Chapter Ten

"Son of a bitch," Dean spat as Sam pulled a shard of the mirror that had shattered from Dean's shoulder. He winced sympathetically before pressing a bandage over the small, yet obviously painful stab wound. Kate handed him some medical tape and went about sealing up the gauze. By the time he was done, Dean had his head resting in his hands as he sat cross legged on the bed. Sam watched him for a moment, wondering not for the first time how his brother was still upright. Dean had been through hell the past couple of days and he half expected Dean to keel over any minute. But Dean was a stubborn one, he always had been and Sam scolded himself for thinking that this would be any different. After this was all over, he was going to demand they take a break, or at least just do the easy stuff.

Sam crawled off the bed and watched as his brother absently reached for the shirt that lay next to him. He pulled it on over his head, struggling a bit with his now aching right arm, but finally managed to get it on. Afterwards, he reached for the pain relievers again and dry swallowed three this time. Sam chewed on his lip to keep from scolding his brother about possible overdoses.

Dean turned himself around and leaned back on the bed, pausing to look at Sam. "I think maybe he likes me," he said with a lopsided grin. Sam frowned as Dean leaned against the head board, still wary of his shoulder. "No one can resist this face," he went on.

"You look like you were on the losing side of a boxing match," Kate sat, taking a seat on the opposite side of the table as Sam.

"Hey," Dean warned, pointing a finger at her. "Ladies have a sweet spot for the boxers. Florence Nightingale Syndrome or something."

"How do you know about Florence Nightingale Syndrome?" Sam asked, giving his brother a playful look, hoping to lighten the mood in the room a bit before they got back to business. Dean's encounter with the Mothman had shaken everyone up.

Dean shrugged, wincing as it jarred his shoulder. "You may have studied law, Professor," he said, nodding his head towards Sam with a grin. "But I studied, and perfected, the art of being a chick magnet. Trust me, get a little scratch every now and again and the girls will come swarming."

"You're a regular Casanova," Kate said sarcastically. Sam chuckled lightly, but still couldn't help the feeling of anxiety that was in the pit of his stomach. The Mothman had come after his brother three times. It seemed adamant about making Dean pay attention, but Sam didn't know what his brother was supposed to be paying attention to. It could be anything. And he wondered why it chose Dean. Hadn't Dean said that the creepies seemed more attracted to Sam? Why couldn't it be the same this time? Although he wasn't really a masochist, Sam would have preferred it was him who got hurt instead of Dean. That was more their style. Sam would get hurt and Dean would save the day, that's how things worked. The fact that the roles were reversed had Sam nervous and anxious.

A knock on the door brought Sam's attention back to the present. Kate got up and opened the door, letting Ken shuffle in, shaking the snow off his boots and shoulders. He grinned at them. "Morning folks," he greeted. He turned his attention to Dean and tipped his hat. "The Sheriff sends his apologies, but he hasn't had time to come up with that list you asked for, what with the scene yesterday and Bill's blow out this morning."

"Bill?" Kate asked, perking up a bit. "Bill Cummings?"

"The one and only," Ken said, for the first time since they'd met him sounding sarcastic and bitter.

"Do we know this Bill Cummings?" Dean asked, getting to his feet. He grabbed his coat that was on the end of the bed. Sam frowned, wondering where his brother thought he was going. He really didn't think Dean should go anywhere, still looked far too pale and Sam highly doubted that the seven hours of sleep had helped much. His brother needed at least seven more.

Ken shook his head. "No, and good thing," he said, pointing a cautious finger at Dean. "He's trouble."

"Why do you say that?" Sam asked, gaining his feet as well. He went to stand next to Dean, trying not to be conspicuous as he stood close enough so that if his brother passed out, he'd be ready to catch him. Dean didn't seem to notice, or if he did, he chose wisely to ignore it.

"He's a drunk," Kate said bluntly, but that's all the information she gave the brothers before turning her attention back to Ken. "What'd he do this time?"

