A/N: I didn't want to leave the cliffie hanging, so a quicker update this time around. Vanessa, a couple of paragraphs were added just for you. It's not much, but I'm trying.

Once again, thank you for sticking with the story and for your encouraging comments. I'm really just mucking my way along trying to figure out this whole 'writing' thing, and your kind reviews have helped me to know when certain elements are working okay.

As always, all errors are mine.

Disclaimer: Not mine, no profits made, thanks for letting me play.

From chapter 10:

The world was melting away around Dean, existing as muffled noise and fleeting impressions. There were more swooshing noises, something beating at the air, the bear was snarling and grunting as Dean was pushed into the wall at his back by Sam's legs. His brother was backed up as far as he could go and dirt and small stones from the cave floor were pelting Dean, thrown up as the giant grizzly performed a macabre dance in front of them, his claws slashing through the air over and over. Oh god, no, Sammy…

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Hozho Chapter 11

Sam looked at his brother's dumbfounded expression at the news that using guns could be tricky around skinwalkers and just shook his head. He'd assumed Dean knew that. It didn't make a difference anyway. No matter how much trouble guns could be around the Navajo witch, they were still the weapon of choice.

He was about to remind his brother of that when his eyes caught the movement at the mouth of the cave. Damn close to Dean. The small light Dean was holding flicked off just a second before the unmistakable silhouette of a large grizzly shuffled into view.

Sam froze, fear stealing his breath away. Dean was so close to the bear that the fur on its side had to be in his face where he was crouched. His brother came into view as he carefully rose to his feet practically touching the grizzly. It was inconceivable that the animal didn't see him there. It was only a matter of time, though…seconds…and then Dean would be dead. Unless Sam could draw the bear's attention.

He began to slowly push himself to his feet, his earlier weakness forgotten. The bear's head stopped swinging and the red eyes fixed on him. If his new glow in the dark status worked to get this creature away from his brother he swore he would never complain about it again.

What the hell? Sam's mind refused to comprehend what he was seeing. His brother was reaching towards the bear instead of giving Sam the chance to draw it away. Okay, he was definitely starting to hallucinate, because it looked like his brother was—oh crap.

The damn rifle was on the other side of the cave, too far away. Sam shoved the Beretta into his waistband, it didn't have the stopping power to drop the large animal quickly enough to help Dean. The shotgun could do some real damage if he was close enough. He twisted around to grab it with his left hand, ignoring the flare of pain in his side. The creature was attempting to throw Dean off of its back by the time Sam turned back around. It reared up violently and twisted its body in a mighty shake, sending Dean flying.

"DEAN!" Sam screamed his brother's name as he charged around the block of stone. His long legs covered the distance to his brother before the bear had managed to take two steps towards the downed Winchester. Dean was crumpled on the ground at the base of the wall. His eyes were open but he looked dazed.

Sam skidded to a stop partially in front of Dean and shot from the hip, the shotgun's pistol grip sliding in his blood covered hand. It wasn't the perfect shot he would have liked, but at that point he was more interested in slowing the behemoth down before it got any closer to Dean. The pellets blew across the bear's side at an oblique angle, opening up a wide bloody swath across its ribs. The bear took another step forward and Sam fired again. The second blast was not as sharp as the first and Sam realized he had just come very close to the gun jamming. Whatever the cause, the pellets scattered into a wider shot pattern than they should have, hitting the bear in the right shoulder and across the side of his skull.

The skinwalker dropped its head and charged forward, stopping when it was a few feet away to rise up onto its hind legs. A rumble gathered intensity until it became a powerful roar that ended with a vicious snarl. It towered over the brothers and began to shake its head in fury as Sam took another step, setting himself as a barrier between the creature and his brother. Drops of blood rained down from the bear's massive head and it began to advance towards them.

Sam pulled the Beretta from his waistband, his head tilting back so he could look into the red eyes. They were staring down at him with a greedy hunger that filled Sam's stomach with ice. He brought the gun up in slow motion and was not surprised when a huge paw batted it out of his hand with an almost playful gesture. It hit the wall somewhere near Dean and the thought of his brother yanked Sam out of the slight daze that had captured him.

He sensed the other paw and its wicked claws as it swung towards him and threw himself backwards. The claws passed an inch in front of his chest in a blow that would have ripped through his ribcage if it had connected. The bear's other paw arced downwards towards his head and Sam stumbled back against the wall, his legs pressing into his brother behind him. The claws split the air in front of his face with a whoosh and he could feel the resulting breeze stir the hair on his forehead as they narrowly missed.

