Chapter 16

For the remainder of the day – John, Bobby, Sam, and Dean actually found that they were grateful to have Ellen now on board, especially with Ash in her back pocket (being the genius that he was). She apparently has had Ash working on this 'Beast of Bray Road' legend for almost as long as Sam, Dean, and Bobby have been on board.

And it had finally paid off, the boys thought with excitement.

Unfortunately, what it wasn't, was a cure. Ash basically told them that when Sam and Dean killed the Beast, and it turned into a woman – they killed Jeremiah's mistress. The woman he had been with while he wasn't with his wife – the witch.

It actually made sense, Dean thought to himself as he racked his brain with as much information as he could with this lore. It made sense because the stories all say that when the witch sold her soul, she died ten years later as anyone did when they sold their souls. And then of course her husband – Jeremiah, changed into The Beast of Bray Road, whom John took out many years later.

But never once has records ever mentioned what happened to Jeremiah's mistress. Elizabeth – the witch, must have cursed the other woman too.

That at least was one mystery solved, they realized as they got back to researching ways to help Sam.

Bobby on the other hand had talked to Rufus again later on, only to be answered – and of course Rufus being the anti-social hermit that he was, wasn't too happy about being called again. But to Bobby's surprise he didn't protest, though he did sound annoyed. Bobby figured it was because of guilt – seeing as it was his fault that Gordon was on their asses.

But whatever it was, Bobby decided against questioning it.

It turns out that his suspicions were right, and that he called Ellen to sign her up to help them out. And much to their relief, Rufus informed Bobby that Gordon was acting solo on this hunt.

Apparently, Gordon had attempted to add some recruits of his own to join in the hunt of Sam Winchester. But it seemed that no one believed him, and all said that Sam Winchester was nothing more than a hunter, and that there was no reason to hunt him.

Others even went so far as to tell Gordon that it was a fool's errand, running out trying to kill Sam. Because if whether he failed or succeeded…he'd have the wrath of John and Dean Winchester to answer to.

That made Bobby laugh as he hung up the phone with Rufus, and relayed the news to the others that Gordon was on his own.

That at least was settled though, and in their favor. Nonetheless, Sam couldn't shake the feeling that, that was all the good news they would get out of this.

The following day was less active. Bobby and John were basically tearing through Bobby's address book to see if they could get in touch witch some sort of Shaman or witch or something that would at least slow the transformation a little. But so far, no such luck – no one that could help them with this problem anyway, they decided.

Ellen on the other hand was keeping busy by basically patrolling the perimeter of the house at least every half hour, just to see if Gordon had anything else up his sleeves. But so far he hadn't shown up.

Honestly, Sam couldn't decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing. He knew Gordon wouldn't just give up and move on…so where was he? What did he have planned?

Sam and Dean were busy with their usual routine of constant research. The brothers sat in Bobby's library, while Dean read from the glowing screen of the laptop to himself hungrily. Sam on the other hand sat in the office chair, with an old black leather-bound book propped open on the desk in front of him.

For the last few hours, every stupid little thing had annoyed Sam to no end, everyone realized…the hard way. In one instance, after they'd been researching for a few hours, Dean had suggested they get something to eat and take a break. Sam gave Dean a threateningly pointed look, and said there wasn't any time for breaks. And that by taking a break, Dean was being thoughtless.

Dean…thoughtless? Especially when it came to Sam? Well of course that sparked an argument. Dean went off on Sam, and reminded him that if he were thoughtless he wouldn't be at his side every friggin' hour of every day…(more or less).

Sam never apologized; he just grumbled and turned his attention back to the book in front of him silently – knowing that he had lost that argument.

Dean on the other hand, rolled his eyes and stood from his seat before placing the laptop back in his seat neatly. He glanced at his little brother before heading off into the kitchen, now needing a break more than ever.

No one noted that the thin rat-like tail that Sam had decided was more comfortable on the outside of his boxers as the elastic drooped just enough so it didn't restrict it, was flicking back and forth quickly, signifying that he was on edge.

If this had been under any other circumstances, Dean would have found the fact that Sam had a tail to give away his emotions slightly humorous. Now however, it was downright terrifying.

Later on, when Dean decided it was time he forgave Sam – after all the poor kid was going through hell, he came back into the library with a sandwich on a plate as a peace-offering. He placed the plate gently next to Sam's book so he didn't disturb the kid, before turning back to his reading on the laptop.

Around mid-afternoon, Dean had given up research for a while and instead went into the living room to help Bobby, while John took over his spot in researching. He noticed that his youngest son hadn't moved much from that spot at the desk in a while, as his wide dark golden eyes scraped over the words in the book intently.

"Sammy…" John began in a low husky voice as he tried to think of what to say to reassure his son. Sam's head snapped up to look up at his father, his eyes pinning him with certain annoyance, "You know it's alright to take a break, son. You're only human after all; you don't need to keep your nose buried in some book all day."

Sam scoffed when John said he was just human, which John didn't miss as his sympathetic gaze turned to one of curiosity.

"You are." He assured.

"Not these days, I'm not." Sam protested as he shook his head.

"What I'm trying to say is, Sam – is that we'll find something. And we'll find it before its too late, I mean we always do." John said, his voice getting louder with every word.

"You done?" Sam asked. His voice was completely monotone, while his face was a mask of emptiness.

Truthfully, John would be lying if he said that, that didn't unnerve him some. Sam was never one to adopt a 'game face'. Sure he was lie constantly whenever someone asked if he was okay, when he really wasn't (be it physically or emotionally). But usually the truth would be right there in his bright hazel puppy-dog eyes.

