The girl rolled her head from side to side on the round surface of the wooden column she was currently tied to. Her view of the musty barn blurring slightly, half due to her moving her head, probably more so from lack of sleep and malnutrition. She scratched at the wood of the pole, her nails broken and slightly bloody. She hummed as she did this. Her tune was upbeat.

"What are you singing?" asked the willowy old man sitting across from her. He was seated in a wooden chair, quietly scraping the dirt from under his nails. He seemed like he couldn't care less about the bloody and beaten girl across from him, he was merely curious. She smiled "Fuck you." Her voice was raspy, sounding like she'd been screaming for hours. "It's a song by Lily Allen. I feel it's suitable for this situation." She tilted her head. "You can sing along if you want, gramps." She smiled even wider, causing scabs on her lips to split. The old man gave a small chuckle, his grey eyes shining. He looked up to her from his nails, twisting the small pen knife he had been using for his nails in between his fingers. "You say another word and I'll call Kyle in here." The girl's smirk dropped and her humming stopped. She could taste the blood from her lips now, and she felt it running down her chin. "Why don't you just kill me already?" she asked, her voice hitching in her sore throat. "Because." He stood up and walked over to her, straightening his grey suit as he walked. It matched his eyes, and his hair, and his skin, she thought. He used his knife to push a strand of her chestnut hair from her face. She didn't flinch, not even when the knife bit into her cheek on its way off her face. "Where is the fun in that, sweetheart?"

• • •

"How many do you think are in there?" Sam asked, slipping a syringe into his pocket and another into his boot. Dean closed the boot of the impala, laying a bunch of supplies on top of her. "Maybe a dozen?" He took some syringes for himself. "From the amount of attacks on the nearby town, they can't be more than that." He slipped a machete into his thigh sheath. "What about the towns further away?"

"They were moving through Sam, like they usually do." Dean handed Sam a machete. Sam frowned as he took it. Dean sighed, and spoke up "I know you've just spent a year in hell, and you should be a little rusty-"

"I'm fine Dean, really." Sam slipped his machete into his own sheath. "I'm just saying-"

"Dean, seriously I'm great. Let's just go kill ourselves some blood suckers." The boys turned and strained their eyes to survey the barn and its surroundings. They decided to hit about an hour before full sunrise (the vampire's would be either just about to sleep, or possibly even sleeping already), so the lights from the barn were glowing between cracks in doors and small windows. They couldn't see any human shapes moving around outside the large barn structure, and there were no lights on in the relatively medium sized house attached to it. "Ready?" Sam's nose wrinkled a little, but his voice was determined "Yup. Let's do this."

• • •

The vampires had them backed into a corner of one of the barn's sectioned off rooms. They were completely surrounded. "A dozen?" spat Sam as he waved his machete wildly in front of him. "A dozen, Dean?"

"I said maybe" Dean swung his machete, taking off the head of an unfortunate vamp that got a little too close. This seemed to enrage their surrounding crowd further, making their hisses even louder. "Dean, there's close to thirty!"

"Well look at you, you can count-"

"Stop." A voice cut through the crowd. It wasn't particularly loud, but the authority of it resonated through the room. The hissing immediately cessed, though they still bared their fangs at the brothers. The vampires backed away, making a tunnel. At the end of it, stood a short, thin, grey old man. Beside him was a beast of a man. He was wearing stained grey slacks, an old maroon shirt that clung around his muscular chest and arms and a dirty puffy olive jacket over it. He was half a foot taller than Sam, his neck twice as thick (or it seemed so, maybe his head was just really small). His almost black eyes, which contrasted with his slicked back aluminium blond hair, looked at Sam and Dean with amusement. The old man spoke up again, "Let us give our guests a proper welcome, shall we?" The crowd chuckled. Sam and Dean gave each other quick glances, their eyes shining like trapped animals. They looked back at the old vampire and big and beefy vamp as the duo pointed small guns at the brother's chests, and shot.

