Damaged

Chapter 1

Avery, New York

John Winchester drove steadily down the relatively empty highway to Avery, New York. He could have driven faster—he hadn't seen another car in at least half an hour, so he easily could have been speeding right now, except he wasn't sure how smart that was, as it was pouring down rain, and it was already hard to concentrate with the news.

His sister was dead. The words seemed foreign and unbelievable in John's mind, but he knew it was right. He hadn't heard from his little sister, Lydia, in over six years, but still…

With Mary's death, a relationship that had once been close enough to send Christmas cards over every holiday season had declined seriously. John had lost contact with everyone, including his last remaining family, his little sister Lydia. He knew he should have tried to contact her before—the last he had seen of her was a picture in a newspaper in Ohio—the announcement of her recent wedding to a Michael Fallon. That was six years ago, and in that time, he hadn't had much time to think of her.

Lydia had meant well whenever she had contacted John, in the first few years after Mary's death. She had tried to help him and his boys—she had even relatively believed his story about the suspicions behind Mary's death. Then again, Lydia had always been religious—in the Catholic religion, demons were real. What else had Christ been around to exorcise? But ghosts, werewolves, clowns that ate people? Lydia had drawn the line, and been on the edge of calling in mental help for John. That was around the time when John had severed all contact with his sister. He hadn't seen her since, and he never would again, because Lydia Winchester Fallon was dead.

She had been dead for over five years, and John had never known. She had died in childbirth, giving birth to her and Michael's twins: Genevieve Marie Fallon and Michael Alexander Fallon, Jr. Her twins had survived, and until a few weeks ago, they had been living with their father in his old house at the outskirts of a small town Avery, New York.

It had been so sudden, learning everything. One of Sam's teachers had family in Avery. She had even known Lydia before her death, she said. Mrs. Elizabeth Banner. The teacher's name had been Mrs. Banner.

Mrs. Banner had known about Lydia's death for years, but until she had had Sam in her class, she hadn't thought a thing about it. Then Sam was in her class, with the same last name as Lydia's maiden name (Mrs. Banner and Lydia had known each other long enough to share family histories), and after returning from Christmas break with word of the death of Lydia's husband and son, the story had spilled out to John.

The teacher hadn't even known they were related until the story slipped out during a parent-teacher conference, one of the few John had managed to attend. She had been forced to reveal the death of his estranged sister, and more so, the recent fire that had killed her husband and five-year-old son, Alex. Only the daughter, Ginny Fallon, had survived.

It had taken awhile for John to decide to come to Avery. Only when he was sure that the Lydia Mrs. Banner knew was his sister had he come, more to be sure it was Lydia, and not someone else. Still. The idea of a niece was definitely new. Mrs. Banner admitted she knew nothing about the condition of the little girl, but perhaps he could find out. He doubted he would speak to her. He just wanted to get the hospital, confirm a death certificate on Lydia, Michael, and little Alex, and leave.

While Sam was currently sleeping in the back of the car, Dean was occupied with his sixteenth birthday present, which he had only received a week ago. A brand new walkman, top of the line. It even played tapes, for when John was out of town with the car, so Dean could have a bit of the mullet rock with him while his father was gone.

About a mile ahead, John thought he could see lights. That had to be Avery. It was the only town out this far in northern New York that John had seen on the map, a few towns back. He braced the wheel of the Impala, flexing his fingers a few times to gain some feeling in them again, and accelerated.

"Dad?"

"Yeah, Sam?" John glanced back at his younger son, looking away from the small town Main Street of Avery, New York. The town really was small. At the very front it was made up of a church, a few old, seldom-entered antique shops, and a grocery store. The stores were all made up of wood with peeling paint and windows that were fogged and dusty, or cracked and put back together with duck tape. A few shady looking apartments lined up behind the stores, with a relatively cheap motel next door to the church.

"How come you never told us about Aunt Linda?" Sam asked, leaning against the door to the backseat of the Impala.

"Lydia," John corrected, "Her name was Lydia. And I hadn't seen her in awhile Sam."

"Why not?" Sam piped up, now sitting up a little.

