A/N: I just want to say thanks to everyone who followed, favorited, and reviewed; it really helped me get this chapter out earlier than I thought it would be! It's also a lot longer than the previous one, and it would be helpful if you guys said if you would prefer longer or shorter chapters.
There is a description of a murder in this chapter, so if that freaks you out; just a heads up.
"Yeah, I found zip that explained the choir those wolves were doing last night." Sam's irritated voice came from the main room as Dean spit toothpaste out of his mouth and washed it out before going and looking at his brother.
"What do you think we should do?" Dean was currently at a loss, in all honesty he was hoping it was some kind of illusion or something; like a couple of werewolves somehow making it sound like there were more of them than there actually were; he knew it was a far reach though.
"I dunno, I was thinking of calling Bobby but maybe we should see if we can find out anything more before we do that." Sam ran a hand down his face as he spoke; Dean could see easily his little brother hadn't slept as well as himself.
Any comment Dean was going to make was cut off however when the police scanner started crackling and both Winchesters cast their gazes to it.
"Unit 2 there has been a report of a murder at 219 S 156th St; please check it out." It only took a shared look between the brothers before they both spurred into action, Dean grabbed his gun and put it in the waist of his pants, never be unprepared.
After grabbing two FBI badges they were out the door and in the Impala in an instant.
The house was only a couple miles down the road so the drive was quick, but when they got there they found a cop car had beat them to it. Dean figured it might be the only one this town had, considering how small the population was.
When they got out they saw a rather sick looking young cop walk over to them, a deep frown etched onto his face.
"There's been a murder and no one can go in, please leave." It only took a quick flash of their badges to make the kid relax, though only slightly. Dean figured it must be the first murder he's seen.
"FBI buddy." Dean spoke in what he liked to refer to his 'law enforcer' tone.
"Why's FBI here? This is the first murder."
"We were checking up on all the missing persons; we just happened to be listening in when we heard about the murder." Sam spoke this time as Dean looked around seeing if he could find anything interesting. "What's it like in there?"
"Horrible, best me and Anna – my partner, she's still inside – can figure it was a bear attack or some other wild animal. Ms. Johnson's completely torn to pieces." The kid shivered slightly.
"Alright, stay out here then and calm yourself down; we'll go look inside and see if your partner has found anything." The kid cop only nodded and Dean walked past him to the house; ready to see what had happened inside.
They walked into the house and found it relatively undisturbed except for the scratched up door flung into the left side of the room.
"Dean." Dean turned and looked at Sam who was crouched down and looking at the wood floor. When Dean crouched down beside his brother he could plainly see there was shallow scratch marks in the floor, they continued on to the oak staircase leading upstairs. By the distance between the scratches they could tell the paws of the animal were huge, and by the distance between each set of scratches it was obvious the body was enormous as well.
"Werewolf?" Dean asked, only for conformation though, it was obvious enough as that was the only explanation that fit with everything else they knew so far.
He only got a short nod from Sam before they swept through the rooms as a precaution then went upstairs. The sound of talking led them to what seemed to be the study of the house.
"Well I'm out, you deal with it; just make them stop before it gets out of hand." A pretty young woman with fair skin and cascading red hair was pacing in the neat room talking on her cell phone but stopped as soon as she caught sight of Dean and Sam lurking in the doorway. "Just keep them leashed, I have to go." She snapped her phone shut so harshly Dean wondered if it might have broken.
"Who are you, and why did Nate let you in?" She questioned, looking them up and down as if she was sizing them up.
"FBI, we just got here for the missing persons and heard the radio call." Dean thought it was a bit suspicious what she seemed to be talking about right before they came in, but filed it away for later.
"Oh, I didn't know anyone was coming. Well, you guys probably want to see the body, so follow me." She gracefully swept past them and walked down the hallway and around a corner, the brothers followed her instantly. "Be careful though, it's really messy and we need to wait for a forensics team to get out here, I just called them but it will probably take a couple hours."
Dean just gave a silent nod as he analyzed the room before him, it was covered in spatters of blood, the woman herself was flayed in pieces on top of the bed her abdomen and rib-cage completely torn open.
Sam walked closer to the body while Dean looked at the surrounding room in greater detail, there were deeper claw marks on the hardwood floors and he could faintly make out bloody looking paw-prints amongst the other splatter.
Dean followed the prints across the destroyed room to the large open window and could see smears of blood on the window ceil.
