Chapter 38
The sun was beginning to peek over the horizon made of the thick woods trees, causing the sky to be a brilliant red orange with pink clouds.
Inside the motel room, Sam continued to lunge at Dean ferociously, but as he had been doing all night, Dean avoided the blows with swift playfulness, even though his muscles were beginning to bunch and burn from exhaustion.
The tables' legs had given out, and were now laying as useless boards on the floor. Three out of four of the chairs unfortunately met the same fate as the table.
The ground was now littered with splinters, and dust from the fight.
Dean suddenly came to a halt with a clear look of worry on his face as Sam's golden eyes suddenly rolled into the back of his head, and his body fell limply on the ground among the wreckage he had caused over the night.
Dean yelped in surprise, and ran quickly to his brothers' unconscious body. He looked down his black muzzle at Sam's shallow breathing.
"Come on Sammy, wake up!" Dean begged wordlessly with a desperate whine as he nudged Sam's stomach gently with his paw.
Dean blinked with discomfort as the light of the early morning sun was beginning to peek through the closed blinds in the window. Dean moved his position to get the light out of his eyes, but kept his eyes on his brother.
A soft whimper escaped Sam's throat, causing Dean to jump a little with excitement as his nudging became a little more harsh to help Sam come fully around.
Sam's eyelids fluttered, and his mind was full of fog. He couldn't remember what happened. He remembered sitting on the bed, thinking of their next move, and then he drew a complete blank.
Sam could smell that Dean was standing over him, and he could sense his fear. Dean was scared for him. But why?
With that, his eyelids opened sluggishly revealing his confused, glossy, hazel eyes to his brother, who visibly sighed with relief.
Upon seeing Sam conscious, and his eyes open, Dean ceased his nudging and whimpered a soft encouragement for Sam to try and get up.
Sam lifted his head off the ground slowly, keeping his eyes fixed on his brother who kept staring back at him with clear worry. Sam only nodded to Dean, assuring him that he was alright albeit a little confused.
Dean was completely shaken, Sam noticed. His breaths were coming in gasps as if he'd run a marathon with his tongue hanging from his open mouth. But his bright green eyes were wide and unblinking as he eyed Sam warily, his tail twitching back and forth every few seconds as if he wasn't sure what to expect.
What had he done to worry Dean so much, Sam wondered.
Slowly, and shakily, Sam managed to stand on all fours with little trouble. He shook his coat feverishly to get the dust off him, and then yawned tiredly.
Sam suddenly shifted quickly back to human form, wanting nothing more than to question Dean about what happened last night. When he shifted from his four-legged skin to his two-legged skin, he stood completely naked in front of his older brother.
Embarrassed, Sam quickly covered his privates with his hands and quickly made his way to the front door where the duffel bags lay.
He pulled his clothes out of his bag, and then turned his back to his brother and dressed himself hurriedly.
With Sam's back turned, Dean also shifted back to human form as quickly as he could. But being so new to this, he still found it strange, and shifted rather slow.
After a few moments, his naked form staggered back as the change was complete. Blinking as his now colored vision adjusted to the light, he too made his way toward the duffel bags for his clothes.
Finally finding the proper outfit for the day ahead, Dean (with his back still to his brother) began to dress himself quickly.
"What do you remember?" Dean called curiously as he pulled his underpants over his knees.
"Not much," Sam answered honestly with a sigh as he pulled on a pair of frayed jeans, "I just remember sitting on the bed...then nothing."
There was a silence, as they finished getting dressed. When they were fully clothed a few minutes later, they finally turned to face each other.
Dean eyed Sam worriedly, instinctively checking his brother for any injuries, even though he knew that nothing he could have done to himself last night could possibly be troublesome for long. But still, to his relief, the only clear injuries on Sam were small splinters on his hands.
"I lost control." Sam said softly, he wasn't asking because by now he knew the signs. He lowered his head and knit his eyebrows together as he tried to remember the events from last night.
"Yea...but this time you had me to take it out on." Dean replied with an eye-roll.
Sam's eyes snapped up to meet Dean's, his eyes now harboring a terrifyed expression.
"Did I hurt you?" He asked sadly.
Dean shook his head honestly.
"Nah, guess I'm too quick for you." Dean teased.
"Where are Bobby, Jessica, and dad?" Sam asked desperately.
"Bobby and Jess are outside, I'm sure dad's out there with them by now. I told them to wait in the parking lot, while I tried to hold you off...you were pretty out of it." Dean answered trying to offer reassurance to his brother.
"You did the right thing." Sam muttered with a nod.
"We should probably go get them." Dean said roughly as he rubbed the back of his head, not knowing what to do with his hands.
Sam knew that Dean was trying to avoid the subject right now. He wanted to get Bobby, Jessica, and John inside so they could all sit and discuss what they were going to do about this new problem that just fell into their laps.
Before Sam could stop him, Dean opened the front door and walked outside into the morning sunshine.
Sam took in a deep breath and then followed suit.
What they saw, wasn't at all what they were expecting.
Standing between John's black truck, and Bobby's muscle car, stood Jessica pacing back and forth with her arms crossed over her chest looking completely worried.
