Sam returned to the motel room the next morning with three coffees and a bag of chips. It wasn't exactly a healthy breakfast but it was all he could get from the vending machines in the foyer. As he approached he and Dean's room, her groaned at the sound of raised voices coming from inside. They were supposed to be heading out early. This argument was likely going to cause delays, whatever it was about.

He swung open the door, frowning at the sight of the chaos. Clothes and bedsheets were strewn over the floor and from the way Ali was frantically pulling things out of draws, Sam could tell it was her doing. He set the bag of chips down on the dresser and watched the pair as they argued, neither of them noticing that he'd returned.

"Would you calm down for a second," Dean was telling her as he shook her head at the girl. The elder Winchester was standing by the wall, rubbing an exasperated hand over his face. "Hey, kid?" Dean called when Ali ignored him, too focused on her task to spare him a second of her attention. "Ali!" The blonde girl sat back on her heals though she didn't look up at Dean.

"I don't understand, I never take it off," she muttered in disbelief. Dean rubbed his forehead as he glanced around the room that was in complete disarray.

"Ali, I know you're having a bit of a personal crisis right now, but we gotta go," he told her. She shot him an infuriated glare.

"It has to be here!" she insisted, pulling out another draw from the dresser. Dean groaned in frustration with the girl.

"Okay," he said in defeat. "Why don't you go check your room."

"I already did like five times," she replied. "I can't believe I lost it." The elder Winchester huffed at the teen before noticing Sam for the first time at the door. He was staring at the pair incredulously.

"Thank god," Dean mumbled as he marched over to his brother and took his coffee, picking it would from the three. Two black, one latte. Sam had always found it amusing that Ali took her coffee the same way Dean did. He was sure she never did before she'd met he and his brother. Sam noticed how stressed Dean seemed as he took a sip. It was almost comical. "I gotta get outta this room, Sammy. I feel like the walls are closing in on me." Sam raised a brow at him. "Ali's having a frickin meltdown." Sam rolled his eyes at Dean's exaggeration, though from looking at the girl, she did seem upset.

"What happened?" he asked.

"She can't find her damn bracelet," he grumbled. Sam sighed, realising hitting him.

"You mean her anklet? The one her mom gave her?" Sam corrected. He could feel the weight of it in his pocket.

"Look, I dunno Sam, would you just help her look," he said, taking another sip of his coffee. "I'll go check us out." Sam nodded as Dean exited the room. He placed the remaining two coffees on the dresser by the chips and tucked a hand into his pocket, pulling out the piece of jewellery belonging to the blonde girl.

"Hey, Ali?" he called. The girl stopped what she was doing and looked up. Sam noticed that her eyes were beginning to water. A tear had slipped halfway down her cheek. He instantly felt guilty. "Is this what you're looking for?" He held out the anklet to her and she jumped up, pulling it out of his hand carefully as if it were made of glass.

"Oh my god," she said as she wiped her eyes, laughing a little at herself for getting so emotional about a piece of jewellery. Sam smiled back at her, watching how her blue eyes lit up at the site of something she thought was lost. It was clear how much it meant to her.

"You okay?" he asked with a small chuckle. She nodded with a small laugh of her own.

"Thanks," she replied. "Where'd you find it?"

"On the steps outside," he replied. "It must've fallen off last night." Ali looked up at him, her brow furrowed.

"What do you mean?"

"Last night?" Sam repeated. "When you were sitting outside on the steps." Ali shook her head, confusion written across her face.

"I wasn't outside last night," she said. Sam frowned. She had been outside the previous night, hadn't she? The younger Winchester opened his mouth to protest but before he had a chance, Dean walked back into the room.

"Good, you found it," he said when he spotted the piece of jewellery in Ali's hand. "Go get your stuff." Ali nodded, shooting Sam another smile of gratitude before exiting the room. Dean began to clear up the room, starting with the sheets and finishing with the drawers that Ali had pulled out of the dresser.

"Hey Sam?" he heard his brother call, snapping his fingers towards him when he hadn't moved in a few minutes. Sam shook his head, coming out of his confused state to see that Dean was staring at him. "You ready to go?" Sam nodded, grabbing his bag from the corner and heading outside to the Impala.

He could already tell that it was going to be a long day.

