Crescendo of the Moon: (5/?)

[pixel_0]

Previous chapters can be found here.

Five

            Sam wanted a different motel room, even in a different state, to stay at, not liking the idea of being eaten in the middle of the night. Dean, on the other hand, refused to leave, arguing that he had already dropped serious cash to bribe the man into getting their room in the first place and that if there was something out there, then he was going to be the one to kill it. Let it come to them, he argued.

 

            With that said, Sam turned to look at Dean in the car when they parked back at the motel. “Let it come to us?” Sam echoed incredulously, his voice rising in pitch as he stepped out of the Impala “That’s got to be the dumbest idea we’ve had yet. And we’ve had some really dumb ideas before.”

 

            “And why’s that?”

 

            “Then we’re playing by its rules, and we don’t even know what those rules are, let alone what it is. We should get a new place, then, if we really have to, study it from afar before we move in for the kill. This is just asking for trouble.”

 

            Dean laughed, and he popped the trunk latch with a muffled click. His dark glasses caught the pieces of the sun as he turned his head in Sam’s direction. Sam squinted against the light, but Dean, except for where the sun reflected off his glasses and ring, had disappeared into the sun. “Oh, Sammy,” Dean responded, examining his prized collection of weapons in the shadows of his trunk, “I don’t ask for trouble, I demand it.”

 

Exasperated by his brother and knowing that with the keys in Dean’s possession, they weren’t leaving the motel anytime soon, Sam rolled his eyes with a dismissive shake of his head. However, Dean ignored Sam’s frustration and shoved a chunky bag at him, who looked down at it in bewilderment. “What the hell?”

 

“Weapons,” Dean replied, stepping out of the sunlight so Sam could see him clearly. “Lots of weapons. If Godzilla thinks I’m going to be his next Lunchable, then he’s got another thing comin’.” Dean grinned, his teeth dazzlingly white against tanned skin. “You ever wanted snakeskin boots?”

 

Sam had no choice but to follow Dean into the motel to prepare their room for what Sam figured was going to be a very long night.

 

            While Dean scrawled ancient symbols he copied from their father’s notebook onto the wall, Sam sat on the bed, fighting the urge to cross his arms like a pouting four year old and tell Dean that he was stupid for doing this. Their motel room, once a stale-smelling room in need of a modern decorator, had been transformed into a mess of rock salt, Latin phrases and scattered guns. When Dean began humming one of his rock songs, Sam decided that the room looked like something out of a futuristic movie where the main heroes waited for the hand of evil to smite them to hell so that they could blow away the god effortlessly. Sam wished his life would really stop looking like an Armageddon flick gone bad with his older brother supplying the soundtrack.

 

            Dean rose from his crouched position and stepped away from the wall to admire his work. He wasn’t sure what kind of creature they were dealing with, but he had prepared everything according to his father’s journal’s pages. Although there were curses and protections against nearly twenty different supernatural monsters, he assumed that at least one of his hand-drawn charms would work. And if pencil outlines didn’t work, then he would resort to one of the variant firearms lined up beneath their beds.

 

            With the idea of a new creature to hunt, Dean forced himself to feel excited enough to block out the rising dread in the back of his mind. In spite of Sam’s continual complains, Dean was undeterred in this sudden hunt against a monster that the scientists did not know and the locals hadn’t talked about. He grinned to the wall, imagining the look on his father’s face when he told him that Sam and he had brought down a brand new creature—together. At last, he would be able to write his own entry in the journal.

 

            The brothers drank enough caffeine to remain awake through the night and tucked themselves into bed to lure the creature back into the room. Sam clutched a curved blade under his pillow, fighting to keep his breathing smooth and easy. Across the space between their beds, Dean’s eyes glittered in the pale moonlight trickling through the curtains and focused themselves on Sam’s. Although Sam could not see Dean’s hands, he knew that they were tightly wrapped around a metallic firearm loaded with silver bullets Dean himself had expertly crafted.

 

            As they lay in their separate beds, eyes concentrating on the other pair, each was reminded of all the nights they stayed awake similar to this. Except when they were children, they spoke of the hunts with their father and told stories about their school lives that, in their blatant ordinariness, had seemed surreal. Now, their lips were silent, but they told their stories once again, and both hoped that the story of the night would end with victory over the unknown.

 

            Sam had lost track of time when their door creaked open to briefly illuminate the room before closing again. If he had been asleep, he never would have heard the soft noise, but as he was concentrating so heavily, the hushed squeak seemed enormous. He tightened his sweating fingers around the handle of his knife, and he saw Dean’s forearm contract in a similar manner. Light steps padded across the carpet in a steady pattern that grew louder as they approached the twin beds. By the sounds alone, Sam assumed that there was more than one of whatever had entered their room. There was the swish of flesh rubbing against flesh, a silken foreign whisper, and he felt the blankets by his leg rustle slightly when the figure passed by.