Every now and then, she would turn her gaze to the woods, before averting her eyes back to her feet and continued pacing nervously.
"Jess!" Dean called, startling her to attention.
Her eyed went back and forth between Sam and Dean for a moment before sighing with relief and walking over to them.
"What's the matter?" Dean asked seriously.
"Where's dad and Bobby?" Sam chimed in.
Jessica turned her attention away from the boys and looked back toward the crowd of trees again. Sam and Dean couldn't help but look as well.
She then turned her face back to the brothers, and Sam and Dean averted their eyes back to her.
"J-John came back a little while after you kicked us out." Jessica began, eyeing Dean with a tiny nod, "Bobby told him what happened, but we were all really nervous and jumpy so most of our attention was focused on the door." Jessica said as she nodded toward the motel room door.
"Well I guess something grabbed John's attention in the woods, because he went running toward the trees!" Jessica continued, "Bobby and I called after him, but he only ignored us. Anyways, John never came back! Two hours went by, and John never came back! So Bobby went in there looking for him."
"You don't have any idea what my dad saw?" Dean asked urgently, now trying to milk as much information from her as possible.
Jessica shook her head, "No, he just took off! He looked pissed though."
Sam and Dean turned to face each other with bewildered looks on their faces.
"What do you think?" Sam asked.
"I think it's the same bitch we've been hunting for the past few weeks." Dean spat angrily.
"What do you suggest we do?" Sam asked with a shrug.
"I say we go in there and give that bitch hell!" Dean yelled.
Sam rolled his eyes, "We gotta find dad and Bobby first! We gotta make sure they're okay!"
"They are!" Dean said loud and quite sure of himself.
"We don't know that for sure," Sam said in a soft whisper.
"What do you think we should do then?" Dean asked venomously.
Sam nodded for Dean and Jessica to follow him as he started toward the woods in a soft run.
Dean groaned with Sam's 'think thenact' attitude, but followed behind him nonetheless with Jessica at his heel.
Coming to a halt at the first line of trees, Sam sniffed loudly around some trees before turning his attention back to Jessica.
"Did you see where exactly my dad came in?" Sam asked a little hopefully.
Jessica only shook her head with an apologetic shrug.
"I don't really remember, I'm sorry. I was scared and it was dark."
Sam nodded completely understanding, and then turned back toward the trees to continue to find the general area to where his dad entered the woods.
"So...what's gonna happen when you find where dad came in?" Dean asked, sounding genuinely curious.
"I'm gonna follow his scent." Sam replied without giving a moment to think about it as he continued to walk slowly along the line of trees with his nose still trained on finding his fathers' scent, "and then maybe we can find out what happened to him."
"What about Bobby?" Dean asked.
"We'll have to split up," Sam replied with a shrug, "one of us goes looking for dad and then other finds Bobby."
"No - no way!" Dean refused, shaking his head angrily, "We're not separating, Sam. That witch is out there trying to get you, and you want to break away from your only line of defense?"
Sam stopped sniffing, and turned to face Dean with a defiant glare in his eyes.
"My only line of defense?" He challenged.
"No - Dean's right!" Jessica interjected, stepping between the brothers, "She's looking for you, and you'll stand a better chance with Dean at your side and you know it!"
"What about you?" Sam wondered out loud.
"I'll stay behind in the motel, try and figure out where we can strike the witch. I'll be fine, I'm worried about you!" Jessica said, brushing off the subject.
Sam rolled his eyes before continuing what he was doing.
"Plus," Dean added calling a silent truce, "I don't know how to follow scents really. I make a real crappy hound."
Sam had to give Dean that, he himself had to learn how to follow scents all by himself when he was younger. Otherwise, he'd have never gotten a meal while he was in his wolf skin.
But it could be different with Dean, Sam thought. He could teach his brother how to track among other things, but the point was, Dean wouldn't be alone in this.
"Fine." Sam muttered, defeated.
Suddenly, his fathers' scent invaded his nose causing his eyes to widen with excitement. He quickly followed the scent of leather, and gun powder with Dean and Jessica at his heels, and came to a stop right in between two large oak trees.
The sour scent of their fathers' anger and adrenaline stung Sam's nostrils making him exhale sharply, coming out more like a snort.
"Here," Sam said softly, "dad came in through here."
"This place stinks." Dean commented, crinkling his nose with disgust.
"It's dad." Sam replied in a voice just above a whisper.
"Yeah, well dad reeks." Dean teased, "So what's your plan?"
"We shift, then we go after dad to try and see what happened to him," Sam said with a tiny shrug, "and then we go after Bobby."
"Aw dammit." Dean moaned.
"What?" Sam demanded quizzically.
"I just got dressed too!" Dean joked.
Sam just rolled his eyes, completely ignoring his brother's attempt at humor.
So, so, so sorry I haven't updated in so long!! It's been such a hectic last few days! Real life tends to cloud my writing, as some of you know. Haha.
Well, as a piece offering right now I will give you 2 chapters in 1 day. And my updates should be back to its usual quick flow. Thank you guys for being so patient. :)