A/N: Sorry for the long delay. Between the doubles at work and the holidays, then life in general well...

Anyway, I do hope you enjoy this last chapter. I might make up my mind to let you all in on what happens at the end if things cooperate with me. Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to review. Especially you, Sculls! That made my day. Anyway, enjoy!

CHAPTER 5

The shadows swirled like a tornado, whirling around the hunters, whipping hair and clothes. Sam's scream choked off as the darkness swarmed him, being pulled into the flames. Lili spoke, her voice going unheard by the hunters over the din. The flames flared and turned purple to match the blade, buried in ooze and blood, protruding from Sam's chest. Tendrils of smoke seemed to reach up and catch the shadows, pulling the screaming wraiths into the flame. The flame went out as if doused, Sam going limp. The ooze had dried, turned white and began to flake off with Sam's ragged breathing. Lili pushed her hair back from her face and gingerly pulled the dagger from Sam's body. Blood welled, Dean quickly stepping up to stem the flow with his handkerchief. Sam groaned, sweat beading on his brow and trickling down beside his closed eyes to disappear into his hair.

"So that's it?" Dean asked, worried green eyes glancing from Sam to Lili and back again.

"I don't know." She replied. "It seemed a little easy."

Sam's back arched and he cried out, muscles cording in his neck as he fought to breathe.

"Sammy!" Dean cried, holding his brother's thrashing body down. Sam's muscles seemed to seize up, hands fisting, muscles in his arms turning to concrete. Dean watched in horror as the gray shadows beneath Sam's skin on his chest moved, following his veins up his neck like worms. Sam's mouth opened and a gag shook him. The black veins marched up his neck, into his cheeks. Sam heaved and a shadow spewed from his mouth, slithering out the broken doors. Sam went limp, sweat beading on his face and chest, turning the white dust into a runny smear.

"Stay with him!" Dean cried, snatching up the shotgun and racing through the door. Bobby followed quickly. Lili cut the ropes on Sam's ankles and sat down on the edge of the altar, untying Sam's arms. She arranged him as comfortably as she could, placing her empty duffle bag beneath his head. She picked up an old offering plate and brushed the dust from it. She dumped half a bottle of water from Bobby's satchel into the bowl and ripped a piece off Sam's ruined tee. Dipping the cloth in the water she rinsed the sweat from his brow. Satisfied when he appeared to relax she cleaned the dust and sweat from his chest and stitched the small wound the dagger left. When she was finished she cleaned her hands with an alcohol wipe, poured more water into the plate and continued to offer comfort to the youngest among them.

The moon was beginning to lower in the sky when Sam's brow furrowed and his eyes slid open, rolling lazily in their sockets before finally focusing.

"Lili?" He ground out, voice hoarse from disuse. He tried to push up on his elbows, she pushed him back when his face paled.

"Easy Sam." She said, her soft accent prominent in her tiredness, her "a" sounding more like "ah".

"Where's D'n?" Sam slurred, leaning into her touch as she brushed the cool, damp washcloth over his sweat streaked face once again.

"He went after the wraith." She said, matter of fact. Sam's eyes popped open.

"What?" He cried, shoving upright. He gasped in pain quickly wrapping an arm around his middle.

"Y'done?" Lili asked, planting a small hand on her slender hip as her violet eyes regarded Sam. He looked up at her, his breathing shuttered against pain, pleading. She softened and helped him to lie back on the altar.

"Y'burst your stitches and Dean'll have your ass y'know."

"Tell me…he didn't go after it alone." Sam asked.

"He didn't. Bobby tagged along." Sam eased up this time, grimacing, shoving the blankets down his legs.

"He might as well have gone alone." Sam groaned, standing from the altar and waiting until the room stopped spinning. His arm throbbed and he looked down, the black area that used to resemble a bruised hand print now looked more like a shapeless mass, about doubled in size from the original bruise but beginning to fade at the edges.

"What d'ya mean by that?"

