.-.-.-.Lycanthrope.-.-.-.

And now we have chapter 10!! Woohoo! Yet another chapter that went spiralling off on its own. Anyway, here you go. Chapter 11 has notes written down about it so if I even if I have to resort to desperate measures I will get it written as soon as possible.

PS – I am so happy with the response I got to the dancing scene so thank you guys so much.

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10. Symptoms

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"What do you mean?" Sam asked carefully.

"I meant exactly what I said." Dean looked away; barely able to contain the growl that threatened to escape with his words.

"I'm sorry Dean, I just don't exactly understand. How can it be the wolf?"

"I don't expect you to understand, just trust me. We need to leave."

"We're not going anywhere until you tell me what you mean."

"We're running out of time Sam. I was bitten on the last day and the next full moon is in what, a week? Surely you weren't stupid enough to believe that everything would be fine until the actual full moon?" Dean immediately felt a pang of guilt, his brother's eyes full of pain after Dean's venomous words.

"What are you saying Dean?"

"I'm saying I can feel it inside me, I can feel the wolf and I don't know how long before I lose control."

"You've been hiding this from me?" Sam stared at his brother, who just remained silent, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"There's been nothing to tell. Okay, I've had a few feelings and my senses have been working overtime but that's it, or that was it until in there. God, I thought I was going to lose myself Sammy."

"Maybe it was just that once, maybe it won't happen again."

Dean rubbed his hand over his face, "Just get in the car Sam, we're getting an early night and I don't feel like driving."

Dean was relinquishing the wheel? Things must be bad. How had he not noticed? How could he not even think about the possibilities? Sam took the keys from Dean's jacket and both brothers clambered into the car. With a sigh, Sam tossed the jackets onto the back seat and turned the key, "We'll find a way to sort this Dean. We've just got to find the one who bit you."

As the sleek black car pulled away from the bar, Charity leaned against the doorframe, a smile lingering on her lips as her thoughts wandered, he was kind of cute after all, okay, he was more than that, either way it was a shame they didn't finish their dance, maybe next time. She turned back into the chaotic noise of the bar.

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The drive was silent, Dean's face was set, his features hard. Sam kept glancing at him from the corner of his eye. Three times he opened his mouth to say something and all three times he saw Dean tense. This was getting ridiculous. He was worried about his brother but Dean just wasn't going to let him in. When they pulled up outside the cabin, they sat unmoving for several minutes before Sam finally opened the door and climbed out. He was sure he heard Dean curse before also getting out the car.

Feeling mentally and physically exhausted, Dean just shook off his jeans and got into bed, all he wanted was sleep. He just needed to relax. He felt angry with himself, he felt angry with Sam, he just felt plain angry and he wanted to lash out but he had to control it because the nearest thing to lash out at was his little brother.

"Night Dean." Sam muttered; following Dean's lead of getting into bed but he pulled his laptop in with him.

"Night Sam." The reply barely a whisper.

Dean's sleep was far from uneventful. He moaned gently as the familiar feeling of his mind fogging crept over him. He could once again feel wind, he hadn't even realised how warm he was until it cooled him. He ran into it, ran through the thick brush towards the open clearing where the moon shone down once more. A scent travelled through the air and he wet his lips in anticipation. Just before the opening, he stopped and looked forward, tasting the fear and longing for the kill of his prey. The body lay motionless on the ground, a pool of blood surrounding it and he felt himself smirk, ready for his meal.

Whether it was the particular loud snore that Sam had just made or the intense feeling of hunger that had made him wake up made no difference because as soon as he was awake, he ran straight towards the bathroom, locked the door and kneeled over the toilet, spewing what little food he had in his system back up. He didn't even look as he flushed the toilet so he never saw the blood mingled in, he never tasted it either - all he could taste was the bile.

With shaky hands and pale features, he splashed his face with cold water and rinsed his mouth out. It was then he saw the blood. Fear rushed through, had he somehow hurt Sam? He unlocked the door and opened it ever so slightly; his eyes landed on Sam who appeared completely unharmed as he rolled over in his sleep and fought a loosing battle with the bed sheets.

Then where was the blood from? But his question was answered almost immediately as he began violently coughing, spurting droplets of blood over his hands which had covered his mouth just in time. He closed and relocked the bathroom door. It was his blood? But how? He wasn't injured, not internally… was he?

A small gasp escaped his lips before he managed to quieten it, the cause of this sudden gasp was the rush of pain shooting through his shoulder and echoing through every other body part. It was the virus. There was no other reason for it. He just hoped it wouldn't last for long because there was no way he wanted Sam to know.

Before he could even stop it, the pain sent him to the floor and knocked the wind out of him. He coughed again, spraying the floor with his blood and he put one hand against the cold tiled floor to steady himself as he tried to regain control of his breathing. What was happening to him?

"Dean?"

And as quick as everything came on, it was gone. So he was left kneeling confusedly on the floor as Sam gently knocked on the bathroom door.

"Dean, you okay?"

Dean took a deep breath and called out, "Yeah, Sam. Course I am."

"Then you wanna let me in?" His voice was laced with disbelief.

"You wanna let me finish first?" He half joked, trying to avoid the oncoming argument. As he spoke, he began cleaning up any 'evidence', such as the blood droplets. He then unlocked the bathroom door and stalked back over to his bed.

"What's wrong?" Sam said, glancing around the bathroom and then back to his brother.

"Nothing's wrong Sam."

But by morning Sam's suspicions were confirmed and he knew for definite that there was something wrong. He knew this because when he came back with coffee, Dean barely responded, merely rolling onto his other side to avoid the light and cold that came through the door, not to mention he had an extremely high temperature.

"So what's the verdict doctor." Dean croaked out as he opened his eyes to find Sam hovering over him.

"You're really sick Dean. Maybe we should get you to a hospital."

Dean shook his head, though he wished he hadn't, it felt thick and heavy, "They wouldn't be able to do anything. You know what this is just as well as I do."

"And what's that?"

"It's the virus, the wolf. It knows that it's nearly full moon and it's fighting for control."

"How do you know that? How do we know that you haven't got just a normal non supernatural infection?"

Dean looked away; he wasn't going to tell Sam about the dream but he also knew that he didn't have to; Sam was just dealing with the denial.

"I hate to ask this Sam and I feel guilty as hell about it, but I could sure go for a steak right about now."

Sam smiled and tried to make light of the situation, "Rare?" but when Dean didn't reply and didn't meet his eyes, he realised that was exactly how his brothers wanted it.