The two brothers crept through the room in silence, trying desperately not to wake the slumbering vampires surrounding them. Sam noticed a blood-soaked girl tied to a chair. With a nod of approval from Dean, he began to untie her. "Hey, hey, shh, I'm here to help you."
Suddenly a voice hisses through the darkness. "No!"
Before Sam could react, a piercing scream rang out through the room. He stumbled away from the girl, his eyes darting around as the vampires began to wake up.
The same voice from earlier reached Sam's ears. "Damn it!" A flash of metal came across his vision, accompanied with the sound of severing flesh. The screaming abruptly stopped. A strong hand wrapped around Sam's arm and yanked him to his feet. "Come on!" The hand kept a firm grip as Sam was dragged out into the sunlight, Dean not far behind.
Once they were safe in the daylight, Sam and Dean carefully assessed their new helper. To their surprise, it wore shit-kicker boots, tight leather pants, a red tank top, and a barely visible... bra.
Dean let out a slight chuckle. "You've gotta be kidding me."
The girl ignored his statement, her face still contorted in anger. "What the hell did you two think you were doing?"
Dean's laughter dissipated at the sound of her voice. "I could be asking you the same thing, sweetheart."
"I was doing my job, sweetheart. Which you two royally screwed up, by the way." Her glare intensified, and she crossed her arms over her chest in annoyance.
"Your job?" Dean began to laugh again. "Yeah. Sure."
Sam roughly nudged Dean in the ribs. "I don't think she's joking." He gestured towards the large scythe resting in the girl's hand.
Dean's eyebrows furrowed in confusion and glanced from the scythe back up to the girl's eyes. "What are you?" He tightened his grip on his machete, just in case.
She finally allowed a smile to grace her lips. "I thought you would've figured it out by now." She then added with a sarcastic tone, "I mean, with you being such great hunters and all."
Slowly, Dean raised his machete and inched closer to the stranger. As he prepared to fight, a voice cut through the woods.
"Dean, don't hurt her." John Winchester watched as all three heads turned to face him. "She's on our side."
She smiled smugly at this comment. "You're damn right I am. If you can call your band of merry men a 'side', that is."
John slowly advanced towards the group, his eyes never leaving the girl. "You're her."
She shrugged in a non-committal way. "Yeah. One of. But I'm pretty much the original."
Sam and Dean were completely lost in this conversation. Finally, Sam spoke up. "One of what?"
John turned to address his sons. "Boys... this is the vampire slayer."
A pleased smirk appeared on her face. "The name's Faith. You all can thank me for saving your asses later."
"Come on. We need to get back." John began to head for the car, leaving behind two very confused boys.
Sam whispered in Dean's ear as they walked. "What the hell is a vampire slayer?"
Dean grinned. "A smoking hot girl, apparently."
From a little ways ahead, Faith's voice called out, "It's called Slayer hearing, baby. One word about my ass and I can guarantee I won't save you next time."
He glanced over at Sam, who was barely containing his laughter. "Hey, I don't need saving."
"Keep telling yourself that, handsome."
---
Faith leaned back in her chair, pretending to listen to whatever the hell Sam was going on about. After what seemed like forever, there was a pause in the monologue, and she took up the chance to escape. "Hey, I'm gonna go take a shower. Just yell for me when Dean gets back." Without waiting for a response, she leapt out of her seat and bounded off towards the bathroom.
---
After a while, the motel room door swung open to reveal Dean holding the requested package. "Got what you wanted, and now I've gotta take a leak. Damn funeral home needs a bathroom." He set the jar on the table in front of Sam and headed towards the bathroom.
As soon as Sam heard the squeak of the doorknob, he remembered their extra party. "Dean, wait!" But he was too late.
"Whoa!" Dean stopped in his tracks as he opened the door. Standing in front of him was a completely naked, dripping wet, Faith.
"If you wanted to join me, you're a little late." She shot him a sexy grin and made no moves to cover herself. "Not that I mind, but you wanna pick up your jaw and be a little useful?"
