Chapter Five

Darkness settled over the mountains, bringing a somber mood to the three hunters. Lurking in the shadows was a creature whose only objective was to kill and eat, and sadly one of their own had more than likely become part of its carnage.

Dean built a fire that would not only keep the area well lit, but keep them warm through the chilly October night. Normally the chance of snow was much greater during that time of year, but it was warmer than usual. Unfortunately, that not only worked to their advantage, but to the wood devil's as well. It had allowed it this extra time to hunt.

As he and Leah sat by the fire, Dean pulled her journal from his coat pocket and held it up to her.

"So why did you leave this behind?" he asked.

Leah snatched the book from his hand. "You broke into my room? Nice." Looking around for Sam, she found him preoccupied with the weapons so she scooted toward Dean. Unable to resist the opportunity to harass him, she spoke in a low sultry voice. "Knowing you Dean, all I can say is I hope you stayed out of my underwear drawer."

Excited by where the topic of conversation could take them, Dean was more than willing to play along. Taking advantage of her proximity, he edged closer as well, until their shoulders brushed and his thigh pressed against hers. "Sweetheart, it was the first place I searched. I was looking for your blue thong. You remember the one. You wore it the first time we did it on your desk."

Oh yeah! She remembered all right, and her body tingled as she thought about their lovemaking. Those very memories are what got her through many long lonely nights, but that wasn't something she would share with Dean.

Instead, she rolled her eyes upward, as if trying to recall the item. "Hmmm... Sorry, I threw it out." She noted the way his jaw clenched. There was a twinge of guilt for the lie, but he deserved it. In fact, she planned to make sure he got exactly what he deserved during their short time together.

Dean's face inched closer, his eyes searching hers. He didn't believe her. She was hurt and angry, and if given the chance he was certain she'd love to give him another black eye or bloody nose, but she was still aware of him sexually. He could feel it. She wanted him as much as he wanted her.

His head dipped lower, bringing his lips near enough to hers to feel each warm breath that escaped that tempting mouth. Leah hesitated, unsure of what his plans were, and that slight delay was enough to convince him he was right. To kiss her now, though, would be the wrong move. He had to take this slow. Timing was everything.

He brought his mouth slowly up to her ear and whispered, "I'll bet you're wearing it right now."

Heat pooled between Leah's legs as Dean's mouth brushed the edge of her ear. Jesus! The slightest touch, the sound of his deep sexy voice still got her wet. It was hard to believe it had been one year, one month and nineteen days since they'd last touched. Not that she'd been counting.

It was time to stop this and change the conversation before she made a very big mistake. The last time she'd tried walking into their relationship with her eyes open, knowing Dean wouldn't stay around for long, it had nearly destroyed her when he left. Once was enough. Once was too much.

Sliding away, Leah put some space between them and flipped through her journal. Her voice had a distinctly sharp edge to it when she spoke.

"Thanks for bringing this. Look, Dean, I don't know why my father bothered you and Sam. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I know I should have called him before I came out here, but I honestly didn't think of it. I was too worried about Blake. He didn't feel comfortable about this hunt and didn't want me along, so he snuck out and came here alone."

"So you just dropped everything to rush to his side. You left your journal; you didn't call your dad. You just jumped in your little truck and flew out here to save your man. Touching, Leah. And stupid. I could have ended up looking for your body as well as his."

His tone was dripping with sarcasm and it aggravated Leah to no end. What the hell gave him the right to treat her that way? Who was he to show up after all that time and be insulting and judgmental?

She needed to vent. "I guess this is a big inconvenience for you, isn't it, Dean? Believe me, the last thing I'd want to do is keep you from whatever you were doing. Or should I say, whoever you were doing? But I didn't ask you to come looking for me and I sure as hell wish my father hadn't. I've managed to stay alive out here for five days without your help. No! No, I've managed to stay alive for over a year now without you around so if you don't like how I've handled this, pack up and haul your sarcastic ass out of here!"

He hadn't missed the jealous remark. She didn't want to keep him from 'whoever' he was doing. He'd store that one away for later. Right now he was too pissed at her reckless behavior over this Blake guy and he wasn't gonna let it go unchallenged. She'd been stupid, just like he'd said, to rush out there without making sure everything she'd needed to do was taken care of first. It was as if she had no idea of the danger she was in and how lucky she was to still be alive. He was beginning to think it WAS a miracle she had survived all this time without him and he was gonna let her know!

"Well you're stuck with my sarcastic ass like it or not! And since you brought it up, I'm totally amazed you've managed to stay alive without me around, considering some of the dumb ass shit you've done. You really think it was a good idea to run off to the middle of the woods after some guy who obviously didn't know what the hell he was doing?"

Sam had heard more than enough. Their voices were getting louder and they were becoming irrational. If they kept it up, all three of them would be joining Blake and he didn't particularly want to become something's winter snack. Stepping up behind them he placed a hand on both their shoulders, startling the pair.

"Okay! That's enough you two. You're acting like a couple of little kids. So knock it off or I'm gonna send you both to your tents."

Dean jerked free from Sam's grip and stood up. He glared down at Leah and started to say something, but instead decided to put some distance between them. Leah watched him stomp off before looking up at Sam.

"I'm sorry, Sam." She shook her head. "God, I haven't been this angry since," Her eyes drifted back to Dean. "since my last argument with your brother."

Sam dropped down beside her. "Leah, you know Dean doesn't usually say things the right way."

"That's an understatement!" she snapped.

"Yeah, maybe so, but he does have a point. What went wrong?"

Wonderful! Both of them were going to hassle her over this. Hell, she knew they were right. It was just too difficult to talk with Dean. Both men were in danger by being there because of her, they deserved an explanation.

"I had to get out here and find Blake. We were supposed to do this together, but from the start something wasn't right. I knew it, but I ignored it. He wanted this kill so badly and I kept trying to slow him down but I should have done more. It turned out that the last couple to disappear was Blake's cousin and her husband."

"Oh." Sam could sympathize with the hunter's situation. "I feel for him, but Leah, when family's involved it can be dangerous. Hunters can lose sight, make mistakes."

"I know. I didn't find out it was his cousin until a few days after we got to Whitefield. I tried to get him to back off of this, but he wouldn't. Maybe that's why he tried to do it without me, but I couldn't let him, Sam." Leah let out a groan of frustration. "I can't believe he's gone! We heard this horrific scream and when we tried to find out where it was coming from we got separated. One second he was there and then he wasn't. I looked for him. I was close, I know I was because I heard him yelling, but I couldn't find him."

Sam wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "It's not your fault, Leah."

She laid her head against his chest and he tried to comfort her, wishing he could say more to take some of the pain away. It wasn't easy to believe you could have saved someone's life and failed. The reality was that Leah wasn't to blame, but nothing Sam said would make the slightest difference. She would have to figure that out on her own.

TBC