The Beast Within

-Chapter 14-

Dean woke up from a dream of flashing police sirens, just as someone started knocking fiercely on his motel room door. He immediately thought they had come for him. His head was pounding, so was his heart. He looked over to Sam who seemed to have his back to him and looking fast asleep.

"Sam" he whispered "Sam! Are you awake?" but Sam did not react to his questions.

"How can you not hear that?" Dean kept whispering, but more to himself now.

"Sir? Open the door please!" a dull male voice demanded from the outside and kept banging on the door. Confused Dean swung his legs out of bed and only in boxers and a t-shirt he went over to the window, pulling the curtain aside a little. 2 Squad cars had claimed the whole parking lot and their flashing red and blue lights were bouncing of the buildings and reflecting off Dean's face.

"Crap" Dean muttered and braced himself to play along. Yawning and brushing through his hair he opened the door a little, noticing that the chain was not in its rightful place any longer. He was sure he had put it one before they went bed.

"Yes…?" Dean asked, jadedly peeking around as a bright torchlight brushed his stubbly face. He was preparing his usual rant to fend those police prowlers off, when he realised that there was a lot of commotion going on outside. Through the gap of the door Dean saw a little girl wrapped in a thick woollen blanket squeezing tight a plush teddy bear, being escorted back to the squad cars by a quite attractive female officer.

"Sorry to disturb you Sir…" the officer said calmly "But we received a disturbance call and wanted to know if you have heard anything?"

"You mean those sirens there, and all that kafuffle?"

"Erm, no prior to that Sir.."

"Oh" Dean said looking honestly surprised "No, then the answer is no. Why, what happened?"

"I can't tell you Sir" he said and looked at a clipboard. The same moment the coroners where carrying a black body bag behind him down the corridor.

"Did someone die?" Dean said in an Average-Joe-is-very-concerned voice.

The officer decided to ignore this question and asked if there was someone else in the room.

"Yes, my little brother "he replied truthfully, lowering his voice a little "But he is sleeping, please don't wake him too, or he'll be jumping on his bed all night" Dean flashed his big grin and was relieved that the officer eventually decided that Dean didn't have any answers for him.

"Thank you Sir!"

"No problem officer"

Dean squinted and speculated what had happened there as he closed the door again traipsing back to his bed.

How could Sammy sleep through all this?

"Sammy! Wake up!" he said but his brother didn't react.

"Sammy?" Suddenly an uneasy feeling was befalling Dean. He remembered that the chain wasn't on the door and there obviously was a murder of some sort down the corridor…he suddenly panicked and ripped Sam's blanket clean off him. He was shocked to see that his bed was empty; the bed sheets creased like after a restless night.

"Oh no" he exhaled, his knees suddenly feeling really weak and unable to carry his weight.

"I have lost you again" he thought immediately. "No, no, no!" He didn't think that he could take it another time. Suddenly there was a noise, it sounded like water running. He hadn't noticed it before but now that the noise outside had died down a little, it definitely sounded like running water.

New hope lit up his gloomy face. "Sammy?" he asked walking towards the closed bathroom door.

"Sammy? You in there? You okay?" he knocked hopeful then put his ear on the door to hear if anything was going on in there, only then did he reach for the doorknob and much to his relief it wasn't looked.

The bathroom was dark; whoever was in there didn't need lights.

"Sammy?" Dean asked again, carefully opening the squeaking door preparing himself for the worst.

The tinny running water sound came from the bathtub slowly filling with water. In there Dean could make out a vague shape.

"Sammy, you okay?" he repeated softly, not daring to come closer, but watching the shape shivering and making reversed hissing sounds.

"I am going to turn on the lights, okay?" as there was no response he took that as a yes.

Much to his relief it was his little brother Sammy in the bathtub, his arms warped around him like the time Dean had found him in the old house. Sam's clothes were scattered all over the white tiled floor.

Dean couldn't help but suspect a connection with the murder down the hall and his little brother being in this state, but praying there was a normal explanation for it. Maybe Sam just had a really intense dream, one much more disturbing than clowns & midgets.

"What's wrong?" Dean asked gently but wasn't sure if he should come closer yet.

Sam didn't look up, rocking his shivering body back and forth, his head buried between his elbows.

"Go away Dean…" Sam mumbled and Dean had to admit he did not expect to hear that.

"What? No! Not until you tell me what going on with you. Why are you shivering? You cold?"

"I can't…can't get warm..." Sam finally muttered so Dean thought it was a good idea to grab a towel and drape it around Sam's shoulders, not that it would do an awful lot probably.

As Dean kicked some of Sam's clothes aside he suddenly spotted the blood on them.

Okay, this definitely was alarming and he wanted to know what the hell was going on. Now!

He sat down on the bathtub's edge looking down at Sam naked back. He couldn't get over the fact that it was still showing all these streaks and yellow bruises. It hurt him indirectly as well when his brother was hurt.

"Listen to me Sammy. I need to know if you have anything to do with this dead guy down the hall and if so, why."

"I can't! " Sam said still shivering and refusing to look up.

"You can tell me anything Sammy, you know that." Dean said slightly insulted by Sam's answer. What did he keep from him? What was going on...? Dean stood up building himself up in front of Sam now, trying to enforce a little authority here.

"Sam, what is so awful that you can't tell me?"
With a deep, angry growl he finally lifted his head that felt like lead, looking straight at his worried brother yelling "ME!"

If something could shock Dean these days, it certainly was the tortured look on Sam's faces right now…and of course all the blood.

"Dude, your face! Are you hurt?" he exclaimed and his first instinct was to dive forward and check on Sam, but this time he wasn't so sure that he should. Something was not right, Dean thought, and not knowing where it came from, suddenly had an ungodly feeling. Somehow he didn't think that blood was Sam's.

"You stay here and try and get warm, I'll be right back"

He turned on his heal going back to the room, swiping his jacket in one smooth movement off the chair to get to the cell phone in it. While it was already dialling Bobby's number he pulled his jeans up.

"Hey it's me." He said as lightly as he possibly could into the phone wedged beween his jaw and shoulder, zipping up his jeans while leaving the room.

"What have you found out about the collar so far?" Dean listened to Bobby telling him to be patient that he needed more time, as no one seemed to know much about the symbols on it.

"Ok, keep looking. Bobby, I need to ask you something about Sam. Is it possible that he could be possessed again? What? No! I know we have those tattoos but I am asking what if Bobby?"

"What's going on Dean? Has something happened over there?"

"I don't know Bobby, I am trying to find out but Sam is like a closed book to me. He won't tell me what's happening to him and I am scared that…"

"You think that it's not your brother?"

"I don't know Bobby." Dean couldn't hide the panic in his voice from Bobby any longer. "He is freaking me out a little..what if…" He suddenly caught sight of the taped door down the corridor. Although it was still dark, the sky began to lighten up already.

"I'm gonna call you back Bobby. I gotta check something out first."