Every year, close to Halloween, this happened.
Dean startled awake, covered in a cold sweat, and with the vague memory of chapped lips on his.
A voice whispered into his mind, "Forever mine, you and I".
The scrape of sharp teeth against his jugular was what made his stomach drop, however, and even though he knew it was just a dream, he still ran into the bathroom and vomited into the toilet.
The dirty water ran red.
~::~
He really should get new friends.
Jo was drunk off her ass, the so-called "hunter" teetering off the hood of his Impala. Chuck, who claimed he was a prophet, even though he didn't look any different than usual, was trying to chat up Madison, who, in her werewolf costume, continued to try and eat him, aided by her escalated blood-alcohol level.
Dean himself was sober. Designated driver and all that shit. He was nursing the one beer his friends would allow him to have and determining if his and Jo's costumes were a coincidence or if the girl really was just trying to copycat him at every turn.
The way she kept looking at him out of the corner of her hazy eyes, he was pretty sure it was the latter. But they were close friends, so he chose to ignore it and take another swig of his Coors Light.
"But you know what, you know what?" Madison was giving them that bad look she got when she felt it was particularly close to the full moon and she felt particularly wolfish – like now. "I hear there's a, a thing, in the woods every Halloween night, like every Halloween night!"
That was going to get annoying.
Dean let it pass anyway. Again, friends. He needed new ones, but he'll settle for the ones he had at the moment.
"We've lived here our entire lives, Madison," Chuck butted in reasonably, if not with a slight shy tremor. "We would have heard of this thing in the woods if it's been there every Halloween night."
"Well, I just heard of it…" she paused and gave the world a very awed look. Chuck caught her before she toppled over. "The earth says hello…"
"That's great, Mad," Dean sniped, "maybe you should lie down and gives the earth a more intimate greeting."
She blinked, looked at him, and then shook her head. "No! I was talking about something! Something, something…"
"The thing," Jo offered helpfully.
Dean glared at her and Chuck gave a long suffering sigh.
"Yes! The thing." Madison stood her ground rather spectacularly for someone who was plastered. "I just heard of it earlier."
"Oh, yeah?" Dean wished he had another Coors Light. Maybe they were drunk enough not to notice if he went for another one. "Who told you?"
"This guy! Like, this guy who came out of nowhere! And he was there and he was saying, saying, um…" She stared at her feet. "He was saying something… Oh, the thing! He said it was always waiting for, for something in the woods. Someone."
"I feel bad for this someone," Dean grunted.
He was really wishing he had taken Sam out trick-or-treating instead of coming out with these lightweights. He didn't care that Sam had other friends he had wanted to go with, Dean was his older brother, that gave him power over that little bitch.
But, no, Sam had given him those puppy dog eyes and Dean had ended up relinquishing his little brother to someone else's parents for the night.
Bastards.
"Nooo, don't feel bad. Feel good. You see… um… Right, you see it, right?"
Jo looked curiously around. "See what?" She chugged down her third Octoberfest and Dean glared jealously at her.
Chuck plopped down on Dean's other side and was promptly shoved off. Few were allowed on his baby. Chuck had been lucky enough to get a ride.
Good-naturedly, he scrambled into a sitting position and just stared up at the story-telling Madison who was narrating her story with wide gestures and animated expressions.
Which was strange because she wasn't even saying anything.
Dean made a break for the cooler and Jo slapped his hand away. Damn it!
"See, see… Love, that was it! The thing, it's waiting for its lover to come back."
Dean felt a chill crawl down his spine. He had no clue why.
"You see…" Madison blinked, looked at them, and then keeled over and threw up.
Chuck tripped over himself getting out of the way and Dean scowled in disgust.
Jo hummed. "I do see."
The "werewolf" swiped the back of her furry hand across her mouth and chin. "You should see! And I, I dare you," she pointed accusingly at Dean, "to go into the woods and meet it!"
Dean raised a brow. "Listen, sweetheart, no matter what your mommy told you, Halloween isn't for another two days. Tonight's just Trick-or-Treat."
"Then go then!"
He would have said no, honestly.
Except they all ganged up on him. Even Chuck.
"You're not scared, are you?" Jo raised an inquisitive eyebrow and looked somewhere over Dean's left shoulder.
He had to wander how many Deans she was seeing.
"Hell no!"
"Then why won't you go?" Chuck grinned. "Pussy."