Air beat against his face and he realized it was more than the bear's movements causing the disturbance. With barely a whisper of sound a large shadow flew through the mouth of the cave on outstretched wings, large wings that tilted and pulled the glide into an attack. Legs were extended forward and wicked looking talons reached for the bear's head, sinking into the folds of skin on the back of his neck. The wings beat the air powerfully, pulling the bear backwards, and the skinwalker stumbled a step towards the mouth of the cave.

Sam's eyes widened with shock when a second shadow flew silently into view. The moonlight outside of the cave illuminated this one as it approached, and Sam could see the yellowish eyes of the great horned owl gleaming as it joined in the attack on the skinwalker. The second owl was slightly larger than the first, its wingspan a good five feet across. It swooped in a short arc and dug its talons into the solid muscle above the bear's right shoulder.

The bear went wild with anger, flipping its head from side to side and trying to bite at the birds on its back. Sam pressed back against the wall as far as he could as the massive paws sliced through the air in front of him in frantic arcs. The skinwalker seemed to be trying to either loosen the grip of his attackers or swat them away. His large body performed a shuffling dance, lurching from side to side and turning in little circles, snarling and grunting in rage. He came down on all fours facing out of the cave and Sam couldn't believe the sight of a third owl swooping out of the tree line.

Sam reached down and grabbed Dean under his armpits, lifting the top of his body off of the ground and hauling him farther into the cave, away from the skinwalker's slashing claws. He tried to block out how limp Dean felt as he struggled to walk backwards, dragging his brother with him. Dean's heels bumped over the uneven floor and for some reason the sight hit Sam hard. There was just something fundamentally wrong with his brother looking so helpless.

He laid Dean down gently when they were far enough into the cave and grabbed the rifle leaning against the wall. The grizzly was completely outside of the cave now, twirling like a mutant dog chasing its tail as it tried to grab the owls swooping around it. The owls were continuously striking at its head and the back of its neck and shoulders, sinking their talons in and then lifting off. Sam lifted the rifle to his shoulder and tried to sight on the bear, finally biting his lip in frustration. It was impossible to get a clear shot, there was just too much of a chance of hitting one of the owls. And if he did that and it drove the owls off…well, they were a hell of a lot more effective than any of the guns had been so far.

The waltz in the clearing continued for another minute before the bear shook its head mightily one last time and then crashed through the underbrush, disappearing into the trees. The owls broke off the attack as soon as the bear was past the tree line. They lifted into the air and the night grew still.

Sam dropped the rifle to his side. He lowered the butt to the ground and used the barrel like a cane, helping to support his weight as his legs began to tremble under him and he slid down to sit next to Dean. A wave of nausea washed over him as reaction set in and he fought not to lose the little he had in his stomach. He wiped a trembling hand down his face and took slow even breaths until his stomach settled. Dean needed him.

The strain of the past few days was visible on Dean's face in the light of the flashlight that was still on the ground where Dean had placed it before the first attack. His face was pale and drawn, lines of worry still marking the slack features. Sam reached a shaking hand forward, his fingers pressing into the soft warm skin under the side of Dean's jaw. He held his breath until he felt the strong and even thump of Dean's pulse under his fingers, and then he let it out in a rush, his chin sinking to his chest and his eyes sliding shut in relief for just a second before he began to check his brother's injuries.

He hesitated with a hand on Dean's hip and shoulder, but forced himself to continue. After dragging him across the floor it was a little too late to worry about spinal injuries. He rolled Dean onto his side and carefully slid the back of his T shirt up before grabbing the flashlight. A pattern of red marks showed where some spectacular bruises were going to bloom. Sam ran his hand over Dean's back, probing for painful spots, especially near the spine. There was no reaction to his touch. Hopefully that was a good sign. He gently pulled the T shirt down to cover the darkening bruises, feeling a surge of protectiveness towards his big brother. The events after Dean's electrocution were still too fresh in his mind. He couldn't lose his brother.

The knot was easy to find on the back of Dean's head. Feeling around that spot did elicit a grimace from the unconscious man and Sam took his hand away as soon as he was sure there was no bleeding. All he could do now was to try and make Dean comfortable and then wait for him to wake up. It would give his mind time to sort through everything that had just happened.

Sam sat back, the side of his mouth lowering in a scowl at the feel of moisture dripping down his own side. Oh yeah. When he saw what a mess Sam had made of the new bandage, Dean was definitely going to kill him. He was surprised when he realized just how much he was looking forward to those snarky admonishments.

