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

Okay, so this one's a little lengthy, void of action but I finally reveal the truth… which isn't really a huge surprise but anyway, here's the next update. I have two to three chapters left to write, so I best get moving.

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11. Countdown

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Sam left the room to go for a walk after he'd managed to get hold of quite a juicy steak. He had the feeling that Dean wouldn't want him to see him eating it, and if he was honest, he didn't want to watch as his brother showed more animalistic tendencies. He didn't want to acknowledge the fact that in a week's time, Dean would be turning into a werewolf unless they could somehow stop it.

He carefully planned his walk in his head, he was going to take at least an hour, preferably more because he knew that Dean would probably refuse to eat the steak at first, just like he said he would do when Sam first brought him it, but in the end the hunger would win. Sam just hoped that when the time was right, Dean wouldn't give into the hunger but right now, Sam needed his brother strong and he couldn't help but think that Dean feeding would sedate the wolf and he would start to feel better.

After finishing the steak, Dean sat on the bathroom floor next to the toilet waiting for the moment that he'd bring it all back up. He didn't want to, he'd enjoyed it - as much as he hated to admit it, - but the guilt and anxiety he felt was so strong that he thought that alone might make him sick. It became clear to him after half an hour of sitting on the cold floor that nothing was going to happen, so he made his way back to his bed.

He glanced over at the clock; it seemed Sam had been gone a pretty long time. It was nearly four o'clock, where could the boy be? Dean just couldn't focus though, his eyes felt so heavy and his mind rested. Surely it would be okay if he just took a nap, he wouldn't sleep for long. Hopefully he wouldn't dream either. So he allowed himself to drift and within minutes he was fast asleep.

He never heard Sam coming in and throwing himself onto the other bed; he was too far into the darkness that came with deep sleep. Sam lay there for several minutes before checking on Dean, placing his hand on his brother's head, sighing in relief as he noticed the fever was going down and would probably be gone before the night was even through. He glanced at the empty table where the meat had once sat and knew that it was doing its trick, keeping the wolf at bay.

Sam let Dean just sleep through the night, though as Dean slept peacefully, dreaming of nothing, Sam stared restlessly at the laptop screen. After glancing at the date and calculating in his mind, five days left until the first day, he finally made a decision. He was going to go back to the ranger's cabin in hope to find that missing piece of information that they may have overlooked. But he wouldn't make it there tonight or tomorrow because he was far too tired and if he was going to find what he needed, he had to be alert and ready. Besides, Dean had turned the alarm off which had rudely awoken him, causing them both to sleep in until nearly two o'clock in the afternoon.

The most the brothers had chance to do when they finally started their day, was to plan ahead and grab a few bites to eat - Dean eating another steak, though not so rare this time. So they planned, Sam was going to go to the ranger's cabin and take another look around, whilst Dean was going to visit Charity, stop her from going to the cabin, and they'd meet back in their room.

And with four days left, the plan was put into action. Dean dropped Sam off at the office and drove towards Charity's, whose address had been quite easy to find.

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The first thing Sam noticed about the office was the layer of dust that had collected, he wasn't a professional when it came to dust and other tiny particles like that but he was pretty sure it was a sure sign that no one had been around for awhile. This made Sam wonder if he and Dean had been the last ones here, but surely Charity needed to come by, it was her job after all.

It took him twice as long as last time, with him working solo but he got through the office eventually. There was nothing, just like the time before. He closed his eyes and sighed in frustration. There had to be something else.

He moved towards the door, accidentally kicking the bin over on his way, leading him to slap his forehead with his hand and cry out a 'Stupid!' because there was one place Dean and Sam hadn't checked before and Sam still hadn't checked it. He cleaned up his messy evidence and left the cabin, circling around back towards the outside larger bins. There was an old silver can that look oddly suspicious, or maybe that was just Sam being paranoid but that was the first place he decided to look.

As he lifted the lid and he wasn't disappointed at his discovery. It was mostly black. Someone had been burning things. Amongst the ashes, there were some bits of paper that had somehow managed to survive in a slightly reasonable and maybe even readable condition. One of these bits of paper contained several names, one circled with a red pen.

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Charity's house looked kind of cosy but it just didn't appeal to Dean. He wasn't a cosy guy, he didn't go for that type of stuff and he probably never would. She opened the door almost immediately after he'd knocked, a grin immediately worked its way onto her face.

