Supernatural: An Understanding

Sam X Lenore

Author's notes: I came across this idea when I was watching the last appearance of Lenore, in season six where she gives Eve's location and Cas kills her. The way she seems to be begging Sam in particular for her death inspired me to write this. And while I research her backstory and drink my chocolate milk I hope this comes out great.

Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural. If I did Sam would still have his powers, Gabriel would still be alive, and the Colt wouldn't seem so obsolete.

Chapter One

That feeling, when you're being watched. The feeling Dad trained into Sam every day of his childhood. Like, alarm bells going off in his head that trigger the fight-or-flight response of his body. That was the feeling that crept up on him as he pushed the button on the vending machine.

Every nerve was on alert. As Sam picked up the cola and walked back towards the hotel room he branched out with his hearing, trying to get a read for the source of his body's distress. Sam opened the can slowly, seemingly at ease when he was anything but. Walking back to the room, he turned the key and looked around slightly. After closing the door and letting go of the breath he was holding, Sam put the can on the counter, and that's when trouble finally found him.

Someone grabbed Sam from behind, trying to wrestle him to the ground. Shifting his weight, he pulled him to his front and threw a punch right to the mystery man's face that put him on the ground. Sam heard the exaggerated grunts of his partner coming at him from behind. Turning quickly, the hunter threw another punch right into his nose, making him fall. But Sam had only an instant to feel smug about the easy takedown before sharp pain erupted from the back of his head and darkness overtook him.

When Sam awoke his instincts jolted him awake. He was gagged and his sense of sight was impaired but he could feel the material of the hood all over his face so he knew it was covered. The smell of old leather and the rumbling noises of an engine told Sam that he was in a car and on the move. Immediately, Sam gathered as much info about his surroundings as he could. After hearing the creaking and the bumps of an old wood bridge Sam counted the distance as best he could, with every turn memorized. Finally the car stopped and rough hands pulled and pushed him inside a house and onto a chair. Sam didn't have to wait long before the captors showed themselves.

A man, tall, short dark hair, with a beard and mustache combo, wearing a light jacket over a T-shirt pulled the hood from my face. Even gagged, Sam wouldn't show fear, only resistance. The man's mouth opened just enough so Sam could see his fangs descending, proving the theory that Sam had been captured by vampires. As the vampire moved closer, Sam couldn't suppress the slight shiver of fear that coursed through him, captured, alone, without Dean to watch his back.

"Wait," a feminine voice ordered from the shadows. 'Another vampire' Sam thought, 'the leader.'

"Step back Eli," she ordered again.

The one called Eli backed away from Sam, retracting his fangs. The woman walked up to her prisoner, removed his gag and said, "My name's Lenore. I'm not going to hurt you. We just need to talk."

Sam couldn't fight the sarcasm that came next. "Talk? Yeah, ok, but I might have a tough time paying attention to much besides Eli's teeth."

Not batting an eye to the remark, she replied, "He won't hurt you either. You have my word."

Coming from a monster, a vampire no less, this was rich, comedy gold. Sam might have laughed if he wasn't tied up. "You're word? Oh yeah? Great. Thanks. Listen lady no offense, but you're not the first vampire I've met."

Lenore just kept talking, "We aren't like the others. We don't kill humans and we don't drink their blood. We haven't for a long time."

Oh man this was just getting better. "What is this? Some kind of joke?"

This time the sarcasm seemed to amuse her. "Notice you're still alive," she asked, smirking?

The captured hunter looked at Eli, just standing there, then back to Lenore. 'Oh what the hell. Might as well ask some questions,' Sam thought with a mental shrug. "Ok. Uhh, correct me if I'm wrong here but shouldn't you be starving to death?"

"We've found other ways. Cattle blood," she answered. The light bulb in my head flicked on as the facts clicked together.

"You're telling me you're responsible for-"

"It's not ideal. In fact it's disgusting. But, it allows us to get by," she answered, tilting her head slightly.

The next question was obvious. "Ok. Umm, why?"

Crossing her arms, she answered, "Survival. No deaths. No missing locals. No reason for people like you to come looking for people like us. We blend in. Our kind is almost extinct. Turns out we weren't quite as high on the food chain as we imagined."

Eli couldn't take it anymore. "Why are we explaining ourselves to this killer."

Lenore looked at him and called his name firmly, warningly.

"We choke on cow's blood so that none of them suffer. Tonight they murdered Conrad and they celebrated," Eli continued, disgusted.

"Eli that's enough," ordered Lenore, clearly angered by this challenge to her authority.

Sam didn't help matters. "Yeah Eli. That's enough," he said, amused.

"What's done is done," reasoned Lenore. "We're leaving this town tonight."

"Then why did you bring me here? Why are you even talking to me," asked Sam?

"Believe me I'd rather not, but I know your kind. Once you have the scent you'll keep tracking us. It doesn't matter where we go. Hunters will find us."

"So you're asking us not to follow you?"

"We have a right to live," she pleaded. "We're not hurting anyone."

"Right," Sam reasoned. "So you keep saying but give me one good reason why I should believe you?"

Lenore leaned in close at that. Close enough to easily smell the blood in Sam's body , to hear his heart pumping the liquid life. "Fine. You know what I'm going to do," Lenore asked ominously? "I'm going to let you go."

Sam looked at her as if she was joking, or had maybe succumbed to psychosis. Lenore stepped back and ordered, "Take him back. Not a mark on him."

