Thanks for the reviews. This will be the last chapter I'll be able to post until after New Year's Day since more then likely I won't be anywhere near a computer during the holidays. Hope everyone will have a good holiday and a great New Year.

Phobia

Chapter seven

As soon as they heard the scream the brothers were both up and running for the door. Instinctively they both reached beneath their jackets and touched their guns just to make sure they were there if they needed them, it was then Sam realized that he didn't have his, Dean still had it. He looked over at his brother and held out his hand but Dean ignored him, he still didn't trust Sam with a gun, it would be way too easy to turn it on himself.

Once they got to the store they pushed their way through the gathering crowd. They both winced inwardly when they saw the woman standing in front of them screaming as she covered her eyes with her hands, as blood bubbled between her fingers.

"My eyes!.....My eyes!...." The woman screamed as horrified onlookers covered their own eyes and turned away.

"Someone call 911!" Sam shouted as he and his brother led the woman to a chair and helped her sit down.

Sam then picked up a nearby clean tablecloth that was for sale and ripped it into strips. He then took one of the strips and wrapped it around the woman's head covering her eyes, when it bled through he wrapped a new strip on top of the old one. While Sam worked on the woman and tried to calm her Dean kept his eyes out for any sign of the spirit. Maybe since the thing was also after Sam it might still be lingering somewhere in the store waiting to attack him. Dean reached in his pocket and removed the small aerosol can and his lighter but kept them hidden in his hand, he didn't want to frighten anyone but he needed to be ready just in case he spotted the thing. He studied the room but didn't see anything strange. He looked back at Sam just in time to see him pick the fork up off the ground and stare at it, a blank expression on his face.

"Sam….Sammy?"

It was then Dean saw the strange flickering outline of the elf standing near his brother. He quickly raised the aerosol can and was about to light his lighter when the thing suddenly vanished. Dean's attention then went back to Sam who now had the fork positioned over his heart. Dean did the only thing he could think of …. He pressed the aerosol can's button and lit his lighter. Sam yelped in pain and dropped the knife when the flame shot out and singed his hand. He looked at his brother in total confusion.

"What the hell are you doing?" Sam asked Dean as he looked around at the people standing around him who were now backing up wondering the same thing.

"Sorry….. it went off accidently." Dean said to the gathering crowd as he grabbed his brother's arm and led him away from the scene. "You did it again Sam."

"Did what?" Sam had no idea what Dean was talking about, he had been trying to comfort the woman and the next thing he knew Dean was burning his hand.

"You were going to shove that fork right into your chest."

"I was?....It was back?"

"Yeah, but it was too quick, I didn't have time to hit it with the flame."

"But you had time to hit me with it?" Sam said as he looked at his red hand that was already starting to blister.

"By then it was gone….Why didn't you warn me? You said you'd let me know if you were feeling strange."

"I felt fine. I was trying to help that woman and then all of a sudden I felt a sharp pain on my hand and there you are shooting me with your homemade flame thrower."

"I had to….it was the only way to snap you out of your trance." Dean looked into Sam's face. "You didn't feel odd?….You didn't have a headache?"

"Not that I remember."

"Oh that's just great. … That thing can sneak up on you anytime it wants to and there's no kind of warning."

Later that night

Dean once more sat up for most of the night watching hi s brother, he knew if he fell asleep even for a few minutes the creature might appear and if that happened Sam could be dead in a minute. As the night wore on Dean was having trouble keeping his eyes open, even after drinking cup after cup of coffee it was impossible. There was only one thing to do. Dean took a pair of handcuffs out of their supply bag and quickly snapped one on Sam's hand then snapped the other on the bedpost.

"What the hell!" Sam said as he woke up and began pulling on the handcuff.

"Just a little insurance policy." Dean said as he once more sat on a chair across from his brother. Now if he fell asleep his brother wasn't going anywhere.

Two hours later

Dean couldn't fight sleep any longer and finally drifted off. A half hour after Dean fell asleep Phobia showed up. He brushed against Sam then stood back to watch. Sam suddenly shot up in bed, his first thought was that he had to die. His brother was gone, and now all he wanted to be was gone too. He knew the world would be better off without him. He looked around the room and soon figured out that any weapon or sharp object was way out of his reach. He looked at his handcuffed wrist and knew what he had to do. He pulled his hand out of it as much as he could then began rolling his hand back and forth against the dull edge. It took awhile but he finally managed to make a shallow cut in his wrist, now all he had to do was continue to roll his hand back and forth until the edge of the handcuff cut deeper and deeper into his skin. He knew that once he cut through an artery all he'd have to do is lay back and wait to bleed to death.

TBC