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They had slept in some pretty bad hotel beds before, but this had to be the worst. Dean rolled onto his back and gave a soft yelp before quickly rolling back to his side. When precisely had someone hit the back of his head with a sledgehammer?

"You staying awake this time, Sleeping Beauty?" The concern in Sam's voice belied the nonchalant wording.

Dean opened his eyes slowly, blinking them a couple of times. He was laying on top of the sleeping bag, his brother sitting next to him with his back against the cave wall. The lantern was back on top of the stone block, throwing soft light over them. Oh yeah. Cave. Bear. Close Encounters of the Solid Rock Wall Kind. Guess that meant there was no coffee in this hotel.

"Here." A bottle of water appeared in front of his face, and then his brother's hand holding Tylenol.

"Thanks." Dean's voice was little more than a croak. He pushed himself into a sitting position and groaned at the pull of bruises all along his back. He was pleasantly surprised that even though he had a headache that could be measured on the Richter scale, there was no dizziness or nausea. He downed the Tylenol with a gulp of water before talking again. "First question: How long was I out?" he asked as he massaged his forehead.

"Which time?" Sam asked tiredly. "You were unconscious for a little while, just a few minutes really, came out of it long enough for me to get you settled here and make sure you weren't any weirder than usual, and then went to sleep. I checked you a couple of times and you seemed okay. You don't remember any of that?" Sam voice was edged with worry.

Dean started to shake his head in the negative and thought better of it when twinges in his neck reminded him of his Flying Wallenda act. He settled for a softy uttered "No."

"How are you feeling now?"

"Like Rocky after he got the shit beat out of him in the first movie."

"That's what you get for trying to ride a grizzly, you freak!'

Dean couldn't help himself, he started to grin. It was kind of awesome when you thought about it. Riding a freakin grizzly. He looked into Sam's glare and gave a little shrug. "Seemed like a good idea at the time," he said simply. He felt the lump on the back of his head as he looked around the cave. No dead skinwalker, his brother still seemed to have all his body parts… "Uh, Sam? What the hell happened? How'd you get rid of the fugly grizzly?"

"Well I didn't ride him out," Sam grumbled. Dean tried really hard not to start smiling again. He really tried. Sam just shook his head and dropped his forehead onto his bent knees, but not before Dean caught the look of relief that crossed his face at the sight of Dean's grin. Sam's voice was muffled when he continued. "I guess the sing in Arizona worked. Owls chased him away." Sam jerked his head up and to the side as soon as he felt Dean's fingers running across the back of his skull. "Dude! What the hell are you doing?"

"Checking to see if you hit YOUR head. It sounded like you said owls chased the bear away."

"I did." Sam dropped his head back to his knees. "Three great horned owls. One of the weirder things I've ever seen. And that's saying something."

"Why do you think it has to do with the sing?"

Sam looked up at him as though expecting to see a second head on Dean's shoulders. "You mean apart from the fact that we were saved by three HUGE FREAKING OWLS?" His head plopped back onto his knees. "Owls are considered messengers of the spirits by the Navajo, and a lot of Navajo consider them omens of death and misfortune. Basically they mean Betzgai has some serious witching working against him now. And he knows it. He went nuts when they showed up. Practically ran away."

"Has he come back?" As if on cue a series of low hoos came from the trees to the right of the cave opening.

Sam lifted his head and pointed in the direction of the ledge above the mouth of the cave. "Wait for it…" An answering call came from the spot where Sam pointed. "And let's not forget…" He pointed to the trees to the left and a moment later the third set of calls came from that direction.

Dean raised his eyebrows and gave him a questioning look. "They've been doing that—"

"Every fifteen minutes for the last couple of hours," Sam finished wearily, his head thumping back onto his knees. "Betzgai hasn't come back."

Dean winced in sympathy. "Can't say I blame him," he muttered. He stretched his arms out and began to twist his back from side to side, trying to judge just how much damage his collision with the wall had caused. He was stiff and sore, but nothing out of the ordinary. Getting thrown into things wasn't exactly a novelty to him. Once the Tylenol kicked in and put a dent in the headache he'd be good to go. Which made one of them. He ran his eyes over the bedraggled and forlorn figure huddled in front of him.

The hours that Dean had spent 'out of it' hadn't been kind to his brother. Sam's head was still resting on his knees, shaggy hair hiding his face. His right arm was wrapped around his bent legs, but his left arm was clamped against his side. Dean realized he hadn't seen Sam move that arm yet.

