"Every Rainbow is a promise kept by GOD."

Chapter 4.

~0~

Sam was drained..

How could he not be? After all, he hadn't slept more than a few minutes at a time over the last five days.

His fatigue and the fact that he hadn't exactly been taking the best care of himself, was his downfall.

Dean had, had no conscience or mercy when he used the prime opportunity of Sam's exposed weaknesses, to tackle Sam to the ground and drag him into the bunker's dungeon.

And like Dean's demonic self, had been silently vowing over the last few days, there truly was, hell to pay for poor Sam.

Dean had to hand it to his kid brother though, Sam had remained stoic through the slicing and the gouging and even the dislocating of the fingers on his right hand.. It was Dean going for Sam's injured, right shoulder, that had made Sam make the first sound, that he had made in Dean's presence, in almost a week.

And the stupid, pathetic part of it was that Dean hadn't even done anything to the shoulder.. yet.. All he had done was go to cut the fabric of Sam's shirt away from the area… Dean liked being able to see the flesh open up to the cut of his blade, he liked knowing what was tendons, what was veins, he liked having visual confirmation of the pain he was inflicting..

Curious, now that Sam had whimpered at the first cut into the fabric, Dean began to pull the fabric back… The shoulder couldn't be that bad, that Sam would be cowed by his big brother simply getting a look at it.. Unless there was some serious damage, that Sammy boy was trying to keep hidden from whatever his big brother had planned… And wouldn't that be just too funny?, That Sam's first reaction to anything in almost a week would be to torture he perceived was about to happen instead of the torture that had already been brought down on him, instead of all the purposefully cruel and vicious things Dean has said to him while in his demonic state?

When Dean finally peeled away the shirt and the bandages that was covering Sam's right shoulder, he had to say, that even for a demon, he was shocked.. Dean had been to Heave, Hell and Purgatory, he had lived and died more times than he could count.. He had seen and done his fair share of very, very bad things.. He had been a firsthand witness to the spray of blood, guts and gore for most of his life.. So when the sight of Sam's mangled shoulder, churned even his own stomach, yeah.. It was bad…

Tisking as he caressed the wound with the tip of his blade, Dean looked at Sam, who looked away… Sam was apparently ashamed of the wound.. Or, of how he had gotten the wound.. Oh, so that's why the kid didn't want him to see..

"Samm-mmy.." Dean said in a sing-song tone "Now what did you go and do to yourself?.. Hmm?.. Cause it looks like you've been mauled by something big, bad and fugly.."

"It's none of your business." Sam stated somberly.. "Look… Whatever you're gonna do, just do it.."

"And get it over with.. Kill you… blah, blah, blah… Sam… You might as well get comfortable, cause you are gonna be here for a while.."

"Oh I wasn't expecting you to kill me anytime soon.. Nah, that wouldn't be much fun for either of us... I was just hoping you'd get back to more cutting and less talking." Sam stated with a roll of his eyes.

"Aww, Sammy.. Having a smart mouth, full of witty comebacks, isn't gonna make this any easier on you, kiddo.."

"Well, at least I have my smart mouth instead of your stupid face.. So I'd say that it's already easier for me.." Sam's retort was cut off by Dean backhanding him across the jaw.

"Are you tryin to piss me off, little brother?"

"Nah.." Sam stated dismissively "If I was tryin to piss you off, all I'd have to do is breath wrong.. See watch, I bet I can piss you off, just by breathing wrong."

Then Sam went about proving his point.. He took a breath in, held it for three seconds, let it out, breathing out for six seconds, took another breath in, held it for five seconds, let it out, breathing out for three seconds, took another breath in and let it right back out, breathing out for five seconds… And over and over again, with no set pattern, with no rhythm.. And Sam was right.. That was annoying as fuck..

"Stop that." Dean growled.

"Stop that." Sam mimicked, purposefully sounding like a child..

"Seriously?.. Copycatting me?"

"Seriously?.. Copycatting me?" Sam looked up at him with a smirk.

Shit… When exactly had the shoe gotten on the other foot, here?.. Dean was flustered beyond the ability to think and no matter how many times he punched Sam in the face, Sam just grinned at him like there wasn't any effect whatsoever..

Feeling rage pulsing inside him, Dean fled the room so he wouldn't just fly off the handle and kill Sam… Because he wanted to draw it out, he wanted Sam to suffer and he was not going to let Sam piss him off enough to make him rob himself of that..

And now that he was able to walk around outside his head became clearer.. Sam had totally played him… By diverting his attention onto other things, Sam had managed to keep his attention off that injured shoulder…

Just what was the deal with that shoulder anyway?

He didn't know what was pissing him off more, the fact that Sam didn't just cave and tell him how he had hurt the shoulder, or the fact that Sam was already hurt when he had gotten to him.. It made things.. Less sportsmanlike?.. Less fun?, Less challenging?.. He didn't really know.. But whatever it was that he was feeling, deep down inside him, was annoying the fuck out of him.. And that was serving to piss him off..

Oooh, he just wanted to hit something!... To cut something… To cut someone and make them scream!

But Sam wasn't exactly being the most cooperative subject at the moment.. But, Sammy boy always did have a bleeding heart when it came to others… Maybe if Dean tossed some sweet, innocent soul into the room and started cutting on them… Maybe then, Sam would be a bit more… Receptive to giving Dean the kinds of reactions he was seeking….

TBC…