31Takes place sometime in S1. A little bit of a plot but mostly just an excuse for some Sam whumping and a little Dean angst.
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, except the mistakes.
Pursuit
"I'm telling you, Sammy. This is our kind of thing."
"Puncture wounds to the back of the neck…" Sam flipped the page to the rest of the article. "Sightings reported outside of Luray, Virginia..."
"Mutilated animals, panic among the village people- classic signs of supernatural havoc.
"Dean, they weren't mutilated; this could just be some more vampire bats or something."
"How many bats have you seen that could drink a whole goat dry?"
"These incidents all happened near Luray Caverns." Sam tried to meet Dean's gaze, but his brother was too focused on the road. "Do you know what lives in caves, Dean? Bats. That's all this is."
"Yeah well, we're actually getting paid to do this gig."
"But Dean, this is just a waste of time." Sam insisted. "We could be going after that demon-"
Dean jerked the car to the side of the road. "All right, Sam, where should we start looking for it?" Dean glared at him. "'Cause if you've got some inside information, now's the time to share."
Sam silently clenched his jaw.
"I want to find that bastard as much as you do, but we just don't where it is." Dean ran his hand through his hair. "Look, we'll just take care of this and then hope Dad gives us some more coordinates." He started the car up. "Besides, it'll be nice to sleep in beds for a change." He grinned at his brother. "You look like crap."
Pursuit… Darkness….Terror….Anguish…
"No, no!" Sam Winchester awoke with a gasp. Breathing heavily, he looked over at his brother's bed. Dean was still asleep. Good. Sam didn't want him to know that he had been having another nightmare; it had been months since the last one. God why did this have to start now?
He looked at his watch. In less than an hour they would head back to Jeb Stuart's ranch to hunt the creature which the locals called Night Prowler. Sam quietly slipped out of bed, took a shower, changed, and ran out to grab some breakfast. When he returned Dean was already dressed and waiting.
They drove to Stuart ranch, throwing down doughnuts and coffee on the way.
"So, you think we're dealing with a young vampire?" Sam asked.
"Nah, even the little ones need human blood; they'd be going after toddlers and babies, not farm animals."
"Did Dad's journal mention anything like this?"
"Nope."
"We'll have to be careful then, since we don't know what we're dealing with."
The brothers slammed their doors shut and met at the back of the car.
"You scared or something?" Dean asked as he popped the trunk.
Sam smirked, "It's not fear- it's precaution."
"Bitch."
"Jerk."
"Where's that map Stuart gave us?"
"I got it." Sam smoothed the folds of the paper and squinted to read. "Okay it looks like this thing has a pattern. First it hit the Scott's dairy farm, then it went south to Reely's llama farm."
"What?"
"Yeah, I know. Who keeps llamas for pets?" He shined his flashlight on the map again. "After the llama place it hit Stuart so the next target should be… let's see: the Hendrickson's."
"Seems to keep a pretty straight path, we can probably cut it off if we go that way." Dean gestured with his flashlight. "But that brush is thick, we'll have to hoof it."
"Don't we always?"
As Dean and Sam delved deeper into the woods south of Jeb Stuart's ranch, a pair of hungry, red eyes followed their every move.
Tonight, he will feast.
Darkness
The footprints were a day old. They weren't rounded like a bear or a mountain lion, but long like a human's foot, and they were clawed like a falcon's talons.
Dean glanced up, "You okay?"
Sam nodded and responded a little too cheerily, "Yeah, just a chill."
"This is definitely not a spirit." Dean took the safety off his handgun. "We'll need more than rock salt for this." He looked around them. Darkness swallowed all forms nearby, almost consuming the lights from their flashlights. "You remember exactly where that tree was?" The brothers had decided to keep watch at the top of a small hill – Dean would crouch behind a large rock near the footprints, and Sam would be stationed near a dogwood tree that they had passed. They would, hopefully, be able to watch all the routes to the farm and stop the creature before he preyed on any more livestock.
"Yeah." Sam's nod wasn't seen by Dean. He paused for a moment before trudging to his hiding place.
Dean's legs grew stiff as he crouched behind the boulder. How long had it been? Minutes? Hours? It seemed as if these woods devoured time as well as light; it was like falling into a black hole. He peered at his watch. They had been there one hour so far and hadn't seen any supernatural creature so far. Cupping his hands together, Dean made a birdcall that he and his brother perfected in childhood. Sam answered with an identical low birdcall. Dean sighed, stretched his legs and kneeled behind stone once more. From the shadows a dark form watched his prey.
The young one smells of sweat and fear. He will rip him, he will break him. He will hear him scream and then… oh then he will make him hurt. Flesh is always sweeter when it is joined with pain.
"Dang it." Dean whispered. He had fallen asleep while he was supposed to be watching out for a blood-sucking-goat-killer. Sam would never let him live it down. He scanned the area and listened for any disturbances or any telltale leaves crackling beneath clawed feet. The woods were dead silent.
Dean aimed his flashlight toward the Hendrickson farm; there were no lights on or bleating sheep, or screaming people so he assumed the creature had not hunted yet. He yawned, sat behind the rock once more, and listened to the symphony of the night. He sat up instantly. How could he have been so stupid? Not an owl hooted nor cricket chirped. Something had passed through this area. He bird called again, though surely Sam would have already noticed the silence and he would be vigilant.
Dean received no answering call. His heart skipped a beat and time froze.
Sam
Every instinct in him screamed to run, abandon all obligations and run to his little brother. But Dean knew this creature, whatever it was, might still be nearby. It might even be hunting him. Every moment spent slowly creeping to his brother's hiding place was agony. He could have been there in seconds had he sprinted, but he had made one mistake tonight: falling asleep, and he wasn't about to make another.
The signs were unmistakable. The leaves surrounding the tree had been kicked up where two individuals had struggled against one another and there were deep scratches on the bark. There was a small smear of blood and a few pieces of long brown hair on the trunk of the dogwood. The creature must have fought with Sam before knocking him unconscious by slamming his head against the base of the tree. The most disturbing thing was that there were no drag marks; whatever had attacked Sam was strong enough to easily carry a full grown human being.
Dean punched the side of the tree. His brother had been here fighting with that thing when Dean was only 50 feet away. Dean had been catching some "z's" while Sam was assaulted and carried away by this Night Prowler. He wondered if Sam had called to him for help. Had he pleaded for his brother's protection before his world had gone dark? Or had he stayed silent, praying that Dean would not meet the same fate as he had? Either way, when Sam woke up he would be expecting his brother to come for him. That was exactly what Dean planned to do.
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This is my first fanfic, please let me know what you think. :D
