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Hunting Humanity IX	By : greenwizard11 Category: Supernatural > Slash - Male/Male Views: 1362 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Supernatural universe. No monetary gain is coming from this story.

Chapter List
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Liam was reading a book in bed when there was a knock at the door. He got up to answer it, finding Dean standing in the hall with a bouquet of pink roses in a pretty glass vase. “Finally miss me?” Liam stepped back to let Dean in.

Dean let out a deep sigh as he went into the room and set the flowers on the nightstand. “Please don’t give me a hard time. I would’ve rushed up the moment I was myself again, but I wanted to give you some space in light of...”

The blond went to sit on the edge of the bed. “Yeah, when someone tries to kill you, it doesn’t exactly bring up warm and fuzzy feelings. Especially not for me.”

Dean moved to join him on the bed, sitting on the other side. “And I feel horrible about it now. I was a demon at the time, and there’s not much else I can say about that. But I’m glad Cas got here when he did, and that you’re okay. I know I gave you a rough time during the whole process, but I’m glad you and Sam pulled my lame ass out of the fire.”

Liam chewed on his lip for a moment. “I wonder how much you meant what you said.”

“What do you mean?”

“You were a demon, I get that, but also you. When you were spouting things off you had no emotion, hence no filter. Were those things you’ve thought before but never voiced because you didn’t want to hurt us?”

Dean gave it a moment of thought. “Yes and no.”

“Well that’s a real clear answer.”

Dean reached to take Liam’s hand in his. “I’ve had some less than kind thoughts in moments of frustration. You can’t tell me you haven’t done the same. I have wondered about you and why you keep taking me back when I screw up.”

Liam exhaled sharply and looked down at his feet. “I’m an idiot in love.” His gaze shifted back to meet with Dean’s. “As far as I can tell, we make each other happy most of the time. I always thought we deserved at least a little happiness.”

“And we do,” Dean gave him a little smile. “I love you more than I could ever explain. I married you, and you can ask Sam how big a thing that was for me.”

“I figured that out for myself. I was really nervous about asking you because I didn’t actually think you’d say yes.”

“But I did, and I still don’t regret it.” His hand moved back to his own thigh. “And what I’m about to say now, I just want you to know it’s got nothing to do with my feelings for you. It means nothing.”

Liam frowned and braced himself. “Here we go.”

“I just don’t want there to be secrets between us. I’m sure you’ve already figured it out because you’re smart like that, but while I was on my demon party thing, I slept with a bunch of women.” Liam bent over and let out a little sob. “Hey, remember what I said before,” Dean put a hand on his back.

“I know what you said, and I did figure it out, but to hear it come out of your mouth...”

“There’s no way I can defend it. I wish… I don’t know… It’s not exactly like I would have done everything differently, just maybe some things if I had known. We did have a Knight of Hell to kill, and the whole thing really did seem like the best option.”

“I know,” Liam wiped away a tear from his eye. “I just wonder why I always have to be the one to sacrifice. You felt nothing, and I...”

“Felt everything,” Dean finished the sentence. “In a weird way I kind of wish the positions had been reversed. I didn’t want to put that on you.” He ran his fingers through Liam’s hair in a loving gesture. “I am myself again, and Crowley did only he knows what with the First Blade. So, will you move back in with me? I’m not saying forget everything that happened, but I miss you like crazy.”

Liam paused to think about it. “You know, I really am a fool for you. I’ll move back in with you on two conditions. One, if things start happening, you don’t try to hide it again. Two, we’ve got to find a way to get rid of that mark.”

“I agree to both conditions. And maybe you can do something else for me.”

Liam chuckled and shook his head. “You’re shameless.”

Dean smirked. “And you love it. But Sam and I were talking, and we were going to take a little break. I’d like to go home, but Sam is a little iffy about it. I guess even though I’m back to being human, he’s nervous about me being around the kids.”

“I don’t completely blame him for that. Tell me honestly, do you think it’s safe?”

“I wouldn’t have suggested it if I didn’t. Liam, when you guys were after me he barely even spoke to Natalie and the boys. I want him back with them, and I want to be away from all of this. I want the comforts of a real home.”

Liam gave a little nod. “I’ll talk to Sam then when I see him. Right now I’d like to move my stuff back into our room and cuddle for a bit.”

