Hey everyone! Thanks for all the reviews, favs, and follows! This is a longer chapter than usual, and I think I'm going to try to do the rest around this length. I don't own Supernatural.

Chapter 4

The Impala rumbled up the long driveway to a rather beaten down motel on the outskirts of New Orleans. Its ramshackle walls looked barely stable enough to support the old building, and, if Dean had to guess, he would say that the owners haven't done much to fix it up since Katrina, or any of the other storms. He didn't like the look of the place, but he hasn't hustled any pool lately, so they were fresh out of options.

He looked over at Sam sleeping in the passenger seat and at Cas in back, also sleeping. It unnerved him, though he would never admit it, how Cas slept now. He just couldn't seem to wrap his head around the fact that Cas is human, not angel. Cas needs sleep. Cas needs food. Cas needs water. His brain seemed not to want to make any sense of it, so it unsettled him greatly.

He blinked the troubling thoughts of Cas being human away and gently woke his brother. "Sam, I'm gonna go get us a room. Wait here with Cas." he whispered as Sam slowly came to consciousness.

"'Kay," was his slurred, tired reply. Dean casted a glance at him before he quietly got out of the Impala and began ambling towards the motel check-in. As he walked across the lot he noticed a glowing pair of eyes peer out at him from the dark shadows surrounding the building. His first instinct was to reach for his purgatory blade, but he cursed himself when he realized that he had left it in the Impala, not thinking that he would have trouble within the hundred feet from the car to the door. So instead, he stopped and stared defiantly back at the eyes, almost issuing a challenge akin to: You wanna mess with me? and the eyes slowly disappeared into the darkness. Dean didn't know whether to be relieved they were gone or more frightened, as now the creature could be anywhere.

He pushed the thoughts from his mind and the bad feeling that accompanied the strange eyes and pushed forward into the motel lobby. He looked up to see an old, kind looking woman quietly reading behind the counter of the lobby. As he approached he cleared his throat to make his presence known and casually leaned against the counter.

"Would you like a room?" she asked, her voice not sounding as old as she looked, and it threw Dean for a second, but he quickly regained his composure and answered affirmatively. "Just one?" He guessed she was asking about beds, not rooms.

"Um, there are three of us. You got two beds and cot?" he asked. He really didn't want to share a bed with Sam, for, as much as he loves his brother, he felt that was crossing the line.

"Well," she answered, "we do have a room with two beds, but no cot. We could provide you a couple more blankets and pillows if you'd like."

"That'd be great, thanks." he answered, just a touch of sarcasm to his voice. He knew who'd end up on the blankets on the floor, even if it would be of his own volition so his baby brother and Cas wouldn't have to be uncomfortable.

"How are you paying?" Dean contemplated that for a moment, deciding between a fraudulent credit card and his hard earned money. He decided to use his money, reasoning that the place looked like it couldn't handle a week's worth of pay being fake. He handed over the cash and waited as she ringed them up. "Alright," she said distractedly, "here is your room. I'll send over someone shortly with those extra blankets."

"Thanks," he said again, shooting her a smile. She gave him one in return and he exited, heading straight for the Impala. He paused shortly as he exited, noticing the eyes again opposite of the Impala. He drew in a breath, his mind immediately going to the safety of the car's two inhabitants and quickly walked to maneuver himself between the eyes and the car. He stole a glance in the car to see that Sammy had fallen back asleep and Cas hadn't moved an inch. When he looked back the eyes were still there, just watching him, not moving any closer to reveal what they belonged to.

To Dean, it appeared that the eyes were at the level of a large dog, or even wolf, but there were no wolves in New Orleans, and a stray dog most likely would not be just staring at him like this. He felt increasingly nervous as the time stretched out, for he had no weapons on him, and he had no idea what he was facing.

He decided to step towards the creature, hoping to get a better view of it, and he stopped short as the creature also took a step towards him. He took another step forward, the creature doing the same. Dean could see it was just barely in the shadow now, and another step forward would bring it into the light of the motel's parking lot, but when he stepped forward the creature stood still. He tilted his head, confused by its strange behavior. It seemed too smart to be an animal, to know to keep to the shadows like that. It was unnerving.

"What are you?" he whispered. The eyes blinked, once. Dean felt his fear dissipating and instead felt just curiosity rising in its place. He knew it was a stupid move, to let his fear slip, for his fear would keep him alert, but that didn't stop it from slipping.

"Dean?" he heard Sam ask, an unspoken question underlying it, what are you looking at?

"Yeah?" He turned around to see Sam getting out of the car, and when he turned back to look where the eyes were, and saw that they were gone.

"You get the room?"

"Yeah." He tossed Sam the keys and walked to the edge of the shadow, but stayed in the light. He could feel his brother's gaze on him, but he didn't answer the question that went along with that gaze. Instead he peered into the shadows, looking for the source of the eyes he had seen, but found nothing. "Huh," he commented under his breath. There were no prints that he could discern, and there was no evidence of there ever being anything there.

"Dean?" Sam asked again.

"I'm coming," he answered distractedly, still looking for something, anything, to tell him he wasn't seeing things, but there was nothing. He gave up the search, for now, and headed back toward Sam. But suddenly the world seemed to tilt on its side and everything blurred together, and before he knew it he felt the warm pavement against his cheek and everything turned black.


