Chapter 26: Sharp Teeth

Over at a farm in Wisconsin, its farmer was turning in for the night when he heard some commotion coming from his cow barn. The cows were going wild as if there was something in there scaring them. He went to take a rifle as he calmly moved in to see what was going on. In the barn was a faint sound of something getting chewed through that was freaking out the cows. The man got closer and then saw someone running out of the barn.

"Hey," he shouted letting out a shot to try and scare the guy.

He kept running and the farmer gave chase as he ran into the surrounding wilderness. The mystery figure was gaining speed and it looked like he would lose him if not for the surprise car that zoomed passed when he got to the road. The figure fell to the ground, unconscious to reveal Garth's blood stained face.

Supernatural

Sam pulled one of the cars he took from the Bunker up to the hospital parking lot. Castiel had left him to go off on his own and Sam had begun to set out to try and find Kevin. No leads at all save for tracking his laptop that had found its way to an electronic store in Lebanon where he had turned it in for cash. Sam asked to see it and found that Kevin had wiped the hard drive of all his personal files and any information about them or the tablets. He ran a search for Kevin's account and got lucky. Or so he thought when he arrived in New Mexico and saw that Kevin had gone to a bank there a few weeks ago, about three days after Samael had taken off with his body, and closed his account. He watched security footage showing him destroying his credit card and throwing his identification away in a dumpster nearby before hopping into a car. Sam thought he saw a shadow of someone else in there but couldn't make out who it was. The trail went cold after that. Then he heard on the wire of a John Doe caught poaching at a farm whose description seemed to match Garth so he decided to check it out. He took his car and made an immediate trek up to Wisconsin to the hospital where the report said they were keeping Garth's John Doe.

"Good afternoon," Sam said as he stepped to the reception desk and showed his fed badge. "I'm looking for a John Doe that was admitted here a few days ago. He's a skinny…Ichabod Crane kind of guy." That seemed a good enough way to describe Garth.

The nurse at the desk smiled at him. "I know just who you mean. Room 113 agent."

"Alright thanks," he said gratefully.

"Sure is a popular fella," she muttered.

Sam wondered what she meant by that but it became clear when he went to the room and saw Garth was indeed there asleep in the bed with a visitor. Dean looked up stone faced at him. Sam hadn't seen or spoken to Dean in over two weeks since he had punched him. A part of him wanted to just leave the room or stay and give him another punch but, he wasn't here for Dean. He was here for Garth.

"Saw Garth's John Doe on the police wire…you?" he said controlling his tone.

"Yeah," muttered Dean. He could tell that Sam was still greatly pissed at him and Dean knew he deserved it. "Where are you coming from?" he said trying to make conversation to keep their minds on anything but their present issues with each other.

"New Mexico," he answered.

"Well, that's a haul. Considering I pretty much got this all covered so if you wanna…"

Sam wasn't going to just leave. "Spoken to him yet?" he said with a bitch face.

Dean couldn't say he was surprised that Sam wasn't just going to leave. "No, he's chalk full on pain killers."

Sam came over and noticed that Garth was handcuffed to the bed. "What's he being charged with?"

Dean rolled his eyes. "Killing a cow."

Sam was surprised at that. "Why?"

"I was just about to see if I could find out. Lock the door," he said flatly.

Sam went to lock the hospital room and turned back in time to see Dean pull out a syringe. "Whoa, what the hell are you doing? Is that adrenaline? You wanna jump start him or kill him?"

Dean glared on ahead. "I want some answers. He walked out on Kevin and walked out on us. So, unless you have a better idea."

Sam thought on it for a moment before he went and gave Garth a slap to the face. Garth immediately woke up to their surprise as he started to wail and breathe in and out like an oxygen starved miner.

"Sam? Dean?" he coughed out. "What's going on? Am I in Heaven?"

Dean held out his hand. "Take it easy Garth? You're in Wisconsin."

"You're in a hospital," added Sam.

"A hospital," Garth said confused.

"You were hit by a car," Sam explained as he went to pick the lock on them. "Do you remember anything?"

"Vaguely."

"How about where you've been for the last six months?" asked Dean. "The only way we finally found you was when you offed a cow."

"What? I was on a hunt."

"For what?" asked Sam.

