One Moonless Night

The darkness of the woods, where even the shine of the flashlight wouldn't cut through the blackness and the irritation of the fact that it was a new moon so there was no help from above, the fear in Sam's eyes was warranted.

Dean wanted to yell out, to find the one they they lost in the battle between the three of them and the pack of werewolves that they had been hunting, but one lone wolf had survived and Ali had been separated from them. Yeah, Dean wanted to yell out to her, but Sam wanted to scream.

The feeling in his gut wasn't good, he could almost feel the pain she was in, but there was nothing that he could really place his fingers on to say that it was real, it was just instinct. Cas had said something about their relationship, tying them together, but unless they were close, he never truly felt what she did. Neither did Dean for that matter, but then again, this was all new.

Everything was new.

The only thing that seemed to keep them all from going insane was the fact that even Crowley had told them that there was no way to remove whatever was in her but it didn't mean her harm, in fact, it made her better at her job. The violence after the hunts had calmed now that it was completely infused in her, but Sam still worried, still wanted to know how and why.

Dean raised an arm, footfalls stilled and the silence filled the night, stopping Sam in his tracks. He watched Dean move a finger to his mouth and just stand there. In the quietness, like a soft whisper came a voice, almost too low to hear but she knew, she knew that the boys would be paying close attention to everything.

"Hello darkness, my old friend, I've come to talk with you again, because a vision softly creeping

left its seeds while I was sleeping, and the vision that was planted in my brain still remains," her voice paused in the night, which made Sam's heart skip, but then there was a soft finish, "Within the sound of silence."

Sam stepped towards the direction of the singing but Dean's arm came up quickly, grasping at his brother's shirt, instantly stopping any movement and he pointed to his ear, shaking his head.

In the moonless forest, they heard the snap of trees, the low growl of an animal on the prowl, which was odd because there shouldn't have been any sound. The wolf should have known to keep quiet. This one, it wanted her to know it was coming.

"Fools, said I, you do not know, silence like a cancer grows. Hear my words that I might teach you, take my arms that I might reach you…"

"Jesus, she's goading it." Sam shook.

"That's my girl," Dean smiled with pride.

"Dean, what the hell, she's leading it right to her."

"She's telling us where she is too," Dean managed to whisper just loud enough for him to hear. "Come on, this way."

Sam took a breath, the fact that Ali was in danger at all set him off on an internal struggle of did he run to her, or let her do her job.

"She's being bait, Dean, I can't take that." Dean stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Sam, the feeling of fire in his cheeks and the sudden hatred for the monster hunting his girl must have been evident on his face because Dean grabbed him with both fists, tucking up close to him, a tactic that Dean always used to get Sam to pay attention. "Dean," Sam breathed, and he breathed deeply because he was about to go off, "I can't…"

"You will, Sam, you have too because if you don't control it, that girl, OUR girl is going to get hurt worse than she might already be, so suck it down or use it, either way keep your anger under control." Dean growled, literally growled out the orders and while Sam was used to him being the one in charge, Sam nearly punched him. "You feel that?" And Sam suddenly could, he could feel the vibration in the air up his right side. Dean released him and looked through the trees. "You think that's her?"

"I don't know," Sam felt the anger in him lessen as he concentrated on the fact that Dean had let him go and they were both now heading towards the humming that popped up. It was the tune of "Sound of Silence" the same thing that Ali had been singing but now it seemed to cause the odd vibration in the air. "Dean, where's the wolf?"

"Not sure, but I think we need to worry about getting to her first." Pulling the gun from his belt, Dean slipped through the trees, but it was the sound of the humming from ahead of them that had Sam curiously looking around. "Sam!"

Dean's scolding had him moving before he needed to will his feet to move. The vibration in the air and the sound in his ears lead them both to a clearing, an empty clearing. Dean threw his hands up, trigger finger off the gun and he turned in a circle as Sam leaned down to look at the tracks that covered the ground.

"Where the hell is she?"

Sam looked up, sighed and put his fingers against the boot print in the soft ground. "She can't be far, by the looks of these, she's limping, something happened to her right leg."

