Chapter Text
For someone who was supposed to be this great hunter John Winchester really was a fucking idiot.
Claire was at least self aware enough to admit she’d executed more than her own fair share of half-cocked, recklessly idiotic plans, but she had the excuse of inexperience, mostly. The more near death experiences she had the better she got at avoiding them. It may also have something to do with the fact that the number of people willing to lecture her over her dumb behaviour was considerable and it wasn’t worth it if they found out.
So she knew a needlessly reckless plan when she saw one, and considering the experience in the room they could do better. After returning with their fresh jar of dead man’s blood John had wasted no time putting Sam and Dean to work, leaving Claire in the dark as to what that work entailed. Evidently their plan was made before she entered the picture, and Winchester senior was reluctant to share.
-
Apparently she wasn’t invited.
They didn’t want her and than was just fine. Frankly she’d rather take the vamps by herself than follow John Winchester anywhere. He may have more experience but she didn’t trust him. He was exactly the type of hunter Dean had taught her would cost her her life. And she trusted Sam and Dean in the future but this version of them, the people they were around their dad, it wasn’t something she liked to see.
She was reckless but she wasn’t stupid.
Being forced off a hunt wasn’t her idea of a good time but frankly she was grateful for it, she was running on empty and just wanted to crash. She had a non-stop pounding in her head and wanted nothing more than to pass out on the crappy motel bed. She was at the end of even her limits.
They’d made it through this without her before and they’d do it again.
John had disappeared leaving her comfortable enough to flop down on the bed. If she wasn’t invited on the hunt then she definitely wasn’t going to help them prep for it. She watched as Sam and Dean coated arrows in dead man’s blood, it wasn’t a bad idea for taking them out at a distance she might have to steal that one, but she couldn’t see anything for if they got in close, and that was almost a definite when it came to vampires.
She sat up with a sigh, “I nabbed these from the morgue,” she said holding out the needles she had grabbed.
Sam stared at her hand strangely, “Needles? Why would we need needles?”
Blinking slowly in disbelief she said, “I know you only just found out about vampires but surely you have some sort of plan.”
“We do.” He replied gesturing at the mess in the room, “Hence all of this. What would needles have to do with anything?”
Jesus the amount of lectures she received from the pair on them on doing proper research and this is what they ad to offer at her age, it was embarrassing really. Despite knowing the truth she was hard pressed to believe these two were capable of doing half the stuff they would go on to do.
“Vamps like to get up close and personal, it’s practically their M.O. A needle filled with dead man’s blood is going to be a lot more useful than some arrows when they’ve got their teeth in your neck.” She answered.
Opening his mouth to respond Sam was interrupted by the slamming of the door.
Staring at her outstretched hand suspicion crossed John’s face before hardening into something she didn’t recognise, “What’s going on here?” He asked gruffly.
Shifting uncomfortably Dean refused to meet her eyes, but Sam spoke up, “Claire’s got this idea that she’s used against vampires before, if we load the needles up with dead man’s blood we can use it if they get close a-“
“Thanks for the tip,” John interrupted, “but that won’t be necessary.”
“But dad-“
“We have a plan and it’ll work,” he stopped Dean, “It’s time to go.”
Pausing for a split second as if to say something Dean wavered, “Yes sir.” And started gathering the weapons.
Dean’s words prompted Sam to start moving, glancing briefly at her, a look of apology in both pairs of eyes, they were gone.
Idiots the lot of them, too blinded by John Winchester’s ego to see what was right in front of them. Moving to the table she saw just enough blood left for one needle, it wasn’t a lot but it was better than nothing.
Quickly she got to work, knowing that once she heard the roar of their car it would be too late, and they would be unprepared.
Slamming the door behind her as she left the room she drew their attention. Dean broke away from their trio warily eyeing John but he paid her no attention.
“Did you need something? We’re about to head off so you won’t be able to reach us for a while.” He asked.
“Take this.” Manoeuvring so John couldn’t see she held out the needle now filled with a dull red liquid.
“Look I can’t. My dad said-“
“I know what he said. Just take the damn thing will you.” Her hand was open but he still refused to take it, indecision flashing in his eyes, “Look I swore to you once that I wouldn’t hunt like a dumbass. Don’t make me a liar.”
Silently taking the needle from her outstretched hand he made it disappear in the depths of his jacket, and with that he was gone.
Out of the corner of her eye she felt the hard stare of John Winchester filled with suspicion, and she took that as her clue to leave.
Let them go on their stupid hunt alone, she needed sleep.
-
Glancing at his rear view mirror Dean watched as John’s truck disappeared down a side road.
For years he had been hunting on his own whilst Sam was living it up at college, but now the empty passenger seat filled him with unease.
He was no stranger to being the honey in the trap but after the last year with Sam it simply felt wrong to be going into this alone. Realistically he knew his family were out there lying in wait. But alone, on this empty stretch of road luring out the undead. It wasn’t a huge comfort.