"What Jayden and I figured is that the animal came in through the front door obviously busting it down, and came up here where it brutally murdered Ms. Johnson before jumping out the open window." Dean turned in surprise as he heard Anna's voice come from the doorway; he had assumed she had walked back out but she seemed to be watching him with a critical eye.
"Her heart is missing." Sam piped up from where he stood leaning over the body; his sleeve covered his mouth and nose, the room smelled horrible like death and blood, and Dean figured it was worse where Sam was standing.
"Yes, I don't know why though, it's odd for an animal to only eat part of a kill and the fact that it was a heart makes it even stranger." Anna kept her cool professionalism but she sounded a bit irritated with it all underneath it.
"The way she was attacked it seems more likely the animal was just pissed not hungry, though typically even bears don't tear doors off like that." Sam probed her more; Dean felt some pride at the fact his brother had picked on the same suspicious vibe Dean had.
"Look, I'm a cop not a ranger or zoologist; I'm only trying to collect all the facts before the towns people go hunting." She spoke smoothly but the underlying irritation seemed to be growing.
Sam and Dean looked around the room more, finding little things like a tiny tuft of fur that seemed to be wolf that only served to cement their knowledge that this was a werewolf attack. Anna watched them like a hawk the entire time, only when they left did she take her eyes off them as they walked out the front door.
"She knows something." Sam spoke as soon as the Impala's black doors shut; Dean simply nodded with his brother.
"Yeah, defiantly, that kid isn't in on it obviously, but she knows a lot more about it and seemed irritated that we were poking around." Dean went through everything in his head he had seen in her behavior. "And that phone call we walked in on wasn't suspicious at all." Dean said with sarcasm practically dripping from the words. "But I don't think she had a part in the murder; call it a hunch but she seemed as irritated with the murder itself as she was with us."
"Or she could be a good actor; I don't think we should write her off yet." Dean shrugged in response to that statement by Sam; usually he wouldn't dismiss her either but he couldn't shake the feeling.
The rest of the ride was silent as Dean went over the murder scene in his head, and he was sure that was what Sam was thinking about as well. When they had arrived back at the cabin Sam went straight to his laptop and Dean snagged his phone from the bed that in his haste earlier he had forgotten.
"I'll call Bobby, and tell him what's up." Sam just nodded in agreement, apparently buried in whatever article he had already found. Dean had figured it would be better to wait but with the fresh murder coupled with all the howls last night it seemed to warrant a call.
The phone rang five times before it went to voice mail and Dean frowned into his cell phone before hanging up and dialing Bobby's hunting phone number, to which there was also no pick-up and went to voicemail.
"This is Bobby Singer's personal phone, and if you have this number it means you're a hunter with a problem. I'm either dead or in the middle of a hunt, so try to figure it out yourself or try callin' me later." The pre-recorded sound of Bobby's voice was in its usual gruff irritated tone, which pulled the corners of Dean's lips up slightly.
"Well Bobby's out hunting, so I guess we're on our own for now." Dean said tossing the phone back on the bed. There was no one else that they trusted and was still breathing that they could call so he figured they would just have to wait.
Hours passed by as Dean tried to help Sam with research then turned to prepping the weapons appropriate for a werewolf case, such as silver bullets loaded into the gun clips. They didn't go to the diner again, and instead Dean went to the store and just grabbed a bunch of random items.
It was after they had eaten and the sun was set that Dean got tired of sitting on his ass the same time Sam apparently gave up on his research.
"There's nothing, the murder was obviously a werewolf kill but nothing about the woman shows why she had to die, and there is no reason why there should be so many damn wolves out there." Sam stood and started pacing irritated; Dean could see his brother was frustrated with all the dead ends.
"Why don't we go into the woods and see what we can find then?" Dean purposed, it made sense to him, but from the look he saw Sam throwing his way he held back a sigh of exasperation and explained. "Not all the way to where they are, just around the edge around here. It sure as hell beats sitting on out asses, and we might find something useful."
Sam was still frowning at the proposal but Dean figured he didn't have a better plan and after a moment of consideration his younger brother finally nodded.
They spent the next hour or so making final preparations to all their weapons, so that encase they get jumped at least they would be prepared, because in all honesty Dean knew they were literally going into the home of the enemy.
The echoing howls had already started by the time Dean felt confident everything was ready to go, and the sun had long since set leaving only a little light that was being reflected by the crescent moon.
They walked together out of the cabin a little past ten-thirty and found the nearest trail by their cabin and walked into the dense forest as the haunting howls came from the forested hills surrounding the town.