The Impala cruised down Interstate 80 through after leaving the motel in Denison. Bobby had called early that morning asking for help on a hunt in South Dakota. They'd quickly agreed and headed out as soon as possible. Dean drove, as usual, with Sam riding shotgun whilst Ali slept in the back. Sam frowned at the sleeping blonde girl as she dozed. Once again, she was fast asleep in the middle of the day. Maybe it was from the lack of sleep she'd got from the previous night. As they headed for Sioux Falls, Sam found his mind wandering to all the possible reasons why Ali couldn't remember the little encounter they'd had the night before. Maybe it'd just slipped her mind. Maybe she was too tired to remember. Maybe she did remember, but for some reason, she was saying she didn't. It was true. The encounter had been a strange one. In fact, Sam would go as far as to say that it was almost like in that moment, she wasn't really Ali. It was weird.

"Hey Dean?"

"Hmm?" he mumbled in acknowledgement.

"Has Ali ever mentioned anything to you about sleepwalking?" As the words left his mouth, Sam knew the question was ridiculous, but it seemed like the obvious explanation, and the only one he was willing to consider at that time.

"Sleepwalking?" Dean repeated. "No. Why?" Sam sighed. Maybe if he told Dean what'd happened, he'd be able to help him figured it out. Either that or he'd tell him to stop being overly worried and paranoid.

"It's just…last night…" he began, but was cut off by the sound of Dean's cell phone ringing.

"Hold on," Dean said, answering the phone and pressing it to his ear. "Yeah?" he barked down the phone. Sam heard Ali stir in the back seat. "Bobby, hey," Dean greeted before putting the phone on speaker so the whole car could listen. "We'll be with you in a couple hours."

"No, you won't," Bobby replied. "Y'all gotta get your asses to North Platte, Nebraska."

"What?" Sam asked. "Bobby, what's going on?"

"Friend of mine called. Said there's been reports of seven missing persons and four dead in the last month," Bobby said.

"Yikes," Dean replied. "D'you know what did it?"

"Not sure," Bobby admitted. "I suggest you check out the vics when you get there."

"What about you, Bobby?" Dean asked. They were supposed to be helping the older man with a hunt on his own.

"I can handle a few vengeful spirits," Bobby replied, causing Sam and Dean to chuckle. "Just get down to North Platte. Stat."

It was later that day that Sam was in the hospital morgue posing as a federal agent in order to gain access to one of the bodies. After hanging up on Bobby, Allison had woken up, meaning he'd yet to have a chance to talk to Dean alone. Sam knew he needed to focus on the case and forget his odd encounter with the teen the night before, but there was something about the way she'd been. Absent. It had chilled Sam right to the bone and he wasn't sure why. All he knew was that whatever the feeling was, he couldn't shake it.

Sighing, Sam pulled open the locker and slid the body out of it. It was a woman who appeared to be in her early thirties. He checked her head first before looking over her neck. He groaned inwardly at the bite marks on her neck. Vampire. It was strange. They'd encountered an unusual amount of them over the last few months. This would surely make Ali even more irritable. She hated vampires. Something about it confused Sam though. The patterns didn't add up. Apart from the obvious puncture wounds to the victim's neck, nothing else about the case screamed vampires.

Instead of staying in the morgue, he decided to let his thoughts stew back at the diner where he knew Dean and Ali were. He took a quick photograph of the wounds on his phone to show his brother and slide the body back into the locker. He'd seen enough dead bodies for now.

It didn't take Sam long drive the Impala to the Michelle's Diner. Once he'd spotted the pair sitting in a booth, he slid in next to Ali, forking the mushrooms off the side of her plate that he knew she wouldn't eat.

"What've you got?" Dean asked as he chewed his breakfast.

"Well, it looks like vampires," he said, causing Ali to groan. He knew it.

"No way," Dean said shaking his head. "The patterns all wrong." Sam nodded.

"What I thought," he replied.

"So, what bites like a vampire, but isn't one?" Dean asked, his eyes flicking between Ali and his brother who sat opposite him. Ali shrugged.

"I'll check dad's journal," Sam replied. He waited whilst they finished their meals before heading back to the Impala and driving to the local motel to get two rooms. As they checked in, Sam couldn't help but wonder if getting two rooms was a good idea. Part of him didn't want to leave Ali alone for any extended period of time. It felt dangerous and Sam would only blame himself if anything happened, though he wasn't exactly sure what could happen.

He caught up to his brother as they went to put their bags down in their respective rooms, finally glad that he was able to get him alone.

"Hey Dean?" he said.