He spotted the backpack on the other side of the cave and his stomach gave a low growl when he remembered the food stashed inside. Using the stone block next to him, he began to carefully push himself to his feet.

"Dean! What are you doing, man?" Sam was looking at him like he expected Dean to collapse in a dead faint at any second. "Sit down! What do you need?"

"Dude! Chill! I'm fine!" Dean tried not to sound annoyed. He knew Sam was worried about him, but he hated to be babied. Not that Sam looked like he was capable of doing any babying. He looked like death…unwarmed over. His skin was so pale that the myriad of bruises stood out in sharp relief. His eyes…hell, Dean had seen zombies whose eyes looked livelier.

Of course his stubbornness remained intact. Sam ignored Dean's reassurances and began to stand up, ready to get whatever Dean needed. His attempt to rise was short lived. He fell back against the wall and slowly slid down to land on his butt, a bemused expression on his face. "Okay, that worked well," he said softly.

Dean crouched next to him and put his hand on Sam's forehead, ignoring his brother's attempts to pull away. No fever that he could detect. He gently began to lift Sam's left arm and frowned with annoyance when he met resistance. "Damn it, Sammy! Let me see! Did he get to you before the cavalry flew in?" Dean went still for a second and then shook his head. "Man, that sounded weird."

Sam snorted but allowed Dean to lift his arm. "He didn't have to. I can't seem to handle the first freaking scratches he gave me." Bunched up gauze fell from under the black T shirt and Sam turned his face away. "Sorry. Couldn't manage to get it taped in place myself. I've been a hell of a lot of help on this hunt, huh?"

Dean ran his left hand over his face, finally resting it with his palm over his mouth, his eyes fixed on the bloody gauze that had fallen to the ground.

Sam must have taken his lack of response as agreement. He kept his face turned away from Dean and continued to talk in a voice so low and weary that Dean could barely hear him. "Maybe you're right that you'd be better off hunting without me. I'm a liability. Can't go back to school, though." His voice took on a dreamy quality, as though he was talking to himself. "This shit follows me. Betzgai made me see that. Look how Meg latched on to me and I delivered Dad. Can't go back. I already got Jess killed. If I go back more people will die because of me."

Dean's gaze had switched from the bloody bandages to the small slice he could see of his brother's turned away face. His eyebrows drew down in concern and his throat tightened at Sam's words. This was exhaustion and blood loss talking. It had to be. Sam couldn't really think any of this was his fault.

He put his hand on Sam's shoulder and began kneading the hard muscles, giving himself a second to make sure his voice would be under control. His hand moved to the back of Sam's neck and he leaned closer, bowing his head close to Sam's.

"Jesus, Sammy! You're such an ass!"

Sam's face turned towards him, his eyes widened in disbelief.

Dean sat back on his haunches and looked at him steadily. "First off, you gotta ignore yourself right now. I know this is gonna be tough for you, but don't take anything you're thinking too seriously." He gave a little grin but then his expression became deadly earnest. His voice cracked just slightly when he continued. "You've taken a beating over the last couple of days and you're starting to show signs of the blood loss. It's screwing with that geeky emo brain of yours. You think you're a liability? You jumped between me and a psychotic grizzly the size of a Mack truck a couple of hours ago." He shook his head with a scowl. "So first we're going to get you situated, and then we're going to talk." He said the last as though it was painful, but then his face brightened. "Better yet, I'm gonna talk and you're gonna listen."

'Situated' to Dean meant that his brother switched places with him on the sleeping bag and new bandages replaced the blood soaked top layers. The wounds didn't seem to be bleeding at that point, but that was only a small relief. Obviously stitches were needed to stop the bleeding for good, and in the meantime Dean would continue to worry. Without the rest and resources needed for the body to recover, even a slow bleed could turn into a huge problem.

Dean reached into the backpack and pulled out a prize he had been saving for the morning. He presented the foil juice pack to his brother with a flourish. "Apple juice." Sam accepted it with a tired but genuine smile and Dean threw a small plastic bag in front of him also. "Trail mix. Lady at the camp store said it was good. Has all that stuff in it you like. You know, the fruit and nuts and stuff."

Sam tore the bag open and poured a handful out before offering the bag to Dean. "You should eat some too."

"Nah, I'm good." Dean held up a stick of beef jerky with a smirk. He looked toward the front of the cave and the smirk faded. It was still pitch black out, but the first pale rays of dawn were approaching far too quickly.

