Chapter 1 - Hydra Vampires

"I'm looking for a place; I'm searching for a face;

is anybody here I know?

Cause nothings going right; and everything's a mess;

and no one likes to be alone.

Isn't anyone trying to find me?

Won't somebody come take me home?

It's a damn cold night, trying to figure out this life.

Won't you take me by the hand, take me somewhere new?

I don't know who you are but I'm, I'm with you." -I'm With You by Avril Lavigne

Castiel, AKA Steve, straightened the cups and straws by the Slurpee machine. He then swept and mopped the entire floor of the convenience store.

He was working the closing shift alone as usual. His fellow workers knew they could count on him to take the worst shifts without any complaint.

It had been a week since Dean had dropped him off and told him not to worry about the other angels and to just enjoy his new life. The only trouble was that since that day Castiel had realized he wasn't enjoying his new life. He barely made enough money to afford food. And he was sleeping in the stock room of the store without anyone's knowledge. And as far as he could tell his new life as a human held no good prospects. He couldn't even get a date.

The chime on the door brought him out of his spiraling self pity. He glanced at the clock to see it was 10 minutes to midnight. Almost closing time but still enough time for one more customer.

The customer in question was a tall, pretty woman who looked to be in her mid to late twenties. At second glance Castiel could see she was more than pretty, stunning would be a better word. And that was even despite her current state.

She was filthy.

From head to toe she was covered in mud, grime, some sort of black goo, and what looked suspiciously like dried blood. Her filth didn't seem to concern her though. She just smiled at Castiel/Steve, said "Four wheeling. Had bit of an accident." by way of explanation and headed towards the beer case.

"Can I help you find anything?" Castiel asked as he watched her make muddy boot prints all over his freshly mopped floor.

"Nope, just restocking a few supplies." She grabbed a case of beer, Castiel took note, as he always did, that it was Dean's favorite brand. She then headed over to the soft drink section and snagged several energy drinks. She swung by the door and dumped her drinks into a basket then headed down the snack aisle.

Castiel watched in dismay as she left mud everywhere she went. When she passed by him on the way to the nacho machine he was assaulted with a pungent smell.

Since becoming human Castiel had learned how to deal with all sorts of smells. But this one was an old smell, one that reminded him of battles fought long ago and some fought more recently. He went over to the beer case and dabbed at a spot of the black liquid the girl had left behind. He rubbed it between his fingers and took a small sniff. It stank of decay and fear. Of brimstone and sulfur. It was hell hound blood.

He looked at the woman who was now casually looking thru the magazine rack and began to scrutinize her more thoroughly. She was dressed in rugged clothes, jeans, work boots, a thick leather jacket. A slight bulge beneath the jacket at the small of her back probably meant a gun. The handle of some type of large blade could also be seen poking out.

She was a hunter. And apparently a formidable one if she had gone up against a hell hound and won. Castiel knew of only two other hunters to claim such a feat.

"See anything you like?" Castiel was startled out of his thoughts by her question. She wasn't looking at him, she was thumbing through a magazine. But since he was the only other person in the store she had to be talking to him.

"I, ah, what?"

His obvious confusion caused her to look up to see him blushing. This brought out a chuckle from her. "Never mind."

She placed the magazine and her shopping basket on the counter. Castiel came around and began ringing up her items. Close up he noticed several slashes in her jacket that looked liked claw marks. Her shirt underneath was torn and soaked in blood.

"You're hurt." Something made him reach out a hand to touch her, wanting to take away her pain. He stopped himself though as he realized he didn't even know her. And he wasn't an angel anymore.

The woman glanced down at her shoulder, as if she had forgotten there was a gaping wound there.

"Oh yeah, it's nothing. Had a run in with a bear and it grazed me with its claws."

The corner of Castiel's mouth twitched up and he raised an eyebrow at her. "I thought you said it was a four wheeling accident?"

