Kim was having a dream. She knew it was a dream. At least she was pretty sure it was. She was in that bar back in Colorado. The music seemed muffled, distant. She was dancing with someone, her head resting in the crook between shoulder and neck. Breathing in the scent of the man she was dancing with, she immediately knew who it was. She remembered that scent and it brought a light smile to her lips. They danced for a long time and she tried to lift her head to look at him, but she just couldn't. He was holding her tightly to him. For the first time in a very long time, she actually felt comfortable. Safe.

---

They finally made it back to the Tahoe and Dean gently put Kim in the front passenger seat after Sam lowered the seat back a bit. Once he'd gotten her in and closed the door he turned to Sam and Michael, "Sam, you and Michael get my car and meet me back at the motel. Hopefully these wounds wont require a hospital." Sam shook his head, "I don't know Dean, these cuts are pretty deep on Michael and Kim looks worse." Dean looked back through the window at Kim, "yeah, but what are we going to tell them? How are we going to explain the three of you?"

Sam frowned, but Michael said, "He's right Sam. How are we going to explain that we were in the park after closing, after dark, and got mauled by werewolves? Cause we can't say it was a bear, the Forest Rangers and lots of volunteers already checked after the first few maulings." He looked into the window at Kim, then back to Sam and Dean, "she's tough, I think we'll be ok, but we definitely need to get back to the motel and get us all cleaned up."

Sam just nodded and sighed. He held out his hand and Dean dropped the Impala keys into it. "Follow me Michael," he said as he headed for the car. Looking through the bag in the middle seat, he found a few towels. He wrapped his arm under her, lifting her off the seat so that she was resting against him again and gingerly placed the towels on the wounds around her shoulder and back. Looking at her arm he realized her shoulder was out of place. He was going to have to take her to the hospital whether he wanted to or not. Gently laying her back into the seat, he quickly got in the Tahoe and headed out. Calling Sam on the cell phone, he let them know what he'd found and where he was taking her.

Sam and Michael had gone to the motel room after Michael insisted that his wounds were not that bad. He'd wanted to come to the hospital just to sit with Kim, but Dean refused. It would definitely look weird for two people to show up mauled. At least with Kim, Dean could say he found her and the doctors wouldn't be any wiser.

---

By the time Dean and Kim left the hospital the sun was starting to rise. Sam and Michael had made it safely back to the motel and patched up their own wounds. Kim's arm was in a sling. Her run into the tree had cracked her collar bone and dislocated her shoulder. The park rangers were blaming the attack on a bear, believing that their original search just wasn't good enough. The claw marks across her back were too big to be anything but a bear as far as they were concerned. Kim just said she couldn't remember the attack.

Dean looked over at Kim sleeping in the passenger seat. The doctor said it was something light for the pain but Dean was pretty sure he lied just so she'd take something and get some rest. She'd refused the prescriptions and was all but ready to fight her way out of the hospital if she had to when Dean finally convinced her that she needed to shut up and listen to the damn doctor. If he was going to have to sit in the place with her then she was going to sit there and let the doctors do their job. He knew when wounds were bad enough to warrant a doctor but he also knew how she felt. If it had been him, he'd have probably acted the same way. So, once he'd convinced her to get something to help her relax, the doctor had given her something he described to her as light, but he smiled knowingly to Dean as he'd stuck her with the needle. So, once again, Dean had carried her out to the Tahoe and placed her gently into the front seat before heading to the motel.

Before they could reach the motel though, Dean's cell phone rang. Sam's voice was tense, "Dean, the police scanners are chatting about two murders in the park last night. Two men were found in separate areas of the park shot to death. They might start looking for you and Kim."

Dean took a deep breath, "alright, I'll head out of town and call you when I've got a new place to stay."

"Ok, Michael and I will hang out here until we hear from you," Sam hung up the phone and went back to listening to the scanner.

Dean put his phone back in his pocket and glanced over at Kim again. She appeared to be sleeping soundly and, according to the doctor, would not wake for at least six hours if not eight or more. So Dean drove out of town and headed into the hills taking what ever back roads he could find until he finally found an abandoned house. He left Kim in the car and examined the interior or the structure, testing the flooring and what old furniture still remained.

He then looked in the Tahoe to see what might be inside. The back had multiple duffle bags with various supplies. He found food, blankets, and ammunition. Grabbing everything he could find, he moved it all into the house and set up a couple of make-shift beds on the floor. He picked up Kim and moved her into the house on to one of them. As he laid her down, her shirt moved up just a touch on her stomach and he saw the edge of the tattoo. He hesitated for just a second before slowly moving her shirt up to the edge of her sports bra. His brows knotted together and he frowned slightly. He pulled out his cell phone to take a picture then looked at Kim sleeping soundly. "Sam will never let me live this down," he mumbled lightly to himself as he snapped the picture of her abdomen.

He called Sam on the phone to send him the picture. "You did what?" Sam exclaimed on the phone. "Dean, that is just low, even for you dude. She's unconscious and you're undressing her?"

Dean's eyes rolled as he took a deep breath, "shut up, it was just her stomach. Now find out what the symbol is and call me back."

For the majority of the day he either slept or discussed plans for tonight with Sam. At one point Sam had told him what he'd found in Bobby's book about the symbol and that he even called and talked to Bobby about it. "Yeah, Bobby thinks that's why she's able to fight the demons without being thrown around like a rag doll."

Dean frowned, "yeah, so why don't we go down to the local tattoo parlor and get one put on us? There's got to be more to it."

"There is," Sam confirmed, "according to Bobby, there's some kind of ritual that takes a month or more to perform and multiple priests chanting the entire time. All day and all night until it's completed."

"How can anyone stay up that long chanting?"

"They take shifts. One of them has to be chanting the entire time. The ritual supposedly starts with all of them together, then they split up as they harvest the materials needed, chanting the entire time. Once they get everything together and the whole mixing process starts, one priest continues to chant while the others try to rest until it's their turn." Sam flipped the pages in the notebook where he'd been taking notes as Bobby explained it to him. "Bobby says it's pretty dangerous and the only way to know if it actually worked is to go pick a fight with a demon."

Dean made a soft snort, "yeah I bet she's good at picking fights too. I'm surprised they haven't tried to take her out. They have to know that she's got this thing on her."

"I don't know. If they didn't before, after our encounter at the bar, I'm sure they know now. Be careful Dean, you never know when they might show up but you can bet it'll be when we're not ready." Sam's voice was tinged with worry, "I can pack up in five minutes. Michael and I can come …"

"No Sammy," Dean interrupted. "You two stay there and keep tabs on the local authorities. I don't think I was followed and I'll lay down some protection to be sure."