"Hmm?"

"Does Ali seem a little… irritable to you?" He felt stupid asking but he had to know if Dean had picked up on anything too.

"You mean more so than usual?" he asked with a small chuckle.

"I'm serious, Dean," Sam replied.

"I dunno, Sam. She was upset this morning," he said. Sam shook his head, not finding Dean's contribution very helpful. "Well, what do you want me to say? She's a teenager. They're always irritable." Sam rolled his eyes. Dean had a tendency to think of teenagers as an entirely different species. He bet he'd even claim he never was one.

"Forget it," Sam replied. He grabbed his father's journal from his bag and began to leaf through it, looking for any monster that resembled a vampire. Dean was in and out of the room, as was Ali, but Sam remained, reading every case carefully to make sure he didn't miss anything. After what seemed like an endless about of research, he finally found something that seemed to fit the bill.

"Vetala," Sam read. "They feed on human blood just like vampires."

"Vetala?" Ali questioned. "Never heard of it."

"Neither have I," Sam replied. "Dad hunted one years ago. It says here that they have superhuman strength and paralysing venom that knocks the victim out cold."

"Did John say if they hunt in packs or alone?" Ali questioned. The younger Winchester flicked though the old pages of his father's journal to check.

"It says it was alone," he replied.

"Sounds easy," Ali replied with a smirk. Sam nodded.

"Where's Dean?"

"He went to get coffee," Ali replied, looking at her watch. "Like an hour ago. Probably hooked up with the barista." Sam chuckled.

"Okay, well I got a few ideas about where the Vetala could be," Sam said. "Guess we'll just have to wait for him to get back." Ali groaned.

"He could be gone for hours," she whined, causing Sam to grimace. He didn't really want to think about what Dean was up to. "This Vetala sounds easy enough to take down. What kills it?"

"Silver," Sam replied.

"Great," Ali replied. "I got a silver knife. Let's go."

"Woah, wait a second," Sam said. "We should wait for Dean."

"Why?" Ali asked. "Need your big brother to hold your hand?" Sam scowled at her. She sighed. "Look, me and you can go find where this thing is lurking and then Dean can help us take it down when he'd done with… whatever he'd doing. We'll save a bunch of time. Might even get to Bobby's by morning." She had a point, and it was no secret that she wanted to see Bobby more than anything. He was like her father, and Sam knew what that meant. Even if there was only a slight possibility of Bobby getting hurt on a hunt, Ali wanted to be there to ensure that didn't happen.

"Fine," Sam replied. "But we should let Dean know."

"I'll text him now," Ali replied. "I gotta get my jacket. Meet you in the car park in five?" Sam nodded, watching as she left the room. Something about the situation made him feel uncomfortable, but Ali was right. This was a simple hunt and the two of them could easily take care of one Vetala if it came to it.

She met Sam in the parking lot and since Dean had taken the Impala when he went to 'get coffee,' the pair would have to walk. Ali didn't mind. In fact, she liked the fresh air. It was a nice change from being cooped up in the back seat all day or sitting in a small motel room. The day, although not particularly warm, was sunny, the rays of light casting delicate shadows as they burst through the thin clouds.

"So, where are we going?" Ali asked as they walked side by side along the street.

"Well, I checked the records, and all the people who've gone missing were last seen in that park," he replied, pointing up ahead to an area of green grass that stretched across the back of a row of houses. It seemed secluded from the rest of the town, and deserted, which wasn't surprising considering the number of people who'd turned up missing over the last few weeks.

"So, what's the plan?" Ali asked.

"I doubt it will show at this time of day, so, we can check out the places people were taken from," he replied. "See if there are any clues as to where it might be hiding out." Ali nodded as they entered the park. Large portions of it had been cornered off with police tape, but there didn't appear to be any cops around. This prompted Sam and Ali to take no notice of the restrictions and walk straight through the crime scenes, check for any signs of supernatural activity.

It hadn't been long before they both heard a muffled scream coming from the wooded area of the park. Sam and Ali immediately grabbed their silver knives and ran in the direction of it. Once they were closer, they hid behind a tree and peered out, spotting a young woman being held up against a tree trunk by her neck. The thing that was holding her looked like a woman too, but its eyes were like snake's eyes and sharp fangs protruded from under her lips.

"It's gonna bite her," Ali whispered to Sam urgently.