As Lenore left, Sam was floored by the implications of what was right in front of him. He sat there, stunned, as Eli untied him from the chair and replaced the hood, while tying his wrists behind his back. Eli and another vampire shoved Sam into the truck and took him back to the hotel.

A Little while later…..

Sam walked through the halls of the empty nest, carrying his wounded burden in his arms as gingerly as he could. Lenore was hurt. From the dead man's blood and the cuts from Gordon, Sam knew any human would have died by now. There was no telling how long exactly Gordon had been torturing her.

One slight trip on carpet jostled them slightly, causing Lenore to cry out in discomfort. Sam did his best to comfort the injured vampire as he finally exited the house. "It's gonna be ok Lenore," he whispered as a mantra, soothing her. "It's gonna be ok."

Lenore seemed to respond to the coaxing of Sam's voice as she nestled closer to the taller Winchester, finding safety and comfort in his arms. Later she would swear up and down it was the sickness and poisonous effects of the dead man's blood in her system that made her so vulnerable. She would never admit to feeling safe with Sam, even to herself. He was a hunter. She was a Vampire. And although she owed him, she would only admit that grudgingly at best.

Sam laid Lenore on the truck of the Impala, then moved to the side and opened the door, searching frantically for what he knew she needed. Sam had convinced Dean to stop at an animal shelter to break in and steal animal blood bags, in case one of the worst cases happened, like now. Finding the bag, one of seven Sam had been able to find, he brought it to Lenore and urged her to drink from the bag.

"No," she refused. "No Sam. I can't. I won't"

"It's not human," Sam assured her. "It's animal. We got it in case you needed it."

"Promise," she asked, looking into his eyes, searching for any malicious intent or trickery?

"I promise," Sam answered, trying to sound as sincere as possible.

Letting her fangs descend from her gums, Lenore tore into the bag and drained the contents, occasionally coughing and retching. When she finished the bag, Lenore felt a bit better. It would take some time for the dead man's blood to be gone from her system completely but the new blood would help her for now. She wiped the little bit that had escaped her mouth and tried to stand on her own, tumbling down before Sam caught her in his arms.

"Hey, be careful. You still have a lot of dead blood in you. You aren't up to full strength," Sam protested.

"Listen Sam," she said. "I'm a vampire. I'm stronger than you on my worse day. I've been looking after myself for longer than you've been alive. And while I appreciate the concern it isn't necessary." She pushed him away and started walking on her own, wobbling at first but gradually getting straighter. After a minute of walking around she came back to Sam and sat on the Impala's bumper, breathing hard.

Sam just looked at her with concern. Even though she was a vampire, someone he should be hunting, she had proven that she was different, that she didn't want to hunt humans. Whether it was that she needed his help or that she was different from other vampires like he was different from other humans, Sam wasn't sure. All he knew at that time was he wanted to help her, however he could.

"Do you have a cell phone," he asked?

"Why? Wanna take me out on a date after all this is over," she replied sarcastically?

"If you ever find yourself in this situation again, it might be helpful to have some backup," Sam answered bluntly.

"Sure why not," She said. "Sneaky way to ask for my number though. I like it." She took Sam's phone from him and entered her digits into his phone. "I have to leave Sam. I have to find the others, if that monster didn't cut their heads off." She walked over to her truck and opened the door as Sam followed her over.

"Will you be ok," he asked?

"Yeah. I could use those other blood bags though. I won't have to hunt that way and I can just keep driving," She reasoned. Sam retrieved the plastic grocery bag with the blood containers and handed it to Lenore, who stored it into the glove compartment.

She brought the engine of her pickup truck to life with a quick turn of her key, as the sun finally rose and hit her skin. To Sam's surprise, Lenore didn't even flinch. Lenore saw the confused expression on his face and answered his unspoken question. "It's the animal blood. It makes the sun tolerable. One of the good side effects of my diet," she joked.

Lenore put the truck into drive and Sam stepped back so he wouldn't get hit accidentally. "Take care of yourself," He said.

"Don't worry Sam. You'll see me again," she replied, smiling, before pushing the gas and driving the truck down the road and out of sight. Sam looked to where she drove away, transfixed for a moment. To him it was weird, as himself and Dean and usually the ones to drive away. Speaking of Dean, Sam walked back into the house to find it trashed and Gordon tied up to a chair while Dean looked like he got into a fight with Chuck Norris and Chuck took pity on him and left.

"Did I miss anything," Sam asked nonchalantly?

"Nahh, not much," Dean answered, equal in expression. "Did Lenore get out ok?"

Sam replied, "Yeah. All of them did," speaking to Gordon with that answer.

"Well then I guess our work here is done," Dean declared. "How you doing Gordy? Gotta tinkle yet," Dean asked, taunting a tied up Gordon? "Alright. Well Get comfy. We'll call someone in two or three days, have 'em come out, untie you."

"Ready to go Dean," Sam asked?

"Not yet," dean answered before walking in front of Gordon. "I guess this is goodbye. It's been real," Dean said before punching the rouge vampire hunter in the chin hard enough to knock the chair and Gordon along with it to the ground. "OK. I'm good now. We can go," Dean declared before leaving the house, Sam following closely.

After some Winchester banter and a little emotional Heart to Heart Sam and Dean got into the Impala and rode off into the distance, searching for the next hunt.

Well that's chapter one. Review and tell me what you think. It's been a while since I've written anything so constructive reviews are the most help right now. Thanks a lot. Raistlin99 out.