 

            Dean and Sam had the same thought when they both snapped upward to a standing position in their beds, lashing towards the dark shadows in the middle of their room. There was the explosion of gunfire, and suddenly, an overpowering hiss like that of a massive snake. As had been planned, Sam scuttled to the doorway and flipped on the light switch, back pressed to the wall and knife held out in front of him. When the room was illuminated, he felt his stomach drop and mouth go dry. Until Dean bellowed at him and blasted him back to reality, Sam’s knife wavered at the sight of what stood in their presence.

 

            They appeared to be lizards, if lizards were to stand on their hind legs and had a height of men. One of the monsters was scaled in luminescent black, while the other wore a muddy green coloring. Both of them, however, had thick back legs, each foot featuring multiple massive claws at the end. They had long arms with four fingers and an opposable thumb, as well as an elongated, sinewy tail that had its own daggered spikes digging into the carpet. Their yellow eyes were pinched in anger, and while two large fangs dipped over the bottom jaw, when they opened their mouths, Sam saw endless rows of white teeth coated in saliva and blood dried brown on their upper lips.

 

            “Sam!” Dean shouted, shooting again, but the creatures darted out of the way, faster than something so large should have been able to move in such a small room. “Sam! Li’l bit of help here!”

 

            Snapping out of his paralyzing fear, Sam dashed back to his bed, knife in one hand and grabbing a flamethrower in the other fist. As soon as he had picked up the new weapon, the green monster turned its eyes on Sam and swatted him across the room with its tail, where he crashed into the wall and cracked the dilapidating drywall, landing with a groan on the gasp and the wind knocked out of him. With Sam temporarily disabled, the lizards turned their attention back to Dean.

 

            In a motion quicker than Dean was able to follow, the black creature knocked the guns out of his hands. The green one latched a hooked hand around his throat and dragged him from his standing position on the bed to the floor, where his knees buckled underneath him when he met the creature’s eyes. There was a child screaming again, and he could smell burning flesh while he gasped for air. Dean gave a choked cry of pain, fingers fumbling to pry the suffocating grip away from his neck and mouth gaping in a struggle to breathe. As Dean sputtered and thrashed, blood springing from where the lizard’s nails punctured the back of his neck, the creatures gave a silent look of communication between the two of them. They began to drag Dean, who was still writhing on his knees, across the floor to the doorway.

 

            However, Sam was on his feet again and rushing towards them, rapidly firing and screaming obscenities. “No! Stop! No!” In one smooth gesture, the black lizard turned and faced Sam. It gave a malicious roar unlike anything he had ever heard before, and with the back of its hand, it hit Sam so hard in the head, he heard a sharp crack fire through his brain. All thought was blasted from his mind when his skull snapped loosely on his neck. In a heap of twisted limbs, he tumbled to the ground, and his eyes rolled back in their sockets while thin threads of blood hurried from his nostrils and over his warm lips.

 

            Seeing his younger brother, Dean gave one final, valiant twist and managed to get enough air to scream, “Sam!” Something hot fell across his cheek, and he did not know if it was a fresh tear or a droplet of blood that caressed his skin when he cried out again. As if answering the call he gave to his sibling, the green creature gave a violent squeeze of its clawed talon. With a strangled whisper that resembled his brother’s name, Dean slipped under the blackness.

Chapter Six

Comments

[allstar12.livejournal.com]

Action packed! That was great, I have this image of really ugly t-rexs kicking their asses, lol.

[mrscutedean.livejournal.com]

niiiiiiiiiiiice uh oh our boys are in trouble now

[relativity1953.livejournal.com]

Oh my! I don't know that I will ever be able to suffer... I mean 'sit' through DragonTails with my boys again! Or Pete's Dragon, for that matter.

I'm thinking of Tim Burton to direct your story, with some Danny Elfman tunes for atmosphere. I'd pay to see it!

Don't make me wait too long for the next chappy!

[jenshih-blue.livejournal.com]

OMG!!! You are so freakin' evil!! *whimpers & cries*

My poor boys...*cries*

Write faster dammit! :-)

[sionell8.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh, defeated by giant lizards! Poor boys!

[mmarinov.livejournal.com]

Argh!! Uh-uh! You can't injure Sam! lol. *Dean* is the one you hurt! Gosh...I hope Sam's okay, that sounded terribly like his neck cracking :S

[mellaithwen]

DUDE THEY TOOK HIM! Omg! They just...argh and there were two this time! Definate ominous music methinx, or maybe like really heavy orchestral music...like in Fantasia when the brushes go insane :D and the water's going everywhere and I'm going to shut up now!

