Chapter 26

The sun was peaking over the distant buildings, making the sky a orangey red, with a light purple tint in the clouds. Dean had been sitting up all night looking over the local towns map, trying to search for someplace – anyplace the witch might be keeping Sam.

All he found so far was a deeply wooded area that was about forty five minutes out of town. As soon as John and Bobby woke up, Dean was going to suggest the idea of tearing through the woods.

Dean huffed a tired breath as he raked his hand through his short choppy hair out of frustration and exhaustion. It'd been two days now since Sam had been taken, and still they had nothing.

He was angry at his father for just being able to sleep like this was nothing, while Dean was turning over every stone looking for his brother. He didn't want to think of life without Sam just yet. Sure there'd been the days when Sam was in college, but Dean would drop by and make sure he was okay. Dean knew Sam was safe.

Not this.

Suddenly, just as those thoughts crossed Dean's mind, a loud high-pitched ringing came from the direction of the front door.

Dean glanced at the front door curiously, and then looked down toward his duffel bags that stood side by side. The dark green one carried clothes and other necessities, and the brown one carried small weapons.

It was a cellphone he knew. But it wasn't his, because his lay motionless and silent on the nightstand by his bed. Meaning that it was Sam's.

He then stood from the table he was sitting at and crossed the room hurriedly as the ringing continued. When he reached the bags, he knelt down and hurriedly shuffled through his clothes in the dark green bag, until he came across the pair of jeans he had been wearing the day Sam was abducted.

Dean pulled the pants from the bag, and the ringing got louder. He reached into the front pocket, and pulled out his brothers' phone shakily.

He looked down at the ID and noticed it was 'Jessica's Cell' calling. Dean cleared his throat nervously and flipped the phone open before holding it to his ear.

"Hello?" He greeted huskily, as he stood to his full height and sat down on the side of his bed.

"Dean?" Jessica's voice asked, sounding confused.

"Yea, speaking." Dean informed with an eye-roll.

"I need to speak to Sam." Jessica said urgently.

"He can't come to the phone right now. Can I take a message?" Dean replied hotly.

"Did he tell you about our conversation the other day?" Jessica asked impatiently.

"No…was it anything useful?" Dean prodded.

"I'll explain later, is Sam around?"

"N-no." Dean replied shakily.

There was a pregnant pause before Jessica spoke again, this time sounding worried.

"What do you mean 'no'? He's okay isn't he?"

"I don't know," Dean responded truthfully with a defeated sigh.

"What do you mean 'you don't know'? Where the hell is he?" Jess demanded shakily.

"Sam was taken…by the witch." Dean informed solemnly.

"Oh my God…" Jess muttered brokenly, "when?"

"About two days ago."

"But that's when we spoke…" Jess began, as she trailed off as if another thought came to mind, enabling her to finish her sentence.

"He was probably abducted right after you guys talked…but all the wolves were killed, and Sammy was hurt pretty bad when she took him."

"All of them? All five?" Jessica asked sounding taken aback.

Dean's eyebrows knit together in concentration as he thought back to that day. There was a lot of blood and body parts askew all around him. It certainly could have been the remains of five wolves.

"I guess so." Dean replied simply.

"What do you mean 'you guess so'? How are you not sure?" Jessica snapped bitterly.

"Sorry I didn't do a headcount, we kinda baled the second Sammy was taken. We weren't about to get pinned for that mess!" Dean defended.

"Whatever," Jessica muttered impatiently, "fine I'm coming to you then. I have some information that will help you kill the witch, and I think I know where she might be holed up."

"What is it?" Dean demanded hopefully.

"Tell me where you are."

"Pines Motel in Balesview, Texas." Dean stammered.

"I'll be there in about a half hour. What room?" Jessica asked irritably.

"Twelve." Dean replied simply.

"See you soon." Jess said as she ended the call.

Dean folded the phone closed, and shoved the tiny phone into his pocket. Maybe today would be the day they found Sam. He hoped so; Dean knew he couldn't take this not knowing if Sam was okay for much longer.

xXx

The bright orange sun was rising in the sky, as it was just after dawn. The brown and black wolf with the golden eyes stared out the open window without a care in the world as he watched the sun rise patiently, with his tongue lolling out of his mouth.

He had tried to leave, but it was as if an invisible barrier were keeping locked in that room. It saddened him, he wanted to hunt.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" came a deep feminine voice, coming from just behind Sam.

The wolf tore his gaze from the dawn before him, and looked back toward the glowing woman he had seen last night. Only instead of a dark gown, she now wore a white one with spaghetti straps. Her dark hair was beautiful and long as it twisted into tight curls with white flowers in it.

The woman flashed the wolf a million-dollar smile, and walked further into the room, closer to Sam.

"You're still a little out of it I see." She commented with fake sorrow.

The wolf cocked his head at her, and turned his whole body around to face her. He wasn't quite sure what she would do.