"Freaking awesome! Now we have no wolf and no Porter." Dean scratched his head, and suddenly went stalk still. "Hey, you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Sam questioned, standing as he looked around. Dean shook his head. He was right, Sam heard nothing. "Where did she go?"

"ALI?" Dean screamed but it was only answered by the howl of the wolf that suddenly sprang through the trees at them, knocking Dean to the ground, and his head against a tree rendering him unconscious before turning its attention to Sam.

Baring bloodied teeth, the wolf stalked towards Sam, who drew his gun and fired twice before the large wolf leapt up, taking the six-foot plus man to the ground. Sam held out his arms, his hands wrapped around the wolf's throat as he pushed with all he had to keep the animal from latching onto his neck.

He brought his head up, trying desperately to headbutt the creature but the logical part of the were's brain had him avoiding Sam's thick skull, that was until Sam saw the large branch swing down and whack the thing on the back.

The wolf moved, giving Sam some time to catch his breath, but when he looked up, the monster had locked it's sights on Ali, who stood bleeding from her thigh, hand pressed against it and leaning on the weapon she had just used.

"Jesus, I can't take you guys anywhere," the petite woman mumbled as she glanced over at Dean, who was slowly stirring to consciousness, then beyond the wolf at him. "You okay, Sammy."

"Wolf, Al!" He barked and she focused once again on the issue at hand as he tired to find the gun that had been knocked away. "Ali, shoot it."

"Nah," she shrugged, which made Sam stop in his search and look at her as if she were nuts. "It's dying, Sam, what harm could it do?"

Just then the wolf jumped towards her and she quickly swung, hopping back on one leg as she connected the branch with the underside of the dog. It yelped loudly as it fell to the ground on it's side, and Sam watched, confused, as it slowly turned back into a naked man.

One with black veins that ran from his heart to his throat and down.

"What the hell is that?" Dean's voice interrupted and both Ali and Sam turned towards him.

"Some sort of virus." Ali shrugged. Dean moved to his feet, helped Sam to his and the two of them stepped up beside Ali. "The other three had it on them too, but it wasn't until I had shot the woman in the stomach that I noticed the marks. Whatever it is, it's in their blood and moving pretty fast."

"They cut you!" Sam said, suddenly realizing that she was bleeding from a claw mark on her thigh.

"Yeah, but apparently, it's not transmitted to people, I mean human people," she looked up at him, thought about what she had said and shook her head, clearing out her thoughts. "Anyway, this seems to be just targeting something in them."

"How do you know?" Dean questioned, which got her to turn back to the man on the ground, who was foaming at the mouth, seizing and just as suddenly unmoving. "Ali."

"Can we just go home? I'll tell you on the way, I'm cold and losing blood." She snapped at Dean, but her eyes never left the man on the ground, at least for a moment, until she turned, braced herself on the stick and began to limp back into the forest.

Sam shook his head, let out a breath and walked up beside her. "I'm going to carry you."

Ali stared up at him with a look that had him worried that she might swing, but her shoulders fell and he knew she was too weak to protest. With one arm around her shoulders and the other under her knees, he scooped her up and held her tightly against him.

"I'm not one of those girls, Sam." She mumbled with as much anger as she could muster, which wasn't enough to do anything but make him laugh, even as she curled up closer to the warmth of his chest.

"No, I wouldn't ever think that," he pressed his lips to her forehead as he moved, following Dean through the brush, "you're too much of a hardass."

"Mmm," she hummed, her fingers sliding through the fabric of his flannel to touch the part of his chest not covered by the v-neck undershirt. Her tiny fingers were cold but it felt good on his skin, reassuring and real, "I love your ass."

"Yeah, you've definitely lost a lot of blood," Dean snarked from in front of them.

"Yours too, hot stuff," was her reply but it was barely audible because of the way her face was tucked into Sam's shirt.

Sam only smiled, at least he knew she was going to be okay because comments like that meant she was still fighting. Now, if they could just get her back to the Impala before she shivered out of his arms.