[gothphyle.livejournal.com]

Eeeep! you know, this is really getting me on edge; kudos to you, the excellent writer, for racheting up the tension so well! *chews nails*

[pixel-0.livejournal.com]

lol. For some reason, I now have this great image of these dinos with army camo and bandanas wrapped around their heads with machine guns going, "Who's ready to fight? Huh? Huh? Bring it on!"

I think I've been awake way too long. Those early morning shifts at work really get you, I swear.

But, of course, thank you for the review! (I think, somehow, you always manage to be the first one to review this on either here or ff.net.) :)

[pixel-0.livejournal.com]

Trouble? Well, erm, yes. But, that's what they do best! Right? It's getting themselves out of trouble that's the fun part.

Thanks for the review! :)

[pixel-0.livejournal.com]

Hmm...yeah, best not to tell your sons that the little kids on DragonTrails may just get ripped out of their beds in the middle of the night...or that Elliot (isn't that the dragon's name in Pete's Dragon?) is going to eat Pete before the movie's up. Thank godness Barney's not on TV anymore because we all know he's in charge of this whole thing against Sam and Dean. It's like after he hit puberty, he went crazy.

Ooh...I like both of those suggestions for a director and music composer. Although, M. Night Can't-Spell-His-Last-Name (The guy who did "Sixth Sense" and "Unbreakable") could be cool too.

Okay! I'll try to have the next chapter up as soon as possible! Promise! Thanks for the review! :)

[pixel-0.livejournal.com]

*looks guilty* Yes, yes, I admit I'm evil. *puts on baseball cap to cover up horns* But, if I bring chocolate and cookies to the next chapter will that make it better? Ice cream even? Everybody loves ice cream, right? *looks hopeful*

lol. I'll work on that writing faster. The next chapter is already longer than this one as is...and that's before I send it off to the beta.

Thanks for the review! :)

[pixel-0.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you gotta watch out for those giant lizards; they'll get you everytime. But, it is Sam and Dean...so...I think they've got a pretty good chance of escaping, don't you?

Thanks for the review! :)

[allstar12.livejournal.com]

LMAO. Now Im going to see that everytime you mention the lizard thingies.

Hee, that's because I get an email that you've updated [@ ff.net] then I jet over here and wait for you to update here :) I think it's more personal reviewing this way, that's why I don't as much at ff.net.

[pixel-0.livejournal.com]

Does that mean I broke a rule, like as in "No SamWhumpage"? Because breaking fanfic rules are fun. *tries to control grin* I guess I injured Sam here because in the last one I wrote I had Dean get beaten up pretty badly when he got semi-eaten. I figured Sam needed his turn, too.

And the whole neck snapping thing? Yeah, I realized after I got reviewer feedback that the way I wrote it made it sound like his neck broke, which wasn't what I had in mind at all. (Surprisingly, I really do have my limits for beating up the boys.) I guess I was trying to write it as that really, really, sharp intense pain you feel when you hit your head really hard and you sort of lose control of yourself for a minute, so your head flails a bit around. Except not in those terms. Pretty, writing terms.

I'm rambling. I'll stop. I need sleep. So, I'll say thanks for the review and let it go at that. :)

[pixel-0.livejournal.com]

Ominous music all the way! We've got unconscious Sam and Dean who's either (1) just missing or (2) dead or (3) really badly injured or (4) off partying with the lizards. (Hint, it's not going to be number four. ;) ) Ack, I so wish I could hire somebody to do the soundtrack for this. That'd be awesome.

Thanks for the review! :)

[pixel-0.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! I actually got a bit antsy writing this thinking about all those nights as a kid I'd lie awake thinking I heard my door creak open and hearing somebody walk around in my room. (Yeah, I read too many scary books as a kid.) So, I'm glad (if that's the right word) that somebody else got the same feeling out of this chapter!

Thanks for the review! :)

[pixel-0.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, I like reviewing over here a lot better--and not just because of the pretty pictures I get to see while doing it. *pets boys* I don't know...it just feels "friendlier" over here instead of so formal over at ff.net. I like ff.net because they've got that lovely "stats" page, but you just don't get the same "sitting around the lunchtable talking about stuff" feeling over there. (Yeah, because that made sense.)