"No matter!" She continued cheerfully as she clapped her hands together as if she were excited, "let's get you fed, shall we? Maybe that will bring your conscious mind back into rotation."

The wolf grumbled and took an uneasy step back.

"Not that I don't love you, and all your natural glory, but I gave you free will for a reason." The witch said in a matter-of-fact tone as she waved a finger at him.

Suddenly, the witch turned her attention toward the front door and closed her eyes. There was a long moment where she said nothing, and nothing happened. The only sound in the room was the wolf's impatient claws clicking on the worn wooden floor as he paced.

Just then, a large deer appeared through the front door as if it were in a trance. Its eyes were emotionless, and glossed over as it walked through the threshold of the open door without a care in the world.

Its hooves clicked on the wooden floor as it entered the small house, and came to a pause directly in front of the hungry wolf.

The witch opened her eyes, and folded her arms over her slightly exposed chest with a smug smile on her face. She watched as the wolf's ears went flat against his head, and he bared his teeth. He was testing this offering. He wanted to see if it would run from him, if it would follow its instinct of being the prey, whereas he would be the predator.

But nothing happened; it didn't so much as blink in Sam's direction.

Sam looked over at the woman expectantly, as she looked back at him and nodded, signifying that it was okay for him to gorge himself.

The wolf suddenly pounced on the deer with hunger deep in its golden eyes. It took the deer's throat into its mouth, and shook its head violently from side to side until he heard a loud crack echo throughout the room.

It then bit into its gut, helping itself to the deer's meat as blood pooled around the scene.

The witch watched Sam with a satisfied grin on her face. She found it ironic that this animal before her was once a human who hunted the supernatural. Looking at him now, he was nothing more than that of which he hunts. Maybe he and his family should rethink their lifestyle, the witch thought with a dry chuckle.

When Sam pulled his face away from the deer, his face stained with its blood, the witch noticed that his eyelids were drooping over hazel eyes. Her smile widened as she realized Sam was fully conscious and back with her.

He licked his bloody chops, with a deep look of confusion clear in his eyes.

The last thing Sam remembered was the worst pain he could ever imagine only worse, spreading through his whole body as if he were on fire or something. And now here he was standing over a dead deer with a full stomach covered in its blood with a bitch of a headache.

The witch whistled loudly, catching Sam off guard and making him jump with a slight whimper before looking up at her with hate. He knew that when he was in his weakened state, she fed from his soul. He was going to make her pay for that.

When her whistling came to a halt, Sam's attention was drawn to the witch's side as a white bellied wolf with a gray back, face, and tail trotted to her side obediently. Sam recognized her as the wolf that stood in the sidelines of the fight the other day with the black alpha. So this was the one that got away?

Sam growled at her hatefully, causing her to cock her head at him with her icy blue eyes pierced his hazel with curiosity. She found him interesting.

"Sam, meet Jasmine. Jasmine, meet Sam." The witch introduced playfully.

Neither wolves did anything nor made any noise as they waited for the witch to continue. Sam smelled something on his other wolf, and it was making him nervous.

"Sam, for the last few hours I've been thinking of creative ways to punish you for the lives you stole from me, when I realized how selfish I was being." She said with a pleased smile as she saw his confusion and fear, "It occurred to me that my poor Jasmine has lost her whole pack and her mate all in one day. My heart just broke for her."

Sam's ears pulled back slightly, as he narrowed his eyes up at the woman's face. His tail was pointed straight out, parallel to the ground, completely motionless. Where was she going with this?

"That's when I thought to myself, well that would be perfect for Sam!" The witch declared, "He can take the place of Jasmine's mate!"

Sam jumped a little, with a loud whimper. He would never mate with her! That would be completely unethical because the poor girl wasn't in her right state of mind, and since he was more human than she was, wasn't bestiality an issue?

As if reading his mind, the with adopted a phony pout.

"No Sam, you two would be fine. You're both of the same species after all…I just want you to rebuild the pack I lost. It's perfect, really." The witch said thoughtfully, "Hopefully with you two as parents, your pups' souls will definitely be one of a kind."

Sam looked at the witch wide-eyed. He couldn't believe what he was hearing! How twisted was she?

"And since I'm really not so cruel, if you wish, I can take away your conscious mind temporarily during the mating process. To be honest, I really just want to see the pups." The witch said with a chuckle.

Sam grumbled, as his tail twitched.

"You have no choice, Sam. You must repay the lives you stole!" The witch said in a deep demanding tone, which made the Sam's hackles raise, and the wolf beside her whine pathetically.

Sam whimpered, and then backed away slowly. This was too much.

"Fine!" The witch yelled in submission as she threw her hands in the air, irritably, "We'll do this tonight. At exactly eight-o-clock when the sun goes down, your subconscious wolf mind will take over. Happy?"

Sam cocked his head at her as if to ask if she was serious. She had to be kidding. What about any of this could possibly make him happy?