. "Shut up. Why don't you go on ahead and we'll meet you at Bobby's."

"What? And miss out on this momentous occasion?" I stretched my arms above my head. "It's a lovely day, so I think I'll just hang here."

He pointed a finger at me. "Not a word."

"It's just all the shit you talk about my truck… and look." I waved my hand over towards the Impala.

He turned to Sam who was standing next to him and started muttering something. Sam placed a calming hand on his shoulder.

"Give me a box wrench, would you?" Dean said to him.

Sam threw a concerned look at Dean, then me, then back to Dean.

Dean sighed. "I'm not gonna throw it at her… as long as she keeps her mouth shut."

I chuckled and went to grab a beer from the cooler in the back of the truck. If we were gonna be there a while, I wanted to get comfortable. I grabbed the cooler while I was at it and put it down before I sat on it on the other side of the road to the Impala.

Dean and Sam were talking back and forth. It looked like Dean was showing him around the engine. After patting him on the back, Dean aimed for me. He pulled me up from the cooler to grab himself a beer, then took a seat next to me on the ground. He'd already removed the bandaging that had been put over the bite, and now the jagged wound peeked from his shirt.

"That should heal up nicely," I said as I sat back down.

He tutted. "Damn. Might not even get a scar." He twisted the cap open and took a long pull from the bottle.

"Oh, it'll scar. They always do." I dragged my own shirt away from my shoulder and tilted my head so he could get a look at the faint, silvery scar I had there.

Seemingly without thinking, he raised a finger and traced the jagged line. "Huh. I never noticed that."

I put the neck of my shirt back into place. "To be fair, you're usually pretty preoccupied when you get that close to my neck."

He grinned. "That's true." He took another long pull from his drink and turned his attention back to Sam who was staring fixedly at the engine.

"John patched me up pretty good that night," I said. "I sometimes forget that scar's even there." It seemed I was destined to bring up that night now every so often. Maybe one day I'd learn to live with that and not drown myself in anger while I did it. I cleared my throat, knowing, but kinda hating, what I had to say next. "I'm sorry." I felt more than saw Dean's head snap back my way. "I have an issue with vamps. Obviously. I get a bit riled. I mean, you were acting like a moron but… anyway." It was my turn to take a long drink.

The funny quip or berating I was expecting in return never happened. In fact, he didn't even press me to go into detail about what I was really sorry for. "It's ok, I get it," Dean said. Then he smirked. "You were just worried about me."

I scoffed. "Excuse me? No I wasn't."

"Sure." He grinned.

"I wasn't!"

"So were.

"Wasn't."

"Were."

I finished off the argument by whacking his around the back of his head. "Idiot."

Dean looked away, smirking. We sat there in silence for a while, apart from the occasional direction or order Dean shouted at his brother. Then it was back to quiet.

"I'm glad he was there," he said suddenly.

"Who?"

"My dad. I'm glad you had someone looking out for you that night."

I didn't know how to respond to that. So I said nothing.

"I mean," Dean began, "if that vamp had finished you off that night, and if you weren't here… who would I have to annoy the hell out me every five goddamn minutes?"

My head titled back in exasperation. "Seriously? You can't just say something nice and be done with it? Besides, it's not every five minutes."

"So is."

"Is not."

"I mean, you never listen," he started counting on his fingers. "You always go against what I say, you call me mean names constantly, you're always threatening to punch me in the throat…"

"And you deserve it every single time!" Beer spilled from the bottle as I waved my hand. "And don't get me started on the mean names, Princess."

"Oh, come on! How is Princess a mean name? It's a compliment."

"Not the way you say it."

His eyebrows raised. "This, coming from someone that calls me a pig at every opportunity."

"You are a pig!"

The back and forth arguing continued until the Impala was finally back up and running and we were on the road once more. I'd discovered a while ago that a good old argument with Dean was good for my health—even if this last one was more playful than our usual. I felt more awake and energised than I had in days. And my smile? Unrestrained and carefree, it lasted the rest of the way to Bobby's.