The first claw hit like fire, ripping straight through my ribs. I barely had time to scream before something yanked me down, invisible weight crushing me onto the floor. My chest split open with another slash, hot blood spraying across my face.

I thrashed around but it was useless — the hellhound was all teeth and claws, everywhere at once, rending me apart piece by piece. Flesh tore like paper, bone cracked like kindling. I couldn't even see it, but I felt every shred of myself being torn away.

Ana's voice ripped through the chaos. "STOP! Lilith, please, stop! Don't do this to him!"

Her screams echoed, high and raw, but the hound didn't care. Another bite sank into my leg, ripping muscle clean from the bone. White hot agony laced through me.

I tried to claw at the air, to push it off me, but my fingers found nothing — just empty space as another invisible maw latched onto my shoulder and dragged deep, teeth grinding against bone. The sound of it snapped something inside me, a wet crunch that made my vision blurry.

"Dean!" Ana's voice cracked sobs breaking her words. She was still screaming, still begging, and I faintly see her trying to fight against the invisible binds that Lilith has against her and Sam.

And then Lilith laughed, a sweet, childish giggle that was like nails on glass. "He's mine." She barked at Ana.

The hound continued to rip open my stomach, and the scream that tore out of me wasn't human — it was raw, animal, and ripped from my very core as head and wet spilled out across the floor. My hands trembled, slick with blood, reaching for anything — her, a weapon, salvation — but finding nothing.

My lungs burned, each breath shorter than the last, while claws raked across my throat, my chest, my arms. I was drowning in pain, in blood, and in the sound of Ana's screams.

There was no stopping it. No fighting it. Just the Hellhound devouring me piece by piece, while the woman I loved screamed herself hoarse in the background.

And Lilith just watched, smiling.

The hound's jaw closed around my throat, tearing, shredding — I could feel the hot gush of blood choking me, taste of copper flooding my mouth. Claws ripped through my chest, splitting me open. I tried to scream, but nothing came out except a wet gurgle.

Ana's voice screamed into the darkness, but I couldn't see her. 

Couldn't move. 

Couldn't breathe. 

Darkness was pulling me under. And then —

Dean lurched awake with a gasp, clutching his throat, with sweat pouring down his face. Dean's chest heaved like he's been drowning. The room swam in front of him, his shadows bending into shapes he swore were claws. For a second, he didn't know where he was — wasn't sure if he was still being ripped apart, and still dying.

"Dean." 

Her voice cut through the haze, soft but steady. Dean's eyes snapped towards her. Ana was right there beside him, her hand already gripping his arm, her face pale but calm, even as her eyes shone with worry. "Hey — Hey, it's me. You're okay." She whispered.

Dean blinked hard, trying to focus, but his body wouldn't stop shaking. His hand pressed against his cheek, half-expecting to feel gaping wounds, blood pouring through his fingers. But there was nothing. Just skin slick with sweat and a pounding heart.

"It felt so real." Dean rasped, as his voice was breaking. "God, baby, I — I felt it. The teeth, the claws—" Dean's throat caught and he swallowed hard, trying to keep from unraveling. 

Ana shifted closer, cupping the side of Dean's face with both her hands, making him look at her. "It was just a nightmare. You're here, with me. Nothing's gonna hurt you, not while I'm here."

Ana's thumb brushed across his cheekbone, grounding her. The sound of her heartbeat, steady and close, started to drown out the phantom echoes of the hound's growl still rattling in his head.

Dean leaned into her touch, eyes closing as he sucked in a shaky breath. "I thought I lost you." Dean muttered, the words slipping out before he could stop them.

"You didn't." She whispered back to him, just like he spoke. "You're safe, Dean. You're safe with me."

And for the first time since the nightmare tore him apart, he believed her.

───※ ·❆· ※───

A man is possessed by a demon, as he sits tied to a chair in the center of a Devil's trap. Sam is in front of him, interrogating him as Ruby stands nearby. "Where's Lilith?" Sam asked him.

"Kiss my ass." The man says as his eyes go black as Sam just smiles at that comment.

"I'd watch myself if I were you." Sam says.

