1.20 Dead Man's Blood

An old man, Daniel Elkins, sits scribbling in his journal, drinking Jack in a bar in Manning, Colorado. The barmaid, Beth, offers Elkins another drink. She talks with a trucker about Elkins, how he lives alone, nice old man, just nuts. One woman, Kate, and three men enter the bar, ordering a bottle of Jack. Elkins recognizes them. Beth asks the newcomers if they want food, but they say no, they have 'dinner plans.' When Beth turns back, Elkins has left through the back way. Elkins is hastily returning to his home in the canyon. He's scared. He keeps looking around, and as soon as he enters his house he realizes he is not alone. He turns to see Kate; they recognize each other. He throws a knife at her and it plunges into her chest, but she simply pulls it out. To defend himself, he dashes into the next room, placing a cupboard in front of the door and removing an old antique gun from his safe. Just as it's loaded and ready, two guys from the bar crash through his skylights and grab him, knocking the gun away from Elkins. Kate joins them, after knocking over the cupboard and breaking the doorjamb, and takes and examines the gun. She says, 'Boys, we're eating in tonight.' Elkins screams.

In a diner somewhere in Nebraska Dean is reading the paper and Sam is surfing the net looking for jobs. Dean suggests they could go back to New York and see Sarah; Sam reminds Dean they've got work and offers up a case of Daniel Elkins in Colorado mauled in his home. Dean recognizes the name and checks their dad's journal; they head west.

Sam picks the lock, and the boys find Elkins' cabin ransacked and in chaos. Using their flashlights in the dark, they investigate. Sam spots a protection ring of salt inside the door. Dean finds Elkin's hunter journal, just like their dad's. They look around more, and Dean sees the case a gun came out of, along with some strange scratches on the floor. He uses a paper and pencil to etch over the marks. Showing Sam, Dean figures out the message. It's a location and combination of a post office box - a mail drop, just the way their father does it. In the darkness outside, the boys are being watched.

Dean and Sam use the combination for the post office box, and discover a letter with the initials 'JW'. Back in the Impala, the boys ponder if the letter is for their dad and whether they should open it, when John knocks at the car window, startling them. John gets in the back of the car and says he's come because he read the news about Daniel. Daniel was kind of his mentor until they had a falling out. He reads the letter from the mailbox and is shocked to find Daniel had an important Colt revolver the whole time. He questions the boys if they saw it, but Dean only saw an old case so now the bad guys have it. John tells the boys they need to pick up the trail of what killed Daniel. Sam's surprised. Dad wants to get the gun back. Sam doesn't know what they're dealing with. John informs them Elkins was a vampire hunter; he thought vampires were extinct, which is why he never mentioned them. Most vampire lore is crap: cross won't repel, sunlight won't kill, neither will stakes to the heart. Bloodlust is true - need fresh human blood to survive. Once people, so hard to know vampire until it's too late.

The vampires are drinking and waiting for their next victims by the side of the road. Headlights appear on the highway. Kate tells Beau it's all his. In the car is a young couple. Suddenly, there's a body in the road. They stop, and investigate. Jenny calls 911. Beau is turned over, and he grows his vampire teeth, taking down the guy!

As Sam and Dean sleep, John listens to a police scanner. He hears of an abandoned car left by a young couple after making a 911 call. Rousing the boys, they take off to investigate. Sam questions John, but John just asks Sam to follow him. When they reach the location of the abandoned car, John says they're on the right trail and Sam is skeptical. He questions their dad who proves he knows by showing them a vampire's tooth he's found, explaining that the second set of teeth descends when they attack. They set off on the trail, John in his pick-up, and the boys in the Impala. Dean reads about vampires while Sam drives. Sam's bridling that Dad isn't explaining much, treating them like children. Dean tries to calm things down, saying it's just the way Dad does things. Sam doesn't think it should work that way anymore, not after everything. Dean says weakly he'd just fall into line, if that's what it takes.

Meanwhile back at the vampire nest, the vampires are partying, and have the young couple tied up. Beau taunts the couple with beer. Jenny's boyfriend outright refuses, but Jenny ends up spitting it back into Beau's face. Kate stops Beau from hitting Jenny, telling him to wait for Luther. Luther arrives. and Kate presents her gifts to her mate. He likes the look of the girl but lets the other vampires feed on the guy. Kate shows him more gifts taken from Elkins. Horrified that she killed the old man, even if it was to avenge his family, Luther is angry because killing Elkins will bring more hunters after them. She apologizes. He then recognizes the Colt.

