Chapter Twenty-Two
"Holy fuck," Dean exhaled a long slow breath. He pushed himself off of Amie and rolled onto his back. His heart was racing. "Holy fuck," he said again.
"I certainly hope that's a good 'holy fuck' Dean Winchester, or you and I are going to have issues," Amie warned. She sat up, her breasts swaying enticingly, right in his face.
"Mm, it's definitely good," Dean murmured as he pulled Amie on top of him, one hand cupping her breast, the other tangling in her hair, pulling her in so he could kiss her.
Dean wished he could just make the rest of the world disappear, so it was just he and Amie. He wanted to keep her with him forever. But Dean was afraid that wasn't possible. The one time he'd tried to lead a normal life, he'd almost gotten Lisa and Ben killed. And his heart broken. Shit, not just broken, it had been ripped out of his chest, stomped on, spit on and then put back. It had taken him longer than anyone knew to move on from that loss. He was terrified of it happening again.
The problem was, every second he spent with Amie just made him fall harder for her. He was starting to think that he might actually be falling in love. God, he could barely think the word without cringing. The thought that he might actually be in love terrified him. He didn't know what he was going to do.
Amie pulled herself out of Dean's arms. He put his arms behind his head and watched her cross the room to the bathroom, grabbing clothes on the way. She stopped at the door and threw Dean a wink, kicking one leg up. Dean laughed. She blew him a kiss and closed the door.
Dean was just pulling on his jeans when Sam came in the door. "Hey Sammy, how'd it go? Did you find anything else?"
Sam glanced around the room, a slight smile on his face. "Yeah, I did," he answered. He picked Dean's dress pants and tie up off of the floor. "Looks like you had fun," he chuckled, dropping them on the bed.
"Hell, yeah. Like you wouldn't believe." Dean snorted, pulling on a black t-shirt and buttoning his jeans. "Thanks for that by the way."
"Oh, you're welcome. But I didn't do it just for you. Hanging out with you two and all that pent-up sexual frustration was driving me nuts. Hopefully that'll hold you for a couple days." Sam took his jacket off and hung it over the back of one of the chairs.
"Don't count on it," Dean muttered, more to himself than to Sam. He scooped the rest of his and Amie's clothes off of the floor and put them on the bed. "So, what did you find?" he asked.
Sam took two maps from his backpack and tossed them on the table. "Hang those up, will ya?" he asked.
Dean grabbed the maps and moved to the only open wall space in the room. He passed Amie as she came out of the bathroom. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. She smiled at him. Her smile was one of his favorite things about her.
Amie greeted Sam as well. "Hi, Sam. When did you get back?"
Sam smiled. Dean could tell by the seemingly innocent look on his face that the teasing was about to begin. He just hoped Sam knew what he was getting himself into. And he really hoped there wouldn't be any blood.
"Oh, a few minutes ago," Sam responded. "Nice sex hair, by the way," Sam said nonchalantly.
Amie flipped her hair, giggling. "Mm, and oh so worth it, too," she snickered. "Your brother is amazing. He does this thing with his tongue…."
"Stop!" Sam interrupted, covering his ears. "Ahhhhhhhhh! You win, okay?" Sam was laughing though, obviously pleased that Amie would tease him right back.
Dean laughed also. He was relieved that Sam and Amie got along as well as they did. That had been one thing he had been concerned about, the chance that things would be awkward between them after he and Amie got together. Dean knew that Sam had no feelings for Amie other than the "big sister" kind of feelings, but it was important to him that even that wasn't lost.
Dean finished hanging the maps on the wall. Sam immediately started putting X's on them. They appeared to be in an oblong oval shape, with a small park surrounding by a jogging path in the center.
"Okay, so I found quite a few murders, similar to the four in the news, along with several disappearances, dating back years and years," Sam explained. "We couldn't see a pattern because we were only looking at those four, but when you look at all of them," he tapped the map, "you see this park is in the middle. We definitely need to start here."
Amie looked up from her tablet. "We have to do it tonight, or we won't have another chance until next month," she told them. "It's the last night of the full moon."
"Shit," Dean swore. "I guess we better get busy."
Dean stretched his legs, trying to get comfortable on the hard play equipment he'd stopped to sit on. He and Amie had just finished their last circuit of the northwest section of the park. He could see Sam on the other side of the park behind the swing set, making his way behind a group of trees.
Amie cleared her throat. "You know we could cover a lot more ground if you and I separated. I could take the southeast part of the park. It would take a lot less time."
Dean sighed. They had already had this conversation at least three times. He was growing tired of it. "No, I'm not letting you out of my sight." He shrugged, "Sorry."
Amie rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to get hurt. I've done this before. And I was alone. I'm not a complete idiot, Dean."