John forced a heavy sigh, taking a left turn at the one light in town, onto Greyson street. At the end, he could just see a tall, white three story building. The hospital (the only one in town, it appeared) was also the one occupied by Ginny Fallon, according to the waitress at the diner John had stopped in a few minutes ago, to grab a quick dinner for his boys before they went to the hospital, then stopped in a motel for the night.

"Lydia and I didn't exactly see eye-to-eye," John said carefully, picking out every word to make sure he didn't say the wrong thing, "She didn't really understand…"

"Hunting?" Sam offered, "She didn't believe in ghosts, did she?"

"Not just that," John said flatly, pulling smoothly into the hospital parking lot. It was small, but still relatively empty except for the few reserved parking spots. John pulled in towards the front of the lot, and grabbed a badge for Social Services he had printed out a few months ago. Thank God for Kinko's, he thought, clipping the badge to the front of his shirt. He didn't have time to get to a motel and a change, but hopefully he could pass off anyway. Besides, he didn't think he'd be around more than once or twice.

"You guys hang tight here," John said as he got out of the car.

"Do we have to?" Sam groaned, "I'm tired of sitting in the car."

"Just a while, kid." John promised, "Tell you what," He tossed the keys at Dean, who caught them with a look of faint surprise on his face, "Dean, there's a credit card in the glove compartment. Go check us into a room and get some dinner for you and Sam. I'll call you when I need to get picked up, okay?"

"Sure," Dean said, still looking faintly surprised, but nevertheless, he hurried out of the car, trying to look calm and cool, and jumped into the driver's seat. Sam crawled over the back of the front seat and landed in the passenger seat.

"Be careful with the car," John said automatically as Dean pushed the keys into the ignition.

"Yessir," Dean said, still trying to hide his euphoria at getting to drive. John watched and waited as Dean backed up with ease, and drove out of the parking lot. Dean would be fine, John reminded himself, He was a good, smart kid. He could handle a car and credit car for a few hours.

"Social Services?" The nurse repeated, looking skeptical. "Why would Social Services need to see the death certificate of a woman that died in childbirth?"

"We're just patching some things up on a case with a kid in the ward upstairs." John said emotionlessly, "Lydia Fallon? Her kid's upstairs."

The woman's expression blanked slightly, "The Fallon girl?"

John raised an eyebrow, "I take it you know about her, then."

"Everyone knows about the fire at the Fallon place," The nurse said matter-of-factly. It was then that John noticed her nametag said 'Nancy' in capital bronze letters. She had thick, curly red-brown hair pulled into a ponytail, and was wearing purple scrubs. She wasn't wearing much make up, but she was still a relatively attractive woman, probably mid-thirties or so.

"Ginny's been here nearly a week now," Nancy went on, "I work up in the pediatric ward sometimes, when I need the extra money. It's the sweetest little girl, but God, it's horrible what's happened to her."

John leaned forward a little, silently cursing himself. Dammit, he hadn't meant to let the girl get involved. He was just here to get proof about Lydia, and move on. Not learn about his possible niece.

"What exactly happened?" John asked, "I haven't read her file yet," He lied.

"Well, it's all over town." Nancy said, "Like you know, her mother died in childbirth. Anyway, Ginny and her brother were being raised by their father—"

"Michael Fallon, right?" John interjected.

"Correct." Nancy nodded, then went on, "He was a good dad. Brought the kids in for check-ups and shots, the usual. You could tell he adored those kids. They were happy with him, too. He never had any problems in town, and from what I gathered the few times I met them before this week, they were a happy party of three. Alex and Ginny were good kids. Polite, a little quiet, but dang smart."

"So Michael was a good dad for them?" John asked, swallowing.

"Definitely. At least, I thought so." Nancy's expression faltered a little, "Then this whole thing came up."

John raised his eyebrows, interested at once, "How's that?"

"No one has found Michael or Alex's bodies yet," Nancy said, "It's been a week, and they've been searching the house and all the land around it."

"Where did the Fallons live, anyway?" John asked.

"About ten miles north of town," Nancy explained, "It's this big old manor, really rural and hard to get to…It's been in Michael's family for years. He and Lydia moved in just after they got married. The house had been left to him in his parents' will, and they died about a year before Michael and Lydia were married. Anyway, they've been searching all week through the remains of the house—only the third floor and part of the second were burnt up—but they can't find anything. And the things Ginny says…" At this, she now looked a little distressed.