Ken huffed and pulled out a can of Kodiak chewing tobacco. He began shaking it while he was talking. "Ah, Wyatt had to go pull Bill off of John Garner down at the farmer's market this morning. I heard him yelled about John killing his dog or something or other. John's never been up to that old coot's place, let alone near that damned dog of his."

"Something killed his dog?" Sam asked.

Ken nodded, placing a bit of tobacco in the side of his cheek before pocketing the canister again. "Looks like," he answered.

Sam and Dean shared a look for a moment before Dean nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. "Mothman never went after Fido before," he said, gaining both Ken and Kate's attention. "That's more Jersey Devil territory. But he hasn't been playing nice so far…"

"Where's Bill now?" Sam asked.

"Wyatt threw him in a cell for a few hours," Ken said. "Give him time to sober up and then he's gonna send him on home. If you ask me, they should just keep him there."

"Well," Dean said, shoving Sam's jacket at him. "Let's go pay the man a visit."

"We can take my car," Kate said, looking at Ken apologetically. "Your truck is kinda cramped."

"I ain't used to having passengers," Ken said with a grin.

The drive to the Sheriff's office was short. Dean and Ken had both fidgeted with the radio for a while before Kate had abruptly turned it off and commented that they were worse than her children. To accentuate the point, Dean leaned back in his seat and pouted. Sam smiled as Kate shook her head, annoyed.

When they walked inside the Sheriff's office, Sam noticed a woman and her daughter sitting on one of the benches inside the office. The woman looked upset, but the little girl was swinging her legs happily, probably unaware of what was making her mother so sad. Sheriff Wyatt Millard greeted them from behind the desk. "Just who I was looking for," he said cheerily. Sam frowned at the man. Wyatt turned to Dean. "Sorry about not coming through for ya," he said. Dean held up his hand and shook his head, telling the man it was no problem. 'But I might got something better," he whispered and leaned over the desk, putting a hand to his mouth as if he were telling some great secret. "I'm sure Ken told you about Bill Cummings. Well, I went to check out that dog of his and there's not a doubt in my mind it's the work of that Mothman of yours."

"How do you know?" Sam asked, watching the Sheriff as he leaned back and looped his thumbs through his belt.

"Cause no man can climb to the top of a spruce and string entrails around like Christmas lights, that's why," he said with confidence. Sam winced at the imagery. He turned to look at Dean, who looked just as disgusted, but also a bit intrigued. "You can quote me for that book of yours," he said, winking at Dean.

"We'll do that," Sam answered for his brother, seeing Dean ready to start joking around. They didn't have the time. "Can we talk to Bill?" he chanced, before his brother could say anything.

The Sheriff frowned and let out a slow breath. "I think you'd better wait," he said and turned his head to look at the two cells in the back of the room. Sam turned to look too and he caught sight of a man laying on one of the hard beds inside of the left cell. He had his head covered by a pillow and was curled into a fetal position. His clothes were dirty and his shirt was stained with a small amount of blood, probably from the scuffle that morning. "He gets violent when he's drunk," Wyatt nodded to one of the deputies who was heading back towards the cell. "We're gonna take him home. Maybe you could stop by his place tomorrow, he'll probably be sober then, but don't plan on getting anything out of him."

Their conversation was suddenly broken by harsh screaming as it filtered its way from the back of the room. Sam turned and saw that the man, who had been so placidly sleeping, was now kicking and screaming and biting at the shocked deputy who had been trying to rouse him to go home. Wyatt cussed beneath his breath and ran back there, two other deputies following suit. Sam saw Dean start to go back. He was ready to reach out and grab Dean's sleeve to get him to stay put, but Dean seemed to realize that he probably wouldn't be able to help much and he stopped, watching the scene unfold.

The deputy who'd initiated the screaming went down hard as Bill Cummings swung a fist at his head. The man jumped on top of the fallen deputy and went to bit him, but Sheriff Wyatt put a stop to that rather quickly. He grabbed Bill beneath the arms, hefting him up with little effort, winning easily over the man with his sheer weight and size. Bill fought viciously at first, but as Wyatt yelled at him to settle down, he seemed to listen and come around and realize where he was. After a few moments of stunned silence, Wyatt finally let go of Bill, who stumbled a bit and leaned up against the wall.