"Why? Huh? Because you're Sam Winchester. Mr. Big Hero? And yet here you are, slutting around with some demon. Real hero." The demon says.

"Shut your mouth." Sam says.

"Tell, me whose months without your brother. About all the things you and this demon bitch do in the dark." The man says as Ruby looks over at Sam. "Huh? Tell me, hero." The man says as Sam can't control his hanger and begins to force the demon out of the man. 

The demon smoke burns through he floor, as Sam breathes, trying to get himself under control. Ruby looks down on the floor where the demon burned through and a little smile plays on her lips. She looks over at Sam and they exchange a look, as Sam gets a little smile as well.

Then there is two head figures in the window behind Sam, witnessing everything he just did. It was Dean and Ana.

───※ ·❆· ※───

The man is now unconscious and Sam touches the neck to check if he has a pulse, which he does. He smiles up at Ruby. "How'd it feel?" Ruby asked.

"Good. No more headaches." Sam says as he begins to untie the man.

"None? That's good." Ruby says as that's when the man begins to wake up. 

From behind Sam and Ruby,  Dean and Ana look at each other watching this happen as they can't believe what they are watching. 

"Hey, hey. I got you. It's alright." Sam says, as he helps the man out of his chair and begins walking him towards the door, when Dean and Ana opens it. Sam stops in his tracks, as Dean is very angry at Sam.

"So...Anything you wanna tell me, Sam?" Dean asked him as Sam looks innocent and Ruby stands behind him, just watching Dean and Sam. Dean walks towards him as he talks as Ana is behind Dean. 

"Dean, hold on? Just let me-" Sam says but Dean stops him before he could explain.

"You gonna say, 'let me explain'. You're gonna explain this? How about this? Why don't you start with who she is, and what the hell is she doing here?" Dean says as he looks at his brother hard.

Sam turns back and looks at Ruby who is completely calm as she even smiles at Dean and Ana as she responds to Dean. "It's good to see you again, Dean. You too Ana."

"No, for you and your little demon friends, it's Anastasia." Ana retorted to Ruby.

"Ruby?" Dean says as she smiles a little as Dean looks at Sam. "Is that Ruby?" He asked.

Sam doesn't respond and Dean looks over at Ruby again who's smile is fading. After a moment, Dean grabs hold of her and shoves her against the wall. He pulls out her knife and as he's about to strike, that's when Sam grabs his hand. "Don't!" Sam says to his brother, they struggle for the knife. Sam ends up getting it out of Dean's hand and into his own hand, just as Dean throws him up against the wall. Ruby then grabs Dean and pins him up against the wall as he had her against seconds earlier.

"Let him go you bitch!" Ana yells at Ruby.

"Ruby! Stop it!" Sam says as she just stares into Dean's eyes as she keeps a chokehold with her right hand, and he stares right back angry. 

Finally, she lets go and he rises up to his full height, as he looks over at Sam and then back at Ruby. "Well, aren't you an obedient little slut?" Ana retorted to the brunette demon. She doesn't respond but it's clear that she wants to attack him again. "You so much as make a move onto Dean─"

"Ana, enough." Sam says to her as the redhead gave him a look as she bit her cheek to keep herself from saying something.

"Whatever." Ana says as she grabbed the impala keys out of her pocket, as she's had the impala since Dean got chewed up.

"Ruby." Sam says as she stares at Dean for a few more moments, and then looks at Sam. "Ruby, he's hurt." Sam says as he indicates to the man who was possessed. "Go."

She gives Dean one more look and then turns and walks over to the man, as Dean watches her, as she puts the man's arm over her shoulder, ready to take him out. "Where the hell do you think you're going?" Dean asked the demon.

"The ER... unless you want to go another round first." Ruby retorted as Dean didn't say anything, and she walks out with the man. 

Dean turns to look at Sam who's watching him. "Dean." Sam says as Dean walks to the door he came in through and left Sam behind. "Dean!" Sam yells after his brother but Dean didn't even bother to look back at his brother.