"That thing wants Dean. It'll just kill Bobby if he gets in the way. I gotta go after them."

"And Dean said I was t' keep ya here. You're too weak to be takin' on the wraith. It still has a hold on you! The closer y'get to it, the easier it can weaken you…kill you."

"I can't take the chance that Dean gets hurt. If that thing touches him…I dunno… It's like I can feel it practically salivating over him."

"Sam, you're not up to it." Lili said, stepping forward and putting a hand on his arm. She felt the chill to his skin, even though it was obvious from his flushed face that he was burning up.

Sam shook his head, fighting to keep from swaying where he stood. "Doesn't matter."

"It will to Dean." Lili said, turning to Sam's back as he made his way to where his flannel shirt rested over the back of a chair at the table. He pulled the material over his back and slid into the sleeves, buttoning it with shaking hands.

"Let it. I can't let that thing get him."

"Then I'm drivin' and you're goin' t' rest until we get there."

"Fine." Sam said, reaching for his boots, his hand white knuckled on the chair back to keep from face planting. He sat in the chair, his hands shaking.

"Dean is going to kill me." Lili muttered, reaching for the scattered weapons and the keys to her truck. Sam put on his boots and leaned forward, putting his face in his hand and pinching the bridge of his nose. Lili shouldered her bag containing a couple guns and her herbs and leaned over Sam, putting a tiny hand on his shoulder.

"Dean will be okay if you…"

"No. I have to keep that thing away from him. No matter what, I can't let that thing get it's claws into him."

"Alright then, we have to go."

She helped Sam stand until he was steadier on his feet and then they walked to her truck, Sam sliding in the passenger side and almost immediately slumping in the seat. Lili glanced worriedly at him but he straightened and shot her a tired, and slightly grim, but determined smile. "'M alright." Lili fired the V8 and pulled out of the scrap yard. Turning to look out the window he slumped again.

May 2, 1996

"C'mon Sammy! Get ya ass in gear or you're walkin!"

Sam trudged out of the bedroom, back pack dragging the floor as he held it by the top loop that was sewn on between the shoulder straps. "What are you so happy about?" He grumbled, scowling at Dean.

"Last day of school, and we get to hunt with Dad all summer."

"Oh yeah, dream come true, Dean." Sam threw his backpack down on the cracked kitchen linoleum. "We're gonna hunt all summer and when the fall rolls around I'll be in some other school and the ninth grade! I'm fifteen and I'll be in classes with fourteen year olds! So yeah, I'm really looking forward to summer!"

John, having walked back in the front door to hear Sam's raised voice, made his way into the kitchen. "Sam!" He barked. "What's your problem?"

"My problem is that we can never stay anywhere, Dad!" Sam glared at his father. "Always moving around. New York one month, California the next! I'm a grade behind because of you!"

"Sam!" Dean started.

"No, Dean." John said, putting a hand on his eldest's chest, and whirling to return his youngest child's venomous look. "You know what, Sam? You are a grade behind. And it's because of our fight to find what killed your mother. That's what's important, and I expect you to remember that!"

"Finding what killed mom is important? I don't even REMEMBER MOM! You won't tell me about her, Dean won't tell me about her, and you expect me to feel the same way about finding her killer?"

"ENOUGH!" John barked, glowering down at his son. "Dean, pack your stuff, and your brother's. I'm gonna pull you both from school. We leave in two hours. If it's not necessity, get rid of it." John picked up Sam's dog eared copy of Where the Red Fern Grows and tore it in half, throwing it back onto the table. "Take all the junk out back and burn it."

Sam's eyes welled with angry tears and his fists tightened at his sides before he turned and stalked from the kitchen. Dean followed Sam out of the room, grabbing him by the arm in the hallway.

"What's your problem, Sam?"

"One of these days, I'm so outta here, Dean."

Dean snorted. "Yeah right."

"Oh, I promise you, Dean, it'll happen. I'll make it happen." Sam said, eyes narrowing.