"Jesus!" Bill yelled out. "Jesus, Mary!" he screamed at the deputy on the floor, who was gingerly picking himself up, rubbing the side of his face where Bill had got a good lick in. "You cunt!" he screamed.

Wyatt shoved Bill against the wall harshly and pointed a finger at his face. "You shut up now, Bill," he growled with a ferocity that showed Sam why this man was Sheriff. "You attack one of my deputies again and I'm sending you straight to County."

"He attacked me!" Bill shouted, his words slurring from his still obvious drunkenness.

"Like hell!" the deputy spat back. Wyatt turned and gave him a glare to shut up.

"Someone take this idiot home," he said and the two remaining deputies each came to one side of Bill and took gentle, yet firm hold of his arms. "Don't you cause them no trouble, Bill," Wyatt warned. "You're lucky my boys are thick skinned or you'd find yourself with an assault charge."

"Justice you unfair pigs!" Bill spat at Wyatt's shoes.

Wyatt sighed and nodded towards his deputies as they began to lead Bill towards the door. Dean turned his head towards Sam and Sam leaned down a bit to hear what his brother had to say. "Maybe we could skip talking to this guy," he said softly.

Sam couldn't agree more. He nodded but didn't say anything as Bill Cummings was lead in their direction. Sam and Dean stepped to one side as Ken and Kate stepped to the other, leaving plenty of room for the deranged man and his escorts to get through. As he was walked pass them, Sam could hear him muttering off the wall curses beneath his breath.

As he walked pass the woman and her child who sat still on the bench, the mother obviously disapproving of the man's language, the man spat at the girl and her mother. The little girl gave a shrill, "Eww!" and swung her legs up onto the bench, snuggling close to her mother.

"Bill!" Wyatt warned from the back of the room. The deputies had him out the door in an instant.

The room seemed to take a collective breath before Sam turned his gaze on the little girl and her mother. The woman was soothing her daughter, who seemed to be upset over the event. She turned her eyes up towards her mother's face and Sam could practically hear what she was saying before she even opened her mouth.

"Is that a bad man?" the little girl asked.

Kate and Ken instantly turned around to look at the little girl, their eyes wide. Sam stared for a moment before he turned to see Dean's reaction. Dean didn't look shocked. In fact, he actually looked a bit upset and pouty. Sam knew what his brother was thinking. The third clue had just been said, but for some reason they all knew that it wasn't the little girl they were supposed to follow now, it was Bill Cummings.

"Well crap," Dean muttered.

Sam frowned at him before he turned to look at Wyatt. "You said his dog was gutted in the trees," he said and waited for Wyatt to nod. "Was it by his house?"

"Yeah, right in his backyard," Wyatt said, shaking his head. "Sickest thing I've ever seen."

Sam nodded and turned to look at Dean. He gave him a look, hoping he was conveying his thoughts right and Dean would pick up on what he was trying to do. "Well, thanks, Sheriff," he said, holding out a hand to shake Wyatt's. The Sheriff took it firmly. "We'll wait until tomorrow to go talk to Bill."

"Glad to be of service," the Sheriff said with a smile. Sam turned to walk out. Dean was giving him a bewildered look but Sam just grabbed the front of Dean's jacket and pulled him out after him. Kate and Ken followed closely.

When they were outside, Dean pushed Sam's hand off of him. "What are you doing?" Dean demanded.

"We're going to Bill's, right now, to look at that dog," Sam said, looking over at Ken and Kate. "You don't have to go if you don't want to, but we'll need to borrow someone's car."

"We'll go," Kate said after Ken nodded at her. Sam smiled at her, admiring the boldness of her personality. Then he turned back to Dean, who still seemed a bit confused. He cuffed him lightly on his good shoulder and then headed towards the car. He heard Dean grumble something beneath his breath, but he couldn't quite make it out.