For the next three-fourths of an hour Dean and Sam trekked around the forest, changing from human trails to game trails and trying not to go too far into the forest, but it wasn't until they went a bit farther in that Dean spotted a marking in a mud patch in the middle of the game trail.
Crouching down and studying it closer he knew immediately it was a werewolf print, it was the right size and depth for a creature a lot bigger and heavier than a normal wolf; silently he motioned for Sam to come closer to look at it.
"Well, at least we know we're on the right track now." Dean commented in a slightly hushed tone, as far as he could tell the print was really fresh, so fresh that the one who made it could still be nearby and possibly watching them and Dean would be lying if he said that didn't unnerve him just slightly.
It took another ten minutes of following that trail to find something else, and it was Sam who noticed it first. Dean stopped walking when he noticed he was no longer being followed and found his brother looking at a dead tree branch a few feet back.
Walking over he looked at what Sam was and at first he saw nothing, then he noticed the tuft of fur on the end of the branch. He couldn't quite make out the color, but by the fact it was similar to the branch he would have guessed a light brown.
Dean didn't say anything this time but started walking on the trail again, soon they would probably turn back, but for now he wanted to see where it led despite in the back of his mind he knew it was probably a bad decision, but they were also closer to a werewolf than they had been since they got here and he couldn't just leave that and it seemed Sam felt the same as he followed without protest.
The narrow trail slowly opened up until they were in a small clearing, probably only as big as two car parking spots and the grass was nearly up to Dean's shins.
He took a few steps into the clearing looking around wondering if there were any signs as to where the werewolf could have gone. It was then he started feeling a prickling along his neck as the hairs stood on end; he liked to say he had a sixth sense for danger and this was what it felt like when it kicked in.
"Sammy, I don't think we're alone…" He muttered his eyes quickly doing a scan of the clearing, he thought the forest was dense when they first entered but it was a lot worse here, and where there weren't trees there were bushes and ferns. He could see a spot where some of the foliage had been pushed down recently and that was when he saw the almost glowing yellow eyes staring back at them.
A loud vicious snarl filled the clearing as the yellow eyes moved and Dean could make out the large form they belonged to; he pulled his gun in an instant but the werewolf leapt and easily cleared the barrier of plant and landed on Dean; knocking him over easily, the impact forced all the air out of Dean's lungs and the heavy monster standing with its front paws on his chest wasn't helping any.
Dean heard his brother shout his name but it was drowned out by the sound of another snarl, straining his neck Dean caught only a glimpse of another pale – possibly grey – colored werewolf rushing his brother, but he saw Sam's instincts kick in and felt a strong since of pride when the wolf suddenly yelped and fell to the ground before it pounced.
The werewolf on top of Dean snarled in anger before it opened its jaws and lunged forward just slightly to tear Dean's neck. Dean's hand was already extended to grab his gun that had fallen away when he was knocked down, but it was too far away.
Oh shit. Was the only thing Dean got the chance to think as he felt the jaws clamp around his throat and he shut his eyes just before suddenly the weight the beast on his chest and the pressure of the jaws disappeared.
For a moment the scene was disjointed, in the last second Dean had been pretty damn sure that was it, but now he sat up quickly and everything snapped back into normal time reality.
The pale wolf was wrestling with what Dean guessed was another werewolf; this time from what Dean could make out was jet black fur. They both twisted and turned on the ground trying to get the upper hand and the sound of snapping teeth and vicious sounding snarls and growls was nearly deafening.
Dean felt a hand pulling him up and saw his brother as he stood; Sam looked no worse for the wear.
The two wolves broke apart finally; Yellow-eyes seemed to be having more issues than the black-furred new comer who was crouched in preparation to pounce.
Blackie suddenly turned his head to Sam and Dean; surprising Dean slightly with its almost luminescent blue eyes, and let loose a low rough growl, jerking its muzzle to the trail. Dean didn't have to speak woodland animal to know what that meant, it wanted them out of here and Dean decided it was better not to argue, who knew how many more friends Yellow-eyes had lurking.
Yellow-eyes took advantage of the temporary lapse in the black wolf's attention and pounced on him and the two were locked together rolling in the now small seeming clearing.
"Let's go." Dean looked at who Sam who nodded and the two started running back down the trail trying to put as much distance between them and the fighting werewolves as possible. It was a while before the sounds of the fight faded into the distance.
They took a trail that went straight back to the cabins parking lot, but half-way down it they stopped running and slowed to a jog then finally a walk. As they got to the mouth of the trail with pavement under the feet Dean stopped to catch his breath for a moment.
