Veronica hadn't directly spoken to Emmett the next day at school. But they had sent many texts back and forth, continuing their question-asking game. No longer did she ignore him when she caught him staring at her. Instead of ignoring him, she'd shoot him a cute smile and wave. And each time she did, Jessica and Angela would question her about it. She hadn't given them too many details about what they had talked about at lunch, but she made it clear that she enjoyed talking with him.

By the end of her second week of school, it was safe to say that Veronica was fitting in nicely.

Until the beginning of seventh-period history. Veronica had just sat in her seat, smiling at Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper before she pulled out her supplies. Mr. Hummel's classroom phone rang just as he was about to begin his lesson.

"Alright. I'll send her to the office right away." After he hung up, he looked around the room until his eyes landed on Veronica. "Miss Winchester, gather your things and head to the office. You're being checked out for the rest of the day."

Veronica hesitated before slowly standing. She certainly wasn't expecting that. "Did Mrs. Cope say who was waiting for me?"

"Your brother."

Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper all watched as Veronica clenched her fist and took in a deep breath. Jasper could feel her being overcome with annoyance, though he couldn't tell why. Veronica grabbed her bag and quickly turned to him with a tight smile.

"Jasper, I don't think I'll be able to work on the project this weekend. I've finished all my research though. I'll email it to you," she said, her jaw clenched. "So sorry about this."

"It's not a problem," Jasper said, frowning a little. He glanced at his siblings, who were also confused by her mood change. "We can meet Monday to talk about presenting. Have a nice weekend."

Veronica quickly left the room and a few minutes later, the Cullen's looked out the window and saw her walking in the parking lot with a tall man in a leather jacket. Several other students glanced outside, but they couldn't hear like the three vampires.

"We had a deal, Dean!" Veronica snapped, heading to a black 1967 Chevy Impala that was parked next to her 68' model. It seemed that old cars ran in the family, Rosalie noted, admiring the cars.

"That's her oldest brother," Emmett whispered.

"Look, you know I wouldn't be here if we didn't need you," Dean said, opening the trunk and letting her throw her bag in, which she did so aggressively.

"Why couldn't you call Cas?" she asked, pouting.

"He's not answering calls. Must be busy upstairs."

The Cullens shared a confused look. What could "upstairs" mean?

"Well, you could have at least called in advance and given me a little warning," she said, grabbing a big duffle bag from the back of her own car. Whatever was happening, she was prepared.

Dean sighed heavily. "I know it's last-minute—"

"And where's Sammy?" Veronica asked, glancing at the empty passenger seat. She now sounded less angry and more worried. "Dean, where is he?"

"Bandon, Oregon," he said, sighing heavily and leaning on the roof of the car. "He's in trouble."

"You should've led with that," Veronica said, jumping in the car. "You'll get much less resistance in the future."

"Duly noted," Dean said, rolling his eyes before getting in the car. Like Veronica, he blared rock music as they pulled out of the parking lot.

"Catch me up to speed," was the last thing they heard Veronica say before they drove too far away.

"What was that about?" Emmett asked though he knew they wouldn't have an answer.

"What do you mean a Siren?" Veronica asked as she and Dean sped down the highway, towards Oregon.

"I mean a Siren. You know what those are," Dean said, rolling his eyes.

Veronica sighed. "Yes, but why would you need my help? You know how to kill them."

"But we don't know how to find it. Sam made contact and then disappeared. I'm not about to have it like last time where we were ready to kill each other over it. You aren't affected by them and can help me find it and gank it. We gotta save Sam."

"Fine, but I have to be back by Monday. There's a soccer game after school that I've got to cheer at."

Dean smirked and looked over the uniform his sister was wearing. "Hey, what's a cheerleader's favorite cereal?"

Veronica rolled her eyes and leaned her head against the headrest. "Cheerios," she answered in a flat voice.

"What do bananas do best at cheerleading?"

"I'll kill you."

"The splits!"

"This is gonna be a long car ride."

No one in Forks saw or heard from Veronica for three days. Her car sat in the High School parking lot all weekend, untouched. She received several texts to which she didn't reply. Angela, the girls on the squad, and even Emmett tried to reach her. Jasper had received the email with all the information for their project around four am on Saturday morning, though that was it.