Garth seemed pained for a second before he started breathing faster. "Oh God," he said before he ran to the bathroom, closed the door behind him and then started gagging.

Dean puffed out after him. "Good thing I didn't give him the adrenaline."

The two of them were alone in the room with nothing but Garth's coughs and gagging breaking the silence. The tension that was between them seemed to have come back.

Dean didn't like it so he decided to do something to try and break it. "Any sign of Kevin?"

Sam shook his head as he went to take a seat. "No…nothing. He sold his laptop, after he wiped it. Emptied his account in some bank in New Mexico but the trail vanished after that. Took all of his notes too, along with the tablets. He just left behind a note."

"What it say?" he coughed out. Sam just breathed out hard. "That good huh?"

"Turns out, Kevin met up with someone from the Battalion. Said that he really understood him and wanted to help him where we couldn't. He…did write that he was sorry and not to look for him."

Dean snorted through his nose as he shook his head.

"What?" asked Sam.

"Nothing…it's just…I'm starting to feel like I'm in an episode of Teen Mom." Just then Garth let out a louder cough followed by a deep hacking gag. "Just breathe Garth," Dean called out.

Sam leaned back in his chair a bit before he noticed something bright and red running down the side of his rolled sleeve. "What happened to your arm?"

Dean looked at his arm and remembered his own escapade in the last two weeks. He lifted it to give Sam a better look at the Mark. "Oh, yeah, that's…a little gift from Cain."

Sam stiffened. "The wrestler?" he asked hopefully knowing that's not who Dean meant.

"No, I wish," he said rolling his sleeve back to cover it fully. "That would've been awesome. But, no, the old testament guy gone demon. He went biblical on me and gave me his mark."

"How? What does that even mean?"

Sam had been searching for him for weeks after Kevin first mentioned him and couldn't find any clues but somehow Dean did?

"I tried tracking down Samael but had no luck. Then I stumbled onto the son of a bitch's trail as he was offing no good douchebags. Crowley came by and helped me track him down."

"You worked a job with Crowley?" Sam was starting to get angry again.

After all, freeing and working with Crowley is what made Kevin leave them in the first place.

"The devil you know," said Dean. "Anyway, Cain gave me his mark so that I would be able to 86 both Abaddon and Samael."

"Out of the goodness of his heart?" he asked skeptically.

Cain wouldn't have given Dean that kind of power without some kind of a catch. He wondered what the hell Dean did this time. Yet, before anything else could be said, the two of them noticed that it had gotten too quiet.

"Garth?" Sam called out.

The two of them rushed into the bathroom to see it empty and that the window was wide open.

"Son of a bitch," Dean muttered before he ran out with Sam right behind him.

Sam and Dean left the hospital and made it to the parking lot.

"Why did he take off?" Dean asked.

"I don't know. Why the hell haven't we heard anything from him in the last six months? Did you test him?

"No, he was unconscious. Did Garth steal a car?" asked Dean before Sam pointed to a smock on the ground.

"He steal a car naked?"

Dean looked around before noticing the cameras. "I'll see if those cameras tell us anything. Why don't you talk to Farmer Brown? See about that cow."

"Yeah," he agreed before they separated again.

Sam made it to the farm and spoke with the farmer whose cow Garth had apparently mutilated. The farmer told him that chickens, a goat and now a cow had been killed and their organs ripped out. The farmer thought it might've been devil worship but Sam didn't think so but still couldn't place what Garth had to do with this. He rode back to the hospital and called Dean.

"Yeah," Dean said when he picked up.

"So, turns out, the cow wasn't just killed, it was eviscerated."

"So, why was Garth there?"

"Well…he said he was on a hunt, right? Maybe he was hunting whatever killed it?"

"Then why would he run? This whole thing is starting to stink, you know that right?"

Sam noticed Dean walking out of the front entrance and coming towards him but his attention was on some papers he was holding. "Yeah, what about you? Any luck?"

"Uh, nada, cameras were pointed in the wrong direction." He said with his focus still on what he was holding.

"You're kidding?" Sam said not letting anything slip out of his tone that told Dean he knew he was lying. "So…"

"So Garth's a hunter, if he wants to stay gone then he's gone."