"Should we do something to hide the scent?" Sam asked him, panting a bit too, Dean knew his younger brother was in better shape than himself but it was still a long way to run.
"Nothing we really can do without going back in and risking getting ambushed like that again and I think I've had enough of wolves for one night." Dean replied before standing fully and starting to walk back to their cabin. He figured if the werewolves wanted to find them that badly they would be able to no matter what they did.
Once they got back in the cabin and the adrenalin got out of Dean's system he turned to his brother again.
"What the hell though, what was with that werewolf on werewolf action?" Dean ran a hand through his hair, he hadn't had time to think about it before, but it was really weird.
"I have no clue; maybe the black one had a bone to pick with the other one?" Sam offered, though he sounded a bit skeptical at his own words.
"No, if that was it then Blackie wouldn't have told us to get out of there and turn its attention from Yellow-eyes."
"True, but it doesn't make sense why it would care." Sam muttered looking at the window before snapping his gaze back to his brother. "You named them already?"
"It's easier than saying Werewolf 1 and Werewolf 2."
"Are we going to have to set up a watch shift tonight to make sure none try to break in?" Sam asked after a few moments. Dean thought a while before he responded, it would probably be better to do so but they would probably hear one coming up the wooden steps to the cabin anyway.
"No, let's just try to get some shut-eye so we can try and figure this all out tomorrow." It was already around one in the morning, and he figured they probably wouldn't sleep well anyway.
Sam nodded in consent while he obviously tried to stifle a yawn, and it only took Dean a couple minutes before he was lying in bed comfortably with a pillow over his head to drown out the howling and a hand on his gun under the other pillow.
He drifted off to sleep quickly; only to awake what felt like minutes later to a couple of thumps and a scraping sound on the porch of the cabin. A quick glance at the clock showed it had been only one and a half hours since he had drifted off.
A hand clenched on his gun he stole a quick look at his still snoring brother and woke his with a thrown pillow before Dean started climbing out of bed. His heart was hammering in preparation of another fight, and only got worse when he heard the noise again, this time getting closer.
He slowly walked to the solid wood door his gun up, safety off, and finger on the trigger. There was the quiet sound of something bumping into the door and another scrape.
Dean's hand hovered over the door handle, but he looked at his brother who was getting closer to him, and after locking eyes Sam gave him a single nod.
Dean yanked open the door and raised his gun about to shoot before he saw the same bright blue eyes that he had seen only a couple hours ago. It took only a quick glance but he would tell the werewolf was in pretty bad shape.
It's black fur even in the dim moonlight looked messed up and there were a few huge wounds on it; Dean could see the reason behind the scraping sound, the wolf's back left leg had a huge chuck taken out and looked like the werewolf had been dragging it.
It took only a second to see this but he lowered his gun; figuring that for one, it saved them earlier for who knows what reason, but it still saved him and Sam, and he figured in this condition it wasn't a huge threat.
The werewolf came up to his shoulder in height and it's breathing was ragged, either from exertion or pain, but Dean felt it was probably both, and it met his gaze before it started to sway slightly.
Unsure if he should touch it or not Dean hesitated in the doorway, but when it started to fall sideways Dean instinctively closed the few feet between himself and the monster and tried to stop it from falling on it's bad side.
The act only got him a heavy armful of werewolf though, because from what he could tell the beast passed out and its head lolled to the side. It was heavy enough that just trying to support it from completely being on the ground had Dean's arms burning so he looked at his brother, making the decision whether to leave the werewolf out or bring him inside and try to question it if –when- it woke up.
"So are you going to keep standing there and staring at me or are you help me drag this onto one of the beds?" Sam hesitated for a moment.
"Are you sure that's what we should do? What if it wakes up and freaks out?"
"We'll keep an eye on it, and when it wakes up we can get answers out of it one way or another. Now come on this thing is heavy." Dean ground out, the damn werewolf must have weighed at least three hundred pounds.
"Alright, fine. You're on wolf duty though." Sam said as he walked through the door and helped pick up the other end of the black furred werewolf.
They carried it to Dean's bed because it was the closest to the door and set it down as gently as they could. The bed was a queen, but the wolf's limbs and tail still hung over the edges.
Dean rubbed the back of his neck wondering how they were going to explain to the maid there was blood everywhere, and he hopped he made the right call by bringing the werewolf into the cabin and under their care.
He guessed he would just have to find out if it was the right call when the blue-eyed black furred werewolf woke up.