A/N: This takes place in episode 20, Dead Man's Blood. Also, sorry for the delay; the fanfic writer curse got to me. Don't (a) take boat rides from sketchy people or (b) take a semester of college-level discrete mathematics in three weeks as a high school student :D

Also, certain parts (especially closer to the end) are more graphic than past chapters (still pretty canon-typical violence though dw)

~

"Stop rubbing it." Dean said, and Abby, ashamed, removed her hand from where it had been rubbing her forehead scar.

It had become a nervous habit, like biting the inside of her cheek, one that Dean had been trying to stifle. He was sure Abby was going to break open the skin, and it had been hard enough to give her stitches the first time. Even though he had done them as fast as possible, the Winchesters didn't exactly have access to sedatives and Abby had cried, despite her best efforts. She had done well though, and neither that nor the marks on her side had become infected. It had been tough to keep her from popping her side stitches, and it meant the brothers hadn't been able to allow her to go to Haley's like she had wanted to. Haley and Sarah were going to the beach to celebrate the end of their summer break, a trip that Abby had been invited on but was forced to decline.

But now, sitting in a sunny diner in the middle of nowhere, the dark night Abby had gotten the scars seemed a million miles away. Abby wasn't thinking about it, just trying to eat the ginormous pancakes Dean had ordered for her.

"Hey, you know, we could just keep heading East- New York, upstate? Could stop by and see Sarah again, eh?" Sarah referred to the girl Sam had had a fling with recently, not Abby's Sarah. Abby hid a grin at Dean's teasing of Sam with another mouthful of pancake. "She's a cool chick, man. Smokin'." Dean whistled. "You two seemed pretty friendly. What do you say?"

"Yeah, I don't know. Maybe someday." Sam said in a way that really meant 'not any time in the near future'. "But in the meantime, we got a lot of work to do, Dean. And you know that."

"Yeah, you're right." Dean reluctantly agreed. "What else you got?" Sam had his computer out on the diner table, looking for new cases, without much luck.

"Uh, man in Colorado. Local man by the name of Daniel Elkins was found mauled in his home."

"Elkins... I know that name."

"Doesn't ring a bell." Sam continued, though Dean had clearly become lost in his thoughts. "Looks like the cops don't know what to think. At first, they said it was some kind of bear attack, and now they found signs of robbery." Dean had gotten out John's journal, now, and was leafing through the pages.

"Here, check it out," Dean said, flipping John's journal around so Sam and Abby could see what page he had flipped to. Abby read 'D Elkins' and then what was presumably a phone number, written in blue ink and their father's handwriting.

"You think it's the same Elkins?" Sam asked, clearly dubious.

"It's a Colorado area code."

So, the Winchester siblings were going to Colorado. After Abby finished her pancakes, of course.

~

It was dark when Dean pulled up in front of Daniel Elkins' cabin. Despite the July heat, as Abby stepped out of Baby, goosebumps covered her arms. Secluded in the woods, surrounded by mountains, the cabin had an eerie feeling hanging around it like fog.

Abby shined her flashlight around the inside of the cabin, looking at the extensive research Mr. Elkins had clearly done into the supernatural as the siblings started into the house. Illuminated piles of books and stacks of papers, organized in an order she couldn't figure out, were spread around the cabin.

"Hey, there's salt over here, right inside the door." Sam said, kneeling down right inside the front door."

"You mean, like, protection-against-demon salt or oops-i-spilled-the-popcorn salt?" Dean said, looking through some of the books on a table.

"It's clearly a ring." Abby kept looking through the room, a bit amazed at the sheer amount of research in the single room.

"That looks a hell of a lot like Dad's," Sam said, and Abby turned around to see her brothers both looking at an old book. Walking over, watching where she stepped, Abby peered at the book from the other side of Dean. Sam was right; the journal in front of them was similar to Dad's, full of notes on supernatural creatures.

"Except this dates back to the sixties." Dean half-muttered.

Abby followed her brothers through the house. Most of the rooms were similar, somewhat messy, as hunters tended to be. The room at the back of the house, though, was a different kind of mess. It wasn't the books lying everywhere mess, but the overturned bookshelves with holes in the ceiling kind of mess. The aftermath of a fight, one Mr. Elkins lost.

"Whatever attacked him, looks like there was more than one," Sam noted.

"Looks like he put up a hell of a fight too," Dean added.

Abby knelt down on the floor, looking through the destroyed books and papers for anything of interest.

"Watch out for broken glass," Dean said.

"I know," Abby responded. From the broken skylights and bottles, there was broken glass almost everywhere. Abby was very glad she wasn't wearing shorts.

There wasn't much of interest in the mess on the floor, just a lot of the same. At the edge of the carpet, though, there were gouges on the floor with blood all over them.

"Got something?" Dean asked, walking over to where Abby was now kneeling down.

"I don't know, there's a bunch of scratches on the floor."

"Death throes, maybe?" Sam figured. That didn't fully explain the nature of the scratches, Abby thought. She knew what dying people did, she had been in plenty of places like this one, but this was something different.

"Maybe..." Abby said.

"Here," Dean grabbed a piece of paper from the desk and, while Abby watched, placed it over the marks then scribbled over it with a pencil, making a reversed drawing of the scratches.

"A message," Abby thought out loud.

"Look familiar?" Dean handed the paper to Abby.

Shining her flashlight on the paper, she thought aloud "Three letters and six digits- it's the location and combination of a post office box." She looked at Sam for confirmation that she was right, and his proud nod told her she was.

"It's a mail drop," Sam said.

"Just the way Dad does it." Dean continued Sam's thought process.

~

Inside the post office, which was easy to get into due to the lack of security, there was a sealed envelope in the box corresponding to the message. Not a big yellow one either, the kind Haley sent Abby letters in; small and white that fit a piece of paper folded into thirds.

Back in the car, Sam and Dean sat in their usual respective seats; Dean in the driver's and Sam in the passenger's. Too awake from the breaking into the house, and then the post office, Abby peeked her head over the front seat between her brothers to stay involved in their conversation.

The address on the envelope Dean was holding was lit up by the street light.