"Yes," she replied without skipping a beat, "I ran into the bear while four wheeling." She gave Castiel what was probably her most charming smile, a smile that said, 'Look how adorable I am, you should believe every word that is coming out of my mouth.' That combined with a pair of striking green eyes sent an ache of loneliness through his heart.

"Oh pie!" She reached into the fully stocked display case and grabbed a piece of apple pie. For a brief moment Castiel wondered if someone was playing a joke on him.

The sound of breaks squealing caused both of them to look up. Outside two pick up trucks came roaring into the gas station and skidded to a halt. Several men and a few women climbed out of the cabs and the rear of the trucks. Castiel immediately sensed danger, even before the girl sucked in a shocked breath.

"Oh crap," she turned alarmed green eyes to him. "You've got to get out of here." The machete that had been hiding under her coat was in her right hand. Without really thinking about what he was doing, Cas jumped up and over the counter and ran to the door. He jammed his key in the lock and twisted it just as the lead man reached it. Separated only by two panes of glass, Cas looked into the feral eyes and the sharp fangs of a vampire. This glass is not going to stop them, he thought. But instead of smashing through the door the vampire just leveled a shot gun at Castiel.

Castiel felt himself being grabbed and literally jerked off his feet. The woman threw him over the counter and followed behind, landing gracelessly on top of him just as the shotgun fired and glass exploded into the store.

The woman rolled off of him and Castiel scrambled towards the door that lead to the back room. The woman followed right behind him and he lead her through the door that went to the back room. Once through he raced to the shelves that held all of the back stock for the store.

"No, no, no. We can't hide from these guys. We've got to get out of here now!" The woman stabbed her arm out and pointed towards the rear exit to emphasize her point.

Castiel ignored her and reached under one of the shelves where he had stashed his duffel bag that contained all of his possessions. It wasn't a very large duffel bag so he easily found his angel blade and pulled it out.

The woman was crouched behind the shelf nearest the door, the one that held all of the chips; she was trying to see the vampires. Castiel took a quick look and saw at least a dozen vampires pacing up and down the aisles looking for them. They didn't seem to realize they had gone to the back but it was only a matter of time before they decided to come looking.

The girl turned back towards him.

"We've got to get out of ... where did you get that?" She was peering suspiciously down at his blade.

"I, uh, found it."

"Uh huh." She wasn't buying it. "Do you know how to use it?"

"Yes."

"Good. Let's get out of here then."

She glanced out into the main store again. Then signaled Castiel to head towards the exit. "I'll follow you."

Castiel weaved thru the shelves for cover. He was aware of the girl occasionally grabbing items off the shelves behind him. It seemed like an odd time to be shoplifting.

"Check the back!" The call echoing back from the front of the store sent a chill thru Castiel's heart. He ducked under one of the shelves and saw several pairs of heavy boots coming into the back room. And they were still too far away from the back door with a lot of open space to cover.

He spun around when he heard the hiss of a beer being opened behind him. The girl had a six pack and was popping the tops off of each one with her bare hands.

This woman was insane.

"I don't think now is the appropriate time for a drink." He whispered harshly.

She leveled those green eyes at him: "Honey, if now is not the time then I don't know when is. But these are not for drinking." As if to demonstrate, she picked up two of the beers and spilled about a quarter of them out onto the floor. The rest were soon emptied by at least a quarter as well and it was only when she began to stuff a strip of cloth that she had doused in the spilled beer into the first bottle that Castiel caught on.

"Where are they?" she asked.

Castiel ducked a quick look and saw to his dismay a pair of combat boots no more than two feet away. He didn't dare say anything, instead signaling their immediate danger. She was working fast but only three bottles where ready to go. She handed one to Castiel along with a lighter she had liberated from a nearby box. Grabbing the other two bottles and her own lighter, she scooted farther down the shelves, and Castiel followed.

Crashes and yelling came from the front of the store, and Castiel had a sudden mental image of the neat shelves being overthrown and their contents spilled everywhere. He'd just finished organizing the store too.