[allstar12.livejournal.com]

Hee, don't worry, it made sense. And I agree completely with you, it's nicer this way. Plus the pics are an added bonus :)

[mmarinov.livejournal.com]

Wait a second....semi-eaten...this sounds familiar! Have I read it? Recap the plot for me (please:P)

And oh thank god you hadn't broken his neck! lol. I mean, like you said, whumpage is one thing, but full out paralysing, life-altering, serious, nonreversable injuries are just wrong! And I thought you'd broken that silent taboo and i was so shocked! lol.

But breaking the...the preference...of keeping the Whumpage Dean-related is totally fine! Hehe, as long as you give us plenty of the other kind as well ;)

Looking forward to more (I even *dreamed* that I'd read the next chap of your fic. I quite liked it. hehe)

[mellaithwen]

IT CANNOT BE NUMBER 2! Dude I will SO throw a hissy fit at ya if it is!

*snorts at the prospect of no.4*

[pixel-0.livejournal.com]

Semi-eaten Dean...yeah, that was from my last fic "Sine Qua Non" where a big monster thing in the water munched off Dean's leg in the underworld. That whole story was the sequel to the one where Sam got stuck in the underworld, so Dean had to go through the underworld to get Sam back and then fight off the god of the dead so they could get back to earth with John and Mary. (Any of that sound familiar?) I never did post "Sine Qua" over here, though, so you would've had to read it over at ff.net.

Oh, no, I wouldn't paralyze the boys. It's either death or just whumpage. As much as I love both of them, I couldn't turn them into quadraplegics for the rest of the story. So, nope, no breaking of the silent taboo of no "paralysing, life-altering, serious, nonreversable injuries" in this story. Although it gives me plenty of ideas for the next one. *grins* lol. This one has long enough to go before I start planning for the next one. Way long enough.

You dreamed you read a chapter? Well, I'm flattered (if that's the appropriate word to use)! And I have to ask, what did the next chapter read like? :)

[pixel-0.livejournal.com]

*looks at the ground and shuffles feet*

I'm not saying anything.
Really.

*crosses arms*

I love Sam angst in Dean death fics, don't you? He's so...ooh...angsty and upset. Great emotions to write.

All right, all right, I'll stop. Go work on the next chapter, Pix...Yeah, yeah...

[mellaithwen]

*pouts*

Oh yes :D I've done four but only posted two lol, so many emotions in the young man. I think that's the only time I like Sam angst. I mean, I LOVE Dean angst, and I like Sam, but the best angst to give to him is loss...

[pixel-0.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree that nothing can top Dean angst, but there's something...about Sam angst that I like too. I don't know, but I usually have an easier time getting inside Sam's head (even if Dean is my favorite Winchester) so maybe that's why I like his angst as well.

Loss? I think that's the best to give the both of them. Dean's had so many losses in his life you'd think he'd be used to it, but I think it actually hurts him more than Sam, but that's just my opinion, of course.

[mellaithwen]

OH oooor Sam angst, that then triggers guilty Dean angst :D

Can dish it out to both yes, but Sam's easier to write grieving, well, no actually they're both similar in the writing scale...LOTS of issues to deal with, Sam feels he's been selfish, Dean feels as though he's failed in protecting Sam...Sam blames himself...Dean blames himself...

[mmarinov.livejournal.com]

Ah, nah, I don't think I've read it, I was thinking of something different. I shall def. get around to it though! Despite the horror of Dean's leg being nunched :O lol

Hehe, well, from what I can recall, it (my dream) was basically about Dean being dragged off and into this warehouse place...rope was involved *grins*

[why-me-why-not.livejournal.com]

Okay, so I was gonna wait until I got to the end of the most recently posted chapter before I commented, but I couldn't wait. Because this: “I don’t ask for trouble, I demand it.” and this If Godzilla thinks I’m going to be his next Lunchable, are just perfect. I love how you are spot-on with your characterizations of Dean and Sam.

And this too: Sam wished his life would really stop looking like an Armageddon flick gone bad with his older brother supplying the soundtrack.

I like the way you've portrayed Dean, who is a master at avoidance, and I like the idea that he's excited at the prospect of getting to write his own new entry into the journal. I can see that as a huge milestone for him.

And omg, the big scary lizards! Why are they after Dean? *rushes off to the next chapter*

[pixel-0.livejournal.com]

Well, can I say I'm glad you didn't wait until the end of the newest chapter to comment? I don't mind silent readers (I do it myself quite a bit), but I like to hear what people are thinking even more. It's really the only way I know if what I'm writing is any good!

*whew!* It's always good to hear that I get the characterizations of Sam and Dean. Sam's a lot easier for me to write than Dean, but I love the character of Dean so I'm working on getting him down. I just can never seem to be satisfied with the way I write him. Wonderful to know that somebody else thinks I can write Dean! :)

Thank you for the review! (I'll see you at the next chapter!)