Stranger

Chapter 27

"...Oh yeah," Nevaeh says, "and vampires nest in groups of eight to ten. Smaller packs are sent out to hunt for food. Victims are taken to the nest. The pack keeps them alive, bleeding them for days or weeks."

"I wonder if that's what happened to that 911 couple," Dean says.

Nevaeh nods. "Most likely."

"That's probably what dad's thinking," Sam says. "Course, it'll be nice if he just told us what he thinks."

Dean takes a long look at Sam. "So it is starting."

Sam glances at Dean. "What?"

"Sam, we've been looking for Dad all year. Now we're not with him for a couple hours and there's static already?"

"No. Look, I'm happy he's okay, all right? I'm happy that we're all working together—"

"—well, good."

Sam takes a deep breath. "It's just, the way he treats us like we're children."

"Oh, God," Nevaeh mutters from the backseat. She hates confrontation.

"He barks orders at us, Dean. He expects us to follow them without question. He keeps us on some need-to-know deal."

"He does what he does for a reason."

"What reason?"

"Our job. There's no time to argue, alright, it's just the way the old man runs things."

"Yeah, well, maybe that worked when we were kids, but not anymore, alright? Not after everything you and I have been through, Dean. I mean, are you telling me you're cool with falling into line, and letting them run the whole show?"

Dean pauses. "If that's what it takes."

Nevaeh glances between the two, neither one of them saying anything else. The two of them reminds her so much of her and her brother. Dean's phone rings, and Nevaeh's grateful for something to disrupt the awkward silence.

"Yeah, Dad. All right, got it." Dean slips his phone on his pocket. "Pull off the next exit."

"Why?"

"Because Dad thinks we've got the vampires' trail."

"How?"

"I don't know. He didn't say."

Sam pushes down on gas, passing up the exit, and swerving the car right in the middle of the street, and hopping out of the car.

"Ah, crap. Here we go. Sam!"

"We need to talk." Nevaeh hears Sam's muffled voice outside of the car.

"About what?"

"About everything. Where are we going? What's the big deal about this gun?"

"Sammy, come on, we can q and a after we kill all the vampires."

"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. Now, out of the blue, you need our help. No, obviously, something big is going down, and we wanna know what!"

"Get back in the car." John demands.

"No."

John steps closer. "I said, get back in the damn car."

Sam steps even closer. "Yeah, and I said no."

"Alright, you made your point, tough guy," Dean says. "We're tired, we can talk about this later. Sammy I mean it, come on," Dean grabs Sam's jacket, pulling him to the car.