On Your Side

"So I'm assuming you have an idea of how to kill this thing," Bayleigh said. "The silver knife doesn't work very well."

"Uhm, yea, I do." He nodded and they fell into silence again when he failed to elaborate. The music played softly in the background as they watched whom they suspected to be a lamia get her hair done. The song was one of the happier songs, the kinds he wouldn't suspect from a girl like her. But he enjoyed it. 

Sam watched her. As he did, he realized that he knew just about nothing about her. 

"How did you start?" he asked. 

"Start what?"

"Hunting."

"It's a long story," she replied quietly. 

"We have time." He nodded toward the salon, where the huge front windows revealed the lamia getting pulled out of the wash station. 

Bayleigh sighed. "Fine. I guess it started when I was fifteen. I was on the wrong side of a human trafficking ring controlled by vampires. It was really well organized. We figure it's why hunters think the race is dying out; vampires connected with the ring don't need to hunt any more so they go unnoticed."

"We who?" Sam asked. Bayleigh glared at him for the interruption and he took the hint and shut up. 

"Anyways, your dad and Bobby wiped out the nest that was holding me and a couple other girls. They pulled us out and questioned us. They let the other girls go home, but I had nowhere to go, so I went home with Bobby and lived there for a while. Then after I begged him to teach me to hunt, he sent me to go hunt with a Hunter. I think you knew him. Rufus."

Sam nodded sadly. "I was there when he died."

Bayleigh looked at her hands. "Thats how I started. We hunted together for seven years, then he set me off on my own. And here I am."

Sam nodded thoughtfully, then said, "Well I'd tell you my story, but everyone already seems to know."

"It's no secret how the Winchesters got their start." She looked at him. "I assume you know about the books?"

He laughed. "Yea. It's... It's interesting."

Bayleigh nodded and was silent again, wondering which part he was referring to- the books or his story. She turned up the radio slightly to a song that made him think of Dean. 

His phone buzzed in his pocket and played Dean's ringtone. 'Speak of the devil,' he thought, hitting the ignore button. 

"Not speaking to the older brother?"

"Nope."

"So who did he leave you for? What was her name?"

"Benny."

Bayleigh furrowed her brows. "Your brother didn't strike me as gay."

Sam laughed. "He isn't. Benny's the one who got him out of him from purgatory."

She frowned. "What kind of monster is he?" Bayleigh asked dully. 

"A vampire." She frowned and nodded. 

"I understand," she said softly. 

Something at the base of his spine seemed to relax and he exhaled slowly. But for Bayleigh, the moment was already past. She watched the lamia getting it's hair blown dry and styled. Not long later, it left and got in a cherry red convertible. She started up the Dodge and followed it. 

<><><><><>

They followed the car to a warehouse lot in the middle of town. It parked outside a storage box. Bayleigh parked on the road. Sam pulled a ziplock bag out of his pocket with a mixture of rosemary and salt in it. 

"What's that for?" 

"If it turns out this is the lamia, then we have to throw this on her and torch her." Bayleigh nodded slowly. She pulled her gun out of her weapons duffel and cocked it. "What's that for? Silver doesn't work on it."

"It isn't silver. It's just in case. As is this." She pulled a couple knives out and handed him one. He accepted it and they got out. 

The sun was setting. It was getting dark quickly and as they neared the lamia, they heard the muffled yells of a gagged person. 

He looked over his shoulder at her, half expecting to see Dean, and she held up her blowtorch. He gripped the can of gasoline in his hand and turned back to the lamia. It was hefting a body out of the trunk and up over her shoulder. It walked confidently inside the storage container. 

They tiptoed forward slowly, slipping through the opening. Bayleigh closed it behind them with a metallic click and the lamia turned from tying up her victim to look at them. 

"Desert!" it cheered. 

Sam and Bayleigh looked at each other. They had to get the lamia as far away from her victim as possible so they wouldn't light him on fire, too. 'Though,' Bayleigh thought, 'he looks young enough to withstand some burns.' he looked no older than eighteen. 

