Hope Is All We Need

Judith

Fog had spread around the back roads of a small town in Virginia. Cold rain hit the hard pavement, causing steam to raise. Trees acted as a canopy as Judith drove down the rode with a bright, and humming Hope in the back seat. Judith had gotten word from her father saying that he was all done with his hunt. She got the address of his motel that he was saying at and was on her way there.

Hope had slept most of the ride there. But when she did wake up, she was utterly confused and terrified. She started crying almost instantly, causing Judith to pull off the side of the road and comfort her. It did help a lot. Knowing that she was safe with her mother, Hope seemed to calm down.

They continued their journey throughout Virginia, only stopping occasionally for food. The only thing that consumed Judith’s mind was Sam. The way that he looked at her when she told him that she was leaving again. It broke her heart entirely. It was like she was letting him down. Again.

But Sam was quickly replaced with her father when she pulled into the small motel parking lot. Biting her lip, she parked a little ways away from all the rooms. Could she do this? She had to. There was no turning back. She sighed softly and killed the engine.

Getting Hope out, she made sure to tell her to be on her best behavior. The small girl clung to Judith’s hand and patted down her light purple dress as they walked closer to the room. They walked quickly with much ease in their matching low-top, classic converse. Hope’s long brown hair was pulled back in a cute French braid that Judith had done when she was eating.

Judith stopped right in front of the blue door. She stood there, staring at the gold number four. Biting her lip, she contemplated on whether or not to just turn around and run. But she her mind was made up when little Hope wiggled out of her grasp and knocked on the door three times. She placed her hand back into Judith’s and stared up at her with a small smile on her face.

When the door opened, Judith didn’t know what to do. Was she supposed to hug him? Was she supposed to punch him in the face? So they stood there for a while, just staring at one another.

“Judith,” Max spoke first and pulled her into a hug.

Judith wrapped her free arm around her father as best as she could, while still holding on to Hope’s hand. Silent tears began to roll down her pale cheeks. Before she knew it, sobs were casually escaping her mouth that was muffled into Max’s shoulder.

“Momma,” Hope squeaked, “are you okay?”

Judith pulled away from Max and lifted her up in her arms. She had a proud smile as she nodded and turned towards Max who was opening the door wider for her to enter. She stepped inside with Hope on her hip. When the door was closed properly, Judith lowered Hope to the floor and squatted to her level.

“Hope, this my dad,” She explained, “Your grand-dad.”

Hope stumbled back a bit and hid behind Judith. A slight blush had crept up and covered her already pink tinted cheeks.

“Is he like grandma?” she asked in a hush tone.

Max gave his daughter a puzzled look as Judith told her that he was nothing like grandma. Then Hope smiled brightly and ran to Max and threw her arms around his legs. A slight giggle escaped her lips as he scooped her up and hugged her tightly to him.

When Hope was busy watching a Disney movie on the motel t.v., Judith and Max were catching up.

“What happened to Nancy?” Max asked, “Why was Hope worried that I would be like her?”

Judith looked down at her hands. She sighed softly and shoved a hand in her pocket. She pulled out the wedding band and put it on the table in front of them. Max picked it up, his eyebrows knitting together.

“A demon had been possessing her for almost four years now,” She whispered to him, “Me and the boys walked in on her. I think she was trying to hurt Hope. And she said something about Hope being physic. I didn’t understand really.”

Max stared at the ring that laid in his rough hands. He could remember everything about Nancy. The way she smelled, the way she would scold him for leaving the toilet seat up, the way she cooked. Oh how he missed the way she cooked.

A comfortable silence filled the room. Only the soft sound of Walt Disney’s creation and an occasional giggle from Hope was heard. Judith quickly reminded herself that she was a vampire and she needed to tell her father soon. But what if he hated her and took Hope away from her? Was it worth it?

“Dad,” She sighed softly tears already threatening to fall, “I need to tell you something.”

Max looked away from the screen to see his daughter with a worried look on her face. He knew that it couldn’t be good if she was so choked up about it. But that’s when he saw it. Her normal dark blue eyes flickered into a piercing silver color. He jumped out of his seat, stumbling back into the wall.

