Now that I had a clear path to follow, and some serious anger motivating me, I found the cabin in no time.

I had a momentary flash back to the state Sammy was in when Taylor, Cas and I had found him in a cabin not unlike this one several years ago. I sincerely hoped I wasn't in for a re-run and wished that Cas was in any state to help out right now.

Like last time, I took the time to circle the cabin from the protection of the trees, but I couldn't see or hear anyone. I didn't know if that was a good thing or not.

The patch of fresh dug dirt, which looked disturbingly like a fresh grave, was definitely not a good sign.

I took a moment to check my gun, then held it ready in front of me as I moved silently towards the cabin. I approached from the back, preventing anyone from seeing me through either of the broken windows or the doorway.

However, a careful look into one of the windows when I reached it revealed that there was no-one inside the room, just some old broken furniture.

I resisted the urge to punch the wall in frustration. I was losing time here, who knows what state Sammy was in…or what had happened to Emily.

I yet again forced myself to stay calm and moved around to the front of the cabin looking for evidence of where they may have gone from here.

Near the doorway the dirt showed signs of a struggle. I knelt down to look more closely.

There were two sets of prints in the kicked up dirt, and they told a very clear story…one which did not make any sense.

One set of prints were very clearly Sam's, which should have been a relief…if not for the fact that I was sure that the other set of prints were Emily's, and the two had clearly been fighting.

I know Sam had not exactly been himself this morning, but I could think of no situation where Sam would attack Emily, and yet that appeared to be what had happened…

I could see where she had run away from the doorway, Sam following, only to fall…or be thrown…into the dirt before being dragged back inside, fighting the whole way.

I had the sick feeling that something was seriously wrong.

I moved into the cabin and gave my eyes a moment to adjust.

There were traces of blood that lead to a chair lying on its side in a pile of broken glass. The blood looked recent.

There were ropes next to the chair, and they too had blood on them. They appeared to have been roughly cut off…and I could only hope that that meant who-ever they'd been holding had escaped.

A closer look around the room showed that the dust in one corner had been recently disturbed, as though someone had been sitting there.

I was sure that they'd been here. Now I just had to work out where they'd gone next…and if Sam was still entirely my Sam.

I moved back outside to once again painstakingly search for signs.

I found them on the edge of the disturbed dirt, slightly obscured, as though they'd been trying to hide their path. Footprints heading back into the woods in front of the cabin, into a different section to the path I'd followed in.

Sam had definitely headed this way, and I could only hope Emily too. I couldn't tell among the scuffs whether her prints headed away from the cabin again.

With a sigh I headed off into the woods again, following the more recent trail of broken sticks and squashed grass.

I moved as fast as I dared without risking losing the trail, gun still held ready at my side. I wasn't feeling quite so eager to shoot first ask questions later now that I had so many questions and so few answers…

A way into the woods I paused, listening. Was that a voice up ahead?

I crept forwards more slowly, keeping very quiet as I listened closely for any sounds from ahead.

As I got closer I was sure, it was someone speaking quietly but urgently, and then another voice arguing back in a low tone.

The sick feeling increased. It sounded like Sam and Emily were arguing up ahead. I circled around, coming at them from the side.

When they came into sight my heart skipped a beat. I knew Sammy had been treated roughly…but to see him so battered and bruised and dirty, limping along next to an also injured Emily… All I wanted to do was run to him and wrap him in a hug, then carefully treat his wounds.

But…I couldn't erase the uneasy feeling that things weren't right.

So, as much as it hurt me to do so, I approached slowly, gun ready but held slightly behind me and out of sight.

"Sam?" I asked cautiously, "Emily?"

Their heads swung in my direction in surprise.

"Dean!" Emily cried, starting to move towards me…only to be stopped by Sam with a hand on her arm. She looked at him in confusion, then suddenly looked back at me, fear in her eyes.

It looked like she was scared of me…

"Emily, are you ok?" I asked, keeping my voice steady.

She didn't respond, just looked back at Sam as if for guidance.

Sam studied me with an expression I couldn't figure out. "Where's Taylor?" He finally asked.

It seemed like a strange first question, and I looked at him in confusion. "She's back at the room…I didn't want to put her in danger while I found you." I indicated to Emily, "I see you found her again."

It was Sam's turn to look confused, "What are you talking about?"

I frowned at him, "You called me. Said the werewolf had got Emily." I explained slowly, as though he were simple.

He groaned, but appeared to relax a little, "It's not a werewolf. It's a shape shifter."

I swore quietly, I hated shape shifters. Although now their wariness made sense. "Well, I'm not it." I told them, moving my gun out from behind my leg.

They both tensed, but I just took out the clip and removed a silver bullet. I held it up to show that it wasn't burning my skin, and then tossed it to Sam.

He caught it easily, holding it up with a little smile before passing it to Emily. She looked at it in confusion, but relaxed a little along with Sam and I.

"It's silver." I pointed out. "None of us are shifters."

"Oh. In that case…" She smiled a little, and then finally rushed over to hug me. "Boy are we glad to see you!"

Hi everybody! We are nearing the end now! Just a couple of chapters to go! As always I'll be both happy and sad to see the story end!

Just so you know, I may not get another chapter up for a couple of weeks as I am about to go on holidays and will probably not be able to upload!

I know it's been a bit slow going this time, and once it's finished I probably wont be starting another chapter fic for a little while whilst I focus on my studies, but I promise I'll continue to post one-shots!

Thankyou to Sallyannerenee for your constant support!

Welcome to my newest followers and favourite-ers!