"What aren't you telling me?"

Dean scowled at him. "What, you read minds now too?"

Sam matched him, scowl for scowl. "In your case it would be light reading. Spit it out."

"Alright, here's the deal. The fire jumped around a bit with all that wind the other day. This valley is back in its path and the winds are supposed to pick up today. When it gets a little lighter we've got to haul ass out of here before the fire takes out the whole valley."

"Then maybe we should just head out now, while things are still calm." Sam's words did not match the sound of his voice, which was papery thin and fading. Dean ran his gaze over his brother. Even in the dim light he could see the pallor to Sam's skin, the fatigue evident in every line of his body. His eyes were heavy lidded and blinking slowly.

Dean shook his head slightly. "No, it would be too easy for Betzgai to get the jump on us in the dark. Let's wait till we can see better. In the meantime, you should get some sleep." Sam was already sliding down on the sleeping bag and Dean held back a grin at how young his brother looked when he finally settled on his right side, his head pillowed by his arm.

"I thought you wanted to talk," Sam said drowsily.

Dean settled himself against the wall next to Sam. "Later. Right now you should sleep."

"Deeaan…" Dean hadn't heard that plaintive note in his brother's voice since he was a child. Sam attempted to glare at him, struggling mightily to keep his eyes open.

"Geez, Samantha! Aren't you a little too old to need a bedtime story?"

The ghost of a smile played over Sam's lips and Dean sighed. "Okay, but you just keep quiet and listen. I mean it Sam. This isn't going to be a Dr. Phil moment. I just need to get straight with you about a couple of things." He looked at Sam and waited until he got a small nod.

Dean looked at the ground for a moment, gathering his thoughts. He had created this mess, it was up to him to start cleaning it up. He took a deep breath and shifted his eyes to lock with Sam's, hoping his brother would see the truth on his face. "Look, that stuff you were saying before? About being a liability and me being better off hunting without you… You don't really believe that, do you? I mean, c'mon Sammy. You know that's bullshit, right?"

This time it was Sam's eyes that shifted to the ground and Dean grimaced. Crap. "Okay, listen. The other night when we had that argument and I said I thought you should go back to school..." Dean trailed off when Sam flinched at the words. "Christ Sam! There have been so damn many close calls lately! I didn't pull you away from Stanford to get you killed, but sometimes…sometimes it feels like we're on a runaway train and there's nothing I can do to stop it! Some protector, huh?" he broke off with a bitter laugh.

Sam opened his mouth to reply but Dean held his hand up. "Just let me finish. I said I wanted you to go back to school because I thought, maybe back at school you'd be safe."

"I don't think there is any such thing as safe anymore, Dean. Not till the demon that killed Mom and Jess is gone," Sam said quietly.

Dean ran his hand through his hair and stared at the mouth of the cave with a sad frown. "Yeah, I know, Sam. I was an idiot. Not only can't I protect you if you go back to school, but who the hell's going to watch my back? Who's gonna pull my ass out of the fire when I do things like go for a ride on Ungentle Ben?"

Sam smiled and Dean felt something loosen in his chest. "So I guess we should stay a team. We'll take things as they come. Yeah, this shining can make you a magnet sometimes. But I don't know, Sam. It could also save our ass someday too. You're worried some freak like Betzgai is gonna follow you? Join the club, dude. I've pissed off some pretty unforgiving things over the last few years. I think a couple of them are out looking for me. So for now I think we should keep things as they are. Keep watching each other's backs."

Sam shook his head and Dean's stomach dropped. "We can't keep things as they are, Dean. The constant arguments are killing us. I can't…I just don't have the energy to do that anymore. I can't do it. Something's gotta change." Sam's eyes closed, his words growing progressively softer until the last was barely a whisper.

"We'll figure something out, Sam. I promise you, we'll work something out."

Dean watched the remaining tension evaporate out of his brother's muscles as he finally allowed exhaustion to pull him under into sleep. He leaned his own head back against the wall and closed his eyes, grudgingly allowing himself a few minutes of calm before he started preparing for their escape from the valley.

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A/N: A little shorter than usual, but I wanted to resolve that cliffie while I had the chance. It's going to be another nuts weekend. This time it's a combination of family and the station that have swallowed my weekend. So it might be a bit longer than usual before the next update.

I was a little nervous about posting this chapter because I try not to let things get too 'out there'…snort like a guy changing into animals and two ghost hunting brothers isn't 'out there' already LOL…anyway, the owls are from lore and legend. And I kind of like them.