JW

PO Box 030

Manning CO 80230

"JW- You think? John Winchester?" Sam's thoughts on who the envelope was addressed to mirrored Abby's.

"I don't know," Dean said.

"Should we open it?" Abby asked. She wasn't sure what the protocol was for finding envelopes possibly addressed to your father.

A knock on Dean's window made Abby startle, hitting her head on the Impala's roof.

Her heartbeat slowed a little as she recognized the man at the window.

"Dad?" Dean was just as confused as Abby and Sam. Dad opened the backseat door on the driver's side, and Abby sat down in the backseat behind Sam.

"Dad, what are you doing here? Are you all right?" Sam asked, the slightly-higher-than-normal pitch of his voice giving his emotions away.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Abby wasn't sure what to do. None of the siblings had heard from their father since he drove off in May, and that was two months ago. "Look, I read the news about Daniel. I got here as fast as I could. I saw you three up at his place."

"Why didn't you come in, Dad?" Abby asked softly, staring up at her father.

"You know why," Dad said, and Abby bit the inside of her cheek. "Because I had to make sure you weren't followed...by anyone... or anything."

"Nice job of covering your tracks, by the way," Dad said to Sam and Dean.

"Yeah, well, we learned from the best," said Dean.

"Wait, so you came all the way out here for this Elkins guy?" Sam's slightly accusatory tone made Abby nervous.

"Yeah. He was- he was a good man. He taught me a hell of a lot about hunting."

"You never mentioned him to us," Sam said.

"We had a- we had kind of a falling out. I hadn't seen him in years. I should look at that." Dad said, gesturing to the envelope, and Dean handed it to him. Abby stared at her father, less than a foot away from her, crammed in the backseat of Baby. It was strange, being this close to him again. In the time that had passed, the six months between November and May, then the two months since May, the unfamiliarity between the father and children, especially his daughter, had grown like a weed.

Dad opened the envelope, pulling out a piece of paper. Abby shifted closer to him, almost resting her face against his arm to get a better look. As he read what it said out loud, he angled the paper so Abby could see the words as well.

"'If you're reading this, I'm already dead.' That son of a bitch."

"What is it?" Dean asked.

"He had it the whole time." Abby was trying to read what the letter said, but the handwriting was bad enough that she couldn't make out most of the words.

"Dad, what?" Sam asked. Him and Dean were both still turned around in their seats, facing Dad.

"When you searched the place, did you see a gun, an antique, a Colt revolver? Did you see it?" Abby had shifted back into her seat, giving up on reading the letter.

"Uh, there was an old case, but it was empty," Dean answered.

"They have it," Dad said, defeated.

"You mean whatever killed Elkins?"

"We got to pick up their trail." Dad got out of the car.

"Wait, you want us to come with you?" Sam asked.

Dad leaned down to look in Dean's window, which had been rolled down. "If Elkins is telling the truth, we've got to find this gun."

"The gun, why?" Sam's question echoed Abby's thoughts, once again.

"Because it's important, that's why."

"Dad, we don't even know what these things are yet," Sam said.

"They were what Danny Elkins killed best... vampires."

"Vampires?" Dean and Abby said in unison.

"I thought there was no such thing," Dean said.

"You never even mentioned them, Dad," added Sam

"I thought they were extinct." Abby could only half-see John's face from where she was sitting, so she leaned over Baby's front seat to get a better look at his expression as he continued. "I thought Elkins and others had wiped them out." He paused, looking down. "I was wrong."

Dean looked back at Sam, who looked at him. They shared a look of 'Holy shit, Dad never says that.'

The siblings followed their father's car back to the motel where he had been staying. It was nice, and Abby could tell he had been staying there a while by the amount of papers tacked on the walls and the supplies tucked into corners. She was too tired to investigate fully, though. It had been dark when they broke into Elkins's house, and now it was almost 2 a.m., much past the bedtime Sam had been trying to implement.

Not bothering to change out of her t-shirt and jeans, Abby just took off her beat-up purple shoes before sliding under the covers on one of the three beds, one of the two non-pull out beds. Her eyes shut almost immediately, the shuffling of her family and their low voices fading into the background.

She could have sworn she felt hands, rougher than Sam or Dean's, pull the blankets up over her more securely, but that might have been a dream.

~

"Abs," A hand gently shook Abby's shoulder, before moving on.

"Sam, Dean, let's go," said the same voice. Dad's voice, Abby recognized as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Picked up a police call."

"What happened?" Sam asked groggily, sitting up from his bed next to Abby's.

"A couple called 911. They found a body in the street. Cops got there- everyone was missing. It's the vampires." Abby shoved her sock-clad feet into her Converse.

"How do you know?" Sam asked, Dean too half-asleep to say anything.

"Just follow me, okay?" The irritation in John's voice made Abby's head snap up to look at him, then back at Sam and Dean. She couldn't read any of their expressions, to her chagrin.

Abby was double-knotting the laces of her second shoe when she heard Dean mutter "Vampires. It's funny every time I hear it."

~

When they got to the crime scene, Abby waited by Sam and Dean while John went over to talk to the police. While John was finishing up and starting to head back, Sam spoke up, "I don't see why we couldn't have gone over with him."

"Oh don't tell me it's already starting," Dean said.

"What's starting?" Sam said, but before Dean could answer John had reached them.

"What do you got?" Dean asked.

"It was them all right. It looks like they're heading West. We have to double back to get around that detour."

"How can you be so sure?" Sam was irritated, that Abby knew.

"Sam-" Dean warned.

"I just want to know we're going in the right direction," Sam said.

"We are," Dad said, and Abby could tell he was tired of Sam's doubt.

"How do you know?"

"I found this." John handed Dean something from his pocket, and Abby leaned into Dean and stood on her toes to get a good look at it.

"It's a vampire fang," Dean said.

"Not fangs- teeth. The second set descends when they attack." Abby looked at Dad, and he looked at Sam. "Any more questions?"

Sam didn't say anything. Abby had recessed back into the way she was when it was just her, Dean, and Dad; she let them make all the decisions and argue, she just followed along. In a lot of ways, it was easier. Then no one argued with her, scolded her, and she could be a good daughter.

