Chapter 10

The next day was only a little better. Sam had gotten out of the bathtub around mid-afternoon an achy pruned mess when his fever went down, and he stopped complaining about it being too hot to his relief. But the pain in his lower back hadn't stopped, as a matter of fact – Sam thought it may have intensified. So he remained on his feet while he kept his nose in a book.

When he had gotten out of the tub, his father wasn't there to his surprise. When he had asked where his father was, Bobby said that he went to go check on the girl.

Not needing anymore explanation, Sam made a B-line for the library in silence. He knew Bobby was talking about the girl he found at the bar, and slept with, and may have cursed; Kelly.

Dean was sitting in the library at Bobby's desk when Sam entered. He looked up from the book he had in front of him, and gave Sam a small guilt-ridden look that pulled at Sam's heartstrings. He hadn't meant to scare Dean yesterday, but that savage that resided in his mind took over so fast Sam hadn't even realized what had happened.

A moment later, Dean lowered his head again and looked back down at the book. Sam nodded to himself, understanding that Dean wasn't sure what to say. So he looked in one of the categorized piles of the different assortment of books, and finally picked a large one off the top of the pile and opened it.

He had been cradling the large book in the crook of his arm for almost an hour, and right when he was about to give up and try with another book, Dean finally spoke up.

"How are you feeling?"

Sam looked up from the book, looking surprised, and a little dumbfounded. Not wanting to lie to him, because he knew eventually Dean would learn the truth, Sam took in a deep steadying breath.

"Sore…really sore." Sam replied somewhat vaguely.

Dean cocked his head and narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"Sore? Where?"

Sam rolled his eyes, and closed the book he held in his arms and placed it back in the pile where he had found it. He then turned back to Dean and sighed.

"My back mostly…" Sam implied.

"You pull a muscle or something?" Dean asked quizzically.

"Somehow I doubt it." Sam replied with a mirthless chuckle.

"Seriously though, don't you think you should take it easy for a while?" Dean wondered aloud, "I mean yesterday you weren't really looking too good."

That's an understatement, Dean thought to himself, but didn't say anything.

"I'll be okay." Sam replied blankly.

Suddenly there was a loud banging coming from the adjacent room, it was the front door slamming open and then shut followed by stomping into the kitchen. Sam and Dean traded curious looks before moving into the kitchen to find the source of the ruckus.

"Damnit!" John swore angrily as he slammed his fist on the table in the kitchen, "Son of a bitch!"

"What happened?" Bobby asked as he rushed into the kitchen, obviously having been disturbed from the noise John made as well.

Sam and Dean wandered into the kitchen with wide wary eyes trained on their father.

"I've been at that girls house for about an hour, that's what happened." John snapped at Bobby irritably.

Sam's gut twisted in fear as he stared at his father.

"D-did she - ? Is she cursed?" Sam stammered, questioning John's vague explanation.

John looked back at Sam with hard eyes, and shook his head.

"I mean, I don't know! I can't know for sure!"

"How do you not know for sure?" Dean interjected irritably, "Either she's got friggin claws or she doesn't."

John turned his hard look from his youngest to his oldest.

"Watch that tone." He warned.

Feeling like a child, but obliging nonetheless, Dean nodded and bit back a snarky reply.

"What I mean is she wasn't at her house." John explained a little more calm, "After a while of watching her damn front lawn, I knocked on the door to see if she was home, but she didn't answer. So I came in through the back and she wasn't there."

"It's Monday, John." Bobby chimed in with his arms crossed over his chest, "Does she have a job? She might be workin'."

"Well I thought that too." John said pointedly, "I went snooping through her stuff and found a few checks from Unemployment, but nothing about a current job."

"Try going back a little later." Dean suggested with a shrug.

John nodded before turning his somewhat softer gaze back to Sam. He offered his youngest son a half-smile.

"How ya feelin' Sammy?" He asked in a hoarse voice.

