* I didn't even mean for this story to leave the bunker, but don't worry, there will still be plenty of sick/Cain!Dean. Just in a different location temporarily. Thanks for the continued support. Read and review.

"JESUS, FUCK-!" Dean shouted, emerging from a few seconds under the freezing bath water.

Sam grabbed Dean by the front of his soaking wet shirt and pulled him up to his feet. Dean wavered weakly in his arms and Sam quick pulled him out of the tub before he could pass out. He forced him to sit down on the ground, back against the door, and patted his face lightly as Dean's head lolled to the side.

"Dean! Dean, c'mon, wake up, man." Sam said with a light air of urgency in his voice.

Dean blinked his eyes open and groaned. He ran a hand through his spiked, wet hair and spat some water at the floor.

"Well, that was fun." he said, glancing down at his stitched up arm where the mark seemed to have returned to it's darkened flesh color and it wasn't burning anymore.

Sam gave a nervous half-laugh and patted Dean's shoulders gruffly, grabbing a towel off the rack, he handed it to Dean.

Dean clambered to his feet, wrapping the towel tight around himself, he stumbled out of the bathroom, Sam following close behind, just in case.

Had he not been so worried he might've laughed at the fact that he was feeling a little more hulkish than usual, towering behind his hunched over, dripping wet, older brother. And this sickly, shorter person was battling homicidal urges and had an inherited the mark of the father of murder. Funny world.

"Alright, I'm gonna go change and start checking the news pages for-"

"No, no, I'll do the searching," Sam began, gesturing towards the hallway to the bedrooms, "You go take some aspirin and a nap and then we can go hunt."

Dean glared, "You know Cain killed Abel?"

"Go to bed."

With a temperature of ninety-nine and a growing restlessness that was leaning more towards violent agitation, Dean was ready to go the second Sam said,

"Possible Shifter in Louisville. Father and respected handyman around town goes on a killing spree, cops can't find him but they did find pieces of his skin, some nails, etcetera, etcetera... Now, another guy snapped and he's missing, but," Sam glanced up from his computer, "They caught him on a nanny cam in one of his home invasion kills, there's a glare in the footage."

"Yeah, sounds like our kinda thing, let's go." his duffel bag was already in his hand, not even looking at the screen as Sam turned it around to show Dean the video.

Sam sighed, closing his laptop, "Dean, are you sure this-"

"It's the only thing left I can think of to do." Dean said.

It only took a few hours in Louisville to confirm it was in fact a Shifter, the freshly shed human flesh, the lens flare in the dark room in the video tape, witnesses all confirmed it looked exactly like their apparently recently corrupted loved one. Telltale signs of a shape shifter, and it wasn't long before Sam and Dean had narrowed down the playing field to the next victim's house.

They sat outside of it in the Impala, Sam loading his gun with silver bullets, while Dean had opted for a silver knife instead. Sam felt concern gripping at his heart as he watched his brother, watching the house intently, that mild gleam of red beginning to come out in his iris again. Sweat was beginning form a thin film over his face, his breathing seemed to be becoming labored.

Sam reached over to check Dean's temperature again but Dean turned on him, snapping,

"I am fine, Sam, do not even try to take me off this right now-"

Dean glanced up suddenly, and Sam's eyes followed suit. There was movement by the fence on the left side of the house near the trees that surrounded it. Someone had climbed over it and was creeping in through the side window.

Dean had jumped out of the car in an instant, staggering like a mad man, knife wielded as he made a b-line for the front door. He heaved his body against it, trying to break it down, but it was fairly sturdy.

"Dean!" Sam hissed, trying not to draw any unwanted neighborly attention.

He got out and headed after Dean who had kicked in the door already.

"Dean! Stop, listen-"

Dean burst into the house, glanced around the front room, and started running up the stairs. Dean was hearing the laughter again, saw images of himself carving apart this shapeshifter in his head, but luckily, it was all inside his head.

At the top of the stairs, he saw a bedroom door slam and he broke that down too. A woman was tied up in a chair, mouth duct taped but she was struggling to scream against it. Dean heard yelling, heard the voices of the two men he saw before him, saw one move towards the woman and was on him in second.

The voices were distant and difficult to understand in Dean's ears but he didn't need to hear this thing to kill it. His blade grazed the man's arm and he heard Sam's footsteps behind him and then his voice, loud, booming in Dean's head with a sudden clarity,

"THE OTHER ONE, DEAN!"

Dean dropped the guy he had, his vision was strangely unfocused. He stumbled over to the other guy and managed to stab him in the chest, killing him.

He heard the voices that were yelling distantly again, echoing, and he had to get away. He covered his ears and staggered out of the room. He tried to run out the door but all he managed to do was trip and collapse on the front sidewalk. His skin felt like it was on fire and it was all radiating from the Mark.

The voices were fading out and everything went black.