It's been about a year since I left the bunker. I've happily settled at a new safe house in northwestern Oregon — the only person who knows where to find me is Sam.

For a while, the silence was deafening. There weren't many nights that I didn't think about packing my things and returning to Lebanon. Whether I was on the road or comfortable at home, there was always a subtle longing that tugged at me.

But a few months passed, and I started to find my bearings. I've made my way into a community of hunters (and friendly creatures) in the Pacific Northwest. None of them know my past exactly, but they're all accepting enough not to ask. Most of them are also kind enough to join me when I ask for help on a hunt, and kind enough to keep an eye out for Sam and Dean when they're in the are.

Most.

Now, I sit in a beat up Ford Mustang that Sam convinced his friend Bobby to give me. Bobby and I have had brief interactions, not enough to know each other. I stare out at the foggy pines that tuck me into the mountain side and shield me from the rest of the world. I like it up here.

I make my way inside and lock myself in for the evening. After I stoke a fire and pour a glass of the whiskey that Dean and I used to drink, I settle down and fall asleep.

The next morning I wake up feeling groggy, but I roll myself out of bed anyway. I check my phone to see a few texts from Sigrid.

Your boys are on the move out in Hood River county. Hunting a vampire nest. The angel isn't with them.

I text back a quick thank you and grab a bag to pack. Within ten minutes, I'm out the door, headed to Hood River.

The drive is a short few hours. Hood River is a small county, so there's not much space for Sam and Dean to hide from me. Not that they know I'm here, anyway.

After looking at reports for a while, I find that the nest is probably around or on Mount Hood. Why not? Nice mountain, plenty of hikers; it's a perfect spot for a vampire nest.

I drive to Parkdale, a tiny town near Mount Hood, and check into a motel. The good thing about Sam and Dean taking cases around here is that there's a lot of small towns, which makes them so easy to find and keep tabs on. The roar of the impala isn't easily masked when the population is less than a thousand people.

After sitting in boredom for a few hours, I hear it: the impala's purr in the parking lot. I peek out the shades of my window and watch them unload their gear.

It only takes them about 30 minutes to check in and settle down before they go out to scout the nest. I'm grateful they're going out while the sun is still up.

I follow a ways behind them and park in a spot that's not visible to them when we reach the nest. I have to admit, following them and hiding behind trees to make sure they don't notice me is tedious work.

Once they make their way into the cave, I crouch behind a bush near the entrance and just listen for them. I've never had to intervene on a case that I've followed them on, but whenever they're in the area, I go along just to make sure. No one touches those boys on my watch.

Some time goes by. Every few minutes I hear the gargling noise of a vampire meeting his demise by decapitation. I start to get bored until I hear yelling. First it's Sam, then it's Dean, yelling to Sam.

I can't make out what they're saying, so I go in a little further. It's silent for a minute, and then I hear a cry of pain from Sam, and all Hell breaks loose.

I can hear the hissing of fangs and Dean's struggled noises as he fights them off. I get close enough to see him fighting four vampires off. He takes two down, but he gets pinned by the third and fourth. To the side, Sam is holding his neck and struggling to breathe.

"Son of a bitch!" Dean yells.

The vampires taunt him. One holds Dean back while the other feeds on Sam. I decide that it's time to intervene.

I unsheathe my machete and run down the steep slope of the pit that all four of them are in. I grab the vampire on Dean's back and take its head off before it notices me. Not taking time for formalities, Dean goes for the vamp on Sam and takes it on.

While they spar, I tend to Sam. I can see the blood running down his neck in the dim light of the cave, and I feel my heart drop a little bit.

"Hey, Sammy, look at me," I coax, trying to get him to focus so he doesn't black out.

"Mallory?" He asks. "Am I dead?"

"No no no. You're fine. Watch me, okay? This might feel a little weird."

He nods. I place my hand over the bite wound and focus my strength into it. Twenty seconds pass, and it feels like forever, but he's healed.

"Are you okay?" I ask. "Any other injuries?"

"I-I'm fine," Sam stutters. "When did you -"

"Mallory?"

I wince. Dean sounds much less happy to see me than Sam. I stand and give Sam some help to his feet.

"Dean." I greet him. He's got a busted lip and a bruised cheek, but he still looks as good as he did last time I saw him.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He asks. His voice is tempered; one wrong word and I'll send him over the edge of anger.

"Saving your asses, apparently," I joke.

"Yeah, thanks for that," Dean says. "Where the Hell have you been? You just left, without a damn word. And now you think you can just pop up?"

