AN.: Thanks again for the lovely reviews. Enjoy the read.

Night for blood

"Nightmares!" Joe exclaimed all of a sudden, making Hoss and Adam flinch and staring at their younger brother. They were seated around a campfire, huddled close to the flames, which lulled them and their near surroundings in a warm orange veil and spared them from the night's dark shadows. They each held a cup of hot coffee in their hands, letting the dark liquid warm them from the inside. They had just finished eating their meal of beans and dried beef when Joe's voice sliced through the silence.

"What?" Hoss asked as soon as he found his voice again.

"Yes it makes sense! The first time... You mentioned them the first time as well! And it happened again! Yes, you told us!" Joe was ecstatic, nodding to himself while staring at the fire, playing out scenarios in his head which only made sense to him.

"Joe... What are you talking about?" Adam asked hesitantly, sending a glance up at the half-moon dancing in the sky, afraid his brother was suddenly affected as well. Adam's gaze lingered a lot longer on the moon in the sky, a ghost, a shapeshifter, looking down on them, taunting him. He wasn't comfortable to be outside at night. In his family's line of work, it was not a rarity that they needed to spend a night away from home. Adam grew up on the road. His whole childhood had been a long camping trip, so on more than one occasion, while sitting around a campfire at night with either his family or hands from the ranch, Adam had oddly enough felt like being home. But right now, Adam felt so vulnerable and exposed. He couldn't even trust himself to stay out of harms way. Damn it. Adam was getting sick of this. He was exhausted and just wanted to sleep. He lowered his head to look at his brothers again, their facial features shadowed by the light dancing across their bodies. He didn't even notice the smile invading his face, rivaling the fire in lighting up their little camp.

His thoughts drifted to the early morning, when Adam got ready to saddle Sport. He had been given the task to make a trip north-west to Reno to see to the next timber contract being done and dusted. The trip was of major importance to the Ponderosa and Adam hoped he'd get the task done in one go without any interruptions. Nevertheless, Adam was nervous to leave the Ponderosa in his current condition. He sighed while adjusting the saddle on Sport to make sure its position wouldn't aggravate his trip when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around sharply revealed two brothers smiling at him. Adam looked them up and down, taking in their traveling gear and bags packed with provisions for a day's journey. Adam's jaw drooped slightly as he watched them maneuvering over to saddle their own horses.

"Today," Joe announced over his shoulder while patting Cochise's neck affectionately, "- we both are on Adam-watching-duty."

"Pa allowed this?" Adam asked incredulously.

"Come on, big brother, you know no one can resist my charm." Joe said, his eyebrows raised and a smug grin shaping his pink lips into the form of a heart.

"Ah, so that's what ya call begging on ya knees nowadays, little brother?" Hoss chuckled, the low rumble making his chest bounce. Adam joined in, the pouty expression presented on Joe's face too much of a temptation to not being laughed over.

With a three hour ride to Reno and back from Reno to the Ponderosa, Adam had hoped to be back in the safety of his room for the night, but as the negotiations wore on and on and the trip back had taken longer than they expected due to unforeseen hindrances, the three brothers soon found themselves riding in darkness. To spare their horses the risk of tripping, they all decided to set up camp and continue on in the morning. They had been enjoying themselves, eating and sitting in comfortable silence and each brother engaged with their own thoughts when little Joe's voice brought them back to the surface.

"Which nightmares are you talking about?" Hoss asked when Joe didn't answer Adam's question. Joe finally looked up from the fire appearing slightly surprised as if he'd forgotten that he wasn't alone. He then hefted his look on Adam who was still glancing at his little brother suspiciously.

"The first time Hoss and I realized something was wrong with you was when you came back after dawn in your nightshirt that one day. You said back then that you took a walk because you had a nightmare and needed some air. Was that true? Did you have a nightmare, Adam?" Before Adam could open his mouth to answer, Joe was already talking again. "Then, the first time we found you and brought you back and waited for you to wake up, you woke up while being in distress, gasping and sweating. You had a nightmare then as well, didn't you?"

"Joe-"

"Whatever troubles you in your dreams might also be responsible for your condition." Joe finished. Hoss looked at Joe before turning to Adam, watching his face intently, raising one eyebrow while waiting for Adam's reaction. Said man turned his head away from his brothers to avoid their searching gazes. He was really upset all of a sudden, not quite knowing why. Joe and Hoss had known about his condition, his vulnerability for days now. They had helped him as if he was a damsel in distress, holding his hand and guiding him home. But even though he was embarrassed beyond belief and annoyed by them fussing over him, he would never be angry with them. Then why was he suddenly experiencing all that anger boiling over deep within him.

"I don't have stupid nightmares!" Adam snapped at them. He flinched on the inside at the look of hurt on little Joe's face. He cleared his throat and adjusted his voice before talking again.

"Alright, I might have a few unpleasant dreams from time to time but it's not said that they make me walk in my sleep." Adam defended himself.