───※ ·❆· ※───

Sam is sitting at the table reading a book. The impala pulls up outside, and Dean enters a few moments later with Ana following behind him. They both don't look at Sam, as they walk right into the room. Sam gets out of his chair the minute Dean and Ana enter the room. Dean grabs his bag and begins to pack up his stuff, as Ana does the same to her bag as well. Sam walks over to his brother and Ana. "What are you guys doing?" Sam asked as the couple just ignores him and continues packing. "What, are you ─ are you leaving?"

That's when Ana turns around to face the youngest Winchester, with a pissed off look that even Sam has never seen before. "You don't need us anymore; you have your little girlfriend to fight demons." Ana says to Sam, as Dean grabbed his bag along with Ana's, as he had both bags in his hands.

The couple then walks for the door, as Sam stands in the way so that the couple has to go around him. "Hold on. Guys, come on." Sam says to the couple as Ana turns around and punches him square in the face as Dean didn't stop her from doing that.

Sam whirls around by the force, from the punch from Ana. Ana just watches him as Sam turns back around to Ana. "You satisfied?" He asked the redhead as she hits him again, this time harder than the first time. Sam touches his lip, which is bleeding. "I guess not."

"Do you even know how far off the reservation you've gone? How far from normal? From human?" Ana asked the youngest Winchester, as Dean stayed by Ana's side. 

"I'm just exorcising demons." Sam says as that's when Ana snaps at him as she never yelled at him before until now.

"With your mind!" She yells at him which was the first time. "What else can do you do?" She asked him which was calmer this time.

"I can send them back to Hell. It only works with demons, and that's it." Sam says as that's when Dean grabs hold of his brother and pushes him backwards, walking with the force. 

"What else can you do?!" Dean asked.

"I told her!" Sam says as he pushes his hand away, and the brother's stop.

"And we have every reason in the world to believe that." Dean says as he begins to walk away from Sam.

"Look, I should have said something." Sam says as Dean stops as his back is facing Sam. "I'm so sorry, Dean. But try to see the other side here."

Dean turns around and faces him. "The other side? What other side, Sam?" He asked.

"I'm pulling demons out of innocent people." Sam says.

"Use the fucking knife!" Ana says to him as she raised her voice at the youngest Winchester.

"The knife kills the victim! What I do, most of them survive! Look, I've saved more people in the last five months than we save in a year." Sam says trying to reason with his brother and Ana.

"Is that what Ruby wants you to think? Your little girlfriend? Kind of like the way she tricked you into using your powers?" Ana says as Sam shakes his head at what she said as he is sad looking. 

"Slippery slope, brother. Just wait and see. Because it's gonna get darker and darker and God knows where it ends." Dean says.

"I'm not gonna let it go too far." Sam says.

Dean smiles at what Sam said, he walks over to the wall and hits the lamp on the side table, making it crash and fly, as it nearly hit Ana which made her jump as she ducked in time. He looks angry again. 

"It's already gone too far, Sam. If me and Annie didn't know you...I would wanna hunt you." Dean says as Sam's eyes are tearful, as he nods at that, looking down. "And so would other hunters."

Sam looks up at his brother. "You were gone. I was here. I had to keep on fighting without you. And what I'm doing... it works." Sam says as Ana walks up to Dean, as he had his arm around her.

"Well, tell me. If it's so terrific... then why'd you lie about it to me?" Dean asked his brother as Sam looks down at that.

"Then why did an angel tell me to stop you?" Dean says as Sam and Ana looked at him for different reasons. Sam looked up at him surprised and Ana looked at him confused. 

Why was he talking to an angel?

"What?" Sam/Ana asked in unison.

"Cas said that if I don't stop you, he will. See what that means, Sam? That means that God doesn't want you doing this. So, are you just gonna stand there and tell me that everything is all good?" Dean asked him as Ana rested her head on top of Dean's shoulder, as after that he presses a soft kiss on the top of her head. He was glad to have his babygirl again. He had missed her more than anything, as she did of him.

With tearful eyes, they exchange a look and then Sam looks down. The silence is broken by Sam's phone ringing as Ana flinches at the sound as when she flinched Dean softly rubbed her side. He looked down at Ana as he softly kissed her head again. "You okay, babygirl?" He says softly to her, as she didn't hesitate to shake her head without saying anything. "It's okay." He says to her, as he gently tilted her head so that she can look at him and he gave her lips a soft kiss. "There I made you feel better."