"Better than yesterday." Sam replied with a small shrug that looked more like a twitch in his shoulder. This wasn't a lie exactly, he decided. He just wasn't telling his father the whole truth. He was already more honest with Dean than he wanted to be today.

"That's good." John noted with a nod.

"He said his back is sore." Dean interjected knowingly.

Sam snapped Dean a threatening look, warning him wordlessly to keep his mouth shut, but Dean pretended he didn't see it. If Sam wasn't going to be completely truthful with their father, then he would.

"You pull a muscle?" John wondered aloud.

"He doesn't think so." Dean replied for Sam.

"Then what is it?" John asked.

Neither Sam nor Dean answered, because neither of them knew themselves. Sam gave his father an oblivious look, which he didn't miss. John just put a hand on his forehead and closed his eyes against the headache that was forming behind his eyes.

The day wasn't even over yet, and it was already too long for his liking.

xXx

Later on in the evening when the sun was set, John returned to the house with bags of food in his hands and a tired look on his face. He closed the door behind him, and was ambushed by Bobby who immediately began hounding him with questions.

"Did you drive by the girls house?"

John sighed deeply as he continued to walk into the kitchen. He placed the brown paper bags full of food on the table that was across from the kitchen counter and turned to look at Bobby with a serious look on his face.

"I did." He confirmed. "She still wasn't there."

"Damn." Bobby swore under his breath.

In that moment, Dean and Sam entered the kitchen and went straight for the bags that John had just placed on the table. Dean withdrew his foil-wrapped bacon cheeseburger, while Sam went straight for the foil wrapped…rare double bacon cheeseburger.

John felt weird ordering it honestly. Sam was never one who was known for his appetite. That was more Dean's territory. In fact, Sam was more health conscious than Dean or even he was. Sure, sometimes Sam would have the occasional burger, and sometimes he would get pizza, but most of the time it was salads for him.

But Sam admitted today that he just wanted to eat meat, raw, bleeding, breathing…meat.

Well, he left the 'breathing' part out, but he was thinking it and his stomach didn't protest at the thought.

As Sam unwrapped his burger, there was a sudden loud 'CRASH' that came from outside of the house, causing everyone's head to snap in the direction of the back door. Wherever the sound came from, it was close.

John immediately looked at Dean and nodded silently, telling his oldest son without words to watch his back.

Dean understanding the message nodded and dropped his burger on the table before withdrawing his pistol from his waistband.

John pulled his own piece out of his waistband a moment later, and clicked the safety off before holding it in front of him at the ready.

Dean opened the backdoor, and John filed out of the house, soon followed by Dean after he closed the door behind him silently so he didn't compromise their position.

Sam looked at the door for a moment with a defiant look. Was he suddenly an invalid? Why couldn't he go out there to see what was making that noise?

To hell with it, Sam decided as he stormed out of the kitchen and into the living room where the bag that they kept their weapons in had been dropped. He knelt down in front of the duffel, and immediately began rummaging inside it for his gun.

Bobby stood in the doorway, having followed Sam into the living room.

"What do you think you're doing?" Bobby asked with a hint of authority in his tone.

"Going out there to help Dean and my dad." Sam replied matter-of-factly as he finally got his hands on his gun and the bullets that went with it.

"I think they got it, kiddo." Bobby tried to reason, "Just let it go."

"No." Sam snapped defiantly as he loaded his pistol, "I'm tired of just sitting on my ass waiting for whatever this is to just kill me."

Bobby didn't respond to that, and Sam hadn't expected him to. With a final click as the chamber locked into place, Sam got to his feet and walked past Bobby and into the kitchen where he came to the backdoor.

"I'm comin' with you." Bobby announced as he grabbed his rifle from usual position against the wall behind the couch. He cocked it, and held it in front of him defensively as he hurried to meet Sam in the kitchen.

Surprised to see that Sam waited, Bobby nodded at Sam signifying that he was ready.

Taking Bobby's silent approval, Sam opened the back door letting Bobby pile outside, before closing the door behind himself quietly.