"All right, let's get out of here. We're losing daylight." As John walked away, past Baby, he said, "And, Dean, why don't you touch up your car before you get rust? I wouldn't have given you the damn thing if I thought you were gonna ruin it." Dean forced a half-smile at Sam and Abby, but the look on his face made Abby's stomach feel off, just a bit.

Sam drove as the siblings followed their father's large truck. Dean was reading out loud from Dad's journal, the section on vampires.

"Vampires nest in packs of 8 to 10. Smaller packs are sent out to hunt for food. Victims are taken to the nest, where the pack keeps them alive, bleeding them for days or weeks." Dean paused. "I wonder if that's what happened to that 911 couple." Abby was listening closely while watching the forest scenery fly by on Dean's side.

"That's probably what Dad's thinking. Of course, it would be nice if he just told us what he thinks." Abby and Dean both looked away from their previous occupations to look at Sam.

"So it is starting," Dean said.

"What?" Sam said, clueless. Abby knew what Dean was talking about, though. She might not have many memories of before Sam left, but she could remember the massive fights between Sam and John.

"Sam, we've been looking for Dad all year. Now we're not with him for more than a couple of hours and there's static already." Dean was right. When they had seen John last, there hadn't been enough time for this to happen. He had left too fast. But now, it had been almost twelve hours since Dad had shown back up, and Dean was right; it was starting.

Sam scoffed. "No. Look, I'm happy he's okay, all right, and I'm happy that we're all working together."

"Good," Dean said, looking back down at Dad's journal.

"It's just the way he treats us like we're children."

"Oh god," Dean groaned.

"He barks orders at us Dean, he expects us to follow him without question. He keeps us on some crap need-to-know deal." Sam's voice raised as he continued.

"He does what he does for a reason," Abby piped up.

"What reason?"

"Our job!" Dean's voice raised to match Sam's. "There's no time to argue. There's no margin for error. Alright, it's just the way the old man runs things."

"Yeah, well maybe that worked when we were stupid teenagers, but not anymore, all right? Not after everything we have been through, Dean." Sam paused. "I mean, are you telling me you're cool with just falling into line and letting him run the whole show?"

After a moment that felt like ages, Dean answered.

"If that's what it takes."

~

The rest of the car ride was silent. It took a long time; they had to go back pretty far to get around the detour set up by the cops, and backtrack many more times to make sure they were on the right path. Sam, as the driver, picked no music so the normal ambiance was missing. Abby was falling half asleep, her head resting on the window behind Sam when she was shaken awake by the sudden increase in vibrations of the car window. Sam was revving the engine to pass Dad, who they had been trailing for long enough it had gotten dark. From what of Dean's face she could see in the dark, he had no idea what Sam was doing either as Sam spun the car, fast, to block Dad's truck from continuing.

"Oh crap, here we go," Dean muttered as Sam got out. "Stay in the car," he said to Abby before getting out himself. Abby opened the door and got out anyway, the gravel crunching beneath her feet.

"We need to talk," Sam said. John had gotten out and was approaching him, now almost on his toes.

"About what?" John said. They were both angry, very angry, and Abby didn't like it.

"About everything." Dean approached from behind Abby, standing next to and a bit in front of her, both facing Sam and John, who were facing each other.

"Where are we going, Dad? What's the big deal about this gun?"

"Sammy, c'mon, we can Q&A after we kill all the vampires," Dean said.

Abby didn't agree with how Sam was approaching the situation; being mad at Dad was wrong, but she wanted to know too. With Sam and Dean, they always explained what was going on but Dad was leaving them completely out of the loop.

"Your brother's right, we don't have time for this."

"Last time we saw you, you said it was too dangerous to be together." Sam was talking fast, barely letting Dad finish before starting. "Now, out of the blue, you need our help. Now obviously something big's going down, and we want to know what!"

"Get back in the car," Dad said, low and angry.

"No." Sam's defiant tone made Abby cringe, waiting for their father's reaction.

"I said get back in the damn car."

"Yeah, and I said no."

"All right, you made your point tough guy." Dean cut in. "Look, we're all tired. We can talk about this later." He grabbed Sam's jacket, pushing him back towards Baby and putting himself between Dad and Sam. "Sammy, I mean it, come on."

As Sam walked toward the car, Abby stayed near Dad in the middle of the road. "This is why I left in the first place," Sam muttered under his breath.

"What's you say?" Dad said, stepping toward Sam. He and Abby were now side by side.

"You heard me," Sam said, turning around.

"Your siblings and I, we needed you. You walked away, Sam. You walked away!" John was right in Sam's face.

Dean's protests to stop were drowned out.

"You're the one who said, 'Don't come back,' Dad." Abby didn't know that. Had Dad really said that? He couldn't have. "You're the one who closed that door, not me!" Sam was yelling loudly now. "You were just pissed off you couldn't control me anymore."

"Stop it, stop it, stop it!" Dean physically pushed the two apart. "That's enough."

Dean was standing between Dad and Sam, his back to Sam. Abby was standing next to Dad, looking at her shoes. "That means you too," Dean said, quieter, to Sam.

Sam got into Baby, still breathing hard.

Dad walked towards the front seat of his truck.

Abby bit her cheek. Dad was upset, she could tell. She felt bad for him; she would hate it if Sam yelled at her like he had just yelled at Dad.

"Dean," Abby said quietly, still looking at her shoes.

"Get back in the car, Abs." Dean said, looking at Dad.

Abby looked up at him. Dean, realizing she wasn't moving, looked down at her.

"I want to ride with Dad."

Dean swallowed, hard.

"Okay." He said. Dad had paused, outside his truck with the driver's door open. "You need your stuff?"

"No, I'm okay," Abby said in a small voice.

She walked over to Dad's truck, hearing him get into the driver's side and close his door. She stepped up onto the rail since the seats were high enough up that she couldn't just get into the seat. Before getting into the seat, she turned back.

Dean was watching her. Abby couldn't quite make out his face in the dark. Abby intentionally didn't look at Sam, sitting in the Impala.

Abby gave Dean a small wave, before pushing herself up, hopping into the truck, and slamming the door shut. She didn't look back to see Dean's small wave or the way his posture crumpled when she looked away.