"Thanks, D." Ana says softly in the kiss, as her and Dean's foreheads were touching as he softly smiled at her, as his hand was still on her side, softly rubbing it.

"I love you, babygirl." He says to her, as that's when Sam walks over to the bedside table and writes something down. He then puts down the pen and ends the phone call and breathes deeply as he looks at Dean and Ana.

───※ ·❆· ※───

The Impala is zooming down the road as Dean is behind the wheels, and they've been driving under silence for a while after Dean has told Sam what he found out in the past about their mom and family. "I can't believe it. Mom, a hunter?" Sam says as Ana was drinking her Dr. Pepper in the middle of the passenger seat as Sam is in the backseat, that and because Dean was still mad at Sam. 

"I wouldn't believe it, either if I hadn't seen it myself. That woman could kick some ass. I mean, she almost took me down." Dean says to his brother as Ana already knew about this as Dean told her, a couple of days ago.

"So, how did she look? I mean... was she happy?" Sam asked his brother.

"Yeah, she was awesome. Funny and smart. So helpful." Dean says as he looks at Sam then back on the road. "Dad, too. Until of course..." Dean says as Sam sighs at what his brother said. "What?" He asked as Sam looks out the window.

"Nothing." Sam says and then after a moment he turns back to Dean. "It's just our parents. And now we find out our grandparents too? Our whole family, murdered and for what? So Yellow Eyes could get in my nursery and bleed in my mouth?"

Dean goes a bit, 'huh...?' over Sam's last statement as Ana was chewing her cheeseburger that Dean got her, she was chewing slower as she was listening to the conversation between the brothers. "Sam, I never said anything about demon blood." He says as Sam looks guilty. "You knew about that?"

"Yeah, for about a year." Sam says as Dean looks out through the window again, with his eyes on the road. 

"A whole year?" Dean asked his brother.

"I should have told you. I'm sorry." Sam says.

"You've been saying that a lot lately, Sam. But whatever. You don't want to tell me; you don't have to. It's fine." Dean says as Ana knew that it wasn't 'fine', it was anything but fine.

"Dean." Sam says to his brother as he looks at Dean, who is focusing on the road. "Whatever." Sam sighs as he sighs, as Ana gave Dean the last bite of her burger and he ate it. After he ate it, he patted her thigh as he softly rubbed it as she finished eating. 

───※ ·❆· ※───

"Are you sure that's him?" Dean asked, as he's holding a pair of binoculars, as Ana is at the motel room sleeping, Dean is looking at the house, watching Jack.

"Only Jack Montgomery in town." Sam says.

"And we're looking for..." Dean says to his brother.

"Travis said to keep an eye out for anything weird." Sam says.

"Weird?" Dean says.

"Yeah." Sam says.

"Alright, well, yeah, I've seen big weird, little weird, weird with crazy on top. But this guy? I mean, come on, this guy's boring." Dean says to his brother. 

"I don't know, Dean. Travis seemed pretty sure." Sam says as he takes up a pair of binoculars of his own. 

Inside the house, Jack (the man they're watching) is leaning on the island in the kitchen, looking thoughtful. He takes another swig of his beer and then opens the fridge again. He grabs a leftover chicken, and starts eating, not bothering with platers and utensils. He begins to eat frantically, like he's not gotten food in days. He throws the finished chicken and grabs a pack of uncooked meat and opens it up, and starts eating the raw meat, throwing looks over his shoulder for his wife. "Honey?" His wife says as Jack stops eating when he hears his voice.

Back in the car, the brothers watched the food craze happen. They were both matching disgusted looks on their faces. "I'd say that qualifies as weird."

Just then Dean's phone rings which scares the brothers, as his lips curled up at seeing who is calling. "Yeah, babygirl." Dean says to Ana.

───※ ·❆· ※───

Just then the brothers come through the door, as they stop as they enter, seeing something someone in their room, besides Ana. A smile then comes on Dean's lips. "A guy knocks on the door and almost gets punched in the face."

"Well, in my defense ─" Ana says but Dean cuts her off.

