Chapter 3: Dog Eat Dog

Garmr had backed into the wall and was curled into a ball. He whimpered both from the pain of the flesh wound Dean had inflicted and from the pure terror of staring down the barrel of a pistol aimed at his head. "Mr. Hel, please tell him what he wants to know," he gasped as he squeezed his eyes shut and ducked his head down.

"Put the gun down," Hel told Dean, his red eyes pleading. "I'll tell you what you want to know, just don't hurt the boy."

Dean slowly lowered the pistol, but left it cocked just in case he needed it again. He had so many questions to ask, but decided to start simple. "What the hell is going on? There are werewolves all over town. Last time I was here I only ran into vampires."

"We haven't been here long," Hel explained as he retrieved a first aid kit for Garmr's shoulder. "Werewolves, and vampires, for that matter, age differently from humans, so every few years all of us have to pack up and move to a new town so that no one gets too suspicious. It's a bit like yin and yang, though, because wherever you find werewolves, you'll find vampires. Both species were the same once—"

"Heard about that," Dean said.

"Well, we have to feed on humans, and we cover up the deaths pretty easily since Lilith does autopsies and I'm certified to run a funeral home."

"Then why did you publish the deaths of Abel Schmidt and the other two cases like his?" Dean asked.

"Because those weren't us," Hel replied. "Schmidt was one of us. We had no reason to kill him."

"You think he was killed by the vampires across town." It wasn't a question.

"Honestly, we're not sure, but we think it might be them," Hel said.

"And knowing that it might be vampires, you publicized the homicides and probably had God knows how many human detectives and forensics specialists investigating, knowing that any minute they might be attacked by vampires?" Dean shook his head, abhorred by the man before him. "God. I know you're a monster, but—"

"That wasn't our intention," Hel shouted at Dean. "We wanted to warn the townspeople. We didn't want to see anyone else get hurt."

"Oh, except for when you chow down on 'em once a month—that's okay," Dean huffed.

"It's for survival," Hel explained miserably. "But not for long."

"What?" Dean asked. "What do you mean not for long?"

"Besides the obvious, the main difference between vampires and werewolves is that most werewolves are more or less peaceful simply because our curse does not affect our entire being but for one day every month. Vampires, however, are cursed with their bloodlust every moment of the day. But the werewolves of my coven never wanted this," Hel ended quietly.

"Sam was right," Dean whispered to himself. "You and Abel Schmidt and all the rest of the werewolves here were the ones who got lost up in the woods last year, weren't you?"

"He did say you were clever," Hel said rather appreciatively. "Sam and Dean Winchester."

Dean pursed his lips, a little creeped out that Adam Hel knew his and Sam's names. "Who?" His voice sounded deadly. "Who has been telling you these things?"

Hel sighed. "That was Lilith on the phone just a minute ago. She let me know your brother's been arrested."

Dean remembered seeing Lilith talking to the cops, but what was it to her that Sam had been arrested? "Get to the point. I still need to break him out of there before anyone bites a chunk off of him."

"They won't harm him," Hel promised.

Dean relaxed for a moment when he heard that, but then he countered, "Just like Joe Dante didn't hurt him?" He remembered the mess he'd seen through the wide open library doors earlier in the evening and the small cuts on Sam's face.

"Joe was a rogue werewolf. He was never really a part of our coven, but we never had any problems with him. He works at the library, which hardly anyone visits. In a town this small, such a large library is a little unnecessary so no one ever visits, which is good for him. He's a swell guy, really, but despite his age, he can—could never control himself."

Hel finished bandaging Garmr's shoulder and was packing away the first aid supplies.

"Why's the kid here so special to you anyway?" Dean asked, nodding toward Garmr. "If he isn't one of you, then shouldn't you have had him for dinner by now? The full moon was just a couple days ago."

Garmr looked like he wanted to melt into the wall now that he was the topic of discussion. Hel put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We found him a week ago just outside the forest. He has no memory of how he got there, but we think he might be suffering from the trauma of being attacked by the vampires or whatever it is that's out there. We've taken him around town, but no one can recognize him. So we locked him in the basement on the night of the full moon and I guess he's staying with us for now."

"Wait, wait, wait," Dean interrupted, angry with himself for straying. "Tell me why you say your thugs won't hurt Sam and tell me, who do you keep talking about? Apparently someone's been telling you an awful lot about Sam and me. Is it one of the vampires?"

"Of course not, don't be ridiculous," Hel snapped. "Just because you'll find werewolves where you find vampires doesn't, by any means, make the two friends. Under no circumstances at all."

"Then who is it?" Dean demanded.

Hel looked at Garmr uneasily for a moment before replying to Dean. "I can't tell you who, but I can tell you it's a demon." Hel sighed, trying to find a way to word his next response properly. Garmr got up and headed toward the bathroom. "He came to us recently and offered us a deal," Hel continued. "The coven here wants, more than anything, to be normal humans once again. So the demon said he would relieve us of our curse if we found a way to…"

"Found a way to what?"