"I'm not just popping up on you, Dean. You're in my territory and I wanted to make sure you guys were safe. Didn't know that was so bad."

"Bad? Do you have any idea how fucking worried I was?!" Dean yells. His voice echoes in the cave. "I thought you had been kidnapped! I've looked for you this whole time. No one knew where you were. I was starting to think maybe you were dead."

"Nope, I'm alive."

"You owe me a damn explanation," Dean growls. "Maybe you'd be better off -"

"Dean!" Sam interjects. "Stop."

I bite my tongue for a second, then gather my wits. "Better off what, Dean?"

He steps closer to me. "Better off dead at this point."

I swallow his words. Digesting that statement feels like a brick in my stomach.

"Dean, she just saved our asses! What the Hell is wrong with you?" Sam scolds.

"Oh, come on, Sam," Dean scoffs. "You're not even a little bit bothered by the fact that she left us? She had us worried sick! You watched me search for her for weeks on end. You know this was wrong."

"I knew about it."

Sam's voice is quiet. I stare him down, giving him the "Why would you say that?!" look.

"You what?"

"I knew."

My stare flickers between Sam and Dean. Dean looks like he could burst into a million pieces. Sam looks like a puppy that's been scolded.

"How could you?" Dean asks. It's the calm before the storm. "How could you keep that from me, Sam?! You watched me suffer for MONTHS, and you never said a damn thing!"

"I know, Dean. But I made a promise to her, and I couldn't break that. I'm sorry."

"You son of a -"

"He's not the reason I left, Dean," I speak calmly, but firmly enough for him to get my message.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dean interrogates me like I committed a crime.

"It means he's not the one that cheated on me."

Dean paces for a second. "That is between me and you, NOT Sam. If you had a problem, you should've talked to me about it instead of running away like a fucking coward."

"You're right. But that's on me, not Sam."

"You're a real piece of work, you know that?" Dean yells.

"I don't know what you expect from me right now, Dean, but whatever it is, you won't get it by yelling at me," I tell him.

"You know what? You two can hang out for a while. I'm going for a drive."

Dean storms away, a white-knuckled grip on his machete. I take a deep breath and turn to Sam.

"I'm sorry, Sam. This had to have been hard to keep a secret like this. I shouldn't have done this."

Sam scoffs. "Are you kidding me? If you hadn't showed up, Dean and I would be dead right now."

I look up at him. A smile spreads across his face, then he wraps me in a bear hug. It takes no time at all for me to melt into the safe arms of Sam Winchester.

"I've missed you so much, Mal," Sam mumbles.

I wrap my arms around his waist and give him a squeeze. "I've missed you more, Sammy. Let's go get some drinks."

Sam and I make our way to a local diner. After placing our orders, Sam breaks the silence.

"So, um, have you always been following Dean and I?" He asks.

I shake my head. "No. Only when you're close by. I'm more likely to have been around when Cas wasn't with you guys. Just my way of keeping tabs, you know?"

Sam nods. "Well I guess I'm glad you were here."

"Me, too," I sigh. "How is everything?"

"Fine I guess," Sam shrugs. "To be fair, Dean was a mess when you disappeared. But he got over it. A few times he was kind of close to finding you, but I was able to throw him off. He doesn't need to know that though, he's angry enough as it is."

"Your secret is safe with me."

Sam laughs quietly. "Other than that, Cas has been out on the road lately. The angels fell, I don't know if you heard about that."

I gape at Sam's casualness. "Like, the angels were kicked out of Heaven? They fell? What happened?"

"So basically, Heaven is broken, like usual, and Cas has been trying to fix it. He wanted to make it all better, but the scribe of God himself, Metatron, tricked Cas into forcing all the angels out of Heaven. Now he's on the run trying to figure that out. We're just up here filling time until we can figure out how to help."

I take a deep breath a digest the information Sam gave me. "That's insane. How are you guys going to do that?"

Sam shrugs. "We're looking for answers everywhere. We have a prophet of the Lord with us, he's translating some stuff to see if he can find some solutions."

"Fair enough."

After a while, Sam and I head back to the motel. I can see the impala in the parking lot and I can't help but feel like I'm sending Sam to his demise.

"Hey, I'm in room 113 if you need to get away from Dean," I tell him.

He laughs. "Thanks."

I make my way to my room and change out of my dirty clothes. I hadn't realized that I walked into a diner with vampire blood on my shirt. After a hot shower, I lie down and fall asleep.