A.N.: I forgot to mention this in the last chapter. The letters Dean gives to Sam are mentioned for the first time in my other story, Calling, in Chapter 15. Just in case you'd like to read more about them.

A huge thanks goes to Yuuutsuna for helping me with the latin parts of this chapter. And also thanks to Kaz for beta reading this chapter; as always, all mistakes are mine.

It didn't take Dean long to find Elena's tracks leading away from the crashed helicopter

It didn't take Dean long to find Elena's tracks leading away from the crashed helicopter. Thanks to the fact that it hadn't rained the last two days, Dean had no problem following her footsteps until he stood in front of a small wooden cottage. It looked old and shabby and Dean could hardly believe that anyone would voluntarily live in it.

But it was perfect for a witch.

Quietly, he crept closer and looked through one of the windows. They were so dirty that he could hardly make out anything on the inside. He carefully scraped off some of the dirt until he had created a small hole – big enough for him to look through. He still couldn't see much but he was pretty certain that there was an altar on the other side of the room. It was mostly hidden in the darkness, but he knew enough about altars to know when he saw one.

He narrowed his eyes to see more clearly, when he suddenly heard a creaking noise behind him. Before he had the chance to turn around and pull his weapon, his head exploded in pain and everything turned black.

XXXXXXX

"Ego tibi impero. Et si mihi iubenti obsecutus non eris otrum si venire noluis, et terribilissime te exsecrabor …"

A muffled, hoarse voice was the first Dean heard when he slowly came back to life. He groaned when he felt something pull at his shoulders and it took him a moment to realize that he was hanging above the ground with his hands tied up over his head. He blinked until the black dots stopped dancing in front of his eyes and he was able to make out blurry images before him.

One of the images had a strong resemblance of an old woman leaning over a table. No, not a table. An altar.

When the rushing in his ears finally stopped, he could make out her words more clearly. Not that that was any help. He didn't understand a word of what she was saying.

"Hey!" He called for her.

She didn't stop. She didn't even look up.

"Uhm, hello? Hi? Don't let me disturb you, but could you maybe cut me loose here? I'll leave you alone with whatever you're doing then. No? Okay …" He tried loosening the ropes that held his hands. This wasn't exactly the most comfortable position he'd ever found himself in. He pulled strongly a few times, the only outcome being the rope cutting deeper into his wrists.

"Son of a bitch …" Dean cursed under his breath. He felt the results of his movements against the ropes as his skin broke further and released a warm flow of blood.

"…et te in locum horribilem exsulabor!"

The woman – Elena Majovic, Dean was sure of that – finally stopped. The sudden absence of incantation made Dean stop in his attempts to free himself. When he looked at Elena, she was standing upright next to the altar, staring back at him.

"You shouldn't have come here." She said in a hoarse voice.

"I can't help but agree with you there." Dean smirked. "Look, I didn't mean to break in or steal something. I got lost and when I saw your cottage, I thought you might have a phone and …"

"You should have stayed with your brother." Elena cut him off.

Dean cursed inwardly. So much for Plan A. "Again, I tend to agree." He smirked. "So why don't you let me go back to him."

She only cast him a short look, before her attention turned to something outside. Without looking at Dean again, Elena opened the only door leading out of the cottage and stepped outside.

"That's okay. I'll just wait here for you. It's a nice place to hang around." Dean called after her. He cracked his neck to catch a glimpse of what was going on outside but he couldn't see a thing. It was too dark.

Dark?

"Crap." Dean's eyes widened in shock. For how long had he been unconscious? It couldn't have been later than noon when he had found the cottage. He tried once more to loosen the rope but without success.

A moment later, Elena entered the room again.

"Don't bother. You won't be able to get out of it. Just like you weren't able to leave the forest." She said without looking at him.

Dean frowned. "So that had been you."

"A little spell was all it took to keep you here." Elena replied with a mischievous smile.

Not that it made him any less angry, but it did make Dean feel better knowing that in reality it hadn't been his fault that they had ended up back at Jackson's cabin twice in a row.

Jackson's cabin.

Sam.

Crap!

"Look, you need to let me go. My brother, he's sick. I need to make sure he's all right." Dean tried to reason with Elena. She wasn't after him or Sam, so there was no reason for her to keep them here.

"Then you shouldn't have left him."

"Look, lady, we have nothing to do with this little revenge game you're playing. Just let us …"

"I won't let you stop me." Elena cut him off; her voice filled with anger and grief.

"If it's not us, someone else will." Dean replied between gritted teeth. "You think you can walk around killing people and no one is going to notice?"

"They deserve to die." Elena replied.

"That's what they said about your son." Dean hissed. This probably wasn't the smartest approach but he never had been the patient type.

Elena paled visibly and fury welled up in her eyes. "You know nothing about my son." She hissed.

