Disclaimer: I still don't own Supernatural or its characters. I and am not making any money on this…I'm just having fun!

Travelers Beware

Chapter 4 – The Hunt Begins

"Well Dean, I can't find anything on the internet that would explain the strange lights that Rusty described. And he's right; there is no record of any cabin or other structure ever being built on that ridge." Sam leaned backed and rubbed his sore neck muscles.

"What about the man he described…you think it may be our werewolf?" Dean asked.

"Dean, I told you, I'm not sure we are talking about a werewolf here…" Sam started to object.

"Sam, I saw the marks on his body…they were definitely consistent with an animal attack. He saw a man and then he saw a wolf with yellow eyes…how much more proof do you need?"

"I know Dean, I know…but something just doesn't feel right. We have to know what we are going up against." Sam watched as Dean walked over to grab his coat and his car keys.

"Ok, if it's proof you want, let's go to the morgue and see the kid's body…but if it looks like he was attacked by a wolf, we head up to the ridge and start looking for our werewolf…agreed?" Dean turned and watched as Sam stood and grabbed his own coat.

"Fine Dean." Sam couldn't shake the feeling that they were missing something important. But he knew that if they didn't figure it out soon, someone else might die.

A short time later, Sam and Dean arrived at the county morgue. Dean walked in and flashed his FBI badge to the receptionist. "Hi, I'm agent Friday and this is my partner Gannon."

The receptionist barely looked at the ID; she was too busy admiring the view of the hunky young man standing in front of her. "How can I help you agent Friday?"

Dean smiled. "We are looking into the recent death of Mark Spencer…can we see the autopsy report?"

The receptionist smiled and led them back to the room that housed the county morgue. "They are getting ready to release the body later today…poor guy. His girlfriend was in here earlier, she was really upset. The file is in here…make sure you lock the door on your way out."

Dean thanked the woman and quickly placed the small white piece of paper in his pocket. "Wow, that's almost a record Dean" Sam rolled his eyes as he pulled out the file and began to read through the coroners notes.

Dean opened the drawer and pulled out the body of the unlucky man. "Hey Sam, come and look at this." Dean stood back and let Sam take a closer look. Sam shook his head; the young man had not died easily.

"Like I said, these are bite marks and claw marks, consistent with an animal attack. Some how I don't think that Bambi is the culprit here Sammy." Dean put the body back into the drawer and waited for Sam to replace the file.

"Ok Dean, but it says that cause of death was due to excessive loss of blood and exposure. In fact, there was very little blood left in the man's body when they found him." Sam shook his head. It did have all the signs of being a werewolf, yet his head told him that there was more to it.

"Right, so he bled out…some of those bite marks were deep. So I say we head up to the ridge while it's still daylight out and set up camp." Dean moved to leave the morgue.

"Dean, I know you are anxious to get back on a hunt, but I still think we should do a little more…" Sam almost knocked Dean over as he stopped suddenly and turned around to stare at Sam.

"You agreed, if the morgue supported our suspicions, that we would set up camp. Why are you being so stubborn on this Sammy…we'll take along extra weapons just in case it is something else. All I know is, that something up there is luring people to a very unpleasant death and we need to stop it. Why do you always have to make things so complicated?" Dean didn't wait for Sam to answer but headed to the Impala. Some times Sam could drive him crazy with his pension for research.

Sam decided that if he didn't follow, his brother would probably leave him behind. He didn't really want to leave yet, but not being there to cover his brother's back wasn't an option.

Dean decided that they would stop at the diner on their way out of town. "You never know when we will get a good meal Sammy. It's going to be camp fire fare for a few days." Dean smiled at the look of disgust on Sam's face.

"M & M's are not a food group Dean." Sam groused as he followed his brother into the diner. He saw Melinda was sitting in the same booth that she had been in the previous night. Once again, she was staring at the plate of food in front of her, not touching it.

"Hi Melinda, remember me?"

"Oh hi Sam…so you and your brother are leaving?" Melinda noticed Dean standing slightly behind Sam. But she smiled shyly at Sam as he stood closer to her.

"Yeah, we are going to do some camping, my brother decided that he'd take me in for my last meal." Sam said looking sideways at his brother.

"Sam, please…you seem like a nice guy. Why don't you just leave…camp on the other side of the mountain? I….I…I wouldn't like to see you get hurt." Melinda's eyes filled with tears.

Sam reached down and patted her on the shoulder. "Don't worry Melinda. My brother and I know what we are doing." As he and Dean went to get a table, Sam just hoped that it was true.

Two hours later found both boys sitting around a fire in front of their tents. "So Sammy do you think that the werewolf will show up tonight? Looks like the perfect night for a werewolf hunt." Dean couldn't help but notice that Sam still seemed preoccupied.

"Sure Dean…say did you bring Dad's journal?" Sam poked at the fire as he tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together in his mind.

Dean passed the journal to Sam. "I'm going to take a quick look around, you stay here and see what you can find in Dad's journal, ok?" Dean checked to make sure that his gun was loaded and placed it in his waist band.

"Sure Dean…but are you sure you don't want me to come with…you shouldn't be out there alone." Sam started to stand checking his own gun. He didn't like letting Dean go off on his own.

"Sammy, I've been doing this for a long time. I know what I'm doing. If we are lucky this can all be over tonight. Besides, I'm not going far…just do me a favor."

Sam sat back down and looked up. "What?"

"Don't follow the lights." Dean did using his best Gollum impersonation.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Really Dude, I know you didn't read the books."

"Who needs books, the movies were great!" Dean laughed as he moved to start searching their surroundings.

Sam shook his head as he watched Dean blend into his surroundings. He knew that there was no one better on a hunt, except maybe his father…some times he wished that he had been as good as Dean. Maybe then his father wouldn't have been so disappointed in him. Sighing, Sam opened his father's journal and began trying to find something that would fit with the facts they knew.

The night had become eerily quiet. Sam pulled his coat closer to him as he looked up wondering where Dean had gone. It had been almost an hour. Sam stood and put the journal in his pocket and once again checked to make sure that his gun was handy. Moving quietly to the edge of the clearing he began following Dean's trail.

Sam smiled, not too many people would have seen Dean's trail. But the one thing Sam had excelled at was tracking. More than once, he had beat Dean at hide and seek. Sam moved a little further, intending to just circle the camp. As he looked off in the direction that Dean had gone in, he noticed a light bobbing in the distance. "Damn it Dean!" Sam said under his breath as he started to head towards the light.

TBC

Raven524: Hmmmm…so I wonder if Dean left a trail of M&M's this time….LOL. Somehow I think that they are going to be sorry they followed the light…and of course, that probably means some Sammy and Dean angst on the horizon. So hold on tight, the ride is about to take off!