Dean smiled. “I like the sound of that.”

A few days later the three of them sat by a lake on a sunny day, Sam and Dean drinking beers. “Glad we came back to Tennessee now?” Dean asked his brother.

“Yeah,” Sam nodded. “With everything going on I forgot how much I enjoyed just being home and being a dad.”

“Hey, something I needed to ask you.”

“Shoot.”

“You've been kicked, bit, scratched, stabbed, possessed, killed... And you sprain your friggin elbow?”

“Dude, it was more than a sprain, alright? And it was a friggin demon, but...”

“What? That sling come with a slice of crybaby pie on the side?”

Liam rolled his eyes but reached to grab Dean’s hand. “It wasn’t me getting hurt for once. Can you believe that?”

Dean chuckled. “Now that you mention it...”

“So, how you doing?” Sam asked his brother.

“Golden, man.”

“Come on.”

“Seriously, I'm good. I am. You know, we got three more cases of this stuff on ice in the trunk. I’ve got my man again even though I don’t deserve him. Taking some we time, best decision we ever made.”

Sam gave a little nod. “I hear that.”

Dean turned to his brother. “See that thing in the paper this morning?”

Sam huffed, looking like he knew it was coming. “Maybe it was an animal kill.”

“It was three kills, and it was in the same town, all within the last month.”

“Yeah, you're right. We should call some guys, have them fix it.”

Dean stared at his lap for a few moments. “Or... We could be in and out. It's a milk run.”

“Right, because that happens never.”

Dean sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “Look, Sam, what we're doing here, it's good, okay? Us hanging out. But I need to work. I need this.”

Sam just looked at his brother with concern while he thought about it. “If things go sideways... I mean, like an inch, you gotta give us the heads up.”

Dean suddenly seemed more relaxed than before. “You got my word. I already promised that to Liam anyhow before we came home.”

Liam gave his husband a sharp look. “And I better not catch you breaking that promise.”

They drove out to where the killings happened, and they went to talk to the sheriff dressed as game wardens. “Gentlemen. Well, I'm not gonna lie. We're damn glad to see you,” the sheriff said as Dean handed him an ID. “You boys must come up on stuff like this all the time.”

“Oh, yeah,” Dean nodded.

“Hell, seen raccoons in rec rooms and bears in swimming pools. But this? You tell me.”

Dean actually looked a little flustered. “Oh. Well, uh... Where do we start?”

“You know what?” Sam jumped in. “Maybe, uh, you could walk us through the attacks. Any similarities, anything weird.”

“Only thing weird about them was how similar they were. Folks torn clean through. Hearts absent. Consumed, most likely.”

“And there were no witnesses?” Dean asked.

“Well, the town square attack, the parking lot... Those were real late. But the bar? Hell, with how jammed the place was, you'd think somebody other than Tommy would've seen something.”

“And what did he see?”

“Honestly, not much. Now Tommy ain't exactly what we call a reliable witness. And he's telling anybody who'll listen he saw some girl go out back with Barker, and she got torn up, too.”

“So there was a second victim?” Liam probed a little.

“Well, sure... Except Tommy's a drunk. There's no body, no DNA, no blood trail, no nothing to suggest that.” A deputy handed him some papers. “Give me one sec.”

When the sheriff walked away Dean turned to his companions. “Hearts missing. Sounds wolfy to me, right?”

Sam nodded in agreement. “Yeah. Pretty brazen, even for a werewolf.”

“You think it was the girl?”

“I’m guessing the odds of that are pretty good,” Liam said. “But let’s do some more poking around.”

They went looking for the one witness, and they found him at the bar having a beer. “Yeah, Barker and I have been raising hell, chasing tail, and riding for a long time. Part of him always knew when his clock ran out, it wasn't gonna be pretty. To go out like that? By some animal? Just ain't right.”

“You mind, uh, telling us what went down?” Dean asked.

“It was just another party, you know? Barker went out back. The next thing you know, everyone's yelling and screaming, and he's all torn up.”

“Now the sheriff mentioned you thought there might've been a girl involved. You think she was killed, too?” Sam asked.

“Nope,” Tommy took a swig of beer.

“So there was no girl?” Dean was a little confused.

“Couldn’t say,” he seemed a little nervous.