"Come on out you little ..." the vampire closest to them started.

She made her move. Launching herself up she practically flew at the shelf that the vampire was standing behind. Using her own momentum she caused the shelf to crash down on top of the vampire, effectively stopping his shouts and putting him out of commission for a few minutes. Unfortunately they were now completely exposed to the other two vampires who had come back to search. The nearest, a petite blond in nursing scrubs, snarled and ran towards them. A flaming bottle smashed down in front of her and flames began consuming her alcohol soaked scrubs. Fire may not kill vampires but they weren't immune to its pain or the fear it caused. The blonde began shrieking and flailing around, doing a very good job of feeding the fire oxygen and spreading it around.

The second vampire was tall and apparently a former Olympian because he leapt right over another shelf and came down right on top of the woman. It happened so fast neither Castiel nor the woman could get out of the way. Instead, the woman was locked in a wrestling match with the gymnast. Castiel was about to rush to her aid when he noticed through the door to the main store that the commotion and fire had attracted the rest of the pack and the closest was almost thru the door. Castiel flicked the lighter in his hand, lit the cloth and hurled the bottle, aiming so that it would explode right in the doorway causing a wall of flame. He followed it up with two more unlit beer bottles to add fuel to the fire. He swung back around to help with the other vamp only to see its head had already been removed from its body. Bloody machete still in hand, the woman ran towards the back door, grabbing Castiel by the sleeve as she passed.

They crossed the remaining distance in a few bounds and crashed out the back door.

The rear of the store was up against a wooded area. Castiel started towards it but was held back by the woman.

"No, they'll be able to track us no problem in there. We've got to throw them off our scent." In one swift move she had Castiel's blue uniform vest off of him before he even realized what was happening. She wrapped it around the rock that was used by his fellow employees to hold open the back door and flung it like a discus far into the woods.

"Move." She was climbing up the dumpster with Castiel right behind. Once on top she jumped and caught the bottom rung of the ladder that lead to the roof. She scrambled up and over onto the roof. As Castiel came up, he was pulled over the lip just as the back door crashed open and shouts of angry vampires could be heard.

Flattened down on the gravel of the roof they listened as the vampires shouted at each other. Castiel held his breath, hopefully the stink of the garbage dumpster would disguise their scents and throw the vampires off their trail. Finally one yelled something about the scent of the "attractive man," and they heard the sounds of several vampires crashing off into the woods. They stayed still for just a moment more, listening.

"Have they all gone?" Castiel whispered after a few more moments of quiet.

"I sincerely doubt we're going to be that lucky." But still she got up and, staying as low as possible, headed towards the side of the roof overlooking the main parking lot. Castiel again followed her, struck with the sudden thought that he was trusting this woman even though he didn't even know her name. Maybe it was because she was a hunter. Maybe it was because he was an idiot.

They slowed right before the edge and crept over to peer down at the parking lot.

Down below the two vampire trucks were parked so as to block the front entrance. A few vampires could be seen milling about, no doubt left to cover any escape attempts.

The woman swore under her breath. Parked a little farther away was another vehicle. It took Castiel a moment to figure out what type of vehicle it was. A Jeep Wrangler. He didn't know anything about cars, unless said car was a certain 67 Impala. But one of the regulars to the gas station had one, and he often bragged about it to anyone who would listen. Castiel was often one of those someones. It was large and boxy, with large tires that were caked in mud . The parking lot lights glinted of a dark paint job. And it might as well have been across town because a bunch of vampires were blocking their way to it.

Swearing defiantly seemed to be in order.

"We need a distraction." Castiel stated. He glanced at the woman, she was perfectly still except for her eyes. They were darting around everywhere. Scanning the whole parking lot, looking at the vampires, looking at her vehicle, looking at the gas pumps. Suddenly she was looking at Castiel.

"Gas stations have to have really good insurance, right?"

