Well, I'm awake and as promised, here is another chapter for you. I hope it satisfies. Will post one more later tonight. Enjoy.

Cindy.

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Dean awoke with a start, instantly furious with himself for falling asleep. He had sat up most of the night researching anything and everything he could think of to find Sam. He researched any number of creatures and legends that could possibly leave the kind of wounds and marks that had been inflicted on the victims. He had found nothing. This was Sam's forte. Sam would have found something within minutes. "God! This is so messed up!" he thought wearily.

Then, finally the call he had been waiting for came. Bobby had found something! He needed to do a little more research, but he was sure he knew what they were dealing with. He hadn't gone into specifics, but had assured Dean he would be there by noon. He had told Dean to get some rest, that they were in for a long day. Dean had hung up and laid down on his bed to take a quick nap.

Dean looked at the clock and nearly had a stroke. It was 10:30! He had been asleep for nearly 7 hours. He had slept almost the whole morning away! He admonished himself, reminding himself that for sure Sam wasn't sleeping comfortably on a soft mattress in a warm motel room. Sam was in the company of evil, suffering undeserved torture. It would be a long time before Dean forgave himself for this one. Still, he reminded himself, he needed to sleep and eat to be at the top of his game for Sam.

He got up from the bed and headed for the bathroom to splash cold water on his face. When he returned from the bathroom, he put on his boots and prepared to head to the diner for a quick breakfast. He should have enough time for that and then get back to the motel to wait for Bobby. He debated on whether to take the Impala, but the thought just brought back the argument that had started this whole ball rolling. He couldn't bring himself to drive her, not yet. Not until he had to.

He headed down the street to the diner intent on a quick bite, then back to the motel to meet Bobby. Once Bobby got there, they would go over the information he had found then they would hunt this son of a bitch down and kill it. "Hang on Sammy! Please hang on!" Dean prayed silently.

Dean decided that after breakfast, he would have enough time to head to the county records office to take a look at survey maps of the area. He hoped to find any place on the maps that something could take a victim and keep them for several days without detection. He didn't think Sam was being held in town, based on where the other bodies had been found and the chance of noise alerting someone to his whereabouts. No, whomever, or whatever had Sam would take him somewhere secluded, somewhere that it could perform its atrocities in peace. "God Sammy! I am so sorry!" Dean thought to himself, tears welling in his eyes. He refused to let them fall however. This was not a time for weakness.

As he was walking down the street, he noticed many of the same people he had observed on previous days. There was the young mother with her children at the park. The teenage couple in puppy love sitting under a tree kissing. And there was the old man sitting on the same bench in front of the drug store. Dean noticed that he was looking more chipper today and gave him a smile as he passed. The old man smiled back, tipping his hat.

Dean entered the diner and slid into the only booth available. The waitress approached and handed him a menu, at which he stated, "No menu, just bring me a cinnamon roll and cup of coffee, black, please."

The waitress smiled and returned to the kitchen to turn in his order. A few minutes later, she returned with his roll and coffee and placed them on the table in front of him. Although he didn't have much of an appetite, he began to eat and drink. He wondered if Sam had been fed or given any water to drink.

With every thought of Sam and the predicament he was in, Dean grew angrier and angrier. Nobody hurt his baby brother! NOBODY!! He slammed his fist down on the table with a loud bang, looking up to see several faces turned in his direction. He looked down at his plate and quickly finished his breakfast. He got up from the booth, paid for his meal, and hurried out the door. He would have just enough time to go grab some maps and get back to the motel to wait for Bobby.

A half an hour later Dean stepped into his motel room, quickly spreading the maps he had acquired over his bed. He was looking for any place that Sam could have been taken, mainly caves, caverns, or even old mining shafts. After about 20 minutes he heard a knock at the door and hurried over to answer it. At the threshold stood Bobby, several books and folders in his arms. "Dean," was his quick salutation.

"Bobby, thanks so much for coming! I'm just going over some maps of the area. What did you find out? Bobby, we gotta find Sam!" Dean spat out breathlessly.

"Whoa, slow down Dean!" was Bobby's reply. "Look, let's go over to the table. I've got some things to show you. I know what we're dealing with and it ain't good. We have to find this evil bastard and quick! The good news is, once we find it we can easily kill it! Well, kinda easily." Bobby added.

"So, what is it Bobby? What has Sam?" Dean queried.

"Okay, first of all, I didn't think these things existed anymore. They were thought to have been wiped out centuries ago. But, obviously one slipped through the cracks. We're dealing with a Jardoul. It's a soul stealer Dean," Bobby said gravely.

"I've never heard of a Jardoul. And what do you mean soul stealer?" Dean replied fearfully.

"You've never heard of it because they haven't been heard from for a long time. This one probably would have went unnoticed by the hunting community except it went and took a hunter. The Jardoul survives by stealing the souls of those pure of spirit. Like Sam. It also has another nasty little habit. It gets immediate renewal by drinking the blood of its victims. But this only lasts a short time, so during the process of removing the soul, the Jardoul must drink the blood every few hours. It bleeds the victims from what the ancient text calls the four points of purity; the wrists and the bottoms of the feet. It collects the blood using a silver knife and chalice. The blood must be collected from all four points and then drank all at once." Bobby said quietly.

"So, it's a friggin vampire for God's sake!" exclaimed Dean.

"Well, not exactly. Once it has taken the last bit of soul from the victim, it doesn't need the blood anymore," Bobby replied.

"Okay, so how does it remove the soul? Is that what all the marks on the bodies are for?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, the Jardoul makes several small cuts over the whole body as a way to weaken the victim. The actual extraction is done by the Jardoul placing its hands on the head and chest of the victim. The soul is removed a little at a time, over several days. It's a very painful experience for the victim. This is also when horrific nightmares are planted in the victims mind as a way to weaken them emotionally. Then, finally the last stage of the ritual is started. The Jardoul uses a red hot metal rod to burn the circular mark onto the victims stomach. It then takes four small wooden spikes that have been soaked in a poison, and stabs them into the victims below each collarbone and on the upper thighs. The spikes are left in so the poison can slowly enter the body. This enables the Jardoul to extract the remaining remnants of the soul. Once the process is complete, the victim is left to die, and then discarded." Bobby finished, a sadness in his voice that Dean had never heard before.

Dean, for his part, remained fairly calm. At least on the outside. On the inside he was steadily coming unraveled. To hear a step by step of what was happening to Sam was almost more than he could bear.

"So how do we find it? How do we kill it?" Dean asked, pure rage evident in his voice.

"We will find it underground. Usually a cave. Somewhere cold. It needs its victims cold. We kill it with a silver dagger to the heart. I just so happened to bring one that will work quite well. But we have to be careful. The Jardoul can take on human form and usually does. It has probably been watching you, keeping track of your progress. We don't want it to know that we have discovered what it is, where to find it. If it thinks we're too close, it will be forced to finish the ritual too quickly, and then there'll be no saving Sam!"

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Okay, there's chapter 9. So, now we know what has Sam, but can he be saved? By the way, I made up the creature. Thanks for reading and reviewing!

Cindy.