“No,” He mumbled shaking his head, “You can’t be a…”

All she did was nod her head yes a few times before letting a few tears cascade down her cheeks. Max stared at her for so long, that his eyes began to dry out. He blinked a few times before his eyes flickered to Hope who was happily singing along to the movie, oblivious to what was happening.

Judith stood up suddenly, grabbing her phone as she did so, and walked out of the door. She quickly muttered, “I’m gonna call Sam.”

Once outside, she let more tears fall. But she dialed Sam anyways. Hey, he’s seen her a lot worse than that.

“Hello?”

“Sammy,” She practically whimpered.

“Judith, you okay?” He asked softly.

Judith shook her head even though he couldn’t see her. She couldn’t get much out. But she did manage to get out, “He knows.”

Sam instructed her to calm down, to breath in and out. He spoke soft words to her, saying things that made her want to cry even harder. Once she was calm, he asked her what was going on.

“My dad,” she spoke softly, “He knows. He knows what I am. And when he found out…” She paused for a moment, letting a sob out. “It’s just the way he looked at me like I was some sort of monster.”

Sam sat silently with the phone pressed against his ear, listening to Judith’s sobs. They echoed throughout his head, feeling his heart break. He knew that he couldn’t wrap his arms around her and comfort her like he wanted to. There was nothing he could do, but listen to her.

“I’m not a monster,” She whispered, “I’m not a monster.”

She kept repeated those four words over and over again until she felt all cried out. No more tears could escape her eyes, which told her that thy were probably red and puffy. She told Sam that she would call him later and hung up quickly. But not before telling him how sorry she was, but also thankful.

She slowly strode back into the motel room, seeing Hope fast asleep on the couch. Max was sitting in the chair that he had jumped out of. He was staring at his right hand that laid on the table. His left hand was unseen for it was hidden somewhere under the table.

“Dad,” she whispered stepping closer to him. She put a shaky hand on his shoulder.

Before she could say anything else, she felt a pain hit her stomach. She looked down and gasped at the sight. Her father stabbed her. Her own father stabbed her. But not just with a normal knife, it had a coat of dead man’s blood on it. It burned, terribly. Then, in one swift movement, Max had the large lamp from the table and hit her in the back of head, before she tumbled to the ground, unconscious.

Sam

Dean and Sam sat in silence. The only sound was the dripping water coming from the tub. The only thing on their mind was if they should really go. They had gotten a call from one of their dad’s friends saying that he had a vampire problem up in Virginia.

They weren’t sure exactly know where Judith was, and they were hoping that she hadn’t been some how tied into the problem. They didn’t even know the name of the guy that called them. He just informed them that he knew that they were good and wanted some help.

“We should check it out,” Dean said after some time.

Sam perked up a bit and gave Dean a look. In which Dean replied, “I mean, if it is Judith, she’s gonna need our help!”

Sam nodded, knowing his brother was right. So they packed up and headed off to Virginia. The ride was almost silent, but it didn’t take but a few hours to get over the state line.

Sam couldn’t help but have his memories float back to that special night that he and Judith shared. It was perfect. He hadn’t felt like that since Jess. A slight frown spread across his face. He felt bad for moving on, but he knew that she would want him to be happy. Right?

Soon enough, the boys were stopping in front of a giant abandon looking warehouse. It was grey and nasty looking. The pit of Sam’s stomach swirled around as they stepped inside. The smell of blood hit them in the face hard. A blood churning scream echoed throughout the whole building. They walked further until they spotted a man with his back to them.

“Hey,” Dean said casually, “It’s Dean and Sam Winchester.”

The man turned around, revealing a body tied up a support post. Everything was stained with blood. Her clothes, hair, skin. Sam already knew who it was. He stared at the Max with disbelief.

“Max?” He asked, “Max Marble? You’re killing your daughter?”

Max looked back at Judith who was still. Her head was low and her body was shivering. Sam stepped closer, trying to go and comfort her. But Max lifted his arm in front of him with the bloody knife still in his hand.

“Afraid I can’t let you do that,” He sighed.

“That’s your daughter!” Sam yelled.