• • •

Dean's head felt like it was filled with cement. He shook himself and groaned, his chest feeling like he got stabbed by an angry woodpecker. The tranquilizer's serum still ran through his veins which made it hard for him to open his eyes, but, before he did open them he realized four things. He was tied to something. He smelled that he was still in the barn. He wasn't dead. He could hear humming. After he opened his eyes, he realized he was right. He was tied to a wooden column, in a bigger section of the barn filled with about eight other wooded columns. He was alive, and there was a girl tied up directly in front of him, humming. She looked at Dean, her mouth turned up at the edges while she continued to hum. Was she humming… 'Here comes the sun' by the Beatles? How is that remotely appropriate? Dean tried to sit up straighter, and groaned again. The girl continued to hum, eyeing him blankly. Either her brain was fried, or she was very good at hiding her emotions. Dean looked around the barn again, seeing that Sam (unconscious) was tied to a column to his right.

"Why are there so many goddamn columns in this freaking barn" he grunted, fidgeting with the thick rope around his wrists. "More columns means more things to tie people to, I assume." The girl chirped in a sham of an upbeat tone, her small smile like a razor blade. Dean heard how ragged her voice was, and immediately knew this girl had been here too long. Her dark hair was tangled and dirty, as well as her clothes. Except her clothes also had blood stains on them, Dean couldn't tell if it was all her own. Dried blood was crusted in a line down her chin and cheek. She looked thin, underfed and almost on the brink of death, but her light golden eyes were shinning with furious light. She was a fighter, Dean could tell. Dean was about to ask her something, when a voice sounded from next to him.

"Dean?" Dean turned to see Sam blinking, trying to clear his head. "Yeah, I'm here." Dean responded. "Luckily." The girl's sarcasm was starting to piss Dean off. "Who the hell are you?" he snapped at her, though he felt a little guilty immediately for being grumpy with a half dead vampire victim. Though, the guilt was short lived. "Oh, no." The girl growled right back, sitting straighter. "I think the real question is, what kind of a piss poor vampire raid did you two just try to pull?" She looked from Dean to Sam, her eyes feeling like knives on their skin. Suddenly this girl, who was about eight years younger than Dean he guessed, felt like she was a teacher and they were in elementary school. "Well, I don't see you walking freely right now either." Dean quietly hissed. The girl leant forwards, stopping only when her bonds held her back. Her hair, which had fallen out from her pony tail, swung around her face. "No you don't. What a great observation. Maybe you also noticed I'm almost half you're height, a female whom anatomically has less muscle capacity than you do,"

Dean glanced at Sam, who looked as mortified as Dean felt. "and hey, I'm goddamn alone." Dean had gotten a verbal beating before, but the sheer venom that dripped from the girl's words were enough to make Dean feel like he's just been sucker punched in the mouth. Dean pressed his lips tightly together. Sam looked to him, waiting for him to have a dramatically angry outburst, but Dean stayed silent. He was thoroughly verbally spanked, and did not want to be again. A few moments of silence passed, the girl starting to hum again. She was singing 'White Christmas' this time. Dean could hear some kind of heated discussion going on in a room adjacent to this one. Many voices were trying to talk over one another, occasionally silenced by one voice speaking, and then they'd start again. The voices were too far away for Dean to decipher what they were saying. "You're name's Dean, like, Winchester right?" the girl asked. She sounded more tired than anything, her venomous tone had calmed. "Yeah, what's it to you." Grumbled Dean. She shrugged, rolling her head from side to side on the column. "Just nice to know I'm gonna die in the presence of Dean and Sam Winchester, the two hunters who've saved and broken the world more times than a mortal should."

"Our mom told us we were special." Dean replied, a smirk plastered on his lips. The girl opened her mouth, but she paused. She drew her lips into a vicious almost smile. "You're lucky my mood isn't as bad as it could be. Otherwise I could have you in tears" she hissed. "I don't doubt it." More silence. The girl didn't hum anymore. "Val."