"I see you've met uh, my fiance. This is Ana, trust me she isn't this violent with strangers." Dean says to Ana as she gave him a look.

"It is called being weary of strangers." Ana says in a 'duh' tone that makes Dean's lips curl up into a smirk.

"She's not this feisty, trust me." Dean says to Travis, as he then looks at his brother. "See, Sam. Told you, we should have hid the beer."

Travis gets up with a smile as he walks towards the brothers as they walk towards him. "Smartass. Get over here."  Travis says as he laughs as he and Dean hug. "Ahh, good to see you." Travis says.

"You, too." Dean says to the older man, as they break the hug as Sam and Travus hug as well.

"Good to see you." Travis says as Ana sits on her and Dean's shared bed.

"You too, Travis." Sam says as they break apart from the hug.

"Man, you got tall, kid."

"Ah, gotta be 10 years." Sam sam says to the man.

"You still a... oh, what was it... a mathlete?" Travis asked as Ana snickers, as Dean sat her on his lap.

"Who's he?" Ana asked Dean just so that only he could hear.

"One of Dad's friends."

"Meaning one of his friends that's still alive, type of friends?" Ana says as Dean nodded his head at what he said, as he pressed a kiss to her cheek.

"Yeah, pretty much, but ─ he's good." Dean says to her as she nodded her head at what he said, as it is a loose translation for: he's not a threat.

"Sorry, I'm late for the dance." Travis says as Sam and Travis sit at the table, as Dean and Ana are sitting on their shared bed which is closer to the table. "Thanks for helping out an old man. I'm a little, uh, short-handed." Travis says as he indicates his right hand and arm, which is covered in a cast, as the brothers laughed at that, as Ana's lips curled up slightly. "So, did you track down Montgomery?"

"Yeah, and we found him at his home." Sam says as Travis looked at him.

"And?" Travis asked the youngest Winchester.

"Well, he had a hell of a case of the munchies, topped off with a burger he forgot to cook." Dean says to Travis.

"That's him alright." Travis says as Ana's face scrunched up at hearing that.

"What's him?" Dean asked.

"Boys, we got a Rougarou on our hands." Travis says.

"A Rougarou?" Dean asked as Ana nodded her head at what he said, as he looks over at Sam for a second. "Is that made up?" Dean asked as he looks back at Travis before Sam could answer. "That sounds made up."

"They're mean, nasty little bitches. Rotted teeth, wormy skin, the works." Ana says as Travis looks at her weirdly. "Weird lore is... kind of my thing... it's confusing." Ana says to Travis as he nodded his head as he looks at Dean. 

"Keep her."

"Oh, I'm gonna." Dean says as Ana had the smallest of a blush on her cheeks when he said that. "That wasn't this guy. I mean, he was wearing a cellphone to his belt."

"He'll turn ugly soon enough. They start out human, for all intents and purposes." Ana says.

"So, what?? They go through some kind of metamorphosis?" Sam asked the redhead as she nodded her head at what he said.

"Yeah, like a maggot turning into a bull fly... but most of all... they're hungry." Ana explains.

"Hungry for what?" Dean asks as there was a little bit in his voice that he didn't want to know.

"At first, for everything, but then... for long pig." Ana says as Sam exhales at that, understanding what Ana means. Dean looks confused not understanding the term, 'long pig'.

"Long pig? The hell is that?" Dean asked.

"She means human flesh." Sam says, as Dean's face scrunched up at.

"And that's my word of the day." Ana says.

"Hunger grows in, until they can't fight it. Until they got to take themselves a big, juicy chomp, and then it happens." Ana says. 

"What happens?" Sam asked the redhead.

"They transform completely and fast." Ana says. 

"One bit's all it takes. Eyes, teeth, skin; all turns. No going back either. They feed once; they're a monster forever. And our man Jack's headed there on a bullet train." Travis says as Ana nodded her head at what he said.

"Well, how'd you find this guy if he's a walking, talking human?" Dean asked.

"Let's just say it runs in his family." Travis says, as Ana has a grossed out, look on her face.

"You mean, uh..." Sam says.