Max didn’t lower his arm. If anything he pushed Sam back even more. “Now look, I didn’t call you to goof around. I called you to help me with this thing.”

“Why?” Sam spat, “Can’t kill your own daughter?”

Max growled and lifted the knife to Sam’s throat. It broke the skin, letting a tiny trail of blood run down his neck. A loud cry escape Judith’s lips, forming the words, “No!” It startled them all. All heads snapped in her direction to see she had managed to get up on her knees, but still looked at the ground. “Don’t hurt him, please. You can kill me, just don’t hurt him.”

No one moved. The only noise heard was the hard breathing that was coming from Judith. Her head slowly raised to reveal her vampire teeth that were sharper than the knife that Max had. The only person that flinched was Max. He backed away, then broke out in a full out run. But Dean stopped him.

“Where’s Hope?” He asked the frightened man.

He stuttered, “She’s in the car! Behind the building! Please don’t let her kill me!”

Dean let Max go, watching him run off into his own car. Sam stepped towards Judith cautiously with a hand in front of him. She looked away from him, trying to calm her breathing. Closing her eyes, she inhaled the scent of his blood.

“Sam,” She groaned, “your blood…”

He ignored her and walked around to untie her. Dean shuffled out of the building to find Hope and make sure she was okay. When Judith was untied, she distanced herself from Sam.

“Come here,” He said calmly.

She gripped onto the doorframe that she was standing under. It led to a room further into the building. “I can’t,” She cried, “It’s hard enough this close.”

“Judith,” He demanded, “I trust you.”

“But I don’t!” She shouted, “I don’t trust myself in this state!”

Sam just stayed there and watched her. Then he walked up to her and slowly wrapped his arms around her. Judith’s breath hitched. She tried to pull away but Sam was stronger. Her lip trembled, the smell getting stronger in her nostrils.

“Please,” She begged, “I can’t fight it much longer.”

Her voice was so weak that Sam almost obeyed her. Judith’s mouth started to open and floated above the cut. Her breath nipped at it, causing Sam to shiver. Was it bad to say that it felt nice? When her lips touched his skin, she let out a soft growl that developed in the back of her throat.

“Go,” She pleaded just as the blood entered her mouth. It wasn’t like anything she had ever tasted. It was definitely more tasty than animal blood. And it scared her. She didn’t know if she would be able to stop. Her sharp teeth grazed his skin.

Sam knew that he had to stop her then. He moved away, hearing a soft whimper escape her throat. She closed her eyes, lowering her head. Her insides craved his blood terribly. Her hands formed fists. They were so tight that her knuckles turned white and her nails were starting to break the skin.

“Fight it,” Sam demanded.

Judith tried. She tried to the best of her ability, but she wanted it. She had the taste still on her tongue. She backed into the doorframe and opened her eyes to stare up at the ceiling.

She thought about Hope and how smart she was. A smile crept up on her face as she thought about that one special night she shared with Sam. He was a big part of her life all of the sudden and she knew that she was starting to fall for him even more. Could she possibly love him?

While thinking about that, she didn’t notice that her teeth had retracted back up into her gum, her normal teeth visible. She looked over at Sam who had cleaned up his small cut. He pulled off his jacket and wrapped it around her small body. Then he grabbed some things out of his bag to clean up her face.

They didn’t say anything as he carefully wiped her face clean. Judith just stared at him, a little embarrassed by the events that just happened. Once he finished, he leaned down and pecked her lips.

“How did you know I wouldn’t kill you?” She whispered.

He smiled at her and said, “I didn’t.”

“I could’ve killed you, Sam,” She said a smile forming at her lips.

Sam wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led her out of the building. The sun was starting to descend pass the horizon. Dean and Hope were sitting on top of the Impala. Hope was trying to explain the storyline of Beauty and the Beast to him, in which he faked excitement.

“I know,” He said, “I could’ve killed you too.”

They looked at each other and smiled. For anyone else, it probably wouldn’t have been funny, but to them it was. They both let out a small laugh and joined Hope and Dean on the Impala. Judith picked Hope up and danced around, singing some of the songs from the classic Disney movie.

This was their life. Just the four of them. And they were happy with that.