"Huh?" Dean looked at her. "My name. Val. That's my name." she didn't look at either of the boys, she just kept rolling her head on the pole. "What's it short for? Valerie? "Sam asked politely. The girl smiled, this time widely. Her spilt lip tore a little, but only a small bit of blood welled out. "It's short for Valkyrie."

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that's not your real name?" Dean voice was quiet. "If you ever find out my name, it'll be when the cops ID my cold, dead corpse." She looked around herself, taking in her scenery. "Which, hopefully, won't be too long from now." As if summoned by Val's statement, the double doors at the far right of the barn burst open. Old regal grandpa vamp strode in, accompanied by the lumbering shape of beefy the vampire. Val took one look at the pair, her eyes lingering for a second longer on the bigger vampire, before she dropped her head. She pulled her legs against her chest, as though she were trying to make herself as small as possible. After her display of sarcasm and wittiness, Dean stared with surprise. He looked back at the two vampires walking towards them, just quick enough to see the nauseatingly greasy smile the big vamp gave Val, who was peeking out. She turned away, trying to turn her body away from the vamp. Dean remembered her bruised face and bloody body, looked at the way she pressed her legs so tightly together, and he put two and two together. He looked back at the beefy vampire. You mother fucker, he thought. You're going down first. The two vampires came to a halt in front of the brothers. Grandpa vamp looked at the two boys with a slight smile, taking the scene in with almost admiration in his eyes. "Thank you for joining us today, boys." his voice was jubilant.

"Go fuck yourself" deans response was immediate and vicious, pulling against his bonds. The beefy vamp's shovel like palm turned into a first, but a quick look from his elder made him stay his hand. The older vampire turned back to the brothers, smiling graciously. "No need for that language, mister Winchester. It is truly a pleasure to have you here."

"I wish I could say the feeling's mutual, but we kinda wanna rip your guts out" Dean tilted his head as he spoke, and Sam grinned in agreement. The vampire walked slowly towards Dean. Shit, did he fuck up? Dean nervously pulled on his bonds again. The vamp stopped inches from Dean, and then he kneeled. He dragged a long nailed finger across Dean's cheek, his nails making a raspy sound against Dean's stubble. Up close, Dean could see the multitude of wrinkles that covered the old man's face. He looked to be in his late 80's, but thanks to being a monster his step was as lively as a child's. "It's amazing, to have a master hunter in my capture, as well as the boy who almost broke the world." He glanced at Sam, and stood up. He approached Sam, and caught the other hunter's face in his hand. He examined Sam's face whilst Sam looked mildly horrified and slightly disgusted at being touched. Sam pulled his face sharply away from the vampire, earning him a shallow cut along his cheek. The old monster pulled his hand back slowly. Sam was giving the vampire a look of intense hatred, one which Dean shared. He glanced quickly at Val, who was looking out from over her knees at the scene. "Oh, my dear boys, the sum of money I can amount selling you to the right people." Dean perked up. Sell? He voiced his question, which made the vampire chuckle darkly. "You've screwed over so many monsters, there is not a species out there that doesn't want both your heads on silver platers with apples in your mouths." He smiled as he smoothed down his suit. He took a big step backwards so that he was next to beefy again.

Both vampires were grinning insanely. Dean swallowed, trying to hide his anxiety he put on his usual smirk. "What are we talking about here? Thousands? Millions? I think at least a hundred thousand for me, dunno about Sam." he drawled. The beefy vamp snorted, but turned away from Dean to look at Val. When they locked eyes she made a low sound in her throat, like a frightened and aggressive cat. This caused beefy to laugh loudly and he looked towards his master with pleading eyes. His master sighed, but it was the kind of sigh a mother gave her child when she finally let him get the sweets he wanted. "Do what you will, I'm going to start making calls." And with that old vampire spun on his heel and headed towards the door. Once he was out, beefy turned to Val and started walking towards her. She tried to scrabble away from him, panic in her eyes. Dean's stomach dropped and he shouted before he thought "Hey! Macho man! I gotta ask, you compensating for something?" The vampire completely ignored Dean. He fell to his knees in front of Val as he pried her thighs apart. She started talking quickly and almost fervently. "Please no, please. No, no, no, please." He just laughed again as his hands slid up her thigh. "Not again please." Her voice caught. Dean was boiling inside, he was about to lose it. As soon at beefy hooked a thumb into the waist band of Val's jeans, Dean did lose it.