"Killed his Daddy back in '78. Son of a bitch, mangled 8 bodies before I put him down. Guy used to be a dentist, Cadillac, trophy wife... Little did I know, pregnant trophy wife. She put the boy up for adoption. By the time I found out, he was long gone, lost in the system." Travis explains.

"You mean to tell me you couldn't find someone?" Sam asked as Travis sighs as he continues. "I'm not sure I wanted to. The idea of hunting down some poor kid... I don't think I'd have the heart. No, I wanted to wait, make damn sure I had the right man. Apparently, I do." Travis says as he takes a swig of the beer.

───※ ·❆· ※───

Dean and Travis are by the table, fixing gas cans, that look like tiny fire extinguishers to use on this guy. "So, fire, huh?"

"The only way I found to kill these bastards; deep-fry 'em." Travis says to Dean.

"Well, that's gonna be... horrible. Is that what you did Jack's dad?" Dean asked.

"Uh-huh." Travis says without looking up as that's when Sam comes into the room from outside, with papers in his hands, as Ana looks up from her book that she's reading, which is Harry Potter.

"Not wasting time, are you?" Sam asked.

"None to waste. The guy hulks out, we won't be finding bodies, just the remains." Travis says as Ana scrunched up her nose, as Sam sits down on the bed next to the table.

"What if he doesn't hulk out? I did a little homework. Uh, I've been checking out the lore on rougarous."

"What? My 30 years of experience wasn't good enough for you?" Travis asked Sam, as Ana tried not to smile.

"What? No. No. I-I-I just wanted to be prepared. I mean, not that you didn't..." Sam says.

"Sam loves research, just like Ana does. He keeps it under his mattress right next to his KY. It's a sickness." Dean says to his brother as he looks at Sam. "What, it is."

"Look, everything you said checked out, of course, but uh. I found a couple of interesting stories about people who have this Rougarou gene or whatever. See, they start to turn, but they never take the final step." Sam says.

"Really?" Dean asked as Ana nodded her head at what he said.

"See, if they never eat human flesh, they don't fully transform." Sam asked.

"So, what? Go vegan and stay human?" Dean asked as Ana shook her head at what he said.

"Basically, or in this case, eat a lot of raw meat, just not..." Sam says.

"Long pig." Dean says to his brother.

"Right." Sam says to his brother as Travis is just sitting next to him, having watched and listened to Sam about this under silence.

"Good on you for the due diligence, Sam." Travis says as he gets up. "But those are fairy tales." He says as he walks over to the little pantry and pours himself another cup of coffee. "Fact is, every Rougarou I ever saw or heard of... took that bite."

That's when Sam stands up from speaking. "Okay, well that doesn't mean that Jack will." Sam says as Dean watches his brother rise and then stands up himself.

"So, what do we do? Sit and hope and wait for a body count?" Travis asks.

"No, we talk to him. Explain what's happening. That way he can fight it." Sam says to the older man.

Fight it?" Travi says as he laughs. "Are you kidding me? You ever been really hungry?" Travis says as this gets Dean's attention who's been looking at the papers Sam brought. "I mean, haven't-eaten-in-days hungry?"

"Yeah." Dean says as Ana looked up at him silently.

"Yeah, right then. So, somebody slaps a big, juicy sirloin in front of you, you walking away." Travis says as Dean looks thoughtful for a second and then admits 'no' without words, only raising an eyebrow, as he slowly looks at Sam. "That's what we are to him now, meat on legs. I'm sorry, I'm sure he's a stand-up guy, but it's pure, base instinct. Everything in nature's gotta eat. You think he can stop himself 'cause he's nice?"

That's when Sam responds as he sounds firm and very serious. "I don't know. But we're not gonna kill him unless he does something to get killed for." Sam says as Dean looks over at him at that.

Sam takes a few breaths and then walks out of the room, as Travis looks over at Dean, who is a bit puzzled by Sam's reaction, along with Ana as she looked back down to her book that she was reading.

"What's up with your brother?" Travis asked as Dean looks at the door and then at Travis.

"Don't get me started." Dean says as he turns to sit down again, this time he sits down next to Ana on their shared bed.

───※ ·❆· ※───

hannah speaks!

see you in the next chapter, which is part two!

i had to split the chapter... oops!

anyway, hope you like the chapter!