"If we found a way to deliver your brother to him."

"WHAT?" Dean roared. He spluttered for a minute, trying to find the words to explain the pure madness behind everything. First of all, who goes around making deals with demons? For impossible rewards? For any kind of real reward at all? "You fucking bastard!" Dean screamed as he began to pace the room. "You just sat here feeding me this absolute bullshit about werewolves being so fucking peaceful and now you're telling me you're using my little brother as a sacrificial lamb for—"

"We thought one more life would be a good sacrifice for all our lives. For our humanity," Hel interjected in a firm voice.

Dean shook his head, absolutely seething in all his rage. "It doesn't matter what you are or will be, but humanity is something you abandoned long ago, and at this point, there is no way you'll be coming by it any time soon."

"Try to understand," Hel began again.

But Dean's pistol was out again, and this time he had it pointed at Hel's heart. "Where did they take him?" It couldn't be as simple as the police station if they were really going to deliver Sam to a demon, maybe even the demon.

Hel looked up almost somberly. "I don't know."

"You better not be pullin' my chain because I swear to God if you are I will hunt you down to the ends of the earth so that I can personally send you packing to the reaper." When Hel didn't say anything else, Dean groaned in frustration as he stalked out the door and back to the Impala.

Adam Hel didn't necessarily feel good about sacrificing another's life for his own, but for such an impossible reversal of fate, it really did seem like a good deal. Sam Winchester's sacrifice would not be a waste.

He got up to put away the first aid kit, then rapped on the bathroom door. "Garmr, you okay in there?"

No answer.

"Garmr?" Hel knocked harder.

When Garmr didn't answer again, Hel opened the door, but he found that the bathroom was completely empty.

Hel scratched his head in confusion. "I could've sworn he went in here," he said aloud.

He scanned the bathroom again, but not thoroughly enough, for he failed to notice the thick cloud of black smoke escaping through the air vent near the ceiling.

x x x

Dean was parked at a stop sign. He sat in the Impala with his hands at his temples and his eyes closed.

Protect Sammy, protect Sammy, protect Sammy. That had been Dean's mantra all his life, and here he was in a situation where Sam was definitely not safe, and there was no way he could protect him. He had no clue where Sam had been taken and no way to find him. Sam didn't even have his phone on him, so there was no way to track him either.

Dean exhaled, long and slow. He eyed his pistol, which lay on the passenger seat, and suddenly an idea struck him. He quickly made sure all his weapons were loaded, eased off the break, and headed across town toward the thick of the woods.

x x x

Kate impatiently paced the length of her room. With Luthor gone, she led their coven now so she got her own living quarters, but it didn't really provide a sense of privacy. The other vampires in the barn were up now, and she could hear them moving around restlessly. They were absolutely mad with thirst. The stench of the Winchester brothers filled every nook and cranny of their home, but they couldn't do anything about it until twilight laid the sun to rest for the night.

Their smells usually combined to form one potent and alluring scent, but something odd was happening now. The smells were coming from different directions. The brothers weren't together.

Kate smiled when she figured this out. All the easier to take them down.

She swept aside the curtain covering the window. To her delight, the sun had finally set. Kate whipped her door open, and her presence immediately commanded the attention of all the vampires in the room. She would never tire of the sense of power her head position granted her.

"Let's go," she said. But no one moved, as was expected. Kate smiled, just barely revealing one canine, as she walked through the two dozen vampires around her. As the leader of the coven, she would be the first out the door and, in theory, the first to sink her fangs into a Winchester. But just as she got to the door, someone else opened it, nearly ripping it off its hinges.

Kate's eyes lit up when she realized it was Dean Winchester who stood before her. A machete hung from his waist, but otherwise, he seemed unarmed. "Ah, so the prey has come to us," she mused aloud.

"If that's how you wanna see it," Dean said. Then he reached behind him and pulled out two pistols, aiming them into the barn filled with vampires. He opened fire on the vampires, hitting about a dozen of them. Once his pistols ran out of bullets, he dropped them next to his feet and pulled out two more pistols that were in his jacket pockets to repeat the process. When he was done, every vampire except for Kate had suffered from at least one bullet wound.

Kate gawked incredulously and a few of the surrounding vampires risked laughing at him as well. Dean ignored them as he quietly bent down to retrieve his empty pistols. "You really are the stupid one, aren't you?" Kate scoffed as he quickly began reloading his guns. "Bullets can't hurt us! You should know that from the last time we met." But a moment later, one by one, the vampires behind her began crumpling to the ground. She whipped her head around, watching as the whole coven lay on the ground, squirming and moaning in anguish. Kate looked at Dean, confused, then sniffed the air. "I smell silver. Melting silver," she whispered, confused. Silver wasn't supposed to hurt them! "What did you do to them?"