“You know we're not cops, right?” Liam pointed out to try and calm him down.

“Badge is a badge.”

“Well, you should also know that working outdoors the way we do, we see some pretty weird crap. Stuff that we can't explain. I mean, hell, half the stuff, we wouldn't have believed it ourselves had we not seen it together.”

“Well, you don't have to live in this town, mister. You don't have to deal with the ridicule.”

“He’s just saying that crazy might not be half as crazy as you think,” Dean jumped in.

Tommy looked around for a second. “So if someone were to tell you they saw a ghost, you'd believe that?”

Dean put his hands up on the bar. “Just assume we believe everything.”

Tommy gave a little nod. “Okay, then. The other night I was taking a ride past the old Sturges farm. You know, thinking about the rides me and Barker used to go on. I saw her, man.”

Sam raised his eyebrows. “Saw her, who?”

“The girl.”

“What, after the attack?” Dean asked.

“Hell, yeah. She was just standing there, all bloody, watching me. So I turn the hell around, I ran back, thinking, damn, you know, she... But she was just gone. Like, gone.”

“Like a ghost,” Sam got where he was going with the whole ghost thing.

“I don't give one red cent in hell what the cops say. She was there. She was eaten. She's a freakin ghost.”

They left Tommy and went back to the car. “Ghosts don't shred people like that,” Sam said when he was settled in his seat.

“Well, they don’t eat hearts anyway,” Liam commented as he got comfortable. “I guess that confirms our theory that the girl is a she wolf, and I guess that means it’s off to the farm for us.”

“You guessed right,” Dean said as he pulled out onto the street.

They pulled up to the barn and tried to get out quietly. They each held a gun with silver bullets, and they walked around searching with their flashlights. They stepped over a small pile of dead chickens on the way inside. Dean held a hand up for them to pause when they heard a voice. They saw a woman from the back talking on a phone. “Stop ignoring my calls. Pick up the phone and call me right now. This isn't how it's supposed to go. Look, I've been down this road before and I'm not going to-” She stopped and sniffed the air before she took off running.

The men gave chase, and Sam caught her, ready to shoot until he saw her face. “Kate?”

Dean and Liam grabbed her, and while Sam kept his gun trained on her they tied her arms to the rafters. “I know who you are,” her expression was defiant.

“Congratulations,” Dean said sarcastically.

“After what happened at school, I thought you'd let me go.”

Sam gave a little shrug. “Yeah, well, that was before you started dropping bodies.”

“What?” she seemed genuinely surprised.

Dean gave her a smug little smirk. “Guy at the bar saw you before you went all Wolverine on his buddy. So...Surprise. Here we are.”

Sam’s expression was a little softer. “Kate, you said in that video you left you were gonna go straight. What happened?”

Her demeanor changed. “I guess things change. Being this... I tried to be strong, but the hunger was too much. Too hard. It's not like anyone gave me a handbook on how to be a werewolf.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “Looks like you're doing a pretty good job so far. Break some hearts, then you eat them.”

“I was on my own. I evolved. Whatever you're gonna do, just do it.”

Dean aimed his gun at her and cocked it, but he hesitated. Sam put a hand on his brother’s shoulder and pulled him away. “Hey. You know what? Let me do it.”

“Why?” Dean seemed a little insulted.

“Because I think you should sit this one out.”

“What are you talking about?”

Liam lightly grabbed Dean’s forearm. “Maybe you’re not quite ready for reasons that would be completely understandable.”

They were interrupted by Sam’s phone ringing. “Hello?” he answered it. It was the sheriff.

“Warden, we had another animal attack over at the high school gymnasium. Guy was a security guard. Same as the other three.”

“When?” Sam asked.

“Deputy said the victim's blood was still warm when he got there, so had to be less than an hour ago.”

“Of course. Thank you. Um, I'll be in touch.” He hung up and looked to his companions. “We got a problem.”

“What, besides, uh, werewolf Barbie over here?” Dean motioned to Kate.

“Yeah,” Sam nodded. “There was another kill across town, just before dark.”

Dean looked a little confused. “Well, how did Kate get her murder on and then get back here...” He paused and looked back and forth between Sam and Liam. “You two don't think she did it.”