"At least I get pussy!"
That whipped Chuck into place.
Madison smiled dazedly. "It's settled then, Dean, you're going to, you're going to go see… the thing!"
Dean grumbled.
Might as well. It wasn't like there was anything actually in the woods, he'd been traveling them for years.
The cold chill remained.
~::~
"Forever mine, you and I."
Dean shot awake, a pulsing erection between his legs, and the fading sensation of fangs digging into his throat.
He could still feel phantom hands on his hips, holding him in place for insubstantial thrusts, the cold, chapped lips on his neck. He could feel it all and it was stronger than it had ever been.
He stumbled into the bathroom and took a cold shower.
~::~
Damn his friends, but they remembered the bet, even after sobering up.
They all stood at the edge of the forests, Sam with them.
"What are you waiting for, Dean?" Madison tilted her head curiously, calmer now that she was in appearance human again and not drunk. "You going in or not?"
Sam was at Dean's side, not going in with him, but just with him for the moment.
Dean looked down at his baby brother and Sam looked up at him. "It can't be that bad," Sam reasoned, like he always did.
How a thirteen-year old knew such logic, Dean wasn't sure.
"You want to borrow my flashlight?" Chuck called out from three yards behind him. He waved said object in the air.
"No thanks!" Dean turned a glare on them. "Got my own."
Sam frowned. "No you don't."
"Shut up, Bitch."
"Jerk. Why do you want to go into the woods, at night, without light?"
Dean couldn't explain it to Sam but, to him, for the first time in his life, it wasn't dark even though it was closing in on midnight. He could see like it was day and he wasn't sure whether to be creeped the fuck out or just go with it.
"It's not that bad," he answered after a pause.
"Sure it isn't. I can't see five feet in front of me and I'm not even in the woods, but it's not that bad."
Dean rolled his eyes to look at Sam and Sam looked innocently back at him.
"But, really, what are you waiting for?"
Dean didn't want to explain that either. The cold chill was persistent tonight, all throughout his body, and he felt numb with it. But it was more than numb, it was fiery and comfortable and his hands were shaking, but not in the bad way.
It was like… like he was coming home after an eternity away, but he just couldn't figure it out. He'd been in the woods before, during day and night time. He'd been in there other Halloween nights on dares and in all seasons.
He just couldn't understand why this time was different.
But he couldn't explain that, could he? What else could he say?
"Just figuring out my approach, y'know?" He knew it was a lame excuse and Sam knew it too.
Neither of them said anything about it anyway.
"Yeah, well, if you do run into 'trouble' in there, please make it back home okay." Sam trotted back to the others and Dean rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, 'cause home's where the heart is."
Where did that come from? He had no fucking clue.
He took a deep breath and took his first step into the woods.
He swore he heard a husky voice whisper, "forever mine, you and I."
~::~
The woods had never been so deep before.
No, really, they hadn't. He guessed he had been walking for the rounded estimate of two miles in a straight line and the woods were usually thin enough to see through. So, really, what the hell?
Maybe he had turned around somewhere and now was just going in circles… He had a good sense of direction, but everyone had to screw up every once in awhile. But, if that was true… wouldn't he still be able to hear his friends and brother talking? He couldn't hear them, couldn't see them, and the woods were getting thicker and thicker. They didn't even look unfamiliar, but they just… weren't ending.
He passed a tree where, seven years ago, he had carved his mom's name into the bark. She had died that year, and he had been shattered, so this was where he had run to until his dad had found him. The nicked letters were faded and covered with moss.
If this tree was there, than he should be somewhere towards Bobby's, his godfather, house. He looked around and he didn't see any scattered car parts or even a hint of the salvage yard.
Usually, he would be able to see both from this spot.
Now he was officially freaking the fuck out, except it was all going on in his head because he sure as hell wasn't running like Mike Myers was on his tail back to his friends. They'd never let him live it down.
He heard a whisper of movement and spun around.
Alright, now there was mist.
Great, mist. Classy, he liked it. Now why the fuck was there mist? There hadn't been a moment ago.
A low growl came from the bowels of the billowing white mass.
Dean startled backwards and, guess what? He ran into a tree. He clenched his fists hard enough to turn his knuckles white.
A part of him wanted to ask who the fuck was there. Another part of him, the part more familiar with horror movies, knew better than to give away his position.
There was another growl, closer, and Dean swore it had a pleased lilt to it.