"Go pack what you want, but make sure you hide it good. I won't tell dad if you wanna take that big ol' book you always got your nose buried in. But if he finds it, you're on your own."

Sam shrugged free and walked into their small shared bedroom. He threw his meager belongings, four pairs of jeans, a pair of sturdy, expensive boots, and cheap, worn sneakers, six tee shirts and three hoodies, on his bed. He tucked the big book of folk tales reverently into the bottom of his bag and wadded the clothing on top of it and around it, disguising it's sharp edges. He held up the duffle for Dean's examination, smiling at his brother, then plopped the heavy bag back on his bed.

Dean reached out and ruffled his long hair. Sam shoved him playfully. "Jerk."

"Bitch." Dean said.

"What're you thinking'?"

"Huh?"

"Somethin's on your mind, Sam." Lili responded, glancing away from the road for a second.

"Oh. Nothin."

"Uh huh. You're worried about Dean." She made it a statement, but he answered anyway.

"Seriously worried." Sam took a breath and released a tired sigh. "That thing is the…darkest…."

"It twisted me into something…scary, and every time I thought of Dean, his time in hell and what he told me he did, its like I felt this surge of adrenaline. And it got a stronger hold on me. But I know it would have dropped me like a hot rock if it had the chance to touch Dean. It wants him. Bad."

"That thing will be unstoppable if it gets him." Sam said, as much to himself as to her.

"I know." Lili said. "We can't let it get to that."

Sam sat up in the seat when the headlights illuminated the Impala, parked haphazardly on the shoulder of the road. "Dean's car."

Lili pulled the truck to a stop behind the Impala. Sam grunted in pain when he pushed open the door but he breathed through it and went to the car, looking inside. Lili slid from the driver's seat and looked on. "It's empty. Some of the guns are gone too."

"We…" Lili broke off when gunshots echoed in the distance. Sam stood and turned towards the sound.

"That's Dean's shotgun." Sam took off running towards the sound.

"Sam! Wait!" Lili cried, grabbing her bag and gun. She sprinted after Sam just as he disappeared into the cemetery across the road. Gunshots echoed and a cry rang out.

"NO!" Lili heard as she rounded a monument and saw Dean on the ground beneath the wraith. Bobby was slumped against a tombstone, blood leaking from his nose. The wraith shoved Sam away hard and loomed over an unconscious Dean.

January 17, 2002

"LILI! On your six!" Nolan screamed at the twenty one year old as the big black dog closed in on her. Lili darted between two closely growing trees, the fabric of her flannel shirt giving way as it rubbed the rough bark, raking her skin and making it burn. She heard the dog's heavily muscled body smack into the trees. They groaned as the dog, wedged between them at the shoulder, fought to free itself and sink it's teeth into Lili. Lili turned several yards in front of the dog and fired her rifle, blowing her bangs from her face with a heavy breath. The dog howled as the bullet penetrated the flesh between it's shoulders, slamming into it's sternum. Lili fired three shots from the rifle. Instead of dying, the dog growled and lunged against it's prison again and again, finally freeing itself as the rough bark of the trees ripped mangy fur from it's skin. It tackled Lili, blood dripping onto her chest. Fetid breath burned her cheek as the rifle went off. Blood splattered her face and the leaf litter as the bullet burned a hole through the soft underside of the beast's jaw and burst out of the top of it's head. It fell forward, front paw raking her side just above her belt. Blood welled, coating the black dog's motionless paws and dripped down her sides to mingle with the black dog blood on the leaf strewn floor.