"Hey, Dad," Abby said.

"Hey," Dad's smile was forced as he started the engine. They watched in silence as Sam pulled the Impala out and around, letting Dad go ahead. In the low light, Abby tried to inspect the inside of Dad's truck. It was nicer and newer than Baby. No new car smell, though, it smelled like Dad; leather jackets and a bit of gunpowder. Abby pushed the glove compartment open; it was unlocked. Inside there was a pile of maps, just like in Baby, and a notebook. Abby had just gotten it out, hadn't even read the front cover when she was interrupted.

"Don't touch that," Dad said gruffly.

"Oh, okay, sorry." Aby put it back fast, and shut the glove compartment. She pulled her knees up to her chest and bit her cheek. Her stomach felt yucky and all she wanted to do was be back in Baby, with Dean playing his music and Sam arguing with him; but not in a big important argument way but in a little unimportant forgotten in two hours way.

Easily bored, Abby looked over at Dad. It was weird to see him again. Even in the low light, she could see that the few gray hairs he had were still more than eight months ago.

"Do you think I'm taller than when you saw me last?" Abby based, trying to break the weird tension in the air.

"I dunno, kid." Dad brushed her off. "I really need to focus on the road."

"Oh." Abby looked forward. The road ahead was straight, and there wasn't even woods on the sides deer could jump out of.

~

As the sun began to make itself apparent on the horizon, Dad's hands had relaxed on the steering wheel. Abby had fallen asleep, she was nine and it had been a tiring few days.

The sun was beginning to reach her when a gentle hand shook her awake.

"We're almost there, Abs." A voice much softer than the one arguing with Sam last night said. For a millisecond, Abby thought she was in the Impala and Dean was waking her up.

Abby sat up, a brown jacket that had been tucked over her falling off her shoulders.

"There's food in the back," Dad said. "I don't want you starving."

"Okay, Dad." Abby said, reaching behind to the backseat. Sure enough, there was a duffel bag with some food in it. Sam would be disapproving of Abby's breakfast of a protein bar, saying she needed more fruits and vegetables. It was Abby's favorite kind too, with chocolate chips and dried fruit.

As Abby ate the granola bar, she half-watched her dad. He was humming along to the music softly playing, and with the sunlight streaming onto his face he looked nothing like he had the night before. Sometimes Abby wondered if there were two people living inside Dad: the one who had her granola bars in his truck, even if she had never been in it, and the one who would storm off after she missed the target one too many times when practicing shooting.

When Abby leaned back again, to throw away the wrapper, she got a glimpse of Baby, driving behind them. She could see the vague outlines of Sam and Dean. She couldn't see their expressions; she wasn't sure she wanted to. Abby was worried Sam would be mad, that he'd think she picked Dad's side over his. She hadn't she reason't to herself, she just didn't want her Dad to be alone

Sam and Dean had each other, it seemed unfair to make Dad drive all by himself.

"Hey Dad, I've been getting really good at aiming a gun." Abby said. Dad liked it when she could do stuff that made her strong, and less little girl-ish.

"Really, that's great kid." His tone was a little flat, not as genuine as Abby had hoped. "Shooting a gun won't help with vamps though."

"Oh, yeah." The familiar hole in Abby's stomach made itself noticeable, and Abby brought her legs up onto the seat, resting her chin on her knees.

Dad pulled his car off on a sideroad. In the distance, Abby could faintly see a barn. The idea of going in and fighting vampires for a gun she didn't even know why it was important seemed impossible.

"Hey dad?"

"Hm?" He turned off the engine.

"Can I maybe stay in the car?" Abby bit the inside of her cheek.

"Abby, we've talked about this. You're not some scared little girl. C'mon," Dad grabbed his bag from the back and Abby could see Sam and Dean pulling up in Baby behind them.

Abby watched Dad start to walk through the woods, still sitting in the seat. Steeling herself, she opened the door, then almost jumped at Dean's voice.

"Need help getting down?" He said, a bit more awkward than normal. Sam was standing a bit back, closer to Baby, pretending not to be paying attention.

Abby nodded and Dean helped her get down from the tall truck. The siblings began to follow their father into the woods. "Thanks, Dean. Abby said as quiet as a mouse.

"'Course, Abs." Dean said , ruffling Abby's hair a bit. Abby walked a little bit closer to his side for the rest of the walk, focusing on the sounds of their feet crunching the leaves, and Sam's behind. They caught up to their father when he was crouching on a riverbed, concealed from the barn Abby had caught glimpses of earlier.

Abby was in between Dad and Dean, with Sam just behind Dean, all facing the barn. The Winchesters watched as an old car pulled up outside the barn, next to other cars in various states of disrepair. A man got out, wearing a leather fest with various silver adornments, the kind people who had lots of piercings and dyed their hair wore.

Another man walked out of the barn, revealing a crack of the dark inside. He shielded his eyes from the sun with his hand.

They said brief words to each other that Abby couldn't hear from a distance. She wasn't great at judging how far away things were, but if she had to guess she would say about half of a soccer field would fit between where she was and the barn.

"Son of a bitch." Dean said, quietly but loud enough they all could hear him. "So they're really not afraid of the sun?"

"No, direct sunlight hurts like a nasty sunburn." Dad said. "The only way to kill them is by beheading." So why the hell were they trying to get some gun? Abby thought. "And, yeah, they sleep during the day. It doesn't mean they won't wake up."

"So I guess walking right in's not our best option." Dean said.

"Actually, that's the plan." Abby looked at her father in surprise.

~

While Sam and Dean got weapons out of the trunk of the Impala, John got some out of a chest-like container in the back of his truck. Abby sat on the backseat of the Impala, with the door open and her legs hanging out of the car, messing with a switchblade.

"Dad, I've got an extra machete if you need one." Dean said. Given the nature of a vampire's death; beheading, a machete was what Sam and Dean had decided with Dad would be the best weapon.

"Think I'm okay, thanks." Dad said, holding a shiny blade longer than Abby's entire arm.

"Wow." Dean said. Dad's weapon's were much higher quality than the half-homemade years old ones in the back of Baby.