"Dean?" She said, as if she were genuinely shocked. Dean smiled sheepishly in reply, "Well, why don't you come in? I have a couple of cold beers if you fancy one."

"Yeah, sure. Beer sounds like a good idea."

He followed her into the house and she led him into the living room.

"You look absolutely knackered, what have you been doing?" She pouted, concern lacing her voice but not showing in her eyes.

"Just research. We're still working on that case, you know with the animal attacks. Kind of fell ill for a bit though."

"Well, you just make yourself comfy and I'll get the beers."

Dean could think of a lot of ways to keep Charity busy while his brother searched for clues but he didn't want to stay any longer than he needed to, his hunger paining him. He busied himself, wandering around the room, staring at the various ornaments and pictures. He did this until he came to a knife that sat on one of the surfaces. He picked it up to get a better look.

"You a hunting girl?" He called.

"Not so much." She entered the room, a bottle in either hand, "Why you ask?"

"Just this seems like something a hunter would use." He held the knife up.

"Really? I found it on one of my rounds, was waiting for someone to claim it."

Dean raised his eyebrow at the thing, there was no mistaking it. This was definitely the one he had used to stab the werewolf.

"You can have it if you want. Found it nearly a month ago, and there was a rule once about if it hasn't been claimed in a month, so it's yours if you want. Of course, the rule was never made official but what no one knows can't hurt them."

"Thank you." He said simply, taking the beer in the hand that didn't hold the knife.

"You know, we never did finish that dance."

"No we didn't." He admitted, but he wanted the topic to stop there. All those feelings already rising up again, though not to the same intensity. The hunger burning.

"So what do you think? Wanna dance?"

"Not really."

She moved over to the CD player and pressed a couple of buttons before the same song from the other night began to play and she started to move seductively. He could feel the wolf stirring but he knew he couldn't let it win, he had to fight it and so with his inner strength he shook his head and told her no. Her sad eyes followed him as he set the bottle down.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come in the first place."

"Please." She said, placing her hand on his arm to stop him leaving, her eyes pleading but they also held an intense amount of anger just bubbling below the surface, "I want you."

"No." He said and walked away from her, out of her house and towards the car. His mind was racing, placing things together and whatever arrangement it put all those little details in; they all came to the same conclusion.

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When he arrived back at the cabin, he found to some surprise that Sam was already there. He glanced at the clock, had he really spent that much time at Charity's?

Sam looked up as Dean entered the cabin; he was sitting at the table and nearly jumped when Dean practically shouted.

"Like a dog to a bitch in heat!"

"What?" Sam asked, shocked slightly by the outburst.

"She's the werewolf. She's the one we're looking for." He replied, a little exasperated.

Sam looked down at the papers in front of him, "I kind of figured that when I found this."

Dean walked over to the table and looked at the burnt piece of paper his brother handed him and barely readable, he managed to make out the name Charity, circled with red pen.

"It's Ranger Gibbons list of 'suspects'." Sam sighed.

"So she's been toying with us, she knew who we were from the start and she's been playing us, playing me! Why the hell do you dance with someone you tried to kill?"

"Maybe she likes the idea of having a mate."

Dean simply shot Sam a look that said 'shut up before I eat you' and Sam rolled his eyes, "It was just a suggestion."

"Well, it ain't gonna help us. Now we know who it is, we have to decide what to do about it."

"We kill her. Simple as." But it was far from simple.

"So we just go waltzing into her house and pump her full of silver?" At this comment Sam sighed, since when had Dean started using his brain instead of jumping straight in.

Sam sat in silence whilst Dean paced the room grunting every now and then; he finally ended up blurting out something that had obviously been on his mind since discovering the truth about Charity, "I just can't believe you were right about her. The first time we met her in that office. I bet she doesn't even work there, she just used it as a way to get rid of Ranger Gibbons' notes."

Sam was thoughtful, thinking back to that day, "You know, she had her eye on you then. She wouldn't stop watching you, looking you up and down, as if she was measuring you up. Maybe it wasn't just luck or good skill that stopped her from killing you. What if she did want to infect you, from the beginning?"

"I don't care what she wants Sam. I've got four days left and we have to come up with a way to get her to someplace where we can kill her."

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