Dean tried to keep the anger out of his voice. "I know you're not an idiot. I never said you were. But after what happened with Katarina, I don't want you alone. I can't have anything happen to you, not when I'm in…." He trailed off, unwilling to finish the thought. He turned to Amie, his breath catching in his throat, "Please just humor me on this one," he pleaded.
Amie's eyes were huge, her mouth slightly ajar. "Umm, okay." She looked away quickly, seeming confused and uncomfortable.
"Thank you." Dean took her hand and kissed the palm. He went back to watching the park, trying to focus on the job.
His phone vibrated in his pocket. He yanked it out to see a text message from Sam: "Southwest corner near jogging path. Thought I saw something."
Dean nudged Amie and whispered, "Let's go." He pulled his gun from his inside jacket pocket. He was glad to see Amie remove hers from the holster in her boot and thumb off the safety. All three of them had loaded their guns with silver bullets prior to leaving the motel, so they were prepared. Dean took off around the perimeter of the park, heading for the jogging path, Amie following close behind.
Dean heard Sam before he saw him. He was running at top speed from the jogging path across a leaf-covered basketball court, his gun in his hand.
"Dean! Through those trees, heading east!" Sam gestured to a group of trees.
Dean swung around and took off at a dead run. He could see flashes of someone running through the trees. He pushed himself faster, his legs pumping, racing to catch whatever it was Sam had him chasing. When he caught another glimpse of the runner through the trees, he adjusted his angle so he would come out of the trees in front of the person he was chasing. If he could time it just right, he would hit him and take him to the ground.
He almost missed. He came flying out of the trees just a second behind the runner, but instead of hitting him dead on and taking him out, Dean hit the runner's back leg, causing both of them to trip. Dean shot to his feet, his gun pointed directly at the runner's chest. He immediately saw the elongated fangs and claws, yellow eyes staring at him as the werewolf got ready to pounce. Dean fired two shots, hitting the werewolf square in the chest. He dropped to the ground at Dean's feet.
A split second later, Dean abruptly flew through the air, his face connecting with the ground just a second before his body. He felt his face slide through the dirt, rocks embedding themselves in his cheek. His gun flew out of his hand, landing a few feet away. Something heavy landed on his back, shoving his face into the ground again. He felt heat move its way down his back and then something wet on his side. He felt his body leave the ground, but then he was slammed back down. He distinctly heard something crack. He dug his fingers into the ground, desperately trying to drag himself to his gun and away from whatever was kicking his ass. Something that felt like claws dug into his leg, dragging him backward. Dean was pretty sure his leg was now sliced open. He struggled to stay conscious. God dammit, where the fuck were Sam and Amie?
Just then, Dean heard a shout, followed by two quick shots. Something hit the ground next to him and he saw feet, Amie's boots, next to his head, then more gun shots. He closed his eyes, unconsciousness sneaking up on him.
Amie's voice was in his ear, coaxing him awake. "Shit! Dean? Dean, can you hear me?"
Dean tried to nod, but more rocks dug into his face. He opened his eyes, trying to see Amie's face. His back and leg were on fire. He could see Amie stripping off her jacket, then he felt pressure on his back.
"Sam!" Dean heard her yell. "SAM!"
Dean couldn't keep his eyes open any longer. He just needed to close them for a minute. So he heard, rather than saw, Sam next to him.
"Crap, did she bite him?" Sam asked.
"I don't think so," Amie responded. "But there's a lot of blood, so I need to clean it off before I know for sure. Go get the car."
Dean felt Sam roll him slightly to his side, trying to get the keys to the Impala. He hissed in pain. Sam muttered "sorry" before gently laying him back down. Then he was gone.
"Hey," Amie cupped his face in her hand. "Just a couple minutes, okay? Open your eyes and look at me, Dean. Come on, honey, please?"
Dean struggled to open his eyes, but they just wouldn't cooperate. He tried several times but finally muttered, "Can't." He decided to let himself sleep, only to be jerked awake when he was rolled over and picked up. "Son of a bitch," he croaked, cringing as the pain shot through his body.
"Sorry, dude. Just for a minute," Sam mumbled.
Dean tried not to puke as Sam carried him. The pain was causing waves of nausea to wash over him. He heard the door to the Impala open and knew things were about to get very bad. Sam set him on the edge of the backseat and Amie put her arms under his. He tried to breathe through the pain as he was pushed and pulled into the car. He blacked out several times, before his head was finally resting in Amie's lap.
The pain was all Dean could focus on. Not even Amie's hand on his head or the quiet words she was murmuring in his ear could break through the wall. He was tired of fighting to stay awake. He let the blackness take him.