"So... you boys really want to know about this Colt?"John said, leaning over his chest of weapons, on the bed of his truck. Abby looked up from her switchblade.

Sam and Dean also looked up, then at each other. "Yes, sir." Sam said.

"It's just a story. A legend, really. Well, I thought it was." Dean walked over, closer to dad, to hear him better. Abby got up from the seat, also wanting to hear this, and stuck back by Sammy. "Never really believed it until I read Daniel's letter. Back in 1835, when Haley's Comet was overhead, the same night those men died at the Alamo," Abby had no idea what the 'Alamo' was, "they say Samuel Colt made a gun... a special gun. He made it for a hunter- a man like us, only on horseback. The story goes he made 13 bullets. This hunter used the gun a half dozen times before he disappeared, the gun along with him. Somehow, Daniel got his hands on it. They say- they say this gun can kill anything."

"Kill anything, like supernatural anything?" Dean asked

"Like the demon." Abby said, finishing Dean's line of thought.

"Yeah, the demon." Dad said. "Ever since I picked up its trail, I've been looking for a way to destroy that thing. Find the gun... we may have it."

The weight of the task ahead of the siblings settled in their shoulders like boulders. This could all be over; the demon could be dead in a matter of days. Abby thought back to Sam's comments months earlier.

"What if this whole thing was over tonight? Man, I'd sleep for a month. Go back to school, just be a person again."

Finding the gun, killing the demon, it didn't just mean the hunt would be over. It meant Sam would go back to school, leave again.
~

A small machete which Dad had given hung hung on Abby's belt, sheathed. Abby hopped over the windowsill into the dark barn after Sam, Dean following close behind and Dad already inside. Abby bit the inside of her cheek as Dean closed the opening they had jumped through, engulfing them in almost-complete darkness. Abby stayed close to her brothers, stepping as lightly as possible through the barn. It wasn't just one huge room, like she had expected, but a large hallway with rooms off of it. In the low light, she could make out people, vampires, sleeping in hammocks, creaking slightly.

For a second, Abby stopped and peered at a man, more a boy, sleeping in one of the hammocks. Upon inspection, he couldn't be more than a few years older than her, his dirty blonde hair still in a boy-ish cut and his long sleeve gray shirt and jeans baggy. Abby had thought of vampires as being adults, vicious monsters, so seeing one who looked like someone she'd see in school was jarring.

Dean tapped Abby's shoulder, and she kept moving through the room.

"Dean." Sam's whisper was just barely audible from the back of the large room. Dean pushed Abby slightly ahead of him as they walked to Sam.

At the back wall there was a man asleep on a mattress on the floor. Then, just feet away from the foot of his bed, right next to Sam, there was an unconscious woman, not a vampire, tied with her hands behind her back to a post. She had blood on her white jacket and looked like shit.

A clatter made Abby jump. "There's more." Dean whispered. Abby followed Dean over to the makeshift wall of a kind of screen, peeking through the tear to see more people, tied up and unconscious. Upon further inspection, Abby saw that the screen was actually a sheet tied onto a bars, the kind in a jail. The doors to where the others were was padlocked, and the noise Dean caused when he broke it open made some of the vampires stir, but none fully woke up. Abby's heart felt like it was beating out of her chest and she had bitten the inside of her cheek so hard the metallic taste of blood had flooded her mouth.

Abby had been focused on Dean getting the door open when the lady Sam had been helping screamed. Not a scared, someone help me scream but a I'm about to attack you scream. All of the vampires were definitely awake now, and Dean grabbed Abby's arm, pulling her against him.

"Run!" Dad's voice, from wherever he had gone, close but not in sight, reached Abby's ears as Dean was already pulling Abby towards the door.

Abby and Dean burst out of the barn door, Sam right next to them. The harsh sunlight hurt Abby's eyes, having adjusted to the dark. After they had gotten a few yards away from the barn, Dean let go of Abby's hand, no longer worried about her getting lost. Abby was aware Sam and Dean were running slower so she could keep up, and she tried to run faster, but nine year olds can only run so fast. By the time the trio reached the Baby, Abby was breathing so hard she felt like she was going to pass out.

She was glad when they stopped in front of the cars. Abby half-bent over, her hands on her knees, as Dean said "Dad?!" looking for their absent father in the direction they had just come from.

Abby looked up, realizing as well that their father had not been seen or heard since he had told them to run.

"Dad?!" Dean repeated, worry seeping through his gruff voice.

Suddenly, Abby could see their father's form, approaching them through the trees. As he got closer, Abby could see that he was ruffled; his hair was messed up and he was breathing a bit hard, but he had no injuries. Relief washed over her.

Sam and Dean, seeing the same thing Abby did, turned to go get in the Impala, Dean grabbing Abby's hand again and pulling her with him.

"They won't follow. Not till tonight." Dad said, Sam and Dean stopping and turning back, Abby as well. "Once a vampire gets your scent, it's for life."

"What the hell do we do now?" Dean said.

"You got to find the nearest funeral home, that's what." Dad said. Dean looked taken aback, looking at Sam.

~

The siblings got back to the cabin John had been staying in. Abby had rode into the Impala, half because it was instinct to get in with Sam and Dean, and the other half, well that part Abby wasn't thinking about.

"I'm gonna go find that funeral home," Dean announced, everyone getting out of their respective cars.

John started towards the door. "Uh, I'm gonna stay here." Sam gave Dean a look, and then looked at Dad, back at Dean, then at Abby, and Dean again. Abby had absolutely no idea what Sam was telling Dean, but she was pretty sure Dean knew.

"C'mon Abs, let's go." Abby looked up at Dean, surprised. She looked back at Sam, but he was already heading into the cabin. Abby trudged behind Dean back to the car. She was guessing Sam and John were about to have a talk, so as unappealing as breaking into a funeral home was, it still was better than that.

"Can I sit in the front?" Abby asked. Since Sam wasn't coming, she could reasonably sit up front.

"No way, you're not old enough." Dean said, getting in. Abby rolled her eyes and slid into the drivers-side backseat.

"Dad let me." Abby said, sliding down in her seat and pouting. Dean didn't say anything, just pulled onto the main road. Abby watched the dreary sights go by until Dean pulled into the funeral home parking lot.

