Disclosure: Season 6 spoilers, some language, future violence. I don't own SPN.

A/N: Thank you for the reviews, favs and alerts. Sorry, I haven't been able to respond to you who have directly.

Chapter 3

"Dean… wake up." Sam nudged his brother. A grunt and groan came from underneath the pillow and Sam grinned. "Yeah, well… I brought you some coffee so there's no excuse."

Another muffled response met his announcement. "No, I don't think that would be wise." Sam responded, though his grin grew. "Besides, you'd get bacon grease all over the sheets."

Dean emerged, blinking, from underneath the pillow. He glared up at his brother but his glare softened as he reached out for the container of caffeine. He lifted the lid as he straightened to sit at the edge of the bed. Sam chuckled softly at his brother's reaction.

Sam was happy to hear his brother's muffled complaints. At least he said something. He hoped Dean was emerging from his depression and working toward becoming more himself. He continued to watch Dean from his place on his own bed. He flipped the pages of printouts onto the bed next to the hunter.

The elder Winchester looked at the top report which contained horrific photos. He lifted the sheet up and read the information. "This happened last night?" he asked.

Sam nodded. He took another sip of coffee and continued to watch his brother.

Dean went through all the printed reports. He got up and walked to the bathroom. Sam was already dressed in slacks and button up white shirt. He waited patiently for Dean to finish his morning ablutions. When he emerged from the bathroom dressed and smelling of soap and spearmint, Sam knew he was ready for work.

"Why do you think there is a change in the M.O.?" Sam asked.

Dean grunted. "I don't know, but I don't think that…" He picked up the report to look at a piece of information contained there, "Mountain Paradise Land and Realty… is going to send anyone else until they can figure this out. Do we know what law enforcement is doing, yet?"

Sam beamed. "Yeah, actually. The forestry service is planning a search of the area and a senator from the district is up for re-elect… so, he will be doing photo-ops to make a show of taking the deaths and assorted disappearances seriously." Sam looked at the pictures. "Is this ours? I mean, there aren't a lot of fuglies that crucify their victims on pine trees in a forest. I mean, are there any creatures we know of that do this kind of thing?" He asked as he pointed at the photos.

Dean shook his head. "Maybe, they were sinners." Dean's eyes became hard and he clenched his teeth together.

"You don't think this was… an angel?" Sam refused to use Castiel's name with Dean. He knew his brother was still hurt and angry.

"They were crucified, Sam. Besides, who knows what those…" He huffed and his breath sped up. He turned his face away from Sam. He clenched his fists and tried to calm himself.

Sam decided he would tread lightly. "I don't really think it was heavenly. There have been some random disappearances as far back as fifty years. There have been more than twelve in the last year, but it seems that it isn't unheard of in this area. There are rumors of some kind of supernatural event, but they attribute it to aliens, if you can believe that…"

Dean's head shot up and he shivered. "I hate faeries." He murmured.

"What was that?" Sam asked

Dean shook his head. "Nothing. What other alien activity is there in the area?"

Sam was confused. "Seriously? You want to investigate alien abductions?"

Dean looked briefly at his brother and his face cleared of bewilderment. "Oh. Uh, yeah… it's something I may have seen before. Actually, come to think of it… maybe, we should go. Maybe, it isn't one of our kinds of things." Dean looked closely at Sam.

Ah… "Dean, did you come across something like this before I got my soul back?"

Dean refused to answer. He turned away again. "We should leave."

Sam huffed again. "Dean, we can't keep running away from creatures just because we may have fought them before I got my soul back. If we did that, we might as well just sit on our hands and retire from this whole thing. You should go back to living in suburbia and I'll go back to school…"

"Sam!" Dean exploded. "I can't have you ramming into that wall and when we come against something that might cause it to come tumbling down… Dude, I can't…. I can't handle this!" Dean began pacing. Sam just watched his brother.

Finally, Sam rose and blocked his brother. He spoke in the most soothing voice he could muster. "Bobby sent us because he needs us to check this out. He wouldn't have sent us if he thought it would be something we can't handle… wall or no wall." Sam reached out to grip his brother's shoulders. "The first time I feel so much as a tickle, Dean… I promise we can leave." He gazed into his brother's eyes. He tried to convey all the sincerity he could in his expression. "I promise." Sam reiterated when he saw his brother's determination start to crack. Sam knew he had won when he felt Dean's shoulders start to slump forward marginally. His big brother's face was annoyed but also reluctantly pliant. Sam smiled.

"So, why are aliens crucifying people?" Sam asked

"Not aliens… but, I'm not sure if it… Let's not jump to any conclusions, yet. Okay?" Dean looked increasingly uncomfortable.

"Okay, but what did you think it might be that we had to leave or… what did you think it might be?" Sam asked curiously. What could possibly be so bad his brother was uncomfortable? He had never… He didn't remember his brother ever looking this concerned about a thing they had fought. He never squirmed about the supernatural.

"No… nothing… I'll tell you later." Dean groused and blushed.

Curiouser and curiouser. Sam stifled a grin at his brother's discomfiture. He was fairly happy to see a more normal Dean working here. His heart lifted at the sight. Maybe, it was worth the risk just to see his brother come out of the funk he's been in.