"Ahh ... I believe so. Why?"

"Just checking."

She reached into her jacket and produced a small case that she opened to reveal several small throwing knives.

The smell of smoke was beginning to fill the air and the sound of the store's fire alarm could be heard. Castiel wondered how long it would be before the fire department would respond. But the fire station was clear on the other side of town, and what would they do against a bunch of vampires anyway.

The woman suddenly stood, flung her arm out, and crouched back down just as swiftly. Castiel didn't understand for a moment then he realized she had thrown one of the knives. He didn't see where though.

They peered down at the vamps again, but none of them seemed to have noticed a knife flying over their heads.

The woman stood again and flung her arm out twice in a row before ducking down again. This time Castiel saw where the knives went. Each of the three gas pumps facing towards the store had had their lines sliced partially thru by a knife. Gas was spilling out of them and running downhill towards the front of the store and beginning to pool around the vampires' trucks.

He really, really hoped that the owners had good insurance.

He watched as the woman pulled her last Molotov cocktail out of her jacket along with the lighter. Down below one of the vampires jumped down from the bed of the truck he had been perched in. He seemed surprised when he landed with a splash. He glanced down, then traced the liquid's path back up to the gas pumps. Even from up on the roof Castiel could see the look of horror cross the vampire's face. But before it could shout out a warning there was the sound of a lighters click, a soft sigh as the bottle flew thru the air, the crash of glass splintering onto the hard asphalt, followed by the sudden whoosh of a huge fireball igniting. The vampires in the puddle were engulfed in the flames immediately, their screams a horrid sound piercing the night.

"I'm pretty sure they're distracted now." The woman got up and sprinted back across the roof and looked over the edge. Two vampires, who had been left behind to guard the rear, could be seen dashing around the corner of the building towards the sound of the screams. The woman quickly climbed back down the ladder. Castiel was right behind her and together they got down to the ground and ran around the left side of the building to get to the waiting vehicle. They spared only a brief glance at the vampires, but none of them noticed them. Castiel did notice that only one of the trucks was burning. The other one was so far spared from the flames. There was no time to do anything about it though, so he turned away and focused on keeping up. They reached the jeep and were about to scrambled inside when the vampires who had been guarding the back tackled them to the ground. Castiel hit the pavement with a painful grunt. Fortunately the vampire that had attacked him rolled off, carried on by its own momentum. It gave Castiel just enough time to roll onto his back as the vampire scrambled back to its feet and bore down on him. Castiel aimed and drove his blade thru the vampire's throat, severing the spinal cord. Technically the vamp could heal itself from the injury, but not in the next five minutes. Castiel shoved the vamp off him. "Get in!" The woman had a dead vampire at her feet but there were more coming from the woods. Castiel jumped in thru the driver's side door, which was already opened. He slid over as the woman jumped in after him. The engine roared to life and the woman threw it into reverse, ran over a vampire that had escaped the flames, then skidded out of the parking lot.

Two run stop signs and a stop light later, she finally slowed down.

"Whoa, I can't believe we just survived that. Good work, Steve." She clapped him on the shoulder and was grinning from ear to ear.

Castiel realized he was doing the same. He felt giddy with relief.

Which is exactly why at that moment the other vampire truck came hurtling at them out of the night.

The girl slammed the brakes and swerved out of the way just in time, but Castiel got a very close look at the angry vampires in the cab of the truck.

"There's a shotgun under your seat. You know how to use one?"

"Of course."

"Great! Shoot out the tires or go for the radiator."

Castiel pulled out the sawed off shotgun and rolled down the window before a sudden thought occurred to him. "Where is the radiator?" he said.

"Are you kidding me, you have an angel blade and know how to use a shotgun but you don't know where the radiator is on a truck!?"

"I've never had the need to know before."

"Just aim for the tires."

"Right."

