The Monsters In Our Heads (Book 7 Arrow/SPN Crossovers)

Awkward

Once we established the new rules we spent most of the rest of the trip having a rambling conversation that jumped around a lot. Some of it was reliving old memories, some was new stuff and some of it was just random crap to pass the time. We stopped for lunch, I grabbed my usual just for old time's sake and had a rather rude awakening when I took a bite of the burger.

"Damn, this is greasy as hell." Coyote and I used lean meat or game meat like bison when we cooked, and we'd come up with some pretty tasty spice combinations for it too. This burger was bland, greasy and nasty.

Sam stared at me in shock, "Holy crap, you actually have taste buds now? I didn't know they could grow this late in life."

"Shut up," I debated sending it back and ordering something else but I didn't want to be one of those people so I just choked it down. It hit my stomach like a load of bricks. "Uggh, this sucks."

He didn't seem all that enthusiastic about the chicken thing he'd ordered either, "This is pretty much the only part I hate about the life now. I've gotten used to home cooked meals between you guys, Lyla and what I put together at home. It's hard to find decent food now."

"Yeah, seriously."

We chose not to linger over lunch, paid and left. He's been getting texts from the other hunters that were joining us on their eta to the nest. It seemed like all of us would be getting there within an hour or two of each other, I'd never really run a hunt with this many people so the whole concept was odd to me. "So, how are we doing this anyway?"

"Since we're all getting there midday and the houses are all conveniently located in shady areas we're going to try to hit them all at the same time. Felicity's hooked me up with some of those earpiece things she uses so we can all stay in touch and make sure everyone makes it out okay. It seems your return has generated some interest and we've got a few more hunters than we need, probably have them on stand by just in case."

That surprised me, "What the hell? It's not like I'm some prizefighter or something. I don't need a crowd watching me hunt, that'll just be awkward."

"Uh yeah, not so much guys watching you hunt. It's more along the lines of the hunters you hooked up with for your extracurricular activities."

"What...oh. This is going to suck."

He managed to keep a straight face, barely, "Seems some of them aren't quite willing to believe you're off the market. At least, that's what I'm assuming, since the ones that are replying that they are joining are all ones you've slept with."

"Is this how this works now? Tons of hunters just randomly showing up places?" I was starting to think killing the vampires would be the easiest part of this hunt.

"Nope, first time I've ever seen this happen. Usually a hunter requesting help gets two or three people joining up, we're up to seven, half of them are women you know."

"Any chance we can just go hunt elsewhere? There's got to be other nests nearby."

And that's when the faked sympathy took over, "Aww, you want to disappoint your adoring fans?"

"I hate you, really, really hate you."

He laughed, "Can you imagine if Coyote had come with us?"

Visions of hunter on hunter violence filled my head, "We never, ever, mention this to her. Ever."

"She wouldn't hurt you, you'll behave."

"It's not me I'm worried about."

"Good point."