***SPN SPN SPN SPN**** SPN SPN SPN SPN***

This isn't going to work, she thought. "We aren't going to be able to sneak up on him." She said to the other three demons. They looked at her with contempt. The four demons were unable to approach the grove in smoke form. They hit the enchantments and had instead reverted to their human forms. Stupid, she thought, and a waste of time.

She followed the others, but she thought she should go hunting down some virgins. It was really the only way. She had seen him up close and personal. She knew he was a strong and a vicious fighter. She knew he wouldn't let her escape a second time. She slowed her pace even more, falling further and further behind. The others were not silent and she knew the creature would not forgive the trespass. If he would crucify humans on the perimeter of his territory, what would he do to us?

She drew herself up and stopped walking. She waited. She knew he would come soon. She could almost feel him. She felt her boy tremble of its own volition. That was when she heard it. She heard the defiant scream of the creature. No mortal creature made the sound like that. Then, the demon voices went up in pain and despair. She nearly ran. Then, she remembered how dangerous it would. Wild things, she knew, were attracted by the running of prey.

She backed away. She walked quietly and turned back the way she came.

"Leaving?" Came a husky menacing voice. She turned slowly. She looked up into the grey eyes of the Alpha. She took a risk.

"I warned them, Lord." She nodded her head and kept it bowed to the creature looming over her.

This made the creature startle and he looked at her in bewilderment.

"Lord?" he asked her. "When did I become your lord, demon?"

She smirked and managed to peek to see the expression on his face. "Right now, Lord."

He scoffed. "What need have I of demon servants?"

Crap.

She thought quickly. What could he possibly need? She could think of nothing the Alpha would need! "The King of Hell will send more."

He saw his weight shift. Ah. Maybe that was enough. Just the information could be useful to him. Perhaps he would let her go.

"Perhaps I should send a message to the King of Hell as I sent a message to the humans." He mused.

Crap.

"What message shall I impart to him, Lord" She was impressed that her voice managed to not break or waver. She looked into the Alpha's face. He grinned viciously.

Crap. Crap. Crap.

****SPN SPN SPN SPN *****

Ben woke to sunlight streaming through the east-facing window of his room. He pulled down the blankets and comforter with a stretch of his arms. The snap of cold in the night chilled the air in his room freezing his arms and he pulled them quickly back into the warmth of the covering. He didn't relish the thought of getting out from the warm cocoon. He groaned though, as he realized he needed to use the bathroom. He fidgeted under the covers. He squeezed his eyes tightly. Maybe the sensation would lessen and he could go back to sleep. Nope. Not gone yet…. Nope, not yet… Damn.

He threw the covers off and he bolted to the bathroom. He shifted from foot to foot shivering in the cold morning chill. When he was finished, he quickly washed his hands and ran to jump back into bed, covering himself in blankets once more. He shivered violently and rubbed his extremities to warm them. When he finally gained control over himself, he poked his head out and he could smell coffee and pancakes. He sighed to himself. He wondered if breakfast was incentive enough to leave the warmth and comfort of the bed.

Apparently, Matt arrived during the night and was sitting in the kitchen when Ben walked out of his small room. His mom and Matt were sitting close together and she had a smile on her face. Ben had to admit that she was happy with Matt, but that didn't mean Ben was buying it. He didn't want to make his mother unhappy but he just didn't want this guy invading his family.

"Hey, Sport." Matt greeted Ben. Ben threw a tense and inauthentic smile at Matt. Matt's own smile didn't diminish even slightly. Lisa, however, sent a warning glare that told Ben he had better play nice. Ben turned his back on the couple and served himself some pancakes.

As he was filling his plate with breakfast foods, he heard the adults talking over the plan for the day. A hike up the mountain sounded so fun… He wondered if he could talk his mom into leaving him behind. He could beg off due to headache, stomachache or muscle cramps. He turned to look at his mom and her boyfriend and sat down nearby. He listened to them for a while. Watching them make dewey eyes at each other really was making him nauseous. He pushed the pancakes away.

"Mom, I feel sick." He complained. "Maybe, I can stay here while you go on that hike?"

Apparently, Mom wasn't buying the excuse. She narrowed her eyes at him shrewdly. Nope, definitely not buying it.

They were hiking up the mountain when they saw the rangers and heard the static voices over a radio. There were off-road vehicles with Forestry colors and banners on the sides. Ben looked with curiosity to see what was happening on the other side of the yellow tape.

Lisa and Matt were speaking to a park ranger while Ben lurked around the perimeter. He peered over the tape and saw the forestry officials following closely behind a paramedic wheeling a stretcher through the woods to the forestry vehicle. The stretcher had a person shaped bag tethered there. He knew at what was he was looking, and he felt his heart rate escalate. He looked in the trees and saw great swaths of glistening reddish-black dripping from their boughs. He shivered and turned away to see a burly ranger approaching him. He looked up at the uniformed man with wide-eyed apprehension.

"Young man, you need to move on back to your family." He said as he maneuvered his large form to block Ben's vantage of the gruesome crime scene.

"What happened?" Ben choked out in a hoarse whisper.

The big man's hardened expression softened. "Son, you don't want to know." He herded Ben back to where Lisa and Matt stood. Lisa put her arm over his shoulder and leaned her head into him. Ben was able to feel slight tremors through the contact. She looked up at Matt and drew her son closer.

"Let's head back down" Matt's deep voice murmured. Matt moved ahead of Ben and Lisa toward the trailhead. Lisa pulled Ben closer and held him with her arm across his shoulders.

TBC