"Let the kid go," Sam said stiffly. 

"Make me." Bayleigh moved slightly and got what she wanted. The lamia shot after her, away from the kid. As the lamia pounced on her, Sam threw his salt mixture and gasoline on her. Bayleigh let the lamia catch her, grinning grimly and twisting beneath the creature so her blowtorch was aimed at the wet patch made by the gas. The lamia lit up like dry leaves.

She rolled away from the dying monster, shaking slightly from that giddy high she always got from a seriously close encounter in a hunt. 

Sam rushed forward, beating at her arm and she realized it was on fire. At the same time she noticed something poking out of her other arm. She pulled it out. 

"A souvenir." She presented Sam with the claw, barely aware of the pain she was still in. He shook his head at her. 

"Are you okay?"

"Oh, I'm great," she smiled. He frowned a little bit, but just shrugged it off and went to help the boy. 

<><><><><>

They were relaxing in the motel room later that night. Bayleigh had her headphones on and Sam was doing something on his laptop. His phone buzzed with Dean's ringtone again. 

"Maybe you should answer it," Bayleigh suggested, pulling one earphone out. 

Sam shook his head and hit ignore. "No." She sighed and took out the other bud. 

"I get that your brother ditched you for a monster, but you have to trust his judgement, right? I mean, how long has he been hunting? He knows what he's doing." 

"Well it's not just that."

"Then explain." 

Sam shook his head, then said, "When he went to purgatory, I didn't look for him. I was alone. Bobby was dead, Dean and Cas were nowhere to be found, and a demon took the kid I was supposed to be protecting. I had nothing. So I ran. And then I hit a dog and found love and then a year later Dean comes back. I don't know how or why, but he did. And the first thing he does after making sure I was human was bitch at me for making a life, the exact thing he did when I threw myself into Lucifer's cage. Ever since he came back, he's been guilt tripping me with the fact that I didn't get him out of purgatory."

"Well that's shitty and all but-"

"Its not all. This isn't the first time he left me without an explanation. The last time we were convinced he was killing again and Dean tricked me into thinking my ex-girlfriend was dying to get me off his back. Right before that he pretty much told me Benny was like the trustworthy brother he'd never had." Bayleigh frowned. "And then he told me that he was done. Benny was on his own. But now, with one phone call, Dean's run off again."

This time it was her phone that rang. She ignored it without checking the caller ID and let it go to voicemail. 

"Who is it that you're ignoring?" Sam asked. 

She shrugged. "The world. I don't answer it. I wait to see who it is and call them back."

Her phone buzzed again, signaling a voicemail. She picked it up and listened to it, then stood and walked out the door mumbling something about having to return this. 

<><><><><>

"Bayleigh?"

"Why did you call me, Dean?"

"Is Sammy with you?"

"Yes."

"Is he okay?". 

"He's fine."

"Can I talk to him?"

"No." She shook her head and thought, 'Fucking Winchesters', then said, "Look, He should have looked for you when you were in purgatory. And you shouldn't leave him for a vampire. You both fucked up. Now you both need to grow a pair, hug it out, and get the fuck over it. I like the guy, but I like my alone time even more and I am not about to give that up for him. Plus, my dog doesn't like him."

Dean was silent for a second. "Okay," he said finally. "I'll call him."

"Good." She hung up and stomped inside. 

Sam's phone rang as she slammed the door behind her. "Answer it."

"But it's De-"

"Answer the fucking phone." 

He answered it slowly and left the room. Bayleigh collapsed on the bed and patted the mattress next to her. Coby jumped up and buried his face in her side, doing a little doggy groan. She imitated the sound with a small smile. 

"Oh, Coby," she whispered, "you never annoy me." She stroked his soft back. He whined huskily and she rolled over, engulfing him in her arms, groaning as her muscles stretched happily, and her arms wrapped around the dog, folding his skin between her fingers. The dog exhaled and licked her face, pressing his nose into her cheek. 

Before she knew it she was fast asleep.