Chapter 2

"Sammy you gotta remember the consequences of touching my tunes."

Sam rolled his eyes at his brother. "Dude, I didn't touch your stupid "tunes". Maybe you should think about upgrading from eighties hair bands."

"Blasphemous!" Dean suddenly shouted.

Sam raised an eyebrow at his brother and they both cracked up laughing.

Dean grinned at his brother, feeling a sudden lift in the atmosphere and mood. They hadn't joked like this in weeks. Things been tense between the two of them and he was glad for the reprieve.

"Think there's a vamp nest in Richmond," Sam said, glancing sideways. "Want to go clear it out?"

Dean grinned at his brother and pressed down onto the accelerator. "Lets roll."

Dean's head felt as though it was going to explode as he opened his eyes.

He was in a hospital.

He blinked a few times, confusion and panic overtaking him as the memories from the previous night had returned. He slowly sat up and turned his head wincing from the sudden throbbing on the left side of his neck.

"Mr. Smith, you're awake."

Dean turned at the sound of his name. He watched as a doctor stood at the head of his bed.

"We can release you today Mr. Smith. It seems as though you were attacked by a wild animal." The doctor scribbled something onto his pad. "We gave you a tetanus shot, cleaned up the bite. I'm going to prescribe you some antibiotics just to be careful."

Dean sat up blearily, the beginnings of a headache throbbing behind his eyes. "Wild animal?" He repeated.

"Yup." The doctor nodded. "You're extremely lucky too. We've been getting animal attacks for the past two weeks. You're the first survivor."

Dean tried hard to remember the night before, but all he could vaguely remember was drinking a ridiculous amount of alcohol and talking to a beautiful brunette at the bar. He must've passed out in an alley somewhere or in the middle of the street. God, he could've been murdered. "How did I get here?" He asked out loud.

"Some guy brought you in." The doctor answered. "Must've been a nice pedestrian. You were lucky he was passing by. You can just head to the nurses station for your discharge forms and prescription and you'll be on your way."

Dean hopped off of the bed and reached for his jacket. He slowly made his way over toward the nurse's station, the bite on his neck throbbing with each turn of his head.

888

He was out the door five minutes later, sighing heavily as he realized he had to hail a taxi home. His head throbbed as he road the twenty minute drive to his apartment. He paid the cab and made the slow walk toward his apartment, unaware of the eyes watching him across the street.

Dean moved about his large apartment lowly, taking the antibiotics and pain killers the hospital had given to him. He tossed the eaten apple into the trash and quickly undressed, needing t feel the hot water on his skin. His thoughts churned as he stood under the spray. He tried hard to remember the night before. His instincts told him he was missing something. Something important.

He just couldn't. sighing to himself, he switched the water off and climbed out of the shower. He put his robe on and made his way into the bathroom. He could feel his head start to swim from the painkillers he had taken. He collapsed face first onto his king sized bed. He knew one thing, he was never drinking again.

88

"Good morning Mr. Smith."

"Morning Doug." Dean greeted as he made his way toward the elevators.

Doug smiled. "Had a good weekend? Hey what happened to your neck?"

Dean sighed in annoyance as he pressed the button for the elevator again. "Accident." He muttered, relieved when the doors opened. He nodded to the others already on the elevator and sighed heavily.

The elevator dinged and he moved onto his floor.

"Hey Dean! We still on for golf this Thursday?"

"Hey Art. Yeah." He waved.

"Hey what happened to your neck?"

"Accident." He answered without turning for small talk like he usually did. He made his way toward his receptionist.

"Shelia do you have my-" He trailed off as he came face to face with a pretty red head. "You're not Shelia."

The redhead smiled at him. "No. I'm not. I'm Janet, the tempt. Shelia's out with the flu." she lifted a mug. "I have your coffee Mr. Smith."

Dean blinked, feeling confused. Shelia was never sick. Ever. So much so he had a sneaking suspicion that she was some type of cyborg thing. "Uh, thanks, but I have my thermos." He held up his metal thermos filled with his delicious French coffee he splurged on every month.

Janet smiled at Dean brightly and handed him five cards. "Here are your messages Mr. Smith."

Dean took the messages she handed him. "Please, call me Dean."

She grinned at him. "Sorry." She apologized. "Don't forget you have a teleconference with Mr. Denson at two. Mr. Rerdrige is faxing over the contract from his company for your review and-what happened to your throat?"

"Accident." Dean answered shortly. He just wanted to forget whatever happened this weekend. "Call Mr. Denson and push the time back for that conference to four."

"Yes Mr. I mean Dean." Janet smiled as she watched Dean make his way into his office. Her smile slowly faded and her eyes flashed black.

8

Dean putt the golf ball in front of him, grinning as it was a hole in one. He placed his hand over the headset he was wearing as he spoke to one of his co-workers. "No. I'm trying this new low carb diet. Yeah. Hummus man, it's awesome. It's this middle eastern dip, it's delicious. What? Oh screw you!" He turned, nearly jumping out of his skin as he came face to face with Janet. "John? I'll call you back." He pulled the head set off. "Yes?"