Sam let out a soft sigh. “Look... I don't know, man. But as far as I'm concerned-”

They suddenly heard the rope Kate was tied with snap, and she bolted out the door into the night. “That’s just lovely,” Liam grumbled.

The three of them headed back to the car. “Alright, if she's not icing people, then why play the big bad wolf?” Dean wondered out loud.

“Maybe she's running with a pack? You know, trying to protect them?” Sam suggested.

“Well, a hell of a price to pay. She was about two seconds away from taking a dirt nap.”

“People will go to great lengths to protect someone important to them,” Liam pointed out. “If you’ll recall, she seemed surprised that there were bodies. She didn’t do it, but she knows who did, and she’s probably looking for them right now.”

Dean pulled a pink phone from his pocket and started fiddling with it. “One way to find out.”

“What is that?” Sam asked.

“It's her phone. Let's see who she was booty calling when we pulled up.” He pressed the redial button.

A female voice answered. “Thank you for calling the Lincoln Motel. Can I help you?”

Dean hung up and they all jumped in the car to follow the lead. They were all silent for several minutes, but then Dean decided to speak up. “So what's this about me not being ready back there?”

Sam tried to think of how to phrase things. “I wasn't trying to start something, Dean. I was just saying, I thought that was the whole point of us taking a break. You know?”

“Oh, no. I get that. And, you know, there's no worries there. But I gotta ask. What about you two?”

“What about us?” Sam asked. “Why wouldn’t we be ready?”

“Lester.”

Sam shook his head. “You're serious? This is about Lester?”

“He’s changing the subject,” Liam said from the backseat.

“Not exactly,” Dean argued. “It’s a concern, and I think we should talk about it.”

“Okay, except there's nothing to talk about,” Sam got a little defensive.

Dean gave a little shrug. “I just figured, since we're opening up veins that maybe you'd want to talk about the guy who you made sell his soul.”

Sam raised an eyebrow. “The guy who you then killed, right? I mean, that's the same guy we're talking about?”

“I was a demon,” Dean justified himself.

Sam rolled his eyes. “Oh, you were a demon? Oh, I didn't realize that.”

“Hey, man, Lester was gonna pay for that soul shake sooner or later. So technically, it's still on you.”

“Once again, we didn’t force him to do a damn thing,” Liam got into the argument. “I mean, yeah, things could have turned out better. But we had to find you in order to save you, and we did what he felt we had to do.”

“Look, man, again, I'm not complaining, okay? In fact, I'm doing just the opposite of complaining. I just... You know, between Lester and the others...” Dean started fishing.

“There weren’t others,” Sam got defensive.

“Okay, either way, maybe we all needed that time off.”

Sam rolled his eyes again. “Yeah, okay.”

“This is good,” Dean relaxed a little in the seat.

They drove out to the motel. When they arrived Liam had fallen asleep in the back so Sam got out to go check on things. Dean just watched the blond sleep until his brother came back, leaning in the open window. “Alright, so the, uh, clerk says a blonde rolled into room three just before sunup.”

“She alone?” Dean asked.

“He thinks so.”

Dean turned around to shake Liam awake. “Rise and shine, babe.” Liam mumbled something incoherent while he returned to consciousness, and then they saw a woman wearing a hoodie leave the room. “She's on the move.”

Dean and Liam got out of the car and they followed her into the park. She turned down a narrow and quiet path right behind a jogger. Before she could reach him they all drew their guns. “Kate!” Sam called out. “It’s over.”

The woman turned around, and to their surprise it wasn’t Kate, but another pretty petite blonde. She raised her hands in fear. “Oh, god. Please, don't. I'll give you anything you want.”

“Where’s Kate?” Sam demanded.

“Who?”

Dean lowered his gun a little, but still kept his guard up. “You were just in her motel room.”

“What? That's my room.”

“Why were you following that guy?”

“Robbie? I know him. I just wanted to surprise him.”

“Test her,” Sam insisted.

“Test me for what?” The woman looked nervous. Dean put his gun in the back of his waistband and pulled a silver knife out of his jacket and approached her. “No! Help! Somebody help me!” she started to freak out.

“Just take it easy,” Dean tried to calm her down.

“I don't want to die,” she whispered before fangs and claws appeared right in front of them. She lunged at Dean and threw him to the ground before anyone could react. Then she threw Liam into a tree while she pounced on Sam, choking him while she straddled him.