"We got nothing?" he said moving to intercept Dean.

"What can I say Sammy? We lost this one, send me a postcard."

Dean stopped when he saw Sam coming up next to him and then taking what was in his hand. Sam saw that they were security photos clearly showing Garth as he stole the car and Dean managed to get closeups as well.

"Wow…make, model and license plate. Really Dean?"

"I'm just trying to make this easier for you. We can't work together and my cheek still feels that you agree with me."

"Yeah…I hear you and trust me, as soon as we find and see what is up with Garth, I'm gone. But until then, no more of your games. I think all of us have had enough of them."

Dean could take the subtle hint that he was saying Kevin leaving was his fault. Worse thing was, Dean would've preferred that Sam just say that outright to hit him with then make it subtle because he honestly agreed. So, it was best to get to the bottom of this and fast.

"The ride belongs to a girl named Bess Meyers and she lives in the next town over."

Sam and Dean went to the building where Bess Meyers lives and then went up to her apartment and then broke down the door. They had their guns out and moved in to find Garth there, with his clothes on and in the middle of packing.

"Whoa, whoa guys," he said as they came in. "Everything's cool. It's just a simple misunderstanding."

Dean moved in. "Who are you talking to? A girl?"

Garth's face fell. "What? What girl?" Dean held up the bra on the table nearby. "What? What the?"

Sam and Dean saw that Garth was trying to stall them so they split off to find who or what Garth was trying to hide from them.

Garth was getting more nervous. "Guys, everyone's needs to take a chill pill and put their guns down."

Sam and Dean didn't listen to him. Dean checked the nearby bathroom while Sam scoped the empty bedroom.

"You see," Garth said a little relieved to them. "Let's all be grown ups here and have an adult conversation."

The relief vanished when a girl came out of the closet and attacked Sam with claws and fangs out. Dean aimed his gun for her but Garth stopped Dean before Sam pulled out his silver knife and cut the woman on the arm making a smoking wound. Garth stepped in front of Sam before he could shoot her and told him not to hurt her. Dean wouldn't have it and told Sam to just shoot her because she was a werewolf. Garth then said that he was one as well.

It took a while but soon, all four of them were settled where Garth was seeing to the woman's wound from Sam's knife.

"It's okay baby, just hold it like that," he said holding a guaze over her cut.

"What are they doing here Garth?" she asked him softly.

"They're friends, I promise," he tried to reassure her.

"They're hunters," she responded, still softly.

Sam and Dean were off to the side taking in the weird pace of conversation that Garth was having with this werewolf. Garth looked to them and to her before he changed the pace of everything.

"Alright, we four got off on the wrong foot here so let's do things right. Boys, this is Bess," he said introducing the girl. "My beloved," he explained to the silent surprise of both of them before turning back to Bess. "And Bess, that's Dean. He can start a fight in an empty house but underneath, he's a big ole teddy bear. And Sam here, he can be a bit insecure at times but for good reason, bless his heart."

Sam could only nod at that but Dean rolled his eyes.

"That's sweet," he grumbled. "Werewolf?" he said jumping right into the point.

"Okay," Garth said getting ready to explain. "About six months ago off Portland I was tracking this big bad wolf. I took him down but…he bit me in the process."

"And you didn't call one of us?" Dean asked trying to keep his temper in check.

"And tell you what?" Garth almost barked. "That I messed up? No, I knew the deal. There's no cure so I accepted my fate. Ate my favorite dish of egg fu yong. Watched my favorite movie Rocky III and was going to eat a bullet when Bess here found me."

"And how'd she do that?" asked Sam as he looked over at Bess.

"Smelled him," she answered. "How else?"

"Yeah," he smiled. "Yanked the gun out of my mouth and, as they say, the rest is history. We've been married for four months now." He brightened up as he looked back at Bess.

"You're married?" Sam said a little surprised.

"To a werewolf?" Dean asked angrily.

Bess rose to defend Garth. "My pack has taken him as one of our own."

A pack? Great, so Garth and Bess weren't the only two werewolves around here. Garth can already see the kind of thoughts brewing in their heads.

"Guys, its not what you think. We don't hurt people."

"No," Dean spat out. "You just go all wolverine on cattle," he scolded.