From the mist, he could make out crystal-blue eyes, so bright they glowed.
~::~
The laughter stopped abruptly.
Jo was frowning towards the woods, looking worried and not so amused anymore. "Did anyone else hear a scream?"
Sam nodded, pale as a ghost. "That sounded like Dean."
They looked at each other and it was clear both of them were about to bolt to the rescue, but Madison stopped them with arms thrown across their shoulders.
"Relax, okay? We all know there really isn't anything in the woods, he most likely just tripped into a ditch. And if, that is the case," she went on quickly as their horrified intensified, "he'll still be okay because all he has to do is stumble a few yards in any direction and he'll be in someone's yard."
"But what if he can't move, what if he's hurt really bad?" Sam gave her that irresistible puppy-dog face.
She ruffled his hair. 'Cub, cub, my adorable puppy!' She kept her thoughts to herself, however. No reason for them to think that she is obsessed with wolves more than they know. "Than he can scream and he'll have a whole crowd of helpers on him in an instant."
"He did just scream," Jo pointed out sourly.
"He'll scream for help, I meant."
"This is Dean we're talking about, guys!" Chuck pointed out. "He'll be fine. Most likely just spooked himself, or, one better, he's trying to spook us."
For a moment, everyone was in dumfounded silence.
Finally, Jo cursed. "That asshole! He really had me going!"
Sam fidgeted. "I don't know, guys, I still think…"
Madison brought him into a hug. "Trust us on this, okay?"
For a long while, he was undecided. Finally, he nodded and they all cheered.
"That bastard, he's not going to fool us," Madison said proudly.
~::~
It felt so fucking good, like a drug in his veins, and he couldn't stop drinking.
He couldn't stop moving, couldn't stop touching, and you know what? He didn't want to. He wanted more, so much more, all that he could be given.
The male body above his was fucking him into the ground, skin scraping against pebbles and leaves, twigs and dirt. It was all Dean could do to hold on, to keep his mouth over the open wound on the man's throat, it was so overwhelming, and it wasn't even enough.
He wished the man was still biting him, still sucking at his throat, because that had been painful and awesome all at the same time, like a, a bond, a profound bond, and Dean didn't even like the word profound or even bond, but it was what it was. He wished he had it back, but he was happy with what he had too.
He ached, it felt so good. His cock bobbed between their bodies, his ass burned with every thrust, and his legs were cramping as they held on with strength he didn't even know he had to the man's waist, and it all hurt in the most delicious way, and he wanted more of it.
Hands were on his hips, holding him in place for the brutal treatment. Near his ear, the man was panting, growling something in a language he couldn't understand, but every once in awhile, he heard his name.
"Dean…"
"… Dean!"
"Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean…"
"Mine own Dean."
It was driving him insane, just up the wall, and he loved it. Every sexual experience he had had before this had been bullshit. They'd been fake and pisspoor and he was disgusted he had even had it before now because, this was real and it was seeping into his very core, his mind, his soul, and it was all around him and inside of him.
Dean clawed at the man's back, still sucking greedily at the blood. His lungs were burning for air, but he couldn't steal a breath for the sake of his life. He didn't want to break free, he wanted to die like this, on the edge of explosive pleasure and, and belonging.
Yeah, that was it. Belonging. He belonged to this guy, but this guy belonged to him too, and in a moment of fanatical clarity, he remembered every one of his dreams as the blood drenched the inside of his throat and twisted his innards, on the verge of change, a change he couldn't describe but just knew.
"Forever mine, you and I." His lover whispered into his ear, making gentle love to him.
Imagine, the obscenity of it. Him, a farm boy, and yet this Lord desired him. Loved him, even.
He had educated him in the secrecy of his library. He had pampered him in ways that Dean had always thought foolish and pompous. Yet, here he was, in the arms of his Lord and he knew that he would take whatever this man gave him.
"Yes, forever," he growled back.
His lover cut a thin line across his breast with a claw-like nail and Dean suckled the scarlet life.
As his lover loved him, he began to change, and only the pleasure he was given could overcome the pain of his entire being altering for his new existence to come.
"Forever damned," his lover moaned in agony and bliss. "Together, in neither death nor life."
Dean gasped, eyes wide, and he was staring into an inhuman blue gaze. The man was still moving, but Dean was no longer drinking. He couldn't take another drop, not with how his body ached and sizzled. Something was breaking inside of him, and he was pretty sure it was his bones. Something else ruptured and he was coughing up blood.