Dean groaned and Abby sat up, seeing a security guard in the front, foiling Dean's plan of just picking the lock of the front door.

Dean faked being confused and looking at a map (actually of New York) until the security guard looked less concerned, then turned Baby around back onto the road. He parked on a side street, out of sight of the funeral home.

"C'mon," he said to Abby, getting out. Abby trudged behind Dean as they crossed into the back of the funeral home. After Dean did a quick scan for security cameras, he motioned Abby to follow him. As she walked beside him, Dean tried to grab her hand, to keep her close, but Abby shook him off.

Dean picked the lock quickly then headed into the pitch black funeral home; it was closed today. He glanced behind to make sure Abby was following, she was. Inside, Dean peeked in rooms until he found the room with dead bodies.

Strangely, it didn't smell, Abby noted. She had assumed it would stink; dead bodies usually did, but it didn't. Instead it smelled like hospital and cleaning supplies. Dean hooked up a tube to some dead guy's arm; he was pretty young, had dark hair kind of like Sam's. His eyes were also open; they were too light and glassy, and Abby felt like they were looking straight at her. She reached up and shut them with her fingertips, softly, ignoring Dean's eyes on her. The container filling with dead man's blood wasn't even a quarter full, so Abby sat down against the wall, tired.

Dean sat down next to her, mirroring her stance of her legs held up to her chest.

"So, uh, what'd you and Dad talk about? When you rode in his truck?" Dean said, looking forward and not at Abby. She didn't look at him either, just rested her chin on her knees.

"Not anything really."

"Okay. Good."

"What do you mean good?" Abby turned around, facing Dean.

"Uhhh, just that I'm glad he wasn't... wasn't trying to force you to fight vamps if you don't want to or anything." Abby looked away from Dean's eyes. Why was it a bad thing if Dad wanted her to fight vampires? She needed to at some point, and the younger she started fighting the better she'd be.

Besides, why did Dean get to decide if what Dad was doing was good? He wasn't her father.

"Yeah he wasn't." Abby said. She had never been a good liar, especially to Dean, so she couldn't look him in the eye as she spoke.

Dean didn't say anything, which made Abby even more nervous.

"I think the thing's almost done." Abby gestured at the container, almost full of dead man's blood. Dean got up and unhooked the contraption.

The siblings snuck back out the way they came, still undetected. Back at the car, Abby wordlessly got into the back seat. This time, she scooted over to the passenger side, though, so Dean could see her out of the corner of his eye. On the way back, Abby didn't pout quite so much, and Dean turned on some of his old-man music. The wall Abby had erected when she chose John the night before was still there, but it felt shorter now; Dean could see Abby over it, even if it was still blocking Abby's view.

Abby watched the green friendship bracelet swing from the rearview mirror as Dean navigated the now-familiar streets back to the cabin. Abby's was still on her wrist, relatively unharmed by the families' dangerous activities. Abby hadn't thought about the bracelets in a long time; they had become part of the background of her life. Abby tried to remember if she'd seen Sam wearing his; she couldn't draw up an image of his red one on his wrist, or in any of his bags. Maybe he had lost it, Abby presumed. She could make him another one, beg Dean to buy her some more thread when they went to the store next.

Maybe Abby should make Dad one too; it seemed unfair to her that Sam and Dean should all get one but not him. He was part of the family too.

~

Abby walked into the cabin first, Dean following and closing the door behind them.

"Man, there's heavy security to protect a bunch of dead guys." Dean said. Dad was sitting at his desk, papers spread out in front of him. Sam was sitting at the chair across the desk. The tense air that had been around the two had dissipated; Abby was glad.

"Did you get it?" Dad asked, more to Dean than Abby. Dean pulled the container, now wrapped in a paper bag, out of his pocket and the bag. It was a glass jar, fancier than a mason jar, with white tubing on the sides. Dean handed the jar over to Dad.

"You know what to do." Dad lightly inspected the bottle before setting it on the table.

The plan they formulated was pretty simple; Dean would pretend to have car trouble, draw the vampire who the leader was without, shoot her up with dead man's blood, so the leader would either give them the gun, or they could kill him to get the gun.

~

Abby crouched in the weeds, unable to see Sam and Dad's faces, despite them being right next to her, due to the late hour. She watched as a female vampire with dark hair approached Dean. She couldn't see what either of them said, but flinched as the vampire hit Dean across the face. That looks like it hurt like hell, and by how Dean fell to the ground, it probably did, Vampires were stronger than any human, after all.

Another vampire appeared from the woods. Abby, Sam, and Dad were still hidden from view from where Dean and the vampires were on the road. The female vampire lifted Dean into the air by the chin. Then, after a second of inaudible conversation, the vampire, still gripping Dean by his chin, lowered him to her level and kissed him. Abby made a disgusted face in the dark.

Dad and Sam got up; they were going to help Dean. Abby saw movement right at the edge of her sight. There was someone heading into the woods, away from the fight. Abby tapped Dad's arm, motioning to their right and mouthing "vampire". Dad nodded, then pointed to the machete Abby had had earlier, still attached to her belt.

Abby knew what Dad was conveying. Him and Sam had to go help Dean. If Abby wanted to, Dad trusted him enough to go after the other vampire on her own.

Abby was proud of that, in that moment. Her dad thought she was a good enough fighter to go off on her own. Not wanting to disappoint him, she headed away from Dean and where Sam and Dad had started heading, going deeper into the woods.

Abby quickly could hear the person moving ahead of her. They were loud, and even over the confrontation happening behind them, she could follow the vampire easily. Abby was quiet, as quiet as she could be. Branches swung at her, and she was glad she was wearing a sweatshirt over her t-shirt and jeans in the long grass and scratchy weeds. The person she was following was young, Abby noticed. They were only a few inches taller than her, and their slim build evidenced a young age. Abby got a glance of their gray long sleeve shirt, and placed them as the vampire she had seen earlier, in the barn, the one who looked like someone she'd see at school (when she went).

They had stopped, trying to catch their breath in a small clearing. Abby walked around him, staying out of sight. Abby swallowed hard and pulled her machete out of its sheath.