"I know," Sam replied, both of them trying to come up with a solution. "Cover me," Sam instructed before suddenly racing out from their position of cover and slamming into the creature, pushing it to the ground and away from the woman. Ali watched as Sam tried to stab the Vetala in the heart, but it was too strong and managed to overpower him. She ran forward, blade braced in her hand as she charged at the monster. To her surprise, however, the woman, who had seemingly narrowly escaped a horrible fate, was now grabbing Sam too. Ali stopped in her tracks, watching as fangs descended from her jaw as well.

There were two of them.

"Ali run!" Sam yelled, but there was no way Ali was going to leave him. Before she had a chance to attack, the second Vetala had managed to sink its fangs into Sam's neck, and he fell to the ground, unconscious. The two creatures' attention was now on her, and Ali realised that her chances of taking down both of them alone were very slim. Although they'd lost their element of surprise that had allowed them to overpower Sam, she knew they were strong. She didn't stand a chance. One of them lunged towards her, and Ali decided that although she didn't want to, she didn't have a choice but to run.

Her legs carried her back to the motel parking lot where she was startled to see Dean storming out of foyer. He looked pissed, and when he saw her, he looked even more pissed.

"What the hell, Ali?" he asked when he saw her anxious, out of breath form sprint towards him. "Where's Sam?"

"We were in the park," she said was she panted. "They were there, we saw them. Sam got taken."

"God's sakes, Ali, I told you to wait for me!" Dean barked as he pulled open the door to the Impala. Ali slid in to the passenger seat, a frown on her face.

"What are you talking about?" she questioned.

"I specifically told you that Vetalas hunt in pairs," Dean reminded her. "Did you not tell Sam?"

"What?" Ali questioned, completely baffled as to what Dean was talking about.

"I called you up and told you to wait for me!"

"No, you didn't," she argued.

"Yes, I did," Dean protested.

"Dean, I think I'd remember a conversation like that," she replied as Dean gunned the engine and sped off in the direction of the park.

"Yeah," he replied angrily. "You'd think you'd remember to tell Sam something important like 'hey, Vetalas hunt in pairs so we probably wanna wait for Dean before we go off by ourselves, completely blind!'" Ali huffed, but decided not to argue anymore. They needed to find Sam.

Sam Winchester woke in a bright room. His eyes were ringing and his eyes neck stung from the open wound the Vetala's fangs had left. The room seemed to be a motel room, though not the motel he'd been staying at. His muscles felt weak, probably from the paralysing venom that hadn't fully worn off yet. He struggled with the rope that had his wrists tied behind his back as he sat on the chair, hoping they he could get them loose, when he felt a presence behind him and a finger pressed against his neck. Sam winced at the contact on his raw skin.

The woman walked in front of him as she sucked on her finger that was coated in Sam's blood. She gave a satisfied hum as she swallowed, causing him to feel a little nauseous.

"You're a hunter," she said, her gaze shifting over his form as he sat on the chair. He didn't say anything as a reply. "Your little friend. Is she a hunter too?" He still gave no reply. She advanced towards him, letting her fangs slide down as her eyes turned snake-like. "Answer me," she instructed threateningly, her teeth centre meters from his skin.

"Emily," a voice said in warning. Both Sam and Emily turned to see the other Vetala by the door. "Don't hurt hum just yet," she said with a smirk.

"Why not?" Emily replied, casting an almost lustful look over Sam's body. "I'm hungry."

"He's a hunter," she said. "Which means his friend, his hunter friend will come looking for him. We can use him to get her, and then we kill both of them." Sam's features hardened. Neither of them were going to lay a fang on Ali. He realised, though, that they had an advantage. They two Vetalas didn't know about Dean. Sam hoped that he and Ali had met up and were on their way to rescue him and defeat the monsters.

"What's the point," Emily questioned. "She didn't look like much. She ran away like a coward."

"But he had silver," the other Vetala said. "Which means she probably does too. We need to take both of them out, otherwise she might call for backup." Sam hoped she already had.

"Fine," Emily replied. "But I want first taste." Sam shuddered at the thought of ending up like the other victims. He tried the ropes again and found that he was gradually able to loosen them, though he thought it would take a while before he was completely free.

Suddenly, the motel room door burst open, revealing Dean. The Vetala who's name Sam didn't know was closest to the door and it didn't take long before the elder Winchester had driven the silver knife through her heart and twisted it, killing the monster instantly. He rounded upon the second one, Emily, who was a fair distance away from Sam, meaning Dean didn't have to worry about her getting to him before he got to her. He was about to lunge for her, when Ali ran into the room wielding her blade and ran at the Vetala. She was too slow, and before Sam could process what was happening, Emily had knocked the blade out of Ali's hand and had her in a tight grip.