"Yeah," Garth mumbled.

Bess spoke out for him. "At least he's not eating human hearts. Do you have any idea how hard it is for a bitten to control their instincts. Like Garth does? He's been amazing."

"Thank you baby," he said a little embarrassed.

"Well it's the truth honey bunny."

Sam was intrigued. "Wait, a bitten? You're all bitten."

Bess frowned. "Not at all. You're either born into it like I was or you're bitten, like Garth."

"Wait," Dean said surprised at all of this himself. "You're saying you were born a werewolf?"

She nodded. "Second generation."

Okay, they heard enough.

"Garth, can we talk to you…alone," Dean said pointedly. Bess left the room and he bared down on him. "What the hell?"

"Look," Garth huffed. "I know you guys want to shoot and ask questions later. But, I checked it out. This pack is clean. Everything's kosher."

"Right," said Sam. "Minus the part where your wife attacked me."

"Yeah, because you two came busting in here like a house on fire," he scolded. "Guns waving, jawlines in the air, it's all very intimidating. What did you expect?" He then looked over at Dean who still had skepticism oozing from his face. "Dean, no one wants any trouble. You got my word on that."

"Oh no," he shook his head. "That ship has sailed. We're gonna need a lot more than your word."

"Okay, okay, you want proof? Come pray with us."

Now Sam and Dean were confused again.

Dean pulled up to the address Garth had given to him to find it was a nice sized house that had over half a dozen other cars already parked nearby. Sam called and asked if he had seen anything yet but Dean thought the outside seemed fine but went to get his gun and silver knife from the trunk. Sam informed him that he was waiting on the sheriff but told him to be careful. Dean went up to the front door and he could hear quite a few voices going off inside. It sounded almost like…singing. He knocked on the door and soon an older woman

She opened the door with a smile. "You must be Dean. I'm Jean, Garth's mother in law. Or step-mother in law. Whichever you prefer," she laughed before looking back inside. "Why don't you come in? We're just about to finish up."

Dean didn't feel like just waltzing into a house belonging to a pack of werewolves. "Why don't you just tell Garth I'm here?"

"Dean, you have my word that you're safe under my roof. I only ask the same in return, after all…I'm not the one carrying silver." Jean's tone started getting lower but she kept the smile on her face but Dean could still feel the tension.

He stepped inside to see that everyone was singing a hymn with Garth in the corner playing the piano. Not well, but playing nevertheless. There seemed to be a little over a dozen people there and he immediately saw Bess among them next to what seemed like the reverend. When the hymn was over, the reverend stood with a book that had a paw print on the cover saying some retreating words before the apparent mass was over.

Garth spotted Dean and went over to him as everyone started leaving. "Hi, so what did I tell ya? It's all good right?"

Dean watched as the last of them went out the door, some of them young kids. "Everyone here's a wolf?"

"Yeah," Garth nodded.

"Yeah, not all good," he muttered.

Garth just brushed it off. "C'mon Dean, you just gotta meet them. That's Russ and Jova," he introduced two of them that were helping with the clean up. "Bess' first cousin on sister Joy's side. That's Reverend Jim, Bess' dad and a good man," he emphasized.

The reverend came over to them. "Dean, isn't it? I'm Jim Meyers," he said reaching out to shake his hand. "But folks usually call me-"

"Reverend Jim, yeah I got it," he said not shaking the guy's hand.

Garth tried to smile away the new breed of tension. "Oh, my bad, Dean's got this nasty fear of germs," he said before turning and glaring slightly at him.

Reverend Jim seemed to understand perfectly which he stated out loud. "I understand your apprehension Dean. Hunters and our kind don't have the best history together."

"But," Jean said. "I think you'll find we're not much different from you."

"Oh, sister, I highly doubt it," he grumbled out.

Jim just smiled. "Why don't we break bread and see."

"Why would I do that?"

Garth looked away from Dean as he tried to curb away the new wave of embarrassment he was giving him. Jim and his wife left while Garth rounded on Dean.

"Dean," he barked at him.

"What?" he asked clueless on Garth's attitude with him.

Garth just huffed and rolled his eyes.