Sam made Kate take the back roads to Bill's house, so they wouldn't pass by the deputies on their way back. It only took a few minutes to get there, but Sam had to admit Bill's house was the definition of backwoods property. The road that lead up to his house was barely traveled. The surrounding woods were so dark that Sam they'd be able to find their way around in them. When they finally reached Bill's house, Sam was a bit surprised to see it was such a nice looking log cabin. It was huge, actually, with a porch that wrapped completely around the house.

Dean gave out a low whistle. "Bill's got the bling," he said, grinning when Sam turned to glare at the statement.

They all got out and looked around tentatively, nervous that Bill might spot them and go off on them, or worse. "Someone should stay with the car," Sam said.

Ken rose his hand slightly. "I'll do it," he said and sat down on the hood of it. "Can't run as fast as you whippersnappers." Sam smiled warmly at him before he followed Dean and Kate towards the back of the house. They tried to be stealthy about it, but Dean was having trouble bending over and walking. By the time they made it to the back of the house, Dean was breathing hard and had started to sweat, Sam glanced at him worriedly but Dean just shoved him to show he was okay. It didn't squelch the worry, but it helped to ward it off a bit.

"There," Kate whispered and pointed to the trees. Sam and Dean both inched closer to her, looking at where she was pointing. Sam gave a small sound of disgust at the sight. Fur, blood, entrails, and meat was scattered up amongst the trees. It definitely was the work of an animal, but that didn't mean that it was the Mothman. It could have been a raptor of some sort, an eagle maybe, though they didn't normally go after dogs.

"Hey," Dean whispered and Sam turned to look at him. His brother held out a gun to him and Sam frowned, glancing towards Kate. She had spotted the weapon and her eyes went wide. She looked at Sam for explanation, but Dean was the one who gave it. "Don't worry," he said as he leaned against the house and sat down, suddenly too tired to squat anymore. Sam took the gun and moved closer to his brother, scolding himself for ever letting Dean come out for this. He should have stayed at the motel, resting. "He's not going to shoot the village boozer."

Kate leaned forward, her face suddenly angry. "So why are you carrying a gun?" she snapped at them, her voice harsh.

Sam tucked the gun into the back of his jeans and looked at her, wishing Dean hadn't brought it out in front of her. He put a hand on her shoulder but she brushed it off angrily. "Look," he said. "You never know what you're going up against out there. The Mothman seems to be getting more violent and I wouldn't hold it above him to kill someone to get people's attention." Kate seemed to sober up at that, though she still looked skeptical. "Besides," he nodded towards the trees where the remains of the dog swayed with the wind. "We don't know the Mothman did that. It could have been something else, something much worse."

"Like what?" Kate admonished, still skeptical.

Dean spoke up then, perking up a bit. "Werewolf, Nymph, Wendigo, to name a few." Kate just stared at him blankly.

"We don't have time for this," Sam said, looking at Kate. "Just trust us, we know what we're doing." He ignored Dean's soft snort at that. "Now, we have to go over there and look for any signs that this was a different animal. We don't want to be following red herrings here. You can wait in the car if you want," he said to Kate.

Kate seemed to contemplate it for a moment before she shook her head and turned back to look at the trees. "Let's go," she muttered and started out across the lawn to the trees.

Sam turned to Dean, who was smiling. "Nice ass," Dean said, watching Kate go. Sam rolled his eyes and reached out to grab Dean's arm and help him up again. He frowned when Dean didn't say anything. Dean headed out after Kate and Sam went to follow.

Something sounded right behind Sam. He saw Dean turn quickly and his eyes widen ever so slightly before Sam realized he was in trouble. He didn't have time to react as a hand snaked its way around his neck. Almost on instinct he started to move to flip whoever was attacking him, but the feel of a cold metal barrel of a gun pressed against his head stopped whatever defense moves he had in mind.

Sam watched as Dean drew his own gun out of his jeans and held it up. "Let him go!" he demanded, his voice surprisingly strong. Kate had stopped and was staring in shock.

"I was waiting for you," a sickly voice near Sam's ear whispered. Sam felt his stomach drop as he recognized the voice.

It belonged to Bill Cummings.