She moaned in pain, the weight of the heavy dog pressing her into the leaf strewn forest floor. Feeling the welling blood oozing in warm rivulets down her side. Her lungs contracted and refused to expand again as the weight of the dog pressed harder. Blackness began to swirl around the edges of her vision, closing in on her. "Lili! Baby girl!" Lili's eyes focused blearily on her father and her mouth worked silently as she tried and failed to draw a breath. Nolan grabbed the dog around the neck in a headlock and lifted it's heavy body with a groan, letting Lili lever herself from beneath the mangy body. She worked her way free and collapsed, breathing heavily now that she could. Her father crouched at her side, pressing a torn piece of material to the wound. Lili grimaced and moaned, trying to stifle a cry. Nolan helped her sit against the base of a tree and knelt beside her, only releasing his hold on the cloth when she took over the pressure.

"I'm alright, Father. Take care of that thing." Lili said, her nose crinkling as she made a face to hide her discomfort. Nolan lowered his duffle bag to the leafy forest floor and reached inside for his camp shovel, salt and lighter fluid. He used the shovel to clear the dry leaves from a circle around the animal where he scuffed the dirt beneath to reveal moist, loamy soil that wouldn't burn. Nolan doused the beast in lighter fluid and shook salt out of the canister, coating the mangy fur. Nolan pulled matches from his jacket pocket and lit three of the red tips, tossing them onto the soaked fur. It lit instantly and Nolan grimaced, covering his nose and mouth against the odor of burning hair and rancid flesh. The dog burned fast and in a few minutes it was an unrecognizable lump of charcoal. Nolan used the shovel to break up the bigger lumps and put out the remains of the fire before scuffing dirt over the remains. When it cooled, he scattered leaves and debris, making the site look undisturbed.

He turned to Lili, seeing her pale face lift to meet his blue eyes. "C'mon, baby girl. Let's get you home and patched up." Nolan lifted Lili to her feet and she sagged against him before regaining her footing.

I gotta get her outta here. Too close to losin' her. Nolan thought as he held his daughter gently, allowing her to guide herself, knowing she would resent being babied. After all, Nolan had raised her himself. Girl takes to everything I teach her, whether it's a lesson or not. Nolan smiled over Lili's head, his fondness for the child he took in evident in his eyes.

Lili shot the wraith just before it reached for Dean, the bullet loaded with herbs and salt elicited an inhuman screech from the wraith. It turned on Sam and held out a spectral hand, shadows dancing around an abyss. Sam choked, hands coming up to his throat as the shadows swarmed him. He gasped for breath, falling to his knees. The wind swirled around him, more shadows creeping from the dark recesses of the graveyard to swamp Sam. He slumped to the ground. Lili fired again, the wraith bucking and screeching as the herb laden buckshot sliced through the shadow. She caught Dean's slow movements out of the corner of her eye and gave a nearly imperceptible nod. Dean's hand flicked out, silver Zippo coming to life at the same time Lili unloaded the last round from her gun, aiming low and striking the wraith inches above where Dean's flame contacted the dancing shadows at the edge of the darkness. The wraith howled as the flames climbed higher, sparks lighting the night.

Dean crab crawled backwards, out from beneath the conflagration, until he saw Sam lying motionless in the brown grass. He quickly wiped blood from beneath his eyebrow where it threatened to blind him. "Sammy!" Dean rolled Sam over in the grass, taking in his pale features and barely rising chest. Dean checked Sam's pulse and found it slow but steady. He lowered his aching head to rest on his brother's chest, the heartbeat he heard a comfort.

"Balls." Bobby muttered in a gruff voice as he came to. He wiped the blood from his upper lip and pushed away from the tombstone. He stood, picking up his hat and slapped it back on his head. "We get it?"

"Yeah, Bobby." Dean breathed. "We got the sonuvabitch."

"He okay?"

"Alive at least." Lili said, glancing at the sky in time to see the brightening ribbons of clouds in the eastern sky.

August 31, 2002

Sam came to the kitchen, seeing John and Dean already sitting at the table, researching for another hunt. A day after nearly being dismembered by a Pishacha, John's eye was still swollen, sporting an ugly blue purple ring around it. Deep scratches were dressed with white gauze over his forearm. Sam cleared his throat, standing opposite his father, chin raised just slightly in his usual show of defiance, preparing to go at his father before the man even said a word.