Dinner was just as tense as the conversations beforehand. All the others, including Garth, were feasting on raw meat and animal hearts while Dean had a cooked t-bone steak. Dean watched uncomfortably as the werewolves all chomped down on the hearts right in front of him. He noticed that all of them were wearing silver bullets on chains and Garth said that it was part of their beliefs to remind them that even though they were werewolves, or lycanthropes as they apparently preferred, they weren't invulnerable. Also, it turns out that Bess' mother was a werewolf that was killed off by a hunter as were Jean's father and brother. Reverend Jim said that he understood wanting to take vengeance but he practiced peace and understanding as he was wary of letting those kind of feelings consume him. Dean found himself agreeing somewhat on that, even if he couldn't do so himself.

Sam was trying to gather any information on the family of werewolves that Garth had married himself into. He met with the sheriff and started asking questions about the Meyers. The sheriff assured him that Reverend Jim Meyers and his family, while a little strange, were actually good people. Sam was a little relieved to hear that. He also checked around and saw that there weren't any signs of people being fed on by the pack so Garth was telling the truth when he said that they didn't hurt humans. He couldn't help but feel relieved about that.

Dean was looking through the fridge and found a bunch of raw meat, wrapped and ready to eat. Things that you would find in a common butcher shop. However, that couldn't be everything. He still had a feeling that something wasn't right. He was noticed snooping by Bess' two cousins and Dean tried to pass it off as looking for a beer. It was obvious to Dean that they didn't like him whatsoever and didn't seem to make any effort to hide it. It didn't help when Dean made a comment about them and a chewtoy. Thankfully Garth walked by and defused the situation.

"Why are you being so hard on everyone?" Garth scolded on Dean.

"Because there is no way that all of this is what it is, no way."

"Why not?" he asked him tiredly.

Dean bared down on him. "C'mon man, I know you drank the kool-aid, but c'mon."

"Look, amigo, I know this all looks nuts but I found it. Love and a family. Who cares where that comes from?"

"I do," Dean said sternly. He did care and Garth had to see that being here with this pack, it wasn't right.

"I get it," Garth shrugged. "When I first got here, I couldn't let go either. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop but when it didn't, I had to accept the truth."

Dean nodded before he dropped another shoe. "Well I have another truth for you. We were all left in the dark when you went AWOL. I didn't know if you were dead or worse. You should've reached out and sent someone a message," he spat at him.

"And said what Dean? That I was a werewolf. Okay, I was embarrassed. I thought it best if I stayed away. But that doesn't mean that I didn't miss and think about you, Sam, and Kevin."

At the sound of Kevin's name, Dean stiffened which Garth noticed immediately and he settled his anger against Dean.

"Kevin's gone."

"What?"

"He…he took off. I…I guess he had enough of hunters letting him down so he decided to try someone else." Dean tried to push back the fresh bout of self-loathing as he again thought of the last time he had seen Kevin as well as all the talks and ways he had pushed him around for him to focus on doing what he needed of him.

"Who?" asked Garth. "Where did he go? Who is he with?"

"Best guess…he's a saint compared to me."

Kevin was laying in the bed in his room at the Pavilion as he quietly did some research on the Powers. There were a few volumes and texts here about angels that he didn't notice in the Men of Letters Bunker. One of the members told him that information on angels remained primarily with them as demons might have seen the Men of Letters as the weak link to obtain information on them so it was a precaution measure. So, he took advantage and tried to learn more about the angels that were taking him under their, well not wings he guessed. He found that they were just like Castiel said. They were a strong warrior class of angel that bowed solely to Michael and God. It turned out that there was only one of their numbers that betrayed them and joined Lucifer during his rebellion but other than that, they all were dedicated and loyal.

Kevin looked up when he heard a soft knock on the door. It was Daniel.

"Hey," he said. "Mind if I come in."

"No," he said nodding to a nearby chair.

"So," Daniel said taking his seat. "How are you settling in?"

He shrugged. "This place is good. A lot more people to talk to. Some seem kind of cool."

"Yeah," smiled Daniel. "I know. I helped recruit some of them."

"Recruit?"