"Drop it," she hissed at Dean, her fangs hovering over Ali's neck, threatening to tear into her flesh at any moment. Dean reluctantly did as he was told, his teeth gritting together as he stared at the Vetala.

"Okay, easy," Dean said. "Let's talk about this."

"You hunters think you're so invincible," she said, clearly angered that Dean had killed her friend. "You walk around thinking that you're at the top of the food chain, but you're not." Sam could see Emily's grip tighten around Ali's throat. He needed to do something, and fast. When he'd just about managed to loosen the ropes around his wrists all the way, he quickly grabbed Ali's knife from the floor and stabbed the Vetala in the back, twisting the blade to kill the creature permanently.

Emily released Ali instantly and Sam watched as she fell to the ground, her skin turning brown and gritty as her body desiccated in front of them. Once he was sure she was dead, he handed the knife back to Ali, who took it with a shaky hand. Sam thought that was odd. He also thought it was odd that she'd ran into the room so recklessly, jeopardizing not only her life, but also his and Dean's. That wasn't like her. He would've commented on it, but from the look on Dean's face, Sam knew he'd be having a word of his own with the girl.

"Let's get outta here," Dean mumbled finally, grabbing his own knife from the floor before heading out without another word.

As Dean lay in the queen-size bed that night, he thought about the conversation he'd had with Ali. He'd started off by reminding her how incredibly stupid it was of her to barge in like that when it wasn't part of the plan. She'd nearly gotten herself killed, and if that happened, Dean would never be able to live with himself. Inevitably, the conversation had led to another argument over the alleged phone conversation they'd had. At first, Dean had thought she was lying, but now he wasn't so sure. In fact, she'd been so adamant that the conversation didn't happen that Dean wondered that maybe he was the one that'd imagined it.

But that was impossible. Dean remembered the phone call clearly.

It had only been moments after Ali had texted him saying that she and Sam were going after the Vetala when the elder Winchester had called her back, informing her at how stupid they were being.

"You and Sam can't take this case on your own," he said angrily down the phone. He'd been in the company of the barista at the coffee shop at the time he'd received the message. Her break was only ten minutes. Dean didn't want to waste a second of it.

"Why not?" Ali had asked.

"Because Vetalas hunt in pairs," Dean had revealed.

"How'd you know that?" she'd questioned. "Sam said they hunt alone."

"Sam doesn't know," Dean had said with a sigh. "I figured it out when he was at Stanford."

"Fine," Ali had replied. "How long will you be?"

"Not long," he'd said. "Wait for me, okay?" She'd agreed, hanging up the phone as Dean pulled his pants back on. He'd apologised profusely to the barista, taking down her number on the back of his hand, coincidently forgetting to take down her name. He still wasn't sure what it was.

He rolled over on his side. The conversation had happened. The question was, why didn't Ali think it had?

The question stayed with Dean all night and soaked through to the next morning when they were driving to South Dakota. Bobby had let them know that the hunt was under control, but Dean had said they'd still come. They'd all missed the older hunter, and maybe he'd be able to enlighten them on some of the strange things that had been occurring.

Dean watched Ali in the rear-view mirror. Once again, she'd fallen asleep. What had happened to her that had suddenly made her so tired over the last few weeks? He glanced sideways to Sam who he caught also staring back at the teen. They'd both noticed that something was up, and Dean needed to find out what.

"So, uh, what was that you were asking about yesterday?" Dean questioned. Sam shot him a confused look. Dean rolled his eyes. He had been hoping to not have to say it out loud. "About the sleep walking?" Sam rubbed his forehead exasperatedly.

"Dude, are you serious?" Sam asked. Whatever was going on, it clearly had nothing to do with sleepwalking.

"No," Dean said, shaking his head and brushing it off as a joke. Maybe that was all this was. A joke. Some kind of misunderstanding. The more he thought about it, the more he thought he was just being paranoid. What could possibly be going on with Ali that he didn't know about? He spent practically every waking moment with the girl. If something actually serious was going on, he'd know. Wouldn't he?

AN: Hope you liked this chapter.

What do you think is going on with Ali?

Let me know what you thought, much love x