"What is it Sam?"

"I got into college." Sam said, chin tipping up another notch.

"What?" John said, looking up from his papers.

"Stanford. In California. I'm going to college." Sam laid the acceptance letter on top of his father's papers.

"No. You're not." Dean stood from the table, eyes going between his father and brother, fear bleeding through him at the thought of what the next five minutes would bring.

"I am going to college." Sam said, venom dripping from every word.

"LIKE HELL!" John barked, standing from the table so fast that the chair tipped backwards, the clatter making Dean jump. He grabbed the letter and crumbled the paper in his fist.

"I'M NINETEEN AND YOU CAN'T STOP ME!"

"IF YOU STEP OUT THAT DOOR, DON'T YOU EVER COME BACK!"

"Don't worry, I won't." Sam said softly, tears glistening in icy jade eyes. He blinked them away angrily and opened the hall closet, pulling out his worn canvas duffle bag and an even older backpack. John stared.

"You planned to do this to us all along?"

Sam just looked at his father, face drawn and pale but determined. He adjusted his backpack on his shoulder and turned his back on his old life, shutting the door on his past and opening one to the future. Dean watched his brother leave, barely managing to keep a lid on his mounting sense of loss. Both John and Dean flinched when the door slammed behind their Sammy forever. Dean grabbed his coat, John looking at him with disgust. "Let the little traitor go."

"'M goin' out for a drink." Dean left. John returned to his place at the table, gluing his eyes to his research to keep from running after his son. He took a breath, hating that it was shaky and raised his coffee cup to a dry mouth. The smell turned his stomach and seconds later the cup shattered off the doorframe.

Dean fired the engine of the Impala, sliding behind the wheel, anxious when he didn't see Sam. He turned out onto the road and finally caught a glimpse of his little brother rounding the next curve in the road, walking quickly away from his family. Dean eased the car into place beside his brother and rolled down the window.

The smell of approaching rain and the darkening sky pushed it's way into the car.

"You can't talk me outta this, Dean."

"I know. It sucks, but I know."

"I'm going to Stanford."

"You're gonna get rained on." Sam looked at his brother, wondering what he was talking about when suddenly the sky opened up. Sam jumped when chilly rain began falling in earnest.

"Get in the car Sam."

"No! I'm not going back to be under the drill sergeant's thumb again."

"Get in the car, Sam. I'll give you a ride to the bus station." Dean said, sadness in the words.

Sam stared at his brother for a bit. "Why?" Sam asked, swallowing around a lump in his throat.

"You'll miss your bus if you have to walk the rest of the way."

Sam watched Dean for another minute, until Dean leaned over and opened the passenger door for him.

"Get your ass in here." Dean said straightening up on the bench and gripping the wheel. Sam slid into the seat and shut the door, putting his bag between his long legs on the floorboard. He kept his backpack on his lap.

"Why're you doin' this, Dean?" Sam asked, running his hand over the bench between them for what was probably going to be the last time.

"'Cos you're still m'brother."

Dean eased on the gas pedal and pulled back into the street, following the signs to the bus station even though he knew three shortcuts. Both he and Sam remained silent.

Two blocks later, Dean pulled the car to a stop at the bus station, staring at the large blue and white vehicles. The lit signs above the windshield caught his attention and he swallowed down the overwhelming urge to tie Sam up, throw him in the trunk and take him far, far away. Instead, Dean shuffled around in the seat and pulled out his money clip, the initials DW catching the headlights from a bus as it pulled out.

He emptied it and grabbed Sam's hand, dropping the wad of bills in his palm.

"Dean, no."

"You need something for food out there. Just till ya get on your feet."

"No. I can't. You worked all summer at the garage, when we weren't hunting."

"You're gonna miss your bus."

"Dean…"

"GO, Sam! Get the hell outta here!"