"Yeah. The Battalion's numbers were lacking some years ago, during the Apocalypse. After it was aborted and all this new trouble started, I suggested that we needed more people to have on hand with these new harder times. I knew that we needed good people out there in all of this. And I'm not talking more head cases and serial killing mentalists like 4/5 of the hunters out there, but good, honest to god, good people that can serve. So, we looked to public servants. Cops, fireman, doctors, any kind of public servants out there that were good people that could serve and serve well. Like my father," he said the last part softly. "Him and all he taught me and my brother inspired that."

Kevin put his book down and straightened himself to sit at the edge of his bed. "Your father? I know you said that your brother was in the Battalion but you didn't say that your father was too."

The saint shook his head. "No, he wasn't. My father was a deputy cop back in my hometown. He died about seven years ago, about halfway through my freshman year in high school."

"Oh," Kevin said feeling sorry for bringing it up. "I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay," he cut in. "You didn't know."

"Uh…how did it happen?"

"Botched robbery," he said flatly. "My dad tried to stop a man robbing a jewelry store and ended up getting shot when the thief tried to run."

"He got away?"

Daniel nodded. "Yeah, but don't worry," he said quickly. "He was caught almost a year later by my dad's partner. He wanted me and my brother to have some kind of peace. He's in the Battalion too, you know. I felt he was the type of man that we needed. A man that knew duty but knew humanity as well." Daniel shook his head as his face dropped a bit. "Hunters…they get so caught up in pursuing monsters, that they eventually sacrifice their humanity and sometimes become monsters themselves."

Kevin was intrigued. These people sounded different from the hunters he had met. Not at all like Dean, Sam or Garth. They sounded like normal people. Real people, who knew the value of normal things like family, friends and life. Sam…Dean, they keep telling him that they understand but, how could they when they never truly knew life outside 'all of it'. Their own hunting world of blood and pain. These people did know. They knew of things like school, friends, struggles, family, life.

Kevin let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "You still need my help? With learning how to use the Holy Grail to free Michael, right?"

"You would be a big help but I don't want to force you into helping me. The Battalion and the members of the Powers still scattered around the world are still looking into it. I'm sure they could find what I need to do."

"But I definitely could if I finish translating the angel tablet," Kevin said.

Daniel nodded. "You definitely could, you're right. But, I don't want to force you. I'm sure you've been through enough of that."

"I have…but I think that's because I wasn't doing what I was meant to for the right people. I had to be tortured, yanked and locked away and bullied to translate anything from those slabs of rock. I'm not blind though, I know that you want me to translate the angel tablet for you, but you're not willing to bully me for getting what you want. If you have to do it the long and hard way, then you'll do it. Won't you?"

"I am a saint. Wouldn't be a very good one if I forced a prophet to do what I wanted now would I?"

Kevin took a second to grin at that before he face fell. "You want my help though, right Daniel?"

"Do you want to give it to me? I want to be sure that you're all in. Truly, of your own free will. If you choose no, we will still protect you. Still try to help you and have you get somewhat of your life back on the track you were pulled from."

"Tell me the truth…what you said those weeks ago. About how if Michael is free, he would protect me and I could still have a normal life…is that true? Would he do it?"

"It's a mandate from God for the Archangels to protect the prophet. Michael's loyalty to him is unbreakable. He would protect you with his life as is his duty from his father."

"And…when he isn't protecting me, what will he do in the meantime? He was willing to destroy the world just to defeat his brother."

"Not destroy it but he did accept that there would be destruction, there's a difference. A big one. When fighting a force like the Devil, its kind of inevitable. But, now that Lucifer is locked away again, his concerns would be to re-establish order. If you don't believe me, try to remember that Michael had been free and keeping order long before those socially challenged brother hunters decided to go around playing God. And, it's only when he was gone that everything has been spiraling downhill with no end in sight."

Kevin nodded as he analyzed the weight of Daniel's words. They were quite heavy with reason and truth. "Okay then."

Daniel straightened himself. "You're in?"

Kevin swallowed. "Yeah…I am."

End of Chapter 26

A/N: Hey, I didn't want to change too much from this episode. It was perfect. The real changes came from the overall plot changes that have happened with Sam & Dean and Kevin's fate. Also, a note for those that follow the story on AO3, I revamped the story with images and gifs so I hope you enjoy it.

The next chapter will have the boys learning that the Meyers pack has some secrets after all and they are all caught in the middle of it.