Daddy's Little Hunter (SPN Season 1)

Dead Man's Blood

Dean flipped through a newspaper, Sam was on his laptop, Natalia sat in a booster seat fiddling with a puddle of apple sauce.

Dean sighed as he folded the paper "Well dude. Not a decent lead in all of Nebraska. What've you got?"

"Well, I've been scanning Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota. Here. A woman in Iowa fell 10,000 feet from an airplane and survived," Sam explained.

"Sounds more like that's incredible than, uh, Twilight Zone,"

"Yeah," Sam agreed.

"Yeah, all right. What else you got?" Dean wondered.

"Ahh, a man in Colorado, a local man named Daniel Elkins, was found mauled in his home,"

Dean quirked an eyebrow "Elkins? I know that name,"

"Sounds like the police don't know what to think. At first, they said it was some sort of bear attack and now, they've found some signs of robbery,"

"Mm-hmm." Dean started flicking through John's journal "There, check it out." He handed the journal to Sam and pointed.

Sam looked over the contact information for D Elkins "You think it's the same Elkins?"

Dean shrugged "It's a Colorado area code,"

"You think it's the same Elkins?"

"It's a Colorado area code,"

***

Sam opened the door to Elkins's cabin.

Dean held a flashlight and looked around at the mess "Looks like the maid didn't come today,"

"Salt," Natalia called out from the door and pointed down at the white line.

Sam knelt down to look at what his daughter had found, ruffling her hair "It's clearly a ring." he looked up at Dean 'You think this guy Elkins was a player?"

"Definitely," Dean showed Sam the journal.

"That looks a hell of a lot like Dad's,"

"Yep, except this dates back to the 60s,"

Natalia looked outside and whimpered, running to her father who picked her up as he followed Dean into another room.

Sam looked up at the hole in the roof "Whatever attacked him, it looks like there was more than one,"

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

"Yeah," Sam looked over to see Dean crouched down by the floor "You got something?"

"I dunno." Dean admitted "Some scratches on the floor,"

"Death throes maybe?"

"Yeah, maybe," Dean grabbed a page from a notebook, placed it over the marks, and rubbed a pencil lead over it to get an outline. "Or maybe a message." he peeled up the paper, which had a lot of blood on the back; handing it over to Sam "Look familiar?"

"Three letters, six digits. The location and combination of a post office box." Sam realized "It's a mail drop,"

"Just the way Dad does it,"

***

Dean returned from the Post office and showed Sam the letter.

"'J.W.'" Sam read, "You think? John Winchester,"

Dean shrugged "I don't know. Should we open it?"

Natalia began to cry as there was a knock on Dean's window.

Dean looked "Dad?"

John got in the backseat, Natalia watching him with uncertainty from her car seat.

"Dad, what are you doing here? Are you all right?" Sam questioned as he reached back to soothe Natalia.

"Yeah, I'm ok." John said softly as he watched Sam's interaction with his daughter "I read the news about Daniel, I got here as fast I could. I saw you three at his place,"

Sam stopped as he remembered Natalia's whimper as she watched the doorway and hurried over to him. "Why didn't you come in Dad?"

"You know why. Because I had to make sure you weren't followed...by anyone or anything. Nice job of covering your tracks by the way,"

Dean became proud of himself "yeah, well, we learned from the best,"

"Wait, you came all the way out here for this Elkins guy?" Sam asked.

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

"Well, you never mentioned him to us,"

"We had a...we had a kind of falling out. I hadn't seen him in years." John gestured to the envelop "I should look at that." He opened the letter "'If you're reading this, I'm already dead'...that son of a bitch,"

"What is it?" Dean questioned.

"He had it the whole time,"

"Dad, what?" Sam wondered.

"When you searched the place, did you, did you see a gun? An antique, a Colt revolver, did you see it?"

"Ah, there was, there was an old case but it was empty," Dean recalled.

"They have it," John spat.

"You mean whatever killed Elkins?"

John began to get out of the car "We gotta pick up the trail,"

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

"If Elkins was telling the truth, we gotta find this gun,"

"The gun...why?"

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

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

"They were what Daniel Elkins killed best: Vampires,"

"Bleh, bleh, bleh," Natalia imitated

"Vampires?" Dean echoed his father "I thought there was no such thing,"

Sam nodded "You never even mention them, Dad,"

"I thought they were extinct." John reasoned "I thought Elkins and...and others had wiped them out. I was wrong. Most vampire lore is crap. A cross won't repel them, sunlight won't kill them, and neither will a stake to the heart. But the bloodlust, that part's true. They need fresh human blood to survive. They were once people, so you won't know it's a vampire until it's too late,"