Sam woke groggily in the safe confines of the Impala and wearily blinked his eyes open, pulling them into focus. He forgot that he was supposed to be getting their stuff together while Dean was getting the room, but he didn't think Dean would care that he fell asleep.

As he looked around he noticed his older brother standing by the Impala on the passenger side, looking at something in the shadows. Sam couldn't see anything, but the way his brother was standing, feet apart, shoulders squared, had Sam worrying. He figured that if Dean had hackles, they'd be raised right now. Something was seriously spooking his brother, but he couldn't seem to see what he was seeing. All he saw was the blackness beyond the light of the parking lot.

He looked back at Cas, who was still sleeping, and slowly got out of the car, not wanting to startle his brother while he was on high alert. "Dean?" he asked.

He watched Dean turn around and look at him, answering him "yeah?" before he turned back around to stare at the darkness again.

"You get the room?" Sam was curious as to what he was looking at, but he was so exhausted and in need of a shower that all he could think about was getting inside the motel room.

"Yeah," his brother answered, turning toward him with a confused expression on his face and tossed him the keys. Sam caught them purely by reflex, because he was sure that if he had to think about catching the keys, he never would have been able to. He stayed a moment longer, beginning to worry over his brother. The look Dean had given him, probably unintentionally, unsettled him.

"Dean?" he asked again.

"I'm coming," came his quiet, distracted reply. Sam watched as his brother turned around and begin walking towards him, and, relieved that he was finally coming, Sam turned and walked toward the motel, looking down at the keys to see the room they had been put in. He reached the door and began to ask Dean if he wanted to shower first when he realized that his brother wasn't behind him. He turned and saw Dean lying face down on the ground, his right arm pinned underneath him at an odd angle. His skin looked ghostly pale and Sam couldn't tell if he was breathing.

"Dean?" he called as he rushed over, clumsily from exhaustion, to his brother. He nearly tripped over his own feet trying to sit down next to him. "Dean?" he said again, gently shaking him, trying to wake him. "Hey, wake up." he watched as Dean's eyelids fluttered but did not open.

"Sam?" came a voice from behind him that he recognized belonged to Cas. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know," he answered truthfully. He gently grabbed Dean's forehead to try to twist him around when he felt how hot his brother's skin was. He pulled his hand away before he realized what he was doing. "Cas, help me get him up."

Cas moved over and grabbed onto Dean's left arm while Sam took his right, carefully moving it from underneath his body and feeling for any breaks. He felt his shoulder had popped out of place, but other than that his arm seemed to be okay despite the way it had laid underneath him. They pulled Dean to his feet and began angling him toward the motel room when he stirred beneath them.

"Sam?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper.

"I'm here, Dean," he replied, moving his brother's head so that their eyes met. Dean's were barely open and Sam could only just catch a glimpse of the deep green of his eyes. "You okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," he replied, taking most of his weight to stand on his own, but Sam kept his arm around his waist to steady him. "I think I'm just tired."

"Alright, we're almost in the room." Cas let go completely and Sam was relieved to see that Dean didn't sway when he did so. Maybe he was just tired, but Sam still suspected something else was going on. He fumbled with the key for a minute before inserting it into the door and opening it up to reveal a room with only two beds. "Um, Dean," he began.

"They're bringing stuff to make a bed on the floor outta blankets." he replied as he moved away from Sam to sit on the floor, clearing telling them both that they could take the beds.

"No," Sam said, "you can have the bed; I'll sleep on the floor."

"No, it's fine, Sammy."

Sam walked over to Dean and very roughly put his hand on Dean's shoulder, knowing full well that it was still out of socket, trying to show Dean that he was the one in pain and should have the bed. He heard Dean's sharp intake of breath, but he didn't say anything and seemed to just ignore Sam.

"You want me to put it back in place?"

"How'd it get out?" Sam looked at his brother, suddenly worried that he didn't remember how he knocked his shoulder out of place.

"You passed out."

"Oh," Dean finally looked up at Sam, "yeah, will you put it back in place?" Sam nodded and as Dean got into position he counted to three and shoved it back into place. Dean growled in pain and then sat back down on the floor as a knock was heard at the door. Sam looked at him, and he simply said "blankets and pillows."

Sam stood and looked through the peep hole before he opened the door and took the spare blankets and pillows while thanking the lady who brought them. He turned around, realizing he hadn't heard from Cas in a few minutes and found him already sleeping, fully clothed, on the far bed.

"Here," Dean held out his hand for the blankets and pillows, and Sam, knowing he didn't have the energy to argue and win against his brother, gave in and handed them over. "We'll get up around eight and head out to the place."

"'Kay," Sam said tiredly and gathered his sleeping clothes together, "You wanna shower first?" But Dean was already lying on a messy heap of blankets and sleeping with his jacket as a cover. Sam noticed that Dean hadn't even taken the time to fully spread out his blankets and sighed, shaking his head at his brother. You shouldn't have driven the whole night through, he thought to himself and headed to the shower.

As he came back into the room he saw that Dean was no longer lying on the floor, and so he looked to bed thinking maybe he had moved, but he wasn't there either. Dean was nowhere to be seen.