Kate appeared seemingly out of nowhere and pulled her off. “Stop it!” she cried. The mystery girl then took off. Dean aimed at her back from where he was on the ground, but Kate stepped in front of him. “Don't! She's my sister.”

“Kate, why is your sister a werewolf, huh?” Dean asked as the three men got to their feet.

“My sister is a werewolf because I turned her into one.”

Dean let that sink in a minute. “Okay, this is the part where you help yourself out.”

Her lip quivered a little. “I don't care. I'm sick of the lies.”

Dean shook his head. “Let me get this straight. We let you run because we take pity on you, and you turn around and you start making pups? You start killing people?”

“It's not like that!” she shouted. “I'm no killer.”

“Well, the way I remember it from the snuff film that you left us is that you killed your boyfriend's best friend.”

“That's because Brian went crazy. I had no other choice.”

“Your sister do this, Kate?” Sam’s features had softened a little.

“Really?” Dean got irritated. They watched her and she just stared at them blankly. “You almost took a bullet for her, and you got nothing?”

“What do you want me to say?”

Sam noticed some joggers headed their way. “Hey, guys. Can we, uh, take it somewhere else?”

Dean huffed. “Oh, yeah, sure. Go grab some coffee, maybe some bear hearts,” he said sarcastically. He motioned for Kate to start heading up the trail back to the car. “Let’s party.”

Once the joggers were past them Liam grabbed Dean’s arm to get his attention. “Hey, I just want to remind you of something.”

“What?” Dean snapped a little.

“Not everything is black and white, and I’m proof of that. Remember how you wanted to kill me the day we met simply because I was a vampire? Sam talked you out of it. Kate is mostly cooperating right now, so when you start getting trigger happy, just think of how your life would be if Sam hadn’t stuck up for me.”

Dean took his husband’s hand and gave it a little squeeze. “In a lot of ways, life would be worse than it is now.”

They all went to a diner and took a table. Liam sat next to Kate, which Dean didn’t seem at all happy about, but he didn’t start a scene about it. “Just so you know, Brian's the reason I carry this,” she started reaching behind her back.

“Hey...” Dean growled and started reaching for his gun as well.

“I'm just showing you something,” she insisted as she pulled out a silver dagger. “In case I ever lose it, like Brian did, you won't have to kill me.” She put the blade away quickly.

Dean didn’t seem that moved. “Yeah, well, saying it and doing it are two different things.”

“I'm serious. And whether you believe me or not, I've never hurt anyone who didn't deserve it. And I have never, ever eaten a human heart.”

“Guess that explains all the dead chickens back at the barn,” Liam thought out loud.

“I eat what I can find, what people won't miss, hopefully. Small game, deer. I meditate. Yoga helps.”

“Yoga?” Sam raised an eyebrow.

“You laugh, but I'll pretty much try anything to keep that side of me under control.”

“Kind of like me and smelling salts,” Liam mused.

“What?” Kate was confused.

Liam turned to her. “You’ll find me more understanding than my companions here, and there’s a reason for that. When they met me I was a vampire, but they found a cure. I was a lot like you, I didn’t really want to hurt anyone. To help me resist temptation when I was young I used to carry smelling salts in my pocket. Horrible smelling shit, made me want to chop off my own nose. But… it very successfully killed any blood lust I was having for a while.”

“Yeah, but did you ever turn anyone?” Dean asked with his arms crossed.

“You should already know the answer to that,” Liam got a little defensive. “No, I refused to do that to anyone.”

“Exactly,” Dean made his point. “Kate here turned her sister, and apparently yoga isn’t working for her.”

Kate let out a deep sigh. “Tasha... She's a different story. After I left school, I was adrift. Lost. Not really sure where to go or what to do, so... I went someplace safe. I went home. But even though I'd be good, I started to think about my family. How safe were they going to be? I was a werewolf. And then, of course, there was you three. What if you showed up and tried to kill me? I couldn't risk that. So I walked away. Never called, never wrote, just started a new life. Until one day, I saw a posting on my sister's Facebook page. Tasha had been in a really bad car accident. The doctors didn't think she was gonna make it. We were always so close, so... I had to go say goodbye. Then...”