John rings Dean with instructions to pull off at the next exit, but Sam is mad because he doesn't give them any reasoning behind his actions. Sam floors the gas and pulls the Impala in front of their dad's truck, stopping the truck to have a confrontation. Sam wants information - why is the Colt so important? Before it was too dangerous to be together, so something big is going down, and they want to know what! Dean has to pull Sam and John apart and get them back on the trail. Dad just tries to order Sam around again, saying they don't have time and get back in the car. Dean gets between them, saying they're all tired, talk about it later, and almost has Sam back into the car when another confrontation between Sam and John exposes the still seething anger existing between them. Sam walked away from his family, when Dad and Dean still needed him. Sam yells that Dad closed that door, saying don't come back - he's just pissed that he couldn't control Sam anymore! Dean forces them apart again, and they all separate back into their respective vehicles.

Meanwhile back at the lair, Luther and Kate are making out. Luther notices Jenny, who is tied up, watching and tells her he likes to watch too. Luther cuts Kate's wrist and she takes a mouth full of blood before sitting on the girl's knee and putting some of the vampire blood in her mouth- effectively 'turning her'.

Dean, Sam and John are watching the vampire nest the next morning. Beau comes rolling in after sunup, with Luther watching the area before closing the barn door. John explains vampires can go out in the sun. Direct sunlight is like a nasty sunburn. The only thing that will kill them is beheading. They sleep during the day, but they can wake up as well. Dean says just walking in isn't an option then, but John says, 'Actually, that's the plan'. The boys get machetes from the Impala's trunk. Dean offers Dad one, but John gets one from his truck's weapons stash.

After a moment, seemingly reluctant, he shares with them the details of what makes the Colt so special and why he needs it. He thought it was just a legend until Daniel's letter, but the Colt was made in 1835 by Samuel Colt for a hunter on a special night. He made the weapon and 13 unique bullets. They say the gun can kill anything. He wants it because if this is true, it could be the key to killing the Demon and avenging Mary Winchester.

All three go in the lair cautiously, before John splits off to look for the gun. Sam finds the girl, and tries to free her. Dean finds others who are being kept in a cage. John spots the Colt, but as Sam tries to free the girl, not realizing she's been turned, she screams out, alerting the other vampires. Luther and John fight. John calls for the boys to escape, which they do, only just getting out with their lives. John meets with them at the top of the hill, with no Colt. Worse still, the vampires have the Winchesters' scent, and it's for life. John says they have to find a funeral home.

While Dean's gone to the funeral home, John and Sam have quite a father-son chat. John starts by opening up, explaining he started a college fund for each of them. Sam wonders why he got so mad when Sam left. John explains he wanted to protect the boys, keeping them alive, getting them prepared and ready. So instead he became their drill sergeant rather than their dad. When Sam wanted to go away to school, all John could think about was Sam would be alone and vulnerable. He couldn't accept that they were different. Sam points out they aren't different. With what happened with Mom and Jess, they've got more in common than anyone. He asks about the college fund, but John tells him he spent it on ammo. They bond over laughing, and Sam now understands his dad's reasoning. Dean returns with a jar of dead man's blood.

Dean has the Impala's hood up pretending he's broken down. Kate shows up with a vampire, Hank, and grabs him. She forces him to kiss her, as Dean is sassing her all the way, but there is a swish-swish as both vampires have been shot with a crossbow! Sam and John appear from their hiding place, Sam standing over Hank and John facing off against Kate. The arrows have been dipped in 'dead man's blood' which is a poison to vampires. Kate falls over, caught by Dean, who takes her back to John's truck. John motions for Sam to follow Dean, before he cuts off Hank's head.

John and the boys finalize their plans as they burn some herbs in a campfire to block scents. John's plan is to trade Kate for the Colt, since vampires mate for life. He wants them out of the area as fast as they can, once they clean out the nest, and Sam realizes he's going to leave and go after the demon alone. John can't watch his children die, worrying about them. Dean points out they aren't kids anymore, and they're stronger together, and both boys are upset. He tells them to do their jobs, and they split up.

Beau reports to Luther that Hank has been decapitated, and Luther's mate, Kate, has been kidnapped. They hear a truck nearby and Luther knows Kate is in it. John has Kate in his pickup, hoping the vampires will pick her up scent. They do, and gives chase for a bit, as lights in his rear-view.

While John keeps Luther and some of the vampires busy, Dean and Sam go back to the lair to clean out the remaining vampires, and free the prisoners the vampires have been keeping for food.

John comes in as the boys are packing. They had ignored a direct order, but Dean points out they saved him. John agrees that they did, and it scares him. They are all he has, but they are stronger as a family. They're going after the demon together, now that they have the Colt.