"So you do have nightmares. Adam... It could be possible that they affect your mind in a way which makes you turn into Madam from time to time!" Joe argued. "Remember old McLarry? He was so troubled by his dreams that he refused to go to sleep. He ended up loosing his mind. Dr. Martin had to sedate him to give his body the chance to recover. We even met him in town once being asleep while leaning against the wall of the general store." Joe was upset now as well. "Don't be so stubborn and tell us about your dreams. We can fix this together."

"I don't need fixing!" Adam shouted. The look of surprise on his little brothers' face was probably mirrored on his own. Was that his problem? The fact, that he was somehow broken?

He had had nightmares before as a child. How was having them now any different? It's not like he wanted to have nightmares. It's not like he wanted to be assaulted by his own mind every time he tried to escape his conscious through sleep. And he certainly didn't need to have a dream-talk therapy sitting with his brothers, those kinds he did with them when they were five years old and woke up crying in the middle of the night. Adam's pride hurt enough already. His anger had dissipated, though... He realized it had not been directed at his brothers, but rather at himself because his mind was weak, his conscious heavy with guilt and he was afraid. Afraid, that if he told his brothers about the dreams, he would have to tell them the whole truth about what was upsetting him for weeks now. He would have to tell them that he had... During the trial... What he had done. They would be disappointed in him. Adam knew that he couldn't take that. What if they would think Wright was innocent as well? Just like all the people in Virginia city? Adam's stomach twisted at the thought of Hoss and Joe becoming one with the faceless mass of people, calling him a liar. He swallowed painfully.

"Alright, ya don't need fixin'... But ya know, Joe and I are here for ya if ye want to tell us about what's been botherin' ye enough to have these dreams." Hoss spoke softly, sensing that now was not the time to push Adam.

"I know you two just want to help me and I'm thankful for that." Adam sighed, turning away from them to adjust his weather-beaten blanket. "I'll tell you about my dreams, at least what I remember about them, but not now... I'm tired, we should go to sleep. We have still a few miles in the saddle ahead of us." Adam yawned halfway through the sentence, dismissing the topic effectively. He really was tired, but Joe's words had shaken him up more than he would admit. A person's mind was a powerful thing. Was his guilt-ridden conscious and the resulting nightmares responsible for rendering him into a senseless, walking mess at night? And if so, how was Adam going to counter that? It's not like he could turn back time and say the truth during the trial. Even if he could, would it change anything, or would his conscious simply adjust and trouble him for letting a potential murder roam free when he could've prevented that from happening by telling a simple, little lie? Adam huffed in frustration and was none the wiser. Suddenly, Hoss was standing next to him, a rope in his hand, bending down and trying to grab Adam's feet.

"What are you doing?" Adam asked Hoss wide-eyed.

"I want to tie you down..?" Hoss answered, the last words in a higher pitch, suddenly unsure of his own action.

"No, you can't! I need to be able to get to safety fast enough if an outlaw stumbles over us and decides to rob us. Not out here." Adam was already feeling like the darkness wanted to swallow him. He was vulnerable while being asleep, yes, but being vulnerable while being awake as well because he was tied up? No.

"Alright. I leave you be. Joe and I are going to watch ya in shifts, ain't that right Joe?"

"Yeah, sure." Joe answered, clearly annoyed with Adam's stubbornness.

Hoss and Joe decided to pick four hours each watching Adam: Joe the first shift, and Hoss the second. Adam's breathing had already turned even, telling them that their older brother was fast asleep already.

"Joe, don't be angry at him. This whole thing's hard on him. We'll talk to 'm in the mornin', when he calmed down a notch." Hoss said to Joe, smiling softly while his eyes wandered to his sleeping brother.

"Yeah, sure" Joe answered, not quite finished with pouting but halfway there. Keeping a pout up was exhausting. Joe sat in position, ready to start his boring first shift, a yawn escaping him and having an itch at the nape of his neck.

He couldn't believe his luck. He'd been following them, observing and waiting in the shadows for weeks without even the possibility to get revenge. His anger and thirst for blood grew bigger and bigger with every passing day. He stared down at the three brothers from out of a shadowed gap between two rocks, shielding him from the ice-cold wind. All his hatred and attention was focused on one particular man, being occupied with assembling a meal for himself and his companions. Adam Cartwright. Wright has been waiting a long time to catch that imbecile alone, but no matter where he went, his stupid brothers Hoss and Joe were always right there with him. As if they were guarding him, Wright thought... Did they get wind of him escaping on his way to prison and were now protecting him? Wright doubted that. A fond smile creeped over his face as he remembered how the horses had dragged the wagon to a conveniently remote place before crashing. The authorities had probably not found the wagon with all its dead passengers yet. It had almost hurt him a little when he had shot those proud, beautiful Horses.

Now he only had to wait for them to fall asleep. Tonight, the time had come. Tonight was a night for blood.

AN.: I'm pretty excited. This story is picking up its pace for the next chapters. I've written ahead a little and I'm really happy with how it's turning out so far :D Let me know what you think.