Castiel leaned out the window and took aim. The truck rammed the jeep just as he fired causing his shot to go thru the wind shield and hit the vampire who was driving. And I don't care what badass creature of the night you think you are, a spray of buckshot to the head is going to distract you. The truck swerved towards them again glancing off the back bumper. But without any real direction behind it other than general out of controlness, the woman was able to keep her vehicle from spinning out as well. The victory was short lived though, as she swerved to avoid a second truck coming at them thru the night. It was obviously not the one they had left burning in the parking lot so it must have been a third vehicle the vampires had brought but left somewhere other than the gas station. It made tactical sense to have a reserve, the warrior in Castiel mused.

"What is up with these vampires?" The woman complained "I swear every time I chop off one of their heads, two more pop up in its place." She scowled at the second truck. " They're Hydra vampires." she declared.

Castiel frowned in thought. "I'm not sure that's a real thing."

"Oh it's a thing."

The second truck slammed into the driver side door and Castiel's head hit against the top of the door. A bright burst of pain caused colored spots to dance behind his eyes momentarily.

The woman yanked the wheel to the left and smashed her vehicle into the truck in an attempt to knock it off course. The truck swerved some but came right back at them, and Castiel was once again slammed into the door. The jolt caused more spots and a sharper pain. When his vision cleared again he saw, to his chagrin, that the driver of the first truck had recovered and was speeding up behind them.

"Look out!" He warned.

The woman glanced into the rear view mirror. "See! Hydra vampires!"

"Well actually they're the same ones from before."

"Zip it, Steve." She yanked the wheel hard to the right, cutting in front of the first truck, thus causing the second one to slam on its brakes and swerve to avoid a crash. Leaving just the first truck following them. The woman's hard turn to the right also put them on a new road, one that Castiel recognized.

"Be careful ahead," he warned, "there's a blind curve against a cliff."

"Oh really." This caused a very mischievous grin. It made Castiel's stomach do funny flips to see it.

As the curve approached, Castiel became concerned that they were not slowing down. He glanced over and his concern turned to slight panic at the look of, there was no other way to describe it, insanity on the woman's face. As the guard rail came into view and Castiel was seriously contemplating jumping from a speeding vehicle, the brakes squealed, the car spun 90 degrees and rocked slightly as it came to a full stop. Castiel peered out the window at the guardrail only a foot from the side of the car. The sound of an engine revving snapped his focus back to the road where the first truck was bearing down on them. The slight panic was upgraded to full blown panic.

His first reaction was to spread his wings and take them both away from the danger. He reached out his hand and gripped her shoulder before he remembered. She looked over at him, winked, slammed the gas, and the vehicle fishtailed for a moment before the tires caught, and they surged forward just as the truck flew past the back bumper, crashing through the guardrail, and over the cliff.

"Haha!" The woman crowed. Followed by, "Aw crap!" As the other truck came bearing down on them again. She threw the car into reverse, unfortunately the vampires either knew about the cliff or they were better drivers, because they turned sharply, just barely glancing the guardrail and took off in pursuit.

"I'm so done with these guys." She spun the wheel and turned the car 180 degrees and began scanning the edge of the road. She must have found what she was looking for because she suddenly pulled off to the side and stopped the car. Reaching behind her she produced two twin short blades. "Out!" And Castiel once again found himself obeying. She dashed into the woods that ran alongside the road, Castiel following close behind. He heard the sound of brakes squealing, truck doors being opened, then the shouts of the vampires as they crashed thru the woods . The woman quickly turned her head most likely hearing it as well, but she kept going until they arrived in a clearing. She then turned towards the sounds, putting her back to a large tree. "I'm done running." It came out as a snarl that sent a small shiver up Castiel's spine. Not an entirely bad shiver either. He stood next to her and pulled out his angel blade as she brandished the twin short swords. "You want my machete?" she asked.

"I prefer my blade." he replied. She quirked an eyebrow at him and smirked.