Janet smiled brightly at him and held up a large folder. "Monthly expense reports are due tomorrow."

Dean frowned as he glanced at the time. "Right now?" He asked. "But it's four thirty. Can't I do it tomorrow?"

Janet shrugged slightly. "It's due first thing tomorrow morning. You know how accounting can be." She smiled slightly. "I'll help you."

Dean sighed as he placed his golf club down. For some reason, he thinks she waited to the last minute on purpose. "Alright." He said, making his way over toward his desk. "Have a seat."

Dean tried to ignore Janet's eyes on him as he quickly organized his expenses into the excel sheet. He glanced at her once and smiled briefly trying to dispel some of the discomfort he was suddenly feeling, but was failing miserably. Janet was just creepy. With her creepy smile and creepy seemingly evil gleam in her eyes.

Janet placed the printed out form into a folder as she spoke. "Can I ask you something Dean?"

No! his mind screamed. "Sure." His mouth said instead.

Janet placed the next piece of paper in the folder, before looking up at him, a predator's gleam there. "Do you believe in God?"

Dean paused in his typing before slowly glancing up at creepy Janet. "Uh-" He paused and thought for a moment. "I guess so."

"Hmm." She said quietly. "that's a shame. I've always wondered why you meat sacks would believe in something that would allow his so called children to have so much pain."

Dean froze at the suddenly cold tone Janet carried. He slowly glanced up, his heart stopping as he noticed Janet's eyes were suddenly black. He shot up from his seat with a shout. "What the hell?"

"For once you have something right." Janet said with a sick grin. She slowly stood up.

Dean slowly back up, his back hitting the wall. "Uh, Janet- there's-there's something wrong with your eyes."

Janet stared at him for a short moment before throwing her head back and laughing. "Oh! This is just-too good!" She laughed. "When I heard the rumors about what that Angelic dick did to you I just had to see for myself." She shook her head and laughed. "Boy, are you in a serious shit storm right about now." She moved around the desk toward Dean.

Dean tried to move in the other direction, but found that he could not. Something painful suddenly tightened around his throat and he found himself pressed against the wall by invisible hands. He glanced at Janet who was staring at him with her hand raised. "What are you doing to me?" He choked out.

Janet paused in front of him and tilted her head to the side. "Aw look at you. Itty bitty Dean Winchester all helpless and stupid." She raised a finger and slid it down his cheek, grinning when he flinched away from her. "I can smell your fear." She breathed in deep and closed her eyes. "Mmm." She opened her eyes and grinned, leaning in closely. "I'm going to slowly take the life right out of you. It looks as though you're heaven's golden boy anymore."

Dean had no clue what she was talking about. Who the hell was Dean Winchester? She had to be insane or maybe he was dreaming. That's it. It was still the weekend, he was still in bed tripping out on painkillers. He was going to wake up any minute now. Any - "Ahh!" He screamed out as the pain moved from his throat to his ribs. No! this was real! This was real!

Janet smirked up at him, clearly enjoying the pain she was inflicting upon him. "Scream louder," She suggested. "It's like music to my ears."

'This was it.' Dean thought, the pain around his throat tightening a bit more. This was how it was going to die, being tortured by some psycho. This irrevocably sucked! He glanced down at the thing in front of him, his eyes widening as a blinding white light suddenly exploded from Janet's eyes and she screamed in pain.

"Ahhhhh!"

Dean crumbled onto the floor in a heap. He yelled out as she noticed a man in a trench coat standing above him. He gripped his sore throat, watching as the man, who had saved him, tilt his head to the side. He coughed once, then twice before attempting to speak. "What-"

"You are unharmed." The man said softly.

Dean blinked up at him. "I wouldn't-" He trailed off and his eyes widened as the man reached out a hand to touch him.

There was a sudden shift and he glanced around in panic as he realized he was now in his apartment. "The hell?"

"Not really."

Dean turned at the sound of the young woman's voice. He scrambled backward as she came further. "What's going on?"

Jo sighed as she glanced at Castiel. "Did it hurt him?"

Castiel glanced at her briefly. "No." He answered. "I eradicated the demon before it truly harmed him."

Jo shook her head. "Lets try and avoid the close calls. We can't fix this thing with a dead Dean on our hands."

"Dead Dean?" Dean repeated and they both turned to look at him. "Who are you? What's going on? Why am I-"

Jo's eyes softened as she looked from the Angel to Dean. She stepped forward. "I'm Jo. Uh-" She trailed off and glanced over at Castiel who cut her off.

"I am an Angel of the Lord. The woman that attacked you was really a demon. It was a demon."

Jo rolled her eyes and Dean slowly stood up from his spot on the floor.

"Okay." He said slowly. "This is weird. Someone has to be playing a trick on me, but I'm just going to call the police just in case-" He was cut off by Castiel putting his fingers to his forehead. He fell into an unconscious heap onto the floor.

Jo crossed her arms over her chest. "Real subtle." She breathed.

TBC