Dean gave her a sinister smile. "Silver bullet capsules filled with dead man's blood." He aimed the gun at Kate and cocked it back. "Now who's feeling stupid?"

Kate felt her mouth fall open as she took a nervous step backwards, cursing inwardly for having underestimated the Winchesters again. She had just stood there while he shot everyone with dead man's blood!

She could be at his throat in an instant, but as soon as she made a move, Dean would pull the trigger and she'd be filled with dead man's blood. She remembered being pierced by the blood-soaked arrows during her last tussle with the Winchesters, and while it didn't kill her, it certainly wasn't pleasant and it took a while to filter out of one's system.

Suddenly, a blur of blonde launched itself at Dean, and although Dean was knocked to the ground, he quickly grabbed his machete and severed the head of his attacker, a blonde girl in a cowboy hat. Kate took the chance to lunge at Dean as well, but Dean had anticipated this and buried three bullets into her chest before she ever had a chance to attack.

Kate fell to the ground in a heap as Dean climbed to his feet, keeping his gun trained on Kate the whole time. "So how about we make a deal," Dean said. "I slice and dice each and every one of you, or you do me a favor."

Kate had her eyes closed, trying not to focus on the pain and numbness that was spreading throughout her body. "What is this about?" she said through gritted teeth.

"Are you willing to help me in exchange for your life or not?" Dean shouted.

Kate hesitated a moment before she grabbed the severed head that lay next to her and threw it at Dean's head. Dean yelled as it hit him and knocked him to the ground. "Not!" Kate shouted as she crawled toward Dean, who lay dazed on the ground, covered in vampire blood. "No deal, you son of a bitch."

She wrapped a hand around Dean's neck, and just as her second set of teeth descended, Kate felt something sharp pushed up against her own neck. She looked down to discover it was Dean's machete.

"If you don't help me find my brother, I will chop your head off right now and bathe in your blood," Dean said in a dangerously low, raspy voice.

Kate's hand was still on Dean's neck. She squeezed slightly, making Dean gag, but he responded by pushing the machete a little bit, too. "It's a stalemate, baby," Kate said. The blade on her neck broke through her skin, and by the time she felt the faint trickle of blood sliding down her chest, the wound on her neck had healed itself. "Sweeten your end of the pot and we might have a deal."

"What do you want?" Dean asked her.

"The Colt," Kate said, hoping to get lucky.

"Can't do that," Dean smirked knowingly. He had expected this. "Try again."

Kate responded by squeezing Dean's neck, but every time she did this, Dean simply pushed harder against the machete that was pressed against Kate's neck. They really were in a deadlock.

Kate thought for a moment before finally saying, "Get rid of the werewolves in town."

"What?"

"Get rid of the werewolves," Kate repeated. "You promise to do that, and I'll help you find your brother."

Dean recalled how Adam Hel had told him that the demon he'd made a bargain with had said it would lift the curse off the werewolves in exchange for Sam. The werewolves were going to succeed in delivering Sam to the demon for now, so they'll be free of their curse, and therefore normal humans. "I can do that," Dean answered. "Once you sniff out Sam, I guarantee you no werewolves."

Kate considered the bargain for a few seconds more. "Deal," she said.

"Wait!" Dean added. "While we're looking for Sam, you have to promise not to make a snack out of me or anyone else. You and your whole coven." That was a good extra condition to add. Sammy would probably appreciate Dean being alive and human when rescuing him.

Kate frowned. "Fine. But the condition stands only until we get to your brother."

"Fine," Dean replied.

The other vampires began to make their ways into other rooms of the barn once they were finished witnessing the deal. Dean stood up after Kate rolled off him. He began to wipe most of the vampire blood that had gotten on his face when he noticed that Kate was having trouble getting on her feet since the dead man's blood was quickly making its way through her system. When Dean reached out to help her, she pushed him away.

"Don't touch me!" she growled.

Dean winced, taking a step back. "Just trying to help," he mumbled.

Kate looked at Dean critically. "Thanks," she muttered. "It's just that you smell."

Dean made a face. "What?" He began sniffing under his armpits. "I guess I'm a little sweaty, but I don't think—"

"Not that way," Kate snapped. "Vampires are creatures of their word, but if you get too close, I might not be able to resist taking a bite out of you."

Dean took two large steps backwards. "Don't get too close. Copy that." When Kate finally stood up with help from the support beam next to her, Dean thought of another question. "Why do you want me to get rid of the werewolves anyway?"

"So that we can hunt again. They keep killing random people and draining them of all their blood and leaving them around the forest. Not that we care, but they're being too sloppy about it. Fine, kill a mortal, but put the body somewhere else!" Kate said, throwing her arms up in the air. "The vampire hunters nearby will be onto us soon, and even if they're not onto us, they'll come by to investigate soon if word gets out that the body's have been drained of all blood."