“You decided to try and save her,” Liam guessed. “Understandable.”

She nodded. “Exactly. This curse that I had, that had brought me nothing but pain and suffering, could actually finally maybe do something good. If I turned Tasha into a werewolf, it would heal her wounds, save her life, give her a second chance. So, uh... I did the unthinkable. At first, I thought I'd failed, that even though werewolves heal quickly, it was too late for Tasha. Then she woke up, not sick anymore, but okay. Tasha had so many questions. What happened? How did she get here? So I was straight with her. The good, the bad, the ugly. What we were and why we could never go back home, and the responsibility we had to control what we'd become. It was a lot to swallow. But we had each other, and that felt like enough. Or so I thought.”

“But your sister didn’t become like you,” Dean gave a little nod as he listened.

“My sister, she gave in to everything that I had warned her about. And I knew, even if I couldn't bring myself to admit it then. I knew I was losing her.”

“So back at the barn, that was all just an act to protect Tasha?” Sam asked.

“She's family. And, yeah, worth eating a bullet for. And she needs me now more than ever. This is my mess. I gotta clean it up.”

Sam raised an eyebrow. “And how do you plan on doing that, Kate?”

“By getting Tasha out of here.”

“She hasn't listened to you yet. Why do you think she's gonna start now?”

Kate teared up a little bit. “I don't know, but I've gotta try. You know, we'll go out into the woods. We'll drop out for however long it takes until she learns to control this.”

“Little late for team building, don’t you think?” Dean commented.

“So, what? I just abandon her? I did this. I owe her every chance to make it right.”

“What if she doesn’t want to control it?” Liam asked. “I know she’s your sister and all, but like I said, I’ve got monster experience. What I was, what you are… These two are always skeptical when they come across it because it’s rare.”

“Then I'll take care of it.”

Dean didn’t seem convinced. “You'll take care of it? You know what that means?”

“Why don't you ask Brian?” she shot back.

“Well, maybe it doesn't have to come to that. You know, if you had shot straight with us from the get go, we might've been able to help you a lot sooner.”

“What do you mean?”

“By curing you both.” Both Sam and Liam shot Dean a surprised look, but neither of them said anything.

“Shut up,” Kate seemed a little blindsided.

“Yeah, okay, or you're welcome,” Dean responded sarcastically.

“There is no cure for werewolves,” Kate insisted.

Dean motioned to Liam. “Did you know there was a cure for vampires? We had to find the right place to look, but obviously we found it. He’s not lying, he really was a vampire that tried not to kill people. We found all kinds of things while we were looking. Now we've got everything we need on our end. Okay? But the clock is ticking, and we need one more thing; Tasha. Unless… you wanna do this without her?”

Kate seemed excited at the prospect. “No. It's a long drive, but I know where to find her.”

When they walked out to the car Sam pulled Dean aside. “Dude, what are you doing? There is no cure.”

Dean pulled out a concealed silver knife. “There’s one.”

“That seems a little cruel,” Liam commented as he came into the conversation.

Dean shook his head. “Kate and Tasha are monsters, okay? Last I checked, we kill monsters.”

“Right, but how can you possibly blame Kate for fighting for her sister? We do it all the time,” Sam pointed out.

“Well, yeah, and that's worked wonders for us,” Dean responded with a little sarcasm.

“Well, we're still here, aren't we?”

“Yeah, but is it right? I mean, all that you've done for me, I've still got this mark.”

“And we'll figure that out. We always do. But you can't take whatever's happened to us or to you and dump it at these girls' feet.”

“Plus, have you forgotten what I said to you on the trail?” Liam added.

“Alright, so, what? You two wanna nuance this thing? Hit me. What's your plan?” Liam and Sam just gave each other a blank look. “That’s what I thought.”

Dean insisted that Kate get into the front passenger seat, leaving Sam and Liam in the back. Kate told Dean where they were going and off they went. Shortly after it got dark it seemed like Kate was asleep. “Kate?” Sam called out her name softly to make sure, and there was no response.

“She’s out,” Dean assured his brother.

“Okay. Then, um... I gotta tell you something. I, uh, I lied about Lester.”

“What?” Dean was a little surprised.

“There were others.”

“Other humans?”