The vampires tumbled into the clearing; there where five of them, one girl and four guys. And they were obviously expecting to just tear into Castiel and the woman, but were brought up short by their quarry just standing there waiting for them. For half a second they hesitated, seeing the looks of promised death being directed at them, but their pride got the better of them.

"I'm gonna enjoy breaking you girl." The one with the brown shaggy hair said. "You've given us a lot of trouble, and I'm going to take it out on your hide. Your little friend there too."

"Little?" She glanced up at Castiel, "Guy's got to be at least 6 feet. Unless you're trying to be ironic. Or you've seen 'The Wizard of Oz' too many times." she added thoughtfully.

This earned her an honest to goodness snarl. Castiel raised his blade as the vampires attacked. Two came at Castiel, a man with a shaved head, and the girl. They were both armed with machetes and Castiel blocked the first blow the man aimed at his side easily. Wasting no energy he swung back at the vampire with his blade, neatly slicing his head off. The girl howled in rage and charged him. However, when the girl raised her machete high and brought it bearing down with the intent to hack Castiel's skull in two, he belatedly realized he was no longer supernaturally strong. He raised his blade and blocked, but the force of the impact pushed him backwards, throwing him off balance. The thing that saved him was the slope of his blade. The machete slid down and off trajectory, but it still sliced thru his shoulder even as he continued to stumble backwards. A root tripped him and he sprawled on the forest floor. Almost immediately the vamp was on him. Castiel fought, but he didn't have the strength to knock his attacker off. The vampire locked an arm around his throat and pulled him up into a kneeling position. Pain laced thru his scalp as she grabbed a fist full of his hair in order to pull his head back. Castiel's throat was exposed to the vampire and cold dread settled in his stomach.

"You're so pretty I might just decide to keep you." The thing cooed in his ear.

"I would rather suffer all the tortures of Hell."

"That can be arranged too."

White hot pain seared thru him as she bite into the soft flesh between the collar bone and the base of the neck. The analytical part of Castiel's brain noted that it was a bite not intended to kill. The terrified part of his brain said, 'Who cares!'

The female vampire pulled back. "Wow, you taste good. Why do you taste so good?" The vampire seemed to be having a foodgasm over Castiel's blood. Which distracted her long enough that she didn't notice one of her friends flying across the clearing at them until the last moment. The airborne body didn't hit them but it was close enough that the vampire loosened the head lock long enough for Castiel to roll forward and throw her off.

His angel blade was on the ground nearby, and he lunged for it. He was stopped short by no more than an inch when the vampire grabbed onto his legs. He stretched for the blade even as he tried to kick the vampire in her face. But she held on and pulled him farther away. She rolled him over onto his back. Castiel found himself being straddled by the thing, her hands wrapped around his neck, squeezing tight. His vision began to darken around the edges. She pulled his head up by the neck and slammed him back into the dirt, still choking the life out of him. The bump he had sustained earlier throbbed horribly, and he almost blacked out.

Suddenly he remembered something. Reaching down into his pocket he found the small utility blade he used to open up the boxes of stock at the gas station. He thumbed the blade out of its sheath and swiped it across the vampires eye. The vampire let out a high pitched cry and let go of Castiel, clutching both hands to her injured eye. Castiel threw the vampire off him one more time and launched himself at his blade. He wrapped his hand around the warm metal, sat up and turned just in time to stab the vampire thru the throat as it was trying to jump him again. He felt the ease with which his blade slide thru muscle and tendons, but he knew he had missed severing the spinal cord. He grabbed the tip of the blade that was protruding from the other side and wrenched it around as hard as he could. Head and body were more or less separated and Castiel sat back on his haunches, spitting blood from his mouth and wiping gore from his eyes. He looked around the clearing and caught the tail end of the woman's fight. She had already dispatched one vamp, and with a swipe of one of her short swords she relieved the second vamp of its head. The third was now circling her warily, looking for an opening. It was the one with the brown saggy hair that had taunted her earlier. Castiel thought about going to help but he had the feeling she could handle herself. And his head was pounding something terrible, and his vision still wasn't quite back to normal. So he just sat and watched as the woman charged the last vampire, side stepped the machete it swung at her. The vampire hit the ground, tucking his head under to roll and gain his feet again. It snarled and charged her, at the last second he threw his blade at her, maybe trying to distract her. She just knocked the machete away with one of the short swords and removed his head with the other, almost gracefully Castiel thought. She wiped the blades on the shaggy haired one's jacket before returning them to their sheaths. She came over to Castiel, who was still kneeling on the ground, and made a face at the nearly headless vampire.