"Hey! Listen to me you piece of ugly shit! I'm talking to you, you mother fucking blood sucking freak." Spit flew from his mouth as he thundered. The vampire paused, but didn't move. "Oh, you're not man enough to face me? I guess it's true, 'cause only cowards and ugly fuckers only get laid by raping girls."

"Watch your goddamn tone you-"

"Or you'll what, you fugly freaking monster." The vampire stood up faster than his weight should have permitted. He turned around and in one long stride he was standing in front of Dean. Dean stole a glance at Val, and she was shaking her head at dean in a gesture of 'you shouldn't have said anything'. Dean only smiled slightly at her, using his usual display of fake bravery. The vampire knelt in front of him now, giving Dean a once over. "I'd be content with you." He leant in a sniffed Dean, making Dean's eyes grow wide. What the- Jesus Christ, was all he could think. "I'm not that picky where I put my meat." Dean's mouth almost fell open, but he clamped it shut, lest it become one of those places. "I'd rather not get STDs from Marshmallow man vampire addition, thanks." He smiled, his eyes shining. From the corner of his eye he could see Sam eyeing him, fear obvious on his face. Dean licked his lips, a nervous tick of his. "It's either you, or the girl." Said beefy in a mock sweet tone. Up close, he was uglier than Dean thought. His face was scarred, lopsided from fights, and his lips were uncomfortably large and puffy. Guess he really was compensating. Dean tilted his head, as if thinking. "Well, why don't you go fuck yourself." His smile was bright "I hear that works wonders." The vampire gave Dean an almost smile, before standing up and turning around to walk to Val. Val looked at the vampire in the eyes, and even though her body shook, her eyes were filled with fire. Her legs were still against her chest, pressed so tightly she looked like she was a spring about to be set loose. She quickly looked away from the vampire to look at Dean. Her eyes were wide and expressive, looking like they were willing Dean to realize something. She looked at the vampire again as he took a step towards her. Her legs looked like they were going to kick out at him. Dean's eyes widened. Kick.

The distance separating dean and Val's pole was a good seven meters, and Dean realized what he had to do. Just as the vampire placed his foot down in another step towards Val, Dean brought his knees up to his chest, and used all his strength and anger to kick out at the back of beefy's legs. Years of kicking doors and monster's asses, coupled with running towards and away from things, had led to Dean having extraordinarily strong legs. So, when he kicked out with all his might into the soft part of the vampire's leg (the back of his knees), the vamp buckled and fell forwards at an alarming speed. This speed was combined with a well-aimed kick to his face by heavy, girl's biker boots (also don't by rather athletic legs). His head snapped back, the sickening crack from his breaking neck echoing through the room as he swayed upright for a second, before falling face first into Val's lap. She grunted in disgust, and wiggled until his face fell off her lap and rested next to her thigh. Blood dripped from his nose and mouth, soaking Val's jeans. "That went well." Sam acknowledged. Val was breathing heavily. Her head fell forwards. "Val, you okay?" Dean's voice was worried. It was the first time he'd said her name. She was silent for a second, and then her shoulders shook a little. She looked up, tears in her eyes, but she was laughing softly. "I've dreamt of doing that for days." She took a deep breath, still laughing a bit. For days. The words echoed in Dean's mind. He needed to get her out of here, if it was the last thing he did. He looked around, trying to find anything that could cut the bonds around their wrists. "He won't stay down for long, Dean." Sam muttered. "I know."

"And our machetes were taken away."