John frowned, "What's she saying?"

Nancy shifted uncomfortably, "She's having horrible nightmares—well, any kid would, but she hardly sleeps unless she's sedated, and she won't eat much or even talk. Not to mention she was pretty banged up from the fire—burned all over the place, she broke her arm when she jumped out the window. And when she does, she's…not normal."

She had jumped out of a window, on her own? That alone was pretty strange. "She just saw a pretty bad thing." John said, "I'd be a little screwed up, too."

"So would I," Nancy agreed, "But this is a step past abnormality and post-traumatic stress disorder."

"How's that?" John asked, now getting a weird vibe from this.

The nurse shifted uncomfortably, tapping her fingers idly on her desk, "She says there was someone in the house." Nancy explained, "Someone…bad."

"Such as?"

"She said she saw a woman," Nancy said, "A tall, scary looking woman…her words, not mine, by the way. She said this woman had dark, dark black eyes, and tried to hurt her."

John's eyes immediately widened to the size of dinner plates. Black eyes? A fire? Missing family? Goddammit, why hadn't he seen the possibilities before…

"Has anything else strange happened, before or after this fire?" John asked quickly.

"Well, yes." Nancy swallowed, "One of the firemen—he was a friend of my sister's—well, he went up to go and get Ginny and her brother, they slept on the third floor by themselves…Well, he went up to get Ginny, and they saw him at the window, holding her, about to come down, but then he just…vanished."

"Vanished?" John repeated, "Like…"

"Vanished." Nancy said firmly, "They found out after excavating the third floor fell through, but when they went through the rubble, trying to find him after they found Ginny around the side of the house…he was gone. Ben was just gone."

This was beginning to scream paranormal activity. John could not ignore this any longer, and as much as he was beginning to dislike the idea, he had to talk to this kid.

"Just gone?" John pressed, deciding to get details on the fireman first, "Like…"

"Gone." Nancy said. "They can't find his body, on top of everything else. Ben, Michael, and little Alex…they're all gone."

John cleared his throat a little. Three missing bodies. A severely injured little girl. A burned down house. John couldn't deny it. Something was wrong with this picture.

"Can I speak to Ginny?" he asked, "You know, get her side to all this…"

At this, Nancy was obviously uncomfortable, "She's already been spoken to." The nurse said slowly, "By detectives, psychiatrists…We're trying to keep her relatively isolated, sir. She really is just a little girl…"

"I understand that," John nodded agreeably, "But ma'am, if this is as serious as I'm beginning to think it is, I just need a word with her. It won't take long, and I won't press any subjects she won't go into, alright?"

Nancy looked hesitant, but after a long pause, she exhaled for a long sigh, and stood up, tugging at the tail of her scrubs, "Well, okay. A few minutes." She came around the long counter of the hospital's nurses' station, and began towards the elevator, "I guess it can't hurt—" At that, there was a loud, electronic beeping. Nancy glanced at her wrist, where a black wristwatch had been Velcro'd to her arm.

"Oh crap." She muttered, then she turned and glanced up apologetically at John, her long red hair swinging, "Look, I really don't mean for this to happen now, but I've got to go with a patient who's getting some shots…Can this wait or…"

"If you direct me to the room, I can find her myself." John said. This was much better. Asking the kid questions about ghouls could not be easy with this nurse hanging around…

Nancy hesitated again, then her watch beeped again. "Crap, well, alright. She's room 213, second floor, just on your right from the elevators. If she's sleeping, just wake her up gently. I'll be up in a few minutes."

John nodded, "Of course." And as Nancy ran off towards the front of the hospital again, where John had passed by the clinic, he hurried towards the elevator. He only had a few minutes to ask all the right questions. With any luck, this kid wasn't for real. Hunting down an arsonist was one thing. Hunting down a demonic arsonist was completely different.

Well there's the official first chapter. I hope you guys like it. Review a little and let me know how I'm doing. It'll probably be awhile before the next chapter, but I'll try and post soon.