Dean's eyes widened and he swallowed dryly. "Useful?"
She rolled her eyes. "Hand me a towel, dumbass."
His brain finally started working and he noticed the towel Faith was referring to. "Oh. Yeah, of course." He tossed her the towel from where he stood, refusing to come any further into the room.
She reached out and caught it between her fingers. "Thanks, baby. Now get out."
Dean willingly obliged and quickly slammed the door shut. "Awkward." He looked over at Sam. "Great job with the warning, Sammy."
A fully dressed Faith exited the bathroom and breezed past Dean, making sure to slap his ass on the way. "So, what's this all important package?"
John spoke up from his corner of the room. "Dead man's blood."
She raised an eyebrow and sunk down into a chair. "Mind telling me what good that'll do?"
"You coat an arrow with it and it's poisonous to the vampires it hits."
"Huh. I used something like that once. Apparently it was wicked painful. Of course, the only cure was my blood, so I ended up stuck in a coma for eight months." She absent-mindedly picked at her black nail polish as she told her story.
Dean sat down across from her. "A vampire fed off you?"
"Nah. That time I got stabbed and fell off a building." She kicked her feet up and rested them on the table. "He did bite me later though. This whole capture scheme that landed me in a drug-induced coma. Gotta tell ya, not as fun as it sounds."
Dean and Sam exchanged disbelieving glances. This girl was by no means predictable.
She took her feet down and leaned over to examine the blood. "So, what's the plan? I know these vamps aren't your run of the mill hell-spawn, right? I'm guessing they're still human hybrids or whatever, but they have the characteristics of pure vampires. Which means holy water rolls off 'em and stakes don't do a damn thing." Faith let out a groan that visibly made Dean jump. "I had enough trouble with the real things in the Hellmouth. Now I've gotta deal with the hearty bastards up here."
John got up from his chair and made his way over to the table. "The sun's about to set. We need to move."
Faith sprung out of her chair and grabbed the scythe. "I call shotgun!" She smiled widely and ran off to take her seat in the Impala.
Dean shook his head. "This should be fun."
---
Dean stood outside the car looking under the hood when he heard a feminine voice.
"Car trouble? Let me give you a lift. I'll take you back to my place."
He smiles at her. "Nah, I'll pass. I usually draw the line at necrophilia."
A swift punch and Dean fell to the ground. She roughly lifts him up by the cheeks, keeping a firm grip on his face. Before she can say anything else, an impatient brunette runs out and delivers a hard right cross to the vampire's jaw.
Faith grins and shoots the girl in the chest with an arrow. She grins as an audible 'swoosh' signifies the other vampire getting shot. Grabbing her scythe, she moves over to the male vampire and efficiently beheads him in one swipe. She turned to face the other vamp, but her intentions were halted by John's voice.
"Faith, we need that one alive."
She rapidly spun around towards him. "What? Why the hell can't I kill her?"
"We need her to make a trade. They have something of ours."
"You're fucking kidding me. I let you all tag along because I assumed you wanted to kill vampires. Now you tell me you're doing business with them?"
John let out a sigh. "Faith, I promise you can kill as many as you want after we make the trade. For now can you help us get her in the truck?"
"Yeah. Whatever." She reluctantly complied and hauled the barely lucid vampire into the front seat.
---
Faith huffed in annoyance as she watched Dean behead yet another vampire. "Tell me why I tagged along with you two again?" She detected movement in the shadows and quickly made waste of the drunken demon.
Dean arrogantly pointed out, "Because you wanted to kill things, remember?"
"Yeah, but the worst ones are out there cornering your old man. Pretty damn risky of him."
Dean whipped his head around at this remark. "He knows what he's doing."
"Do you really think that?" She walked until she was mere inches from Dean's face. "Or is that just what your Daddy had engraved onto your brain?"
Sam set a firm hand on Faith's shoulder and pulled her away from Dean. "Back off, Faith."