It was dark outside, but they knew their way around the Salvage Yard like the back of their hands. Bobby took the lead, and walked toward the back where the massive piles of cars were, and the most likely spot where the noise probably came from.

Bobby's backyard, even though it didn't look like it, it was all neatly sorted. There in the beginning was a maze of reparable cars that he was fixing for customers, or for his own personal use. And then there were the towers, further in the back. The towers were towers of cars that had no hope of ever starting up again, so they were piled one on top of another into towers. He dubbed that area 'The Graveyard', because that's what it was, basically. A graveyard for cars.

Keeping a wary eye on his surroundings, Sam followed Bobby silently through the maze of wrecked cars and discarded tools that lay scattered in the dirt.

Honestly, Sam hoped they didn't come across anything that would require him putting up a fight. He was still weak from the fever, and he was achy all over. He didn't think he would put up much of a fight let alone come out of it if it came down to it.

But still he pressed on behind Bobby.

And that's when the smell hit him; it smelled like warm, fresh meat, and blood. It was clear that it was dead meat, but it hadn't been that way too long. He bet it would still hold a hot living taste. A pleasured shudder ripped through him, but he held his composure, not wanting to draw alarm to him.

Then as Bobby and he turned the corner, deeper into the maze of cars and just entering 'The Graveyard' – Sam found the origin of the smell.

Well technically, John and Dean found it first as they stared at it with looks of shock and horror.

There, hanging from the top car on one of the tower of cars, was a headless body dangling along the sides of the cars. Its arm was what was holding it to the top car; the corpse's arm was actually caught in the front drivers' door.

Bobby groaned in disgust and came to a halt, which drew Dean and John's attention. John went from looking surprised to looking angry when he noticed Sam was out there as well.

"Why's he out here?" John demanded, suddenly furious.

"He was dead set on helping you guys out." Bobby replied, his eyes still on the dead body.

"Sammy?" Dean asked urgently, seeing Sam's unfocused glossy eyes lock on the dead body.

All the attention was suddenly drawn to Sam as he took staggering steps forward toward the corpse, as if he were in a trance. Mid-step and Sam opened his hand loosely, releasing the pistol he held so tightly in his hands, and ignored it as it fell to the dirt.

"Sam?" John tried a little louder.

His loud voice, earned him a low and dangerous growl as Sam turned his head toward them threateningly.

"Not again." Dean moaned sadly as he lowered his weapon.

That's when Sam suddenly lunged at the tower, and grabbed at the body's right leg. He gritted his teeth as he dug his sharp claws in the body's flesh as he pulled it out of the door and onto the dirt ground with a loud 'thud'.

"What the hell do we do?" Dean asked his father with wide-eyes as he watched his little brother lean in and…taste the corpse.

At the sight before him, Dean nearly lost his lunch. He had seen a great deal in his twenty seven years, but never could he have prepared himself for this. His eyes were glued to his little brother who was tearing his long sharp claws and dull teeth through the already dead body like an animal.

"SAM!" John snapped, authority and dominance laced beneath his call.

Sam turned away from his dinner and glared daggers at John with a snarl on his face, which looked downright horrifying with his face covered in the corpse's crimson blood.

"Sam Winchester, get your ass inside. NOW!" John ordered, placing anger in his tone. Inside he wasn't really angry though. He was tearing himself up, inside. Sam was losing himself, and he was failing in finding any sort of way to help him.

Suddenly Sam was on his feet, with his eyes still fixed on John. John stiffened under the gaze, because he knew it too well. It was the look of a predator as it assessed its prey. Right now, Sam was looking for his weak spot.

That's when Sam growled; trying to get a rise out of John…but his father didn't even flinch.

In that moment, Bobby jumped into the picture and rammed the butt of his rifle into Sam's temple – rendering him unconscious instantly.

Bobby lowered his rifle, and looked down at Sam's limp form in the dirt as he took in deep steadying breaths.