And people also were wondering about her mysterious brother who had picked her up. Veronica didn't talk about her family much. Everyone knew her parents were dead, and she technically lived with her brothers. But she had said they were both truck drivers and weren't home a lot. Emmett was the only person she had been honest with and told that she actually lived alone.

It was all anyone could gossip about Monday morning when her car was still in the parking lot and she was nowhere to be seen. Jessica Stanley swore up and down that the brother that picked her up on Friday was a certified hottie, which of course led to teasing from Mike about her liking older guys.

"Do you think she'll be back today?" Tyler asked, kicking his soccer ball around.

"She had better be or Coach Wilson is gonna kick her off the team," Lauren said, still pissed about what happened at lunch last week.

"Please", Eric scoffed. "Allison was just going on about how Veronica can do a perfect round off triple hand something into a tuck or whatever. Wilson's not getting rid of her. Especially with you guys trying to win Nationals in two months."

"Whatever," she mumbled, looking down at her nails.

Veronica's friends weren't the only ones wondering where she was. The Cullens were as well.

"Her research was very thorough for the project," Jasper said. "Which was surprising for a human. She wrote three pages alone on the Colt revolver. I didn't even write that much, and I lived through the time period."

"Maybe she's a gun nut," Nicholas suggested, leaning against Emmett's Jeep, which was parked by Veronica's car. "Oh no, what if she's a Republican?"

"We can't vote," Edward said, chuckling.

"Emmett, if she's racist, you can't be together," Nicholas stated, only partly joking. "I'll make her phone explode and she'll have horrible burns on her hands and face."

"Don't think Carlisle would deem that an appropriate reason to use your ability, but go for it," Rose said, smirking.

"Don't blow up her—"

Alice cut herself off when they all heard loud music blasting and it was coming closer. The humans couldn't hear it yet, but it was no doubt the same car and man that had picked Veronica up on Friday.

"Cold as Ice" played out the open windows as the black Impala parked in an empty space a few yards away from Veroniclipa's car and the Cullens.

Veronica stepped out of the back seat and slammed her door. Gone was the gold eye shadow and strawberry lip gloss. There was no short skirt or cheer uniform. This Veronica looked very different in ripped jeans, combat boots, and a flannel shirt that was too large and clearly belonged to one of her taller brothers.

Two men, Dean and another even taller man in flannel, followed. Veronica crossed her arms and glared at Dean.

"What are you so angry about?" he asked, not knowing that the vampires were listening in. "You said you needed to be back by Monday."

"Ideally not ten minutes before first period and dressed like this!"

"But you're here. And Sam's safe. Everyone's happy. Besides, this is how you always used to dress before you came here."

"I don't want another incident like this until I graduate. Hell, for three months after I graduate."

"But it was fun though, right? Teaming up again," Dean said, grinning. "You got to see Bobby."

The taller man, presumably Sam, shared a look with Veronica. "I mean, she did have to do her math homework in a jail cell."

All of the Cullens looked at each other in alarm. "What the fuck?" Nicholas asked, not caring about his language.

"But Officer Jules was nice enough to pay for the dry cleaning to get the blood out of your uniform," Dean said, handing Veronica a clear dry-cleaning bag with her cheer uniform in it that he got out of the back of the car.

"Blood?" Emmett repeated, worried that Veronica had been hurt in some way. She looked to be fine though.

"Shit." They all looked to Edward, who had never said a curse word if he could help it. He was focused on the two men with Veronica, clearly reading their minds.

"What is it, Edward?" Alice asked, grabbing onto Jasper tightly. Whatever Edward was hearing in their thoughts was a bad thing.

"Those two men are her brothers," he said. "They're hunters. Supernatural hunters."

"So, does that make Veronica—"

"Yes," he answered Emmett. "They were in Oregon hunting a Siren down that kidnapped the tall one."

"Hunters are basically defenseless against our kind," Alice said, softly. "I'm sure Veronica doesn't know what we are. She wouldn't have eaten lunch with Emmett or been so nice to him if she did. She would've confronted us by now."

"I'm sure you're right," Jasper said. "She's never felt fear or anger or suspicious when around any of us."