She let out a snort of laughter. "You're saying you don't agree? Your daddy may be good, but he's not a slayer. He's being reckless trying to get back whatever the hell it is that's so important." She shoved her fingers through her dark hair in frustration. "Now you guys are welcome to stay here and play watchdog, but I'm gonna go help out where I'm needed." Her footsteps were no longer quiet as she stormed out of the nest.
Sam let out a sigh and looked over at his brother. "I hate to admit it, but she's right, Dean."
"Yeah, yeah. Let's just go help dad."
---
As Faith and the boys approached the scene, they arrived just in time to see John smash against the truck and fall unconscious. Unable to hide her joy in being right, Faith grinned at Dean before shooting a blood covered arrow into a vampire's back. Several more bolts were loosed by Sam and Dean, hitting multiple vampires. Faith darted out into the fray to help John, but her efforts were thwarted by a large pair of hands wrapping around her throat.
"Faith!" Dean pulled out his knife.
"Don't! I'll break her neck. Put the blade down." Luther tightened his grip on Faith's neck, lifting her feet off the ground.
Faith let out a ragged cough. "Don't listen to him, baby. Just get what you came for and—" She tried to get in another breath, but the pressure on her windpipe wouldn't allow it.
At the sight of Faith struggling, Dean slowly set down his knife.
Faith was clearly not pleased by this action, she grit her teeth and met Dean's eyes with a cold stare.
"You people, why can't you just leave us alone? We have as much right to live as you do." Luther continued to keep his grasp on Faith's neck.
"I don't think so." John raised the Colt into the air and shot Luther in the middle of his forehead.
Luther let go of his grip on Faith, and she collapsed to the ground in a fit of wheezing coughs. She could feel Sam and Dean's hands as they tried to help her up, but she quickly brushed them off and grabbed Dean's discarded knife. She jumped to her feet in preparation to kill the bastard, but a bright flash of light appeared, and Luther was gone.
The rest of the vampires sprinted back into the woods after this display.
Faith massaged her neck with her spare hand. "What the hell was that? Bullets don't kill vampires."
John let out a rare smile. "These bullets do."
Another cough escaped her throat as she tried to laugh. "Damn. Guess I underestimated you after all."
Sam rubbed her back comfortingly and supported her as they made their way to the car.
---
Faith came out of the bathroom to see all three Winchesters exchanging knowing looks. "Sorry to interrupt the family moment."
Sam turned and smiled at her. "How are you feeling?"
"Five by five." Her half-hearted smile turned into a full out grin at the sight of Dean and Sam's puzzled looks.
Dean stepped forward and took a good look into her deep brown eyes. "So, you sticking around?"
She shrugged slightly. "As fun as that sounds, I think I'm gonna get going. Always more demons to kill."
Dean's face noticeably fell before he could stop it. "And just when I was beginning to tolerate you."
A loud burst of laughter echoed throughout the room. "Well, we're even now anyways. I saved your ass, and you saved mine. Not that I needed it."
Dean cut his eyes at her.
"You should've just taken that trippy gun and left me. But you didn't." She let out a slow breath. "I guess I'm trying to say thanks." In one swift motion, she leaned forward and captured Dean's lips in a searing kiss. She caught his bottom lip in her teeth and gently tugged on it as she broke apart from him. Her eyes had a wicked gleam, and she shoved his chest playfully.
Sam let out a loud fake cough to break the moment.
Faith smiled and made her way over to Sam. "Thank you too, Sammy." She wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace.
From across the room, Dean could be heard mumbling, "Only I can call him Sammy."
Faith stepped away from Sam and looked over at John. She nodded at him. "John."
"Faith." He nodded back.
"I guess I'll see you around." She deliberately locked eyes with Dean as she smiled. "Try not to get yourselves killed." With that, she swung her long hair over her shoulder and shut the motel door behind her.
Sam wore a boyish grin at Dean's expense. "Think we'll ever see her again?"
Dean just smirked as he watched her through the window. "Not a chance."