Dean's eyes widened slightly, but not enough to catch Kate's attention. The werewolves thought the vampires were the murderers, and the vampires thought the werewolves were the murderers, but obviously, neither was the guilty party. So who was murdering people in the forest? Dean kept this new piece of the puzzle to himself. "Oh," he said in response to Kate's rant. "Those rotten werewolves!" He shook his fist.

"If you're done playing Twenty Questions," Kate said, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

Dean grinned sheepishly.

"Do you know who took your brother?" Kate asked. She was eager to find Sam so that she could finally have him and his brother for dinner.

"Like I was saying, those rotten werewolves!" Dean said. "They've infiltrated the police station and they arrested Sam, but I'm pretty sure they're not taking him to the police station, so yeah. I need you to follow his scent since he's probably still nearby."

"Charna's guts! Is there any place those scumbags haven't infiltrated?" Kate glowered. "Anyway, you're right, your brother's still nearby and he's not at the police station because that's located in the northern part of town and I can just faintly make out his scent coming from the east. Let's go," she said, making her way out the door.

"Who's Charna? And what's so great about his guts?" Dean asked, following after her.

Kate groaned. The sooner this was over, the better.

x x x

Sam had never been in the backseat of a police cruiser before, so his current predicament would be rather interesting if he weren't being hauled off for committing murder. He fidgeted every now and then, for it was uncomfortable sitting with his hands bound behind him. He looked forward to arriving at the police station. Hopefully they'd have paperclips scattered about the place.

Sam used the drive to the police station to wonder about his vision. Caine Schmidt was going to turn into a werewolf tonight, but why? Probably because he wants to kill someone, Sam thought. Then he remembered how Caine had been yelling at Garmr. Probably because he wants to kill Garmr! But why?

There were also the three murders. They didn't match vampires or werewolves. At first glance, the victims appeared to have been mauled to death, but then they had also been drained of all their blood. They seemed to suffer from wounds inflicted by vampires and werewolves, but that didn't make sense since vampires and werewolves are enemies. Nothing in the world could make the two work together, so who, or what, was behind the murders?

Sam thought some more about his vision, but then he began to feel very uneasy. The first time he'd had visions, they were about Max, whose family had been ruined the same way Sam's had been ruined, and the second time Sam had had visions, they were about a family who was going to get attacked by the demon. But so far, nothing about these visions made sense. There was no connection to anything.

Sam shook his head to clear his thoughts. He glanced out the window and was alarmed when he saw they were driving on a straight road lined with trees, and only trees. There were no buildings in sight, and the main part of town was now behind them.

"Excuse me," Sam called to the two police officers riding in the front seat.

They both turned around, not minding the road, but that wasn't cause for Sam's alarm. Both officers had glowing red eyes.

Sam felt his own eyes widen. "Um, nevermind," he muttered, flashing a quick tight-lipped smile.

I'm being kidnapped by werewolves! Sam shouted in his head. He began to worry about a lot of things just then, but mostly, he silently scolded himself for not having a damn paperclip.

Suddenly, the car began to slow before a short black building that seemed to have randomly been plopped into the forest. The construction looked glossy and marble-like, and it seemed almost invisible since the shiny surface reflected only the trees that surrounded the building.

Sam was roughly pulled out of the car and pushed along until he stood alone inside the building. The only sources of illumination were tiny lights that lined the bottom of all the hallways. He was happy the werewolves weren't with him anymore, but despite his size, Sam felt miniscule and vulnerable in the unfamiliar darkness.

"Is this the police station?" Sam asked, knowing already that it wasn't. When no one answered him, Sam called out again. "Hello?"

Suddenly, a bright spotlight flickered on, and under the light stood a person. Sam squinted his eyes to get a better look. The person was standing with his back toward him, but Sam immediately recognized the figure by his blonde hair and by the way his head was positioned since he was looking down at his shoes, as always. "Garmr?" Sam said, confused.

Garmr slowly turned around and he began to lift his head so that he could look at Sam. When Sam caught sight of Garmr's eyes, he lost the ability to move—literally. Sam was frozen on the spot by powers beyond his control.

Garmr walked forward until he stood a few inches in front of Sam. With his unnatural yellow eyes, he looked into Sam's frightened brown eyes.

"I've been expecting you."

Author's Note: Omg, Garmr's evilll! With a crazy name like that, why shouldn't he be evil, right? XD And howww hot is Dean/guns, eh? You'll see Dean/guns a lot in this fic because I find that sexy, lol! And since the response from my readers has been so positive, I've decided to post one chapter per day, and since this fic will be six chapters long, that means this'll be all posted up by the end of the week. Hope yall are enjoying the ride so far. :D