"Just so you know," Bobby said as he turned toward John and Dean angrily, "sometime in the future that thing is gonna be in full control of Sam. Callin' his names and givin' him orders ain't gonna snap him out of it, then! We're running out of time!"

John and Dean looked at Bobby in shock as he continued to yell at them.

"Now you had some stupid ass idea the other day, sayin' we were gonna summon some demon. I got everything we need to do it. So we're doin' it tonight…it's still a stupid idea, but it's still the only one we got!"

Bobby took another deep breath, and calmed himself down significantly.

"Now let's get this cleaned up! Idgits!"

John and Dean exchanged curious looks before nodding in Bobby's direction stiffly.

"Alright, Bobby and I will get Sam in the house. You think you can take care of this?" John asked Dean as he pointed to the corpse that lay on the ground at the base of the tower.

Dean nodded again, and turned to sneak a look at his little brother who was still definitely out for the count.

"What if he wakes up and he's still Coo-Coo for Coa-Coa Puffs?" Dean asked his father, hiding his inner torture by way of plastering a smirk on his face and cracking jokes.

"We'll cuff him to a bed." John said hopefully as he turned to Bobby, silently asking if that was alright with him.

"We don't need to," Bobby said vaguely, "I got something to show you in the house. But let's get him inside first."

John nodded as he walked over to his youngest and looped supporting arms under Sam's armpits, while Bobby grabbed Sam's legs – and together they managed to hoist his large frame up, and get him away from the scene.

Dean stayed behind and looked down at the body more closely. It was absolutely disgusting, because not only was it covered in its own blood after being decapitated, but now it sported teeth and claw marks in its chest, just above its full breasts – showing that this was a woman. That made Dean want to throw up knowing that his brother had done that.

A shudder ripped through Dean, so he decided it best to clear his thoughts before cleaning this mess up.

He lowered his body into a crouch and looped his arms under the corpse's armpits and was about to drag it out of sight when a thought occurred to him.

Clearly this was an attempt to get attention, or some sort of twisted threat. Why else would this body just be left here like this?

So then where was the head?

Dean lowered the body gently back into the dirt, and walked over to the tower where Sam had pulled it from. When she was found, she was hanging from the drivers' side door in the top car. So that was most likely where he was bound to find her head.

He climbed the tower with ease, and once he reached the top car, at the count of three he opened the drivers' side door. He gasped in disgusted surprise when sure enough; lying in the drivers' seat was the head of the victim. Dean sighed as he released the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding.

It was the woman Sam had taken home that night in the bar, Dean realized sadly. The girl that their father couldn't find today.

Dean swore to himself, as he took notice to the piece of paper that was rolled up and sticking half way out of her mouth so it could be seen.

Wasting little time, Dean grabbed the head by her hair, and climbed back down the tower without shutting the drivers' door.

Once on solid ground, Dean withdrew the piece of paper from the girls' mouth and unrolled it. Sure enough, on the paper was a scribbled message which he read through a couple of times with curious eyes.

"John - She killed her boyfriend. You really think Sam's so different? In a few days time he'll kill you all. He spread his curse to Kelly, here. I had to end it. Don't think I won't be back for Sam if you don't kill him yourself. He has to die. – G"

Curiously, Dean knelt next to the body he had just left on the ground and examined her more closely. His eyes widened as he grabbed her wrists to get a better look her hands. Sure enough, on her fingers where normal human fingernails were supposed to be, were darker, longer, sharper, deadlier claws…just like Sam's.

So Sam had cursed her.

Dean sighed; his expression full of great misery as he crumbled up the note and shoved it in his pocket. Gordon was messing with them now, watching them. He knew it.

But Dean swore on his life, as long as he had a breath to spare – he wouldn't let Gordon or anyone get near Sam.

Hm...I wonder if this is angsty enough. I could pile it on heavier. :)

I dunno guys, hehe. Lemmie know what you wanna see, or if you like it the way it is.