Chapter 2

Dean had gathered Sam, and managed to get his little brother to his feet with little trouble. Sam was dizzy, but otherwise fine for all intents and purposes besides the minor wounds on his arm and shoulder.

Dean scattered quickly, snapping a photo of the dead woman at their feet with his camera phone before disposing of her body by salting and burning it.

Sam gathered the dropped rifle, and then the two brothers walked through the woods in the direction they had come from to get back to the Impala.

"You alright?" Dean asked Sam continuously as they hiked through the woods.

"Fine." Sam would lie every time.

If he were being honest, he would have told Dean that the bite marks burned. And it wasn't a good burn from working out, but an almost acidic burn. And what scared him more, was that the burn in his shoulder and arm were traveling quickly through his body, through his blood.

After a few moments the burn completely radiated his kneecaps, and he had to bite his lower lip to keep from groaning when the burn reached his heart.

This obviously wasn't his night, he thought to himself when he looked over at Dean with bleary eyes to see that his brother saw his clear discomfort.

"Did that thing get you worse than I thought?" Dean asked Sam worriedly.

"No." Sam replied quickly, "I'll be alright. Let's just get back to the motel so we can clean these wounds up. I just wanna go to sleep."

Dean nodded in understanding, then turned his gaze to the path ahead of them.

"Tomorrow morning we're headed to Bobby's. He says he's got another job for us."

Another wave of vertigo ripped through his brain, and Sam stagged backward for a moment – his glossy eyes looking off into space. Dean noticed his brother wasn't walking beside him anymore and looked back in time to see Sam nearly hit the ground.

Dean reached out instinctively and caught his brother before he took a nose-dive. His hands gripped Sam's chest, helping him up to his feet.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Dean chanted worriedly, "This isn't 'fine', little brother."

In response, Sam only managed to groan deep in his throat. It took him a moment to gather his bearings, but after a little while Dean finally let Sam walk on his own…though he kept hovering over him protectively in case he fell again.

Finally after a while, Sam and Dean finally reached the side of the road where the Impala was parked neatly just on the outskirts of the woods.

Without wasting a moment, Sam got in through the passengers' door and sat in his usual seat. He tossed the rifle in his hands in the backseat while Dean got in through the drivers' door – grunting as the friction of his clothes as he sat down rubbed against his wounded back.

At that moment, Sam couldn't help but feel guilty. Dean was injured too, but Sam couldn't take care of him as well as himself.

Just then, the burn that was scorching his insides nearly blinded him as it reached behind his eyes and into his brain.

This time he couldn't suppress the gasp of pain, or his hands as the heels aimed directly toward his eyeballs to try and ease the pain. But it didn't help.

"Sam!" Dean called in worry as he held Sam's shoulder, forgetting it was the injured one.

All that did was send another wave of pain through Sam's body causing him to convulse against his seat for a moment before blackness claimed his vision and he fell into unconsciousness, happily.

xXx

Sam somehow knew he was dreaming. He absolutly had to be. His conscious mind wouldn't torture his eyes this way.

His consept of colors was a little askew as he looked around the wooded area he had actually just come from with his brother. Everything around him seemed to have a golden tint, and his vision was somewhat tunneled –yet at the same time more defined.

He knew it was dark out, he looked up and could see the bright crescent moon above his head peaking just through the trees…but along with colors, his sense of light and dark also seemed a bit off. He remembered when he was in the woods earlier with his brother, how they could barely see an inch in front of their noses. Now Sam could see as clear as day.

Dreams were weird that way, Sam guessed.

The woods floor was even somewhat different, Sam noted with great interest. In this dream, the dry broken dead leaves scattered atop the dirt and grass, and beneath the leaves – in the dirt, Sam could feel the tiny movements and even hear the scuttering of the insects around him.

His whole body seemed different in this dream, Sam thought to himself with a tingle of delight as he wriggled his toes, and found it to be a much more complicated task than it should have been.

Confused, Sam looked down at his feet and saw that in that instant certain aspects of the dream changed at the same time.

As he looked at his feet a couple of things registered with his brain in that moment. One, he was looking down at a long muzzle covered in thin dark fur, like a dog, with a black wet nose on the end of it. And two, he wasn't looking at feet, but a strange mix between feet and paws that could carry him on two legs as well as four.

His eyes widened and panic seized him in a vice-grip. Why was he seeing through the creatures eyes?

Sam then lifted his head to yell, but instead to his horror it came out as a loud inhuman howl that sent chills down his spine.