Not now though. John shuddered as he couldn't help but think that as he looked at his youngest son, he got the feeling of staring at a stranger.

"No, as a matter of fact." John quipped back, "You are human, Sam! Maybe you're…changing into something a little more than that, but inside I know you're the same guy!"

"You don't know anything!" Sam accused angrily as he gritted his teeth, showing his father his sharpened and newly lengthened teeth.

"Sam, we will fix this! We have to!" John practically pleaded.

"You don't think I want to fix this?" Sam accused, blind fury now plaguing Sam's once blank features, "I would give anything to be human again –"

John cut Sam off with a mirthless chuckle as he rubbed his hand over his face. He knew it was to keep his unshed tears from falling, but Sam didn't need to know that.

"What?" Sam demanded in a low growl.

"You…" John replied with a sober face, "saying you'd give anything to be human. It's a damn lie, and you know it!"

"What?" Sam asked in disbelief, his father had just blatantly called him a liar. But then after thinking on it, he understood what John was getting at, "You mean that kid? You think I don't want to be human because I won't kill a child?"

"No." John replied as he shook his head, "I just mean that you won't give anything to be human. And if you would, that kid would be dead right now, and we'd be off looking for a new job."

"Go to Hell!" Sam spat rage-fully.

John took notice of Sam's narrowed eyes, and the long tail hanging off his seat swishing vigorously to and fro. John knew it was the look that an agitated animal got, but he didn't say anything on the matter.

"Sammy come on…" John said a little more calmly as he attempted to reason with his son, "I just want you to think about this. If we really can't find any other way…promise me that you'll consider this."

"Consider what?" Sam yelled as he stood from his seat, his eyes piercing his father intently, "I'm not killing a child! I won't do it!"

"It's barely human, Sam!" John argued, anger suddenly rising, "Witches who work heavyweight black-magic, aren't human…for all intents and purposes. So why are you protecting this kid?"

"Because what if he isn't like his ancestors!?" Sam yelled, "What if this kid doesn't dabble in black-magic?"

"And what if he does?" John asked, "You won't let us go find him, so we have no way of knowing."

"Fine!" Sam cried, throwing his hands up in defeat, "We'll look into him. But if this kid isn't evil, then I'm not touching a hair on his head!"

"Understandable." John muttered with a thankful nod as he turned toward the kitchen to tell Bobby to start searching for this kid. There wasn't really much to go on to find the kid, John thought to himself.

All they had was his ancestors' origin and a last name – sure it was enough to find him, but it could take a while. Maybe they should put Ash on it? He wasn't sure, but he would run it by Bobby too.

Just as John turned into the living room toward where Bobby was, he bumped shoulders with Ellen as she passed by him going the opposite direction. Over her other shoulder was her rifle, which John knew was probably loaded, he thought to himself uncomfortably as he avoided her polite gaze. He then loudly cleared his throat before he muttered an apology.

He hadn't made much of an effort to talk to Ellen…especially after what had happened with her husband.

Right when he was about to keep headed toward Bobby, Ellen gently grabbed his shoulder and looked at John with sympathy and a soulfulness that he couldn't quite place.

"John…" Ellen began soberly before clearing her throat, but her eyes never once shifted from his face, "I just wanted you to know that…that I forgive you."

Whatever John had been expecting, it sure wasn't that. His eyes averted from the floor to her face with a look of genuine curiosity. How could Ellen have forgiven him, when he hadn't even forgiven himself yet?

"I forgave you a while ago," Ellen admitted, "it was an accident…it wasn't your fault."

John kept his eyes trained on Ellen in a weird fascination, not knowing what to think or say. She had completely caught him off guard.

"Thanks, Ellen." John muttered with a deep sigh, "Bill was a good man."

Ellen nodded feverishly and finally shifted her gaze to her feet when she felt her emotions begin to get the better of her. She didn't want any of these men to see her so emotional, so she took in a deep breath and quickly changed the subject.

"B-but we're here for Sam, now." She said a little calmer, "So I think it's time we put the past aside."

Her strong gray eyes looked back up into John's face and he nodded in agreement when he finally remembered why he was coming this way.

"Sam…he uh – he gave me permission to look for the kid." John informed.

Ellen's eyes widened at that, "Is he gonna…? He's not gonna -?"

"No…no, I don't think so." John answered immediately, knowing what Ellen was trying to imply, "He said he wouldn't anyway…not unless the kid was evil."

Ellen nodded in understanding, her strong composure pieced back together. "Alright…I'll go tell Ash, you tell Bobby."

John nodded curtly before walking off toward Bobby again, while Ellen headed back to where she was headed.

John's mind was a whirlwind of thoughts right now. He had been trying too hard for months to forgive himself for Bill, and thought that surely Ellen was struggling to forgive him too.

But eventually, his emotions got in the way of his hunting so he boxed the memory up and hid it away in the back of his mind – never to be seen again. He had even stopped going to the Roadhouse, not knowing what to say to Ellen, or her daughter Jo. She was so young at the time, how could he have been the one to tell the child that she just lost her father?

Now though, here Ellen was telling him that she forgave him. She forgave him for forgetting about them, and focusing on his own revenge.

What did that say about him? He couldn't help but wonder.

Okay, I literally wrote this chapter on the friggin road, so I apologize for its sloppiness. -.-

It's a little rushed in places too, I admit. But I really wanted to try and get this up for you guys, so here it is...a little half-assed. Haha. More to come eventually guys, just bear with me! :D