“No. And I'm sure there were a few hunters I rubbed, or I punched the wrong way, but...No. I pretty much saved my best stuff for the bad guys. But you gotta understand something, Dean.” Sam swallowed hard. “I watched you die. And I carried you. I carried your corpse into your room, and I put your dead body on your bed, and then you just...”

Dean let out a soft little sigh. “I know. I guess I was hoping that note would, you know, fill in the blanks.”

“Oh yeah, very informative,” Liam said sarcastically. “It was a massive punch in the gut is what it was.”

“Yeah, I...”

“Since we’re doing this whole honest sharing stuff, I gotta hear this.”

“It's embarrassing, you know?”

“What’s embarrassing?” Sam asked.

“All of it. You know, the... that note. Crowley. Everything.”

“Dean, you were a demon.”

Dean glanced over his shoulder for a second. “I was a demon? Oh, thanks. I didn't realize.”

Liam smacked the side of his head. “You’re an idiot. A lovable idiot, but...”

A small smile appeared on Dean’s lips for a moment. “Not to mention, I never even said thank you, so...”

Sam patted his brother’s shoulder. “You don't ever have to say that, not to me.”

“I enjoy a little appreciation now and again,” Liam commented. “I could’ve just curled up in a ball on the floor, you know.”

Dean just smiled again. “Yeah, but that’s not like you. I mean, I know it had to have been tough, especially after the way I left, but you’re a fighter. I love that about you. And after this case, if you’ll let me, I’ll show you all the appreciation I’ve got.”

“I know I said no happy fun time for a while, but I’ll think about it.”

Dean then reached over to shake Kate awake. “Hey. How we doing?”

She blinked a few times and looked around. “We're getting close.”

“What is this place?”

“Ever since Tasha and I were little, we've been coming up to this cabin with our parents.”

“Now why do you think Tasha will even be here?” Sam asked.

“When she became a wolf, we knew it was gonna be hard, so we kinda came up with this escape plan in case things ever got bad.”

Dean gave a little nod of understanding. “So it's a rendezvous spot?”

“Pretty much.”

They drove up to a quaint looking cabin, and there were lights on inside. Dean parked a little ways away and they got out. “Now what?” Sam looked to Kate.

“Maybe I should go in first, explain all this?”

“Sounds good,” Dean nodded. But when she moved to go in he handcuffed her to the steering wheel with silver handcuffs.

“What are doing?! You son of a bitch!” she growled at him. Then it all dawned on her. “There is no cure, is there? I trusted you. It's not her fault. It's mine.”

“She killed people,” Dean argued.

“Because I did this to her, okay? So if you want your pound of flesh, take me,” Kate pleaded.

“We'll deal with you later.”

“But she can be saved!” Kate insisted.

Dean just shook his head. “No. Tasha's in too deep. You don't ever come back from that, not ever. Come on, guys.”

“No! Please! Don't do this!” Kate continued to beg and struggle as the three men made their way toward the cabin.

They quietly entered and split up to search for Tasha. Sam found her in a bedroom, sitting on the edge holding a doll. “I can't believe my own sister betrayed me.”

Sam drew his gun and aimed at her. “Yeah, except she didn't.”

“You're not gonna shoot me.”

“And why is that?”

“Sam,” Dean called for his attention as he and Liam were brought over by an unknown man who was holding a gun to Liam’s head.

Sam kept his gun trained on Tasha, looking back and forth between her and Liam as if he was trying to decide what to do. Tasha smirked at him. “Drop the gun, or Dreamboat here gets his mind blown.”

“Shoot her,” Liam urged.

“Or not...” Dean didn’t seem to agree.

The male werewolf smacked Liam in the head with the gun and he fell stunned. The weapon was then aimed at Dean. “Well... Sammy?” Tasha taunted him a bit.

Sam took a breath, then lowered his gun to the floor. Tasha kicked it away and Kate was dragged in by yet another man. “Tasha! What did…? Who are these people?” Kate demanded of her sister.

“Brandon and Travis,” Tasha smirked. “I turned them. They're our new family.”

Dean shook his head. “Yeah, you're a regular psycho Brady Bunch.”

One of the men lunged at Dean, his fangs bared. Sam moved to stop him. “Hey!”

Tasha effortlessly threw Sam down on the bed and began strangling him. “No!” Kate cried.