But he had a job to do.
Climbing out his car he winced at the slam of the door breaking the silence. Drawing attention to himself went against his instincts, but he was damn good at it.
Popping the hood he looked over baby’s engine. The familiarity gave him comfort, despite feeling like a sitting duck. Reaching into his pocket he felt for the needle loaded with dead man’s blood, at least he wasn’t completely defenceless.
“Car trouble?” A woman’s voice asked.
Turning he kept his back to the car.
“Let me give you a lift.” She moved towards him getting in close. “I’ll take you back to my place.”
He grinned, refusing to be the prey in her trap, “Nah I’ll pass. I usually draw the line at necrophilia.”
He felt the sting of her backhand before he even saw her hand move, guess she didn’t appreciate his humour.
Clocking another vamp approaching he moved but was grabbed before he could do anything. His feet floated above the ground as she clutched at his face, effortlessly showing off her superior strength.
Grabbing for her wrist, attempting to free himself, “I don’t usually get this friendly until the second date but-“
“You know, we could have some fun. I always like to make new friends.” Slowly lowering him down to her level.
He trusted his family but where the hell were they, shouldn’t they have stopped this by now.
A coldness spread across his lips as she forcefully kissed him.
Something had gone wrong. From the moment she grabbed him Sam would have reacted, but there had to be other vamps out there and they had found them. He was on his own.
Fumbling in his pocket he grabbed the needle and sunk it into the shoulder that wasn’t holding him up, pressing the plunger down before she could react. Wide eyed she stared at him swaying as she fell to the ground taking him with her.
Rolling away he put as much distance as he could between him and vampire quickly losing her battle with consciousness. “Oh. Whuf.” He grunted,”Sorry I don’t usually stay with a chick that long. Definitely not eternity.”
The other vamp went down, Dean could see the arrow sticking out of it’s chest. Guess the others had been just fine after all.
Twigs snapped underfoot as Sam and John emerged from the trees carrying their crossbows, John’s still loaded with an arrow.
“What the hell was that?” John yelled in Dean’s face yanking him off the ground, “We had a plan. All you had to do was wait and you couldn’t even do that right!”
“Yeah we had a plan and I did what I had to do when I thought you guys weren’t going to follow through on your part.” He yelled back.
John shoved him in the chest, “You didn’t trust us to have your back yet you’re taking hunting advice from some girl you don’t even know-“
“Advice that worked.” John recoiled at the interruption, “And you know what I did trust you to have my back. Right up until the moment she had me and you did absolutely nothing about it. I thought something had happened to you and I was on my own. So yeah I acted. What did you want me to do just take it?”
John’s only response was silence. He turned to Sam, “Load her up. I’ll take care of this one.”
He marched over to the other vamp, swinging his machete down.
-
John ordered Dean to build a campfire, still giving him the cold shoulder from his insolence earlier, the only words his dad had for him were his usual marching orders.
A heavy bag hit his chest.
“Toss this on the fire. Saffron, skunk’s cabbage and trillium. It’ll block our scent and hers, until we’re ready.” It was the most John had said in the past half hour.
Opening up the bag he caught a whiff of the strong smell, “Stuff stinks.”
John faced him, “That’s the idea.” The Drill Sargent tone so familiar taking a darker tone, “Dust your clothes with the ashes and you stand a chance of not being detected. I’m trusting that you can at least do that.”
All these years following dad’s orders and it’s the exact same treatment when he doesn’t. If he’d known that he would have disobeyed them more.
“You sure they’ll come after her?” Sam asked breaking the tension, a role normally fulfilled by Dean.
“Yeah. Vampires mate for life. She means more to him than the gun. But the blood sickness is going to wear off soon, so you don’t have a lot of time.” John informed them.
“A half hour ought to do it.” Said Sam, already thinking of a plan.
John nodded, “And then I want you out of the area as fast as you can.”
“But-“ Sam tried to reason but was interrupted by Dean.
“Dad you can’t take care of them all yourself.”
“I’ll have her. And the Colt.”
Dean knew that tone, it meant there was no reasoning with him.
“But after. We’re gonna meet up, right? Use the gun together. Right?” Sam stared at John for a long time before realisation dawned across his face, “You’re leaving again, aren’t you. You still wanna go after the demon alone. You know, I don’t get you. You can’t treat us like this.”
“Like what?” John’s voice was flat, like he couldn’t see where Sam was coming from.
“Like children.” Sam moved in close, ready to attack.
“You are my children. I’m trying to keep you safe.”
John’s voice was rising and Dean could see this going how Sam and John’s fights always went, explosive and loud, only to be stopped when he intervened. But he was done trying to keep the peace.
“Dad, all due respect, but that’s a bunch of crap.”
Snapped out of their bubble of anger they stared at Dean eyes wide with shock.
