Bullets

I don't know where the stake myth came from.

That's not true. Obviously, a long, thick, pointed implement pounded through the heart is going to cause death in just about any species, and since we're alive, not dead -- or undead -- it'll work just fine on us. Wood has the advantage of being "of nature," so since we are supposed to be unnatural, it has the added advantage of being something of a balanced manner to do away with us. I'm not afraid of stakes. If a human could get close enough to use one, I doubt I'd have any trouble dispatching him. Or her, nowadays. Probably with the stake.

If you really want to take us out, a gun is probably the most efficient way to do it. We can't outrun a bullet, and they have the advantage of distance. They can cripple us efficiently, so we're probably more wary of a gun than any other type of weapon. We're close range fighters by nature--we thrive on the richness of emotion inherent in hand-to-hand combat--so we are out of our element with firearms. They are unnatural to us.

Gabriel is cavalier. I wasn't with them when the Annabelle incident occurred, but I heard about it later. Nicholas wasn't being overdramatic. The girl's boyfriend was pissed.

And he had a gun.