He then caught a slight motion out of the corner of his right eye, and whipped his head around to take a look at what was stalking him.

His heart jumped in his throat when he saw that it was the blond girl the Beast had turned into after he and Dean killed it. Only this time she looked alive and healthy and vibrant, although still naked – Sam realized a little embarrassed.

She looked at him without fear, but with sorrow – like it pained her to see this creature.

Sam wanted to ask her who she was, but found he could only make a dog-like grunt.

"Elizabeth." The woman answered anyway as if she understood what Sam was asking.

He staggered backward, taken aback that she had seemingly read his mind.

The woman than offered a guilty half smile, that looked almost grateful. After a moment her smile dropped and she looked back at Sam with the same sorrowful expression as before.

"This is a truly terrible fate to suffer." Elizabeth whispered as a tear spilled from her eye and down her cheek, "And by saving me you have condemned yourself to the same fate."

Sam whimpered involuntarily, and silenced himself instantly upon hearing the pathetic noise he had made.

"I'm sorry." She whispered brokenly.

Then suddenly, Elizabeth was gone. She left Sam alone in the woods in this…shape. He whipped his head around and turned his body, but found that he was truly alone.

He then couldn't suppress the anguish-filled howl that ripped through his chest, and erupted from his mouth.

xXx

Sam let out a loud gasp as he awoke with a jolt from his dream. Immediately he noticed that he was in the passengers' seat of the Impala with his head pressed against the glass of the window. The tree-filled scenery around him flying by.

The early morning sun was just peaking through the blur of trees, and Sam sat up in his seat and stretched his long back out uncomfortably.

"What time is it?" Sam wondered out loud as he glanced at Dean who was behind the wheel looking rather tense.

"Half past six." Dean replied in a hoarse voice, "You've been out all night."

Sam nodded and then looked down at his lap, but his attention was then drawn to his arm where he had been bitten. He was now in a gray short sleeved shirt, and could clearly see that Dean had taken the liberty of patching him up while he was out.

"What about your back?" Sam asked worriedly.

"It's fine." Dean replied bluntly.

"Bull." Sam argued.

"Seriously!"

"No, next rest-stop you'd better stop." Sam quipped back.

"No need." Dean said sharply.

"Dean-" Sam was about to snap, before Dean cut him off.

"We're almost at Bobby's."

"How are we almost at Bobby's?" Sam asked even though he knew the answer, "After you patched me up, we just tucked tail and booked?"

Dean shrugged his shoulders then winced as if the motion had hurt him, so then nodded.

"You've been driving all night?" Sam asked angrily.

Dean didn't answer, he didn't even shake his head to signify that he had heard his brother. He just kept his eyes trained on the road ahead of them intently.

Sam shook his head at his brothers' stupidity, but turned his head to look out his window.

His mind went back to the dream he had. Was there any truth behind it? Probably not the turning into a wolf part, Sam thought to himself with a shadow of a smile on his face. But about that girl. He decided he would look up an 'Elizabeth's' going missing in the area, but that was the best he could do.

Last night was definitely a weird hunt, Sam decided. Not so much the hunt itself, but the after-effects.

Sam couldn't help but flinch at the thought of the burn that had ripped through his body the night before. It was so intense, he had to wonder where it came from. But whatever it was, he was glad it was gone when he woke up.

"You okay?" Dean asked suddenly, startling Sam from his thoughts.

Sam looked back over toward his brother and nodded in reply.

In truth, he had a strange throbbing pain in the base of his spine. It felt like he had been kicked awfully hard in his lower back, though he knew no one had.

He shifted his position in his seat but it didn't help. Sam shrugged it off however, and chalked it up to sleeping sitting up for too long.

"Don't worry, we're almost at Bobby's." Dean reassured his brother in a harsh tone.

"I'm fine!" Sam snapped, "You on the other hand…"

"I'll be okay, Sam." Dean quipped irritably, "Please just don't worry about it."

"The second we get to Bobby's I'm patching you up." Sam said simply.

"Fine." Dean muttered with an eye-roll.

Sam took in a deep breath to attempt to calm his raging nerves but found it didn't help. He didn't know why he was so angry at Dean. It wasn't like he hadn't pulled a stunt like this before.

But Sam did realize that he felt a little different this morning. It wasn't anything physical, but something had opened up inside his brain – a rage that felt alien to him, a presence that wasn't there when he went to sleep.

Something wild.

In honesty, it scared the crap out of him.

But then Sam would be lying if he said it wasn't axhilarating…that he didn't like it.