Abby stepped toward the boy, approaching from his right.

He whipped his head around, backing up.

"You're one of those hunters," He said, his voice quivering. He sounded younger than he looked in the dark.

Abby took a step back. "You're a vampire." she said, tightening her grip on her machete. The woods were relatively quiet, she could hear animals moving in the dark, none too close, and her family, a ways away, too far to go back now.

"I am. But I- I'm trying to get out, alright? If you let me go, I won't hurt anyone or go after you, I swear" the vampire pleaded, his face sincere.

Abby's heart was beating out of her chest. A little bit of Abby wanted to believe him, but she couldn't really tell if he was lying, and if he was, the consequences would be terrible. Plus, telling Dad she had let a vampire go?

"Why should I believe you?" she asked, trying to mimic Dean's rough voice. Abby was still holding her machete at her side, unsheathed but not raised.

"Please-" the boy started, taking a step away from the fight, towards Abby.

When his mouth opened, forming his next words, Abby caught a glimpse of sharp teeth inside. Too sharp, like the teeth Dad had set come down when a vampire is about to attack.

Abby unsheathed her blade and brought it to the side of the boy's neck before he could get any closer.

Blood coated the blade as it spurted from the side of his neck. Abby's eyes stayed trained in his neck, where her sharp blade had cut deep into his neck, blood dripping out around it.

Unlike John or Dean, Abby couldn't cut his head off in one slice. She brought the blade back, then finally drove it into his neck again, this time cutting all the way through.

Those two simple actions took less than two seconds, but it felt like forever.

The boy's head fell backwards, hitting the forest floor as his, now headless, body fell backwards as well. Blood coated the forest floor of leaves and sticks. Abby brought the machete back to her side, her chest heaving with effort.

Suddenly, the sound of someone moving was closer, much closer.

Abby could feel the warm blood dripping down her face. Just splatters had gotten on her, barely visible in the low light.

A figure emerged from the treeline.

Dad.

He looked at Abby, still holding the machete covered in blood, now at her side in a limp hand, and the headless body in front of her.

"Vampire?" He confirmed.

Abby nodded.

"Good job, kid." The praise didn't fill Abby's chest with joy like she had thought it would. Dad turned, and started heading back to where, she presumed, Sam and Dean were.

"You guys got the vampire?" Abby asked as she followed Dad. Her heart was beating fast, and she tried to take deep breaths to calm it down.

"Yeah, she's tied up. You go with Sam and Dean when we get back, okay?"

"Why?"

Dad didn't say anything, just kept walking. Abby hadn't even processed how far she had gone, but clearly it had been quite a journey.

"You're leaving again. You're going to go after the demon alone." Abby put the pieces together.

"It's to keep you safe." Dad said. Eight months ago, Abby would have believed him full heartedly. Now, something in the back of her brain just wouldn't let her.

Before Abby or Dad could say anything else, they arrived upon the clearing. Abby looked at the female vampire, the one who had held Dean up before, tied up to a tree. And a fire going; she recognized the scene of the materials which would stop the vampires from finding their trail.

"Holy shit, what the hell happened to you?" Dean said. Sam and Dean were suddenly right in front of Abby, Dean kneeling down to look at her face.

"I killed a vampire." Abby said, trying to feel as proud as she knew she should.

"What?" Sam turned around to look at Dad, Dean too focused on trying to clean the blood off Abby's face with the sleeve of his jacket.

"It was a kid, not much older than her. She did good." Dad said. Abby pushed Dean's hand away from her face, and Dean gave her a strange look before getting up and turning around.

"So what, Abby can kill a fucking vampire but we can't come with you to find this demon? You said you would be too worried about us to make the moves you want to, but you certainly weren't worried about Abby five minutes ago!" Sam said, standing up to walk over and face their father, his face angry.

Abby pushed Dean's hand away from her face. Dean looked at her with a really weird look on his face, then stood up and walked over to where Sam and Dad were now standing.

"Look... I know you all can take care of yourselves, Abby included." Sam and Dean exchanged a look Abby was too tired to figure out. "I don't expect to make it out of this fight in one piece. Your mother's death..." Dad paused, looking at Abby. "It almost killed me." He looked away, back up at Sam and Dean. "I can't watch my children die too. I won't."

"What happens if you die?" Dean asked. Abby looked down at her shoes. In the dim light of the fire she could see a speck of blood on the purple fabric of one. "Dad, what happens if you die and we could've done something about it." Abby thought Dean was right. She really, really didn't want to think about having to live without her Dad.

"You know, I've been thinking... Maybe Sammy's right about this one. I think we should do this together." Dean said.

Abby tried to morph her face into one of studious agreement with Sam and Dean.

"We're stronger as a family, Dad. We just are. You know it." Dean continued.

"We're running out of time." Dad said. Abby knew he was referring to the vampires; they would find them soon. "You do your job, and you get out of the area. That's an order." Abby turned to watch her father walk past the three siblings.

Dean helped Dad load the female vampire into Dad's truck, in the same spot Abby had been sitting what felt like a lifetime ago. Abby watched from afar, Sam and Dean continuing to send concerned looks her way.

The plan was for Dad to drive on the highway with the vampire in his truck right by the barn. The vampires would pick up on her scent and follow Dad out of the barn. Sam, Dean, and Abby would sneak into the barn to free the people Dean and Abby had seen trapped in there earlier.

When the Impala pulled up a safe distance from the barn and Abby moved to get out, Sam and Dean exchanged a look. Abby really didn't like this new thing of the two of them having a conversation she was being kept out of.

"Stay with me, okay?" Dean said as the three of them began to approach the barn. Inside, Abby helped Dean free the innocent people.

In what felt like a flash, the siblings were back in the Impala. Dean, Sam, and Abby were used to working together, and could do it without many problems.

When Dean pulled the car out, he didn't head away from where they could just barely see the lights of Dad's truck and the vampires' car in the dark, but towards them. None of the siblings said anything; they all understood what they were going to do. They got out of the car and Dean got his crossbow with syringes of dead man's blood out. As they approached the cluster of people, Abby's heartbeat rose faster and faster and she kept her hand in her machete, still stained with the vampire's blood from earlier.