"Dude, that was the most disgusting way I have ever seen to decapitate someone. And, incredibly badass. So kudos to you."

Castiel found himself, for reasons he was unsure of, smiling at her. She smiled back, the warmth reaching her green eyes. She put out her hand, Castiel took it, and she easily pulled him to his feet. However, his ability to stay vertical was immediately compromised by the entire forest spinning.

"Whoa!" The only thing that kept him from tumbling back down to the forest floor were surprisingly strong arms. It was kind of odd actually, now that he really thought about it, she seemed far too strong for someone her size. Not that there was anything wrong with her size. It was a nice size, with a nice shape, and …

"Nice eyes."

"What?" Those nice eyes were looking at him with concern. He had seen that look before somewhere. He couldn't seem to recall where. Though he was pretty sure green eyes were a common theme to this look of concern. If the forest would just cooperate and stop spinning he might be able to think clearly.

Concerned green eyes studied him. Finger tips brushed against a sore spot on the side of his head, and he winched.

"I think you might have a concussion Steve. Why don't I take you back to my place and fix you up." She started leading him out of the forest and towards the Hummer. Castiel went along willingly for a few steps before he jerked out of her grasp.

"No, I can't!" he said forcefully. Or at least he tried to say it forcefully, the slurred speech ruined the effect. "Last time I went home with a woman she seduced me then stabbed me." He turned away from the woman and lurched off in a different direction. He had a vague idea of returning to the gas station, completely forgetting it was in flames at the moment. He didn't get very far before stumbling again and again being saved by arms that were too strong. This warranted mentioning.

"You're too strong. What are you?"

There was a huff of breath near his ear as she turned him back towards the jeep.

"I'm the girl who's trying to make sure you don't stagger off into the night and end up dead in a ditch. But you can just call me Rina. Seriously though, you're in really bad shape. You've at least got a mild concussion, and I saw that vamp take a bite out of you. I can't take you to a hospital because there will be awkward questions about why you're covered in someone else's blood. So why don't you let me take you to the hotel I'm staying at; I'll get you your own room, then I can help you get cleaned up and make sure there is no permanent damage. And we'll even skip the whole seducing then stabbing part, K?"

As she talked she slowly lead Castiel back to her vehicle. Castiel went along mostly because he couldn't think what else to do. She made a good point and had promised not to kill him. So there wasn't any harm in going with her, right? This seemed to make sense to his addled brain, and soon he found himself sliding back into the passenger side of the Hummer. As soon as he was sitting a wave of exhaustion swept over him, and his eyelids felt heavy. He had almost closed them when they were pried back open, and a bright light was blasted into each of his eyeballs. When the light disappeared, he was left with spots in his vision that cleared to show the woman, Rina, standing in front of him with a pen light in her hand.

"Your pupils are pretty responsive so it's ok to sleep. I'm still going to have to wake you up every few hours. Make sure you remember what year it is and that your name is Steve." A bottle of water got pressed into his hands and he took a few sips before the complete exhaustion pulled his eyes closed again. The bottle was taken from his hands and a seatbelt was pulled across his chest.

Rina slid onto her side and started the vehicle back up. As they pulled out onto the road Castiel opened his eyes to peer over at her. A thought had just struck him. "But my name's not really Steve."

She gave him a small rueful smile. "That's okay, my name's not really Rina."