"I know that too." Dean was getting irritated. "Dean-"

"What, Sam?" Dean barked. Sam gave him a look of 'Dude, wtf chill'. Dean sighed, "Yes, Sam?" he tried again. "The machete." Sam finished his sentence. "The what?" Dean looked at him with confusion and irritation. "Look at the body" Dean's eyes flicked to the body, seeing a hip sheath poking out from the vampire's disgusting jacket. Dean looked to Val. She had been watching them, and she nodded, immediately getting what to do. She stretched her legs out, reaching for the machete's handle with her boots. She slipped one boot in between the vampire's hip and the machete handle, and placed her other foot on the opposite side of the machete. She pulled the machete slowly from its sheath, her legs shaking. Voices started becoming louder outside the room, coming closer. The voices were of two people, a man and woman, and they were coming towards the barn's doors. Dean swore. "Val, can you hurry up?" Dean hissed. "I'm going as fast as I can without losing my grip" she spat at him, not looking away from the machete. The voices were almost to the door, Dean could tell from the sound of their footsteps. The machete reached the edge of its sheath, and Val flicked it towards herself with her heels. It landed in-between her legs, and she spun herself around the column until it was in her hands. The voices were at the edge of the door. Val had barely turned herself fast enough to face the door, when they burst open and two shapes entered the room, immediately stopping once the saw the carnage in front of them.

Dean looked from their dumbstruck faces, to the corpse in front of him, back to their faces. The old man looked at Dean, fury in his eyes. Dean shrugged. "Oops." His voice sounded innocently sweet. The old man rushed towards Dean, a strangled cry coming from his throat. "Sir! No! They're needed alive!" squealed the female vampire that was beside him when they walked in. She was dressed in tight jeans and a low cut top, which would've been more attractive if it wasn't blood stained. "You filthy maggot!" he screamed as he dove at Dean, grabbing Dean's throat. As soon as they'd come in, Val had already started cutting the bonds at her wrists. Lucking, over the days she'd frayed them by rubbing them against the rough wood of the column. She's picked at the wood to make it even more rough, so once she started cutting the thick rope, it was snapping easily. But not quick enough, she worried as she saw Dean gasping for air. "I am done with your arrogance! You think you're so special!" The old vampire was still screaming as he crushed Dean's wind pipes. The female vampire was trying desperately to pull the older vampire off their valuable product. His grip loosened a little as his balance wavered, giving dean a gasp of air, but he continued to choke the life out of Dean once he shook off the female. Val's arms burned. Almost there, she screamed in her mind. "You're nothing but over confident monkeys! You-"

Val's bonds snapped. In a fluid and bullet fast movement she sprang forwards and swung her machete, taking the old vampire's head clean off. Blood splashed all over Dean, and the master vamp's hands fell from Dean's throat the same time as his head fell from his neck. The female vampire opened her mouth to scream, but Val quickly swung again. The vamp made a gargling noise, and then crumpled to the ground. Val stood still to survey the barn, but she immediately started to sway and stumble. She grabbed onto Dean's column, her vision turning purple, and the edges of it going black. "Val?" Dean's voice stopped her from passing out. Dean heard her take a deep breath. "Yeah?" she responded.

"You okay?" he asked for the second time. She gave a half laugh, looking down and squeezing her eyes shut against the spinning world. "It's just been a while since I ate." She muttered. She opened her eyes again and fell to her knees. She dove the machete between Dean's bonds and the column, cutting them quickly and effectively. Dean pulled the rope from his hands and quickly put his hands on Val's shoulders. She sat down and let dean turn her so she could lean against the column. She was panting heavily, and her vision kept blurring and focusing every few seconds. "Sit tight, you did great." She smiled a half smile, the blood on her face rippling slightly as the skin crinkled. Dean gently took the machete from her and walked over to Sam. He was cutting his bonds and trying to come up with a plan, when a shadow stood over Val. She looked up, and opened her mouth to scream.

Her scream was stolen from her lungs as she was quickly picked up by Beefy the vamp, and thrown against the wall at the other end other barn. She felt the breath leave her lungs and heard her head thud as her back slapped into the wooden wall. She blacked out before she hit the ground, only faintly aware that her waist felt like it had just been shredded by a wendigo claw, and only just hearing Sam let out a strangled yell before she fell into a black abyss.