Dad was laying on the road, broken glass on top of him. He looked unconscious, and there was a vampire beginning to move towards him. Clearly, the exchange had not been going well.

Dean shot one of the vampires full of dead man's blood, and Sam went in the other direction; the Winchesters were outnumbered, but not by much. Abby followed closely behind Sam, and when he was slammed into the ground by his neck she used the machete she still had to slice into the attacking vampires' neck, not making it all the way across, but Sam was able to stand up and finish the job at that point.

While Sam had his back momentarily turned, Abby felt arms from behind her lifting her off the ground and holding her in the air, one arm wrapped around her neck tightly and the other around her torso, her feet unable to touch the ground. Dean and Sam both held up their machetes but before they could do anything the vampire holding Abby growled "Don't or I'll break her neck." Sam and Dean didn't move. "Put the blade down."

All the other vampires had been taken out, to the best of Abby's view. This one was the leader, she was pretty sure, but his arm tightly around her neck restricted her airflow and ability to think.

Abby gasped as the man tightened his arm in her neck, seemingly at Dean and Sam's reluctance to put down their weapons. Abby tried to pull his arm off her neck with no avail, he was much too strong and she was much too weak.

Slowly, Sam and Dean both dropped their weapons. The arm on Abby's neck loosened, just slightly and Abby gasped for air.

"You people. Why can't you just leave us alone?" The vampire growled, his mouth right next to Abby's ear so she could feel his breath; it was terrifyingly cold. "We have as much right to live as you do."

"I don't think so." Dad's voice made the vampire spin around to face him, pulling Abby with him. Abby just had time to recognize her father, standing up and pointing a gun straight at the vampire's head, close to hers, before the gunshot made Abby's ears ring and the bright flash momentarily blinded her. The vampire didn't fall backwards, not like how monsters and people usually died. His arms released Abby, though, and she dropped to the ground, stumbling backwards and gasping for breath until she felt someone's arms holding her up. Deans, she recognized from the leather jacket.

Abby watched warily as the gray spot on the vampire's forehead, where the bullet had gone in spread and suddenly illuminated his whole body and he dropped to his knees. In a gruesome way, it was fascinating to watch.

"Luther!" the female vampire Dad had captured earlier screamed. Huh, Abby thought, I thought she was dead.

Abby watched with Dean, still supporting her weight, as the vampire finally died. Abby's lungs were just starting to stop hurting and her eyesight was clearing. The female vampire was pulled away into one of the cars but Abby barely noticed, too focused on Dad. He seemed fine now, relatively unharmed.

And a smile was starting to spread across his face. It made Abby's stomach hurt, the sight of her father smiling, for some reason. He's just glad the gun worked, Abby reasoned.

On the drive back to the cabin, Dean had Abby sit between him and Sam in the front seat. Abby was too out of it to feel proud, just slumping against Sam while Dean drove, quiet music playing in the car. Sam wrapped his arm around Abby and she buried her face in his shoulder. Abby was feeling a lot of things, not really sure what any of them meant.

The weight of the future rested on the siblings' shoulders, heavier than any guilt of the past they were carrying in that moment. When they pulled into the driveway, Abby sat up and rubbed her face, smearing the blood that had appeared on it. She couldn't remember where it was from, but it was starting to dry and suddenly she really, really needed it off her.

Dad was a bit behind them, so when the siblings entered the cabin it was quiet and empty. Abby went to the bathroom, not bothering to close the door but got a towel wet and started trying to clean the blood off her face. Sam and Dean exchanged words she couldn't hear then Dean came into the bathroom.

"Here, give me the towel" he held his hand out.

"Yes, sir," Abby said instinctively, too tired to choose her words and gave him the damp towel. Dean made a face for a split second, one Abby was too tired to decipher, as he kneeled down and carefully cleaned the specks of blood off of Abby's face. In the light, Dean looked a lot younger than he normally did, Abby thought to herself.

Once he was done, Dean laid the towel on the side of the sink haphazardly and then stayed kneeling in front of Abby for just a moment, green eyes staring into brown.

For a moment, Dean opened his mouth and Abby thought he was going to say something, but then he closed it and just kissed Abby's temple before getting up and heading back into the main part of the cabin, leaving Abby in the bathroom on her own.

Abby's neck was still sore, and her head was starting to throb. If vampires had stormed into the cabin right then, Abby wasn't sure if she would be able to fight them off. Her arms were sore; machete's were pretty heavy for a nine-year-old to use regularly. Looking at her face in the mirror, Abby felt like she was floating above her body. She kept thinking about the boy in the woods. No, the vampire in the woods. What he had said.

"I'm trying to get out, alright? If you let me go, I won't hurt anyone or go after you, I swear."

He had been scared, terrified of her. Of Abby.

It was a strange feeling. Abby knew she should be proud; she had done a brave thing and if he had escaped he could have killed someone innocent, someone like Sarah, or Haley.

And yet, as Abby stared at herself in the mirror, her face still damp from the towel and her hair tangled, all Abby could see was the boy, his expression when the machete first dug into his neck.

The feeling of the blood on her, and then again, later on the road with Sam. Abby had hunted monsters before, she'd helped Dean prepare exorcisms or traps, but she'd never killed one completely on her own, let alone with that much brutality.

The noise of Sam and Dean rustling in the other room paused with the opening of the front door.

Abby walked out to see her father, now much more composed than on the road.

The part of the horror movie on repeat in Abby's mind of him smiling was playing like a broken record.

"So..." Dad said. Abby walked over to stand next to Sam, Dean on the other side of him, all facing Dad.

"Yes, sir?" Sam said.

"You ignored a direct order back there." Dad said. Abby bit the inside of her cheek.

"Yes, sir." Abby said, quietly.

"But we saved your ass." Dean said gruffly.

Dad's neutral expression was unchanging. "You're right." Dad said.

"I am?" Dean asked, confusion tinting his voice.

"Yeah. It scares the hell out of me. You three are all I've got." Dad glanced down at Abby. She blinked back at him. "But I guess we are stronger as a family." John echoed Dean's sentiments from earlier. "So... we go after this damn thing... together."

"Yes, sir." the siblings chorused.