“You've always had crappy taste in guys,” Tasha said to her sister without looking up.

Kate continued to struggle against the man who was holding her. “Tasha, we can talk about this.”

Tasha suddenly let go of Sam and whirled around to face her sister with her eyes narrowed. “They were gonna kill me. And now you're protecting them?”

“No, I’m protecting you.”

“Yeah. I'm good. Thanks,” Tasha replied sarcastically. “So here's how it's gonna be. You can walk away or you can join my pack.”

“I'm not walking away.”

“Then prove you got what it takes.” She motioned over to Sam. “Eat his heart out.”

Kate just stared at Sam for a few moments, then shook her head in disgust. “No.”

“Take them. Have some fun,” Tasha spoke to the two men. “Oh, and I want a heart to go. Put it in a doggie bag.”

Liam was picked up off the floor and the three of them were taken out to the living room. “On your knees!” one of them barked at Dean.

“I’m really flattered-” Dean was smacked with a gun and Sam was punched in the gut. Both men dropped to their knees. Liam landed a good blow in the face to one of them, but they double teamed him and he was soon on the floor as well.

“These guys, huh? Can you believe them?” Sam commented.

Dean chuckled. “Yeah, a couple of minor leaguers.”

One of them snarled. “You're dead. You don't get to talk. In fact-”

Sam suddenly lunged up and stabbed him with a silver knife in the chest. Dean went for the other, but was fended off and thrown back to the floor. The werewolf moved to bite Dean, but Liam plunged a knife into his heart through his back. “Not so tough when there’s only one of you,” he mused as the second dropped.

Dean got up and stood over the now dead werewolves. “Well, welcome to the majors, boys.”

“Time to finish cleaning up,” Liam said as he headed back toward the bedroom. When the three men kicked the door in Tasha’s corpse was on the ground and the window was wide open. Liam blinked a few times. “Huh, she actually did it.”

They cleaned up after themselves without saying a word, then got back in the car. “So we going after her?” Dean asked once they were back on the road.

Sam just gave a little shrug. “I don't know, Dean.”

Dean let out a breath. “But you gotta admit, when push came to kill, she did good.”

“Yeah. So maybe it's a good thing you didn't shoot her.”

Dean shook his head. “Really? You're gonna Monday morning quarterback this thing?”

“I don’t know what that means,” Liam piped up from the backseat, “but I don’t think any of us were really ready for this. I mean, you wanted to take time off, and we agreed because we all needed to just breathe and let everything that happened fully digest.”

“Didn't you ever wanna talk about it?” Sam asked, looking a little worried.

“Talk about it? Talk about it how?” Dean was irritated.

“Come on, man.”

“I am coming on, Sam, look… I know what happened. Okay? I was there, remember? I'm not trying to get by it. I just... That's not what this was about.”

“Then what is this about?”

“It’s about getting back in the saddle. Okay? Doing something good, not stewing in my own crap.”

“But this isn’t a job you can do if you’re not ready,” Liam pointed out. “Your head has to be in it, and you’re...”

Dean opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a ringing phone. When he realized it was the phone he had taken from Kate he pulled it out and put in on speaker. “Well, I'll give you one thing. Pretty damned good at getaways.”

“Yeah. Well, I decided that living was better than being dead,” Kate’s voice came over the line.

“For what it's worth, thank you,” Sam said. “At the end of the day, she was your sister.”

“No. She wasn’t,” Kate sounded sad.

“Listen to me, Kate. You keep moving, keep your nose clean, and we can stop meeting like this,” Dean tried to lighten the mood.

“I hear you. And I will, but I'm not gonna promise, because...”

“See you around, kid.”

“I sure as hell hope not,” Kate said before she hung up.

Dean was quiet for a moment. “Let's say you guys are right. Maybe I'm not ready to hunt.” A small tear welled up in his eye. “But I am just trying to do the right thing, man, because I'm so sick and tired of doing the wrong one.”

Liam reached up to put a hand on his shoulder. “I know,” he said softly. “We know you try, but things just… Why don’t we go home and try another break? I’ll do my best to keep your mind off things.”

A smirk flashed on Dean’s lips. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. You’ve still got me.”

“That I do.”
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Hunting Humanity IX