They nodded and turned back to Veronica and her brothers and continued to listen despite the fact that class would start soon.

"How long are you guys staying?" Veronica asked, her anger fading. "I guess it was nice seeing you both."

"We're gonna get back on the road now. Got a call from Garth while you were sleeping on the drive back," Sam said. "Sounds like an emergency, but we can handle it without you."

"Well, let my favorite werewolf know that I love him, and he has a chew toy with his name on it come Christmas."

"She's friends with a werewolf?" Rosalie asked, sneering in disgust. "They must not be very good hunters."

"I'll ask Carlisle if he's heard of the Winchester's before," Edward told them. "They're about to go."

"You better be taking good care of your car," Dean told Veronica. "I didn't fix her up just so you could trash her."

Veronica sighed and shared an amused look with Sam. "He is fine. Oliver is just a few spots down."

As Dean turned to look for the bright red car, he spotted something else. Six freakishly pale teenagers with eerily similar features and golden eyes. He had spotted even quicker than Veronica had on her first day.

Only unlike her, he was reaching for his gun.

Veronica recognized the determined look on Dean's face and was standing in front of him by the time he had his hand on the gun inside his jacket.

"Stop, Dean."

"Get out of my way, Veronica."

"What are you gonna do?" Veronica asked, keeping a tight grip on his arm. She looked around the parking lot, which still had a few lingering students in it. "Empty a round into them in a parking lot full of witnesses? And when that doesn't work, what will you do?"

"I told you to call me if you saw anything freaky. And a pack of goddamn Cold Ones sure as hell counts as freaky!"

"They're vegetarians, Dean. Look at their eyes."

Dean glared over at the Cullens, who were watching the situation with wide golden eyes. Things had escalated quickly, and they were all prepared to run. Veronica followed Dean and met Emmett's confused gaze. She quickly looked back at her brother.

"Dean," Sam said cautiously. "She's right. And it's not like either of us can kill them."

"No, but she can!" he snapped, ripping his arm out of her grip, which took a lot of effort. "You could take them out in seconds."

"Which is why I didn't call you. I'm monitoring the situation."

"Monitoring the situation?" he repeated, scoffing.

"Yes! They've been here for over a year and a half without any incidents. Their family checks out. They're just trying to have a normal life without having to kill people. Just like Garth. You know, the werewolf that we love and trust who eats animal hearts instead of humans. It's the same. So, get in the car and go."

"Those things can't have normal lives. They're lying to themselves," Dean muttered, but he relaxed his shoulders the smallest bit. "Just like you are."

"Dean, don't start this," Sam said, finally walking over to the same side of the car. "She can handle this on her own. Let's just go before we make things worse."

Dean frowned. "You can throw on a cheerleading uniform and pick up bitchy personality traits from teen movies to make up for the fact that you are not normal no matter how bad you want to be. But while you do it, just know that innocent people are out there dying every day because you don't want to accept who you are. And now you're out here defending a bunch of monsters. Dad would be ashamed."

"Well, it's a good thing I don't really give a shit about what Dad's ghost thinks about me," Veronica muttered. "And you're one to talk about personality traits considering you only have four — being an alone, alcoholic with a cool car that listens to the same 30 rock songs over and over again. So, sue me if I don't want to end up like you."

"Ron, come on," Sam said, sighing. "Both of you—"

"Consider your visitation privileges revoked," Veronica snapped, ignoring her youngest brother. "I want you out of this town. Don't make me make you."

The glare that Dean shot her was downright lethal. They had fought a lot about a lot of stupid things over the years, but this might have been the biggest. Veronica had certainly never been so pissed that she would threaten her brothers.

"Fine. We'll go. You wanted to be on your own then that's exactly what you'll be," he said, taking a deep breath. "But you keep an eye on their coven, Veronica, and the minute a body drops, you call me. I mean it."

Veronica crossed her arms as Dean finally got back in the car, slamming the door so hard she wondered if it might damage it. She glanced once more over her shoulder and caught Emmett's gaze, which was both guarded and confused.

"Trust me," she said, looking back at Dean. "The minute a body drops, there won't be a coven to keep an eye on."