"Vampires." Dean said the word simply, as if that was the explanation to all of the world's problems. Just vampires. Like I was supposed to believe that vampires had broken into my house and slaughtered my family, that they even existed outside of books and movies. They did seem to have a running theme in my memories of tonight, though...
"Vampires." I rolled my eyes, trying to put some semblance of normal into this conversation. "You expect me to believe that vampires did this?" I pointed to my leg, ignoring the wound on my neck that would seem to go along with their ridiculous excuse. "And killed my family?"
"Nope." Dean's gaze was too steady. He was too sure of himself, too sure of vampires, to be thinking straight. At least he understood that there was no way I was going to buy it.
I looked at Sam, and he looked just as sure as Dean did, watching me warily. Neither of them had anything else to say.
"But you think they did." I kept looking at Sam, frowning. He nodded.
Suddenly, I was aware of how dumb I was. How could I just keep sitting in a car with two complete strangers who believed in vampires and had somehow known that my family and I were going to be attacked by them? Strangers who had come into my house armed, completely unaffected by the gruesome scene in front of them like they saw it daily. What if they were the ones to blame for everything? I could be writing my own death sentence, a teenage girl not even fighting back as two psychotic grown men took her away after murdering the entirety of her family.
There was another option, though.
They could be telling the truth.
But seriously? Vampires? Who in their right mind above the age of ten believed in that kind of crap?
They let me fight my mental battle in silence, exchanging a glance when it took longer than a couple minutes for me to regain composure. I looked around me, not seeing any immediate threats besides the obvious two. They didn't have weapons in hand, at least. If only I had my pepper spray...
"Let me get this straight, then." I looked at both of them, and when they were silent, continued. "You two think that vampires attacked my family and killed them, but left me alive, for whatever reason. And you were driving me to a hospital..." I tried not to flinch at the word. "To get me help?"
"We know that vampires did that," Sam corrected. "And yes."
Okay, so they were crazy.
"You need proof?" Dean nodded towards my leg, and I looked down at it, my eyes locking on the shape of the crescents. "Tell me what that looks like."
I hesitantly touched it, tracing the numb semi-circles slowly. I knew very well what it looked like, but didn't want to answer.
"A bite." Dean didn't wait for my confirmation. "Your neck looks the same."
I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. Was I seriously starting to believe them? This could be just some weird cut, possibly something they'd done to convince me vampires were real.
I couldn't help but notice the slightly indented spots, though. The spots where the long canines would have broken the skin and continued deeper, starting the bite but certainly not ending it. What if they were telling the truth, and vampires were real? What did that mean?
"So you're saying that..." Vampires were real? Vampires killed my brother and parents? I was alone in the world because of creatures few people even believed existed?
"That the monsters under your bed are real." Dean's tone was a lot less serious than I had expected it to be. "And every other monster, at that."
My brows rose. "I think I'll stop now with just believing in vampires, thanks."
There was another long silence, and I waited, deciding to break it when more curiosity got the best of me. "What does that make you guys, then? Vampire hunters?"
"Just hunters," Sam said slowly. "We're the ones who kill the monsters."
"All the monsters that actually exist." I was starting to feel my fingers pressing against my stitched leg, and the pain shook me further awake. So this was actually happening, then. This wasn't a dream.
The silence was enough answer for me.
After they seemed to decide that I was okay enough to keep driving, Dean pulled back onto the highway, making a U-turn in the direction we'd come. "Do you have anybody you can go to? Friends, relatives in the city that we can take you to?"
"I have a second cousin that's like three states away." From the look on Dean's face, the distance of three states didn't seem like that much of a problem to him. "But I don't think I'd be able to stay with her."
"Not even if she knew your family was gone? And you were alone?" Sam asked.
I shook my head. We had never been that close, and the distance between our families kept us from seeing each other outside of the occasional huge family Christmas at my grandparents' house. The last one had been about five or six years ago. "I don't even remember her name."
"No friends, then?"
"I have friends." I swallowed a knot in my throat, trying to figure out what to do. These people hunted monsters? Meaning they would probably go after the vampires that killed my family. Without anyone holding me behind in this stupid town, which I'd always hated anyway, what was the use in staying when I could get revenge? I stopped worrying about Sam and Dean in particular, not doubting their ability to attack me but that they actually would in the first place. What would be the point in stitching me up and actively seeking out a place for me to stay if they were planning on hurting me? They were too close to any neighborhoods now to do anything violent without getting caught. The remote highway was long behind us.
"Where do they live?" I wasn't sure if I heard annoyance in Dean's voice or not as he asked the question, slowing down when he started passing streets with houses on them, most unlit. I searched for a clock on the dashboard, but apparently the car was too old to have one.
"Um, downtown. You're like ten minutes away." At a normal speed. Dean might as well have been driving in a NASCAR race. I tried to remember how to get to my one semi-close friend's house while debating my plan, having absolutely no idea how I was going to carry it out without them discovering what I was up to. "What time is it?"
"Just after three," Sam said immediately, as if he'd checked before I'd even asked.
"I don't think any of my friends are going to be awake, it's...Tuesday night." My stomach clenched when I realized what that meant. "Today's my birthday. I'm eighteen." Happy birthday to me.
"Congrats," Dean mumbled, already downtown. "Address?"