The man spun him around onto his hands and knees, holding him up with gentle hands on his midriff, and the change of positions made Dean shout in ecstasy.
He began vomiting.
How the man still continued to fuck him, he wasn't sure. How he was still hard and why the pleasure continued to boil in his choking veins, he was even less certain of.
But it still felt fucking good and if the man wasn't stopping, he wasn't going to try and end it.
Dean watched from the Gothic-styled window as a mob approached the manor.
His lover stood behind him, ancient blue eyes weary but not worried. He told Dean in an offhanded way that this had happened before, and would most likely continue to happen throughout their existence.
Humans would continue to blame all of their kind for the sins of the few.
Then he turned a warm, loving smile on Dean, and kissed him soundly. "All will be well, with you at my side."
He was screaming.
It wasn't out of pleasure.
He couldn't hold himself up and only the man's embrace was keeping him from falling face-first into his own vomit. His heart was going crazy in his chest and everything else was going with it. He couldn't think up anything coherent and, and…
And.
Something.
Something he couldn't quite grasp, something else that was changing, but it wasn't painful, it was cold. It was…
Something.
His lover and Lord had told him to escape through the secret tunnels. He would follow soon after. Alas, however, there was something of matter he had to handle first.
Dean was, however, a stubborn man. Once a farm boy, always a farm boy, and he was loyal as well.
He went looking for his lover, as the humans torched the manor. He felt no dread in watching it burn. It was not his home, his lover was his home, and his lover had already warned him that their home would be constantly moving. To grow attached to one place would be pointless.
It had felt too big for him anyway, and he was almost awed by watching such a colossal structure tremble and fall in ashes.
So focused was he, that he did not immediately see the approach of his father, who held a Colt and whose eyes showed no familiar emotion.
The pain was leaving, slowly. Like spindly fingers losing their grip, it was detaching itself from him.
He was pulled back into the man's chest, balanced on his lap, and the man was still deeply situated inside of him, though leisurely growing limp.
Dean groaned helplessly as a tongue of pleasure licked his tired body.
"Dean…" the man whispered, heartbrokenly and so very relieved. "Mine forever, you and I."
He licked his lips. Tasted vomit and blood. He turned his head to the side and spat up as much of the bad-tasting shit as he could. He doubted it was good bedside manner, but the guy had just fucked him through his, and the only word he could think to call it was, "detoxing".
"I said so once, didn't I?" He threw a savvy grin back over his shoulder and glowing blue eyes twinkled amusedly. "Castiel… Cas… Where the hell have you been, man?"
"Looking for you, all over the world, in every nation and town." Castiel kissed him. The angle was awkward and Dean doubted it tasted that good either, but it still sent a shock of want through his system, no matter how exhausted he was. "How happy I am, to finally find you."
His world was slowly turning to black. Too much trauma to the body, even his brain and soul. He remembered this.
He was going to have to go underground for a bit, adjust to his new senses and sensitive flesh. Then he would have to learn everything all over again, in this new time and place.
But it was still his time and place, because he had been born here in this life. He probably had a few things he needed to teach Castiel, in retrospect.
But first, he needed to rest. Almost coma-like for a few days, and then he'd worry about everything else.
Castiel kissed him again. "My Dean, mine forever, damned together."
He kissed back. "In this time, Cas, we just call it being possessive."
~::~
There was dead silence.
"Are you sure he's just playing us?" Sam hedged uncertainly.
"He has to be." Madison frowned. "There isn't really a thing in the woods."
They shifted around uncomfortable.
"Hey, Madison…" Jo swallowed thickly. "Who exactly told you about the thing in the woods looking for its lost lover anyway?"
"This guy in a trench coat," she waved her hand dismissively. "He looked like a professor or something, really old school."
"… Do you think…?" Sam was staring to freak out and a glimmer of tears was obvious in his gaze.
Chuck shook his head. "Nah. I mean, it's not like some guy on the street would know that we'd dare someone to go into the woods, right?"
…
"Right?"
~::~
The Impala went missing three days later.
One night after that, Sam disappeared from his bedroom.
Thirteen years anon, a family photo was taken in Canada.
The occupants looked incredibly like the missing brothers, and a strange man in a trench coat.
Author's Note: Happy Halloween~