Sam jumped, hand quickly going to the door handle. He was out of the car and striding towards the bus, leaving Dean in the driver's seat with his heart hammering in time with Sam's steps away from him. Sam turned and looked back at Dean, lips tipping up one second and drooping the next with a sad smile of goodbye. Dean just stared straight ahead, feeling sick.

Sam walked up the steps, handing his ticket to the driver and retrieving his stub, making his way slowly to a window seat near the back. He sat down and looked down at the wad of cash in his hand. It was mostly hundreds, a few twenties and tens. All totaling four hundred eighty dollars. He glanced out the window at the sleek black car as he heard the engine fire over the hum of voices on the bus and the diesel engine. "Thanks, bro."

Dean pulled up to a stop sign, eyes going to the rearview of their own volition. He saw Sam, watching the car out the bus window, his hand on the glass, moisture condensing around his fingers and in his eyes. Dean's eyes burned as his hands tightened on the wheel. "You stay safe, little brother."

Dean woke with a start, sensing a difference in the room. He sat up in the chair that he'd slouched in, rubbing the crick from his neck. His eyes lit on his brother in time to see Sam's eyes move behind their lids. His breathing changed again, signaling to Dean that he was waking up.

"Hey Sammy. C'mon."

"Mnh…" Sam's eyelids fluttered.

"Sammy?" Dean questioned, his hand going to the side of Sam's neck, thumb working over the steady pulse beneath the warm flesh.

"D-n?" Sam cracked his eyes open and swallowed hard. Dean wordlessly and gently eased him up against the headboard. He handed Sam the glass of water from the nightstand, his own fingers remaining around the cool glass to steady it in Sam's shaky grasp. Sam nodded and Dean released the glass, watching his little brother raise it to his pale lips and drain half in one go.

"Hey, easy. Don't make yourself sick." Sam held out the glass for Dean to take. He did, and sat it back on the bedside stand.

"Thanks." Sam said, settling back against he pillows, his voice subdued. "How long was I out?"

"Little over a day. How ya feelin'?"

"A little shaky. Don't remember much."

"Man, it was a little hairy there for a while."

"Where's Lili?" Sam asked, looking to the chair where he had last saw her.

"Said she needed some air." Dean walked to the motel room door and looked out, squinting into the orange morning. "Damnit. Lili…"

Sam stood from the bed on unstable legs. "What?" He asked from behind Dean. Dean stalked from the room and up to the Impala, pulling a sheet of paper from beneath the windshield.

Dean and Sam,

It's not over I fear. Our paths will cross again.

Lili.

Lili pulled her truck over on the side of the mountain road. Sliding out of the seat, she circled to the front of the vehicle. Looking down the mountain, she saw the sleek black beauty and from his stance easily recognized Dean as he walked out to the car and retrieved her letter. She watched a little longer until she saw Sam walk slowly from the motel room. His shoulders were slightly hunched, hands stuck in his pockets. Dean showed him the letter, then folded it up. She saw Dean reach out and grip the back of Sam's neck as the younger hunter turned back toward the room, his older brother steering him back toward the rest he needed.

"Take care of yourself, guys." Lili said, sliding back behind the wheel. She pulled back onto the road, leaving the sunrise in her rearview mirror. She was thrown sideways into the window then across the bench seat, the door panel caving in on her and glass showering her as her truck folded in on itself. Blood bloomed on her left temple and trickled down over her closed eyes.

A pair of scuffed work boots thumped down from the driver's side of the black one ton pickup, thudding loudly on the pavement as they approached the mangled truck, the engine stalled out but steaming as fluids leaked out. The boots crunched over the glass as he looked in through the bent and broken door. Black eyes shone as a malicious smile curled the stubbled lips. "Gotcha."

A/N: HAHA! Gotcha! "Uh oh" was the first words my nephew said after he dropped his sippy cup the other day. That's what I'm saying to you. Bet your hoping I get cracking on book two!