“Excuse me?” The quietness of his anger scared Dean, but he’d come this far. He couldn’t stop now.
“You know what Sammy and I have been hunting. Hell you sent us on a few hunting trips yourself, and that’s just now we’re adults.” He yelled no longer caring what his dad would say, let him be the one to argue with Dad this time. It had been a damn long time coming. “ You had me hunting ghosts on my own when I was seventeen. You can’t be that concerned with our safety.”
John stalked over to him, “It’s not the same thing Dean.”
“Then what is it?” He refused to shy away, “Why do you want us out of the big fight?”
“This demon. It’s a bad son of a bitch. I can’t make the same moves if I’m worried about keeping you alive.”
“That’s rich.”
“Dean I-“
“No. For once I’m going to do the talking and you’re going to listen.” Pleading now, just hoping that his dad would hear him. “You expect me to believe that all of this is to protect us? Keep us safe? I was dying and we couldn’t even get you on the phone. If somebody hadn’t been messing with a reaper I would have died and you couldn’t even pick up the damn phone.”
John breathed deeply, a cold anger settling over him, “If I’d have known-“
“How the hell could you have known? You refused to even pick up the phone.” Tears formed in the corner of his eyes, but he refused to let them fall, “This isn’t about keeping us safe, it never was. It’s all about you and your need for revenge.”
“You mother-“
“Don’t.”
“Everything I have ever done is for this family. For her.” John spat through gritted teeth.
“Don’t you dare bring her into this. You think I don’t know what this has all been for? I want revenge too!” He didn’t stop the tears from falling, “But did did you ever stop and think for one second that this is the life she would have wanted for us, for any of us?”
Shaking his head in disbelief John responded, “I’ve only ever done my best for you boys. You’re all I have left. And if anyone kills this demon it’s going to be me.”
Head in his hands, wishing his father would just listen, “You want to be reckless, consequences be damned that’s fine, but this isn’t just your revenge. We’re all involved. So we’re going to get this gun back and then we’re going yo help Claire. Or did you forget about her?”
“I don’t like what this girl is doing to you son.” Dismissively he turned, believing Dean was done, “She made her mess, she can get herself out of it.”
“She’s not doing anything to me.” Grabbing John’s shoulder he spun him round, forcing him to meet his eyes, “You think you can just bark orders and expect me to listen when I’ve been doing this on my own for so fucking long.”
John grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him in close, “I was preparing you. I was protecting you.”
“Protecting us from what? You weren’t there!” He choked out, his father’s grin cutting of his airway, “I protected us, you protected your chance of revenge.”
“Dean maybe you should-“ Sam said attempting to intervene but unused to playing the peacemaker.
“No.” Pushing John off of him he rounded on Sam. He’d kept silent for his whole damn life, and he was so fucking tired. “You always got annoyed at daddy’s perfect little soldier but now that I’m done you have a problem.”
And finally he let the dam burst, “From the very moment you decided to fill your life with revenge it was my job to protect us. You drilled it into me every second of every day, ‘watch out for Sammy’, and I did. That was your job but I did it anyway and it still wasn’t enough for you.” Voice rising unable to stop now that he had started, “Despite the fact he never went to the same school for more than a couple months he got into Stanford on a full fucking ride. You know how proud of him I was for that, but I couldn’t show it, because all you could be was angry. At Sam for leaving and me for allowing him to.”
“I want you to have a normal life, but until we kill this demon-“
“Oh I’m sick of hearing about the demon.” He yelled, “It’s not for long Dean, once we do this we’ll have a normal life. I’m so sick of your lies dad. It’s been 22 years, my whole fucking life has been in service of your revenge. You think I can have a normal life after what you’ve made me? My life is nothing but a series of the same crappy motel rooms with nothing but a GED and a string of fake credit cards to my name. Legally I’m dead. There is no normal life for me. Not anymore.”
The crackling of the fire was the only response he got, Sam stunned into silence by his outburst, John nothing but a hard stare.
“It had to be done Dean.” He marched towards his truck, making it clear the conversation was over, “We don’t have time for your little hissy fit. Let’s go.”
-
Despite being awake for close to two days, sleep was not coming easy to her. A constant pounding in her head keeping her awake, and that was without the added worry of whatever the Winchesters were up to.
Staring at the familiar stains of the motel ceiling the same wherever she went, sleep finally claimed her.
Opening her eyes she studied her surroundings. Gone were the crappy motel beds and the weapons scattered all over the place, replaced with a dining room table.
She’d recognise Jody’s house anywhere, but this made no sense. Everything far too realistic to be a dream, and when dealing with the supernatural even your own head wasn’t safe.
Dreams were never this vivid, not for her and something just felt off, she got the distinct feeling she wasn’t alone.
Behind her a door slammed, she whipped around ready to fight.
“Hello Claire.”