"I know that he got hanged for killings that weren't his doing. And now you're getting your revenge." Dean said. "Don't get me wrong, I understand the feeling. But this is wrong. Some of the people you killed had nothing to do with your son's death."

"There are no innocents in that town." Elena replied coldly.

"And Lars Anderson? He had still been a child when …"

A cold, hoarse laughter came from Elena.

Dean stopped his blood ran cold.

"Lars Anderson is the reason I wasn't with Jurij when he needed me the most." She said coldly.

It took Dean a moment to understand what she was saying. "You saved him, didn't you? Lars was attacked by the Hrian when he was six. Since he survived, I reckon someone had had to help him. You."

"The Hrian?" Elena looked at him amused.

"What? You didn't know it's name?" Dean mocked her.

Elena dismissed his remark with a cold stare. "I wasted my time with Lars Anderson. His life for Jurij's … it wasn't fair."

"This doesn't bring your son back."

"No, it doesn't." A sad look flashed over Elena's face – it was gone after a moment. She cast one last glance at Dean before she turned around and stepped out of the cottage. She didn't even bother to close or lock the door – Dean was in no position to free himself.

"Hey, wait!" Dean called after her.

She didn't come back.

XXXXXXX

Dean groaned loudly as he pulled at the ropes for what felt like the hundredth time. Through the partly open door, he could see the first rays of the sun glimmering through the trees. The fire in the chimney had died hours ago; he was cold and his hands felt limp.

"That bitch is so going to pay …" He swore under his breath.

"Dean?"

Dean's head jerked up as he heard his brother's whispered voice. "Sam?"

A moment later the younger Winchester's head poked through the partially open doorway, his eyes widened in surprise when he saw Dean hanging from the ceiling.

"You okay?" He asked as he stepped into the cottage, using a huge wooden stick as a crutch as he limped towards his brother.

"What are you doing here?" Dean asked incredulously.

"When you didn't come back I figured something was wrong." Sam replied as he pulled out a large knife to cut Dean loose.

"You should have stayed in the cabin." The older Winchester chastised him.

Sam stopped the knife right in front of the rope. "You want me to go back?" He cocked an eyebrow at him.

Dean glared at him angrily. "Just cut me loose. I can hardly feel my arms anymore."

"You're welcome." Sam smirked as he finally freed Dean. "So, what happened?"

Dean rolled his shoulders and stretched his arms a few times before he replied. "This freakin' witch took me by surprise." He glanced at Sam who looked pale, exhausted and worse for wear in general. "Sit down before you fall over."

Sam looked from his brother to the chair he was pointing at and a second later sunk gratefully down. "Where is she?" He asked.

"Who?"

"Elena."

"Right. Damn!" Cursing, Dean looked around the cottage as if he expected to find her standing in the next corner. "I think she set the Hrian on her next victim."

"Shit." With a painful groan, Sam heaved himself up from the chair using the wooden stick as extra support.

"What are you doing?" Dean asked, his hand reaching out to steady his brother who swayed dangerously on his feet, despite the crutch he was using.

"We have to go after it." Sam replied.

"I have a better idea." Dean grinned. He pointed back at the chair. "Sit down and let the professionals deal with this."

"Dean …"

The older Winchester send his brother a determined glare and Sam didn't have the energy to discuss the matter any further with him. Sighing, he sank back down on the chair. "What idea?"

"She's using the altar to control the Hrian, right? No altar, no control." Dean grinned. He walked up to the altar and with a growl he threw it over. "That should teach that witch to go up against a Winchester."

"You think it'll stop now?" Sam asked doubtfully.

"No, but it'll stop going after the people Elena wants it to go after." Dean replied smirking.

"But …"

"I know, Sam." Dean cut him off. "If she's near the Hrian, Elena is likely to be it's next victim."

Dean knew exactly what his brother would going to say, even before Sam opened his mouth to reply.

"We have to help her."

"We have to kill the Hrian." Dean countered.

Sam raised an eyebrow. "We can do both, can't we?"

Dean exhaled annoyed, but relented. "Fine, we save the witch. Not that she deserves it." He growled. "So, how do we kill the Hrian?"

"There must be some records here about it. Spells or rituals she used to call and control him."

Both brothers looked around the room until their eyes fell on a thick, old book lying on the kitchen table.

"Must be it." Dean said, fetching the book and handing it to his brother. "Here, research boy, show your magic."

Sam started skimming through the pages; he had a hard time deciphering Elena's scrawly handwriting.

"This book is full of spells." He said after a few minutes. "I'm not sure which is the one we need."

"She was using some Latin words before the Hrian showed up. Something like … ego exsecror tu … expellere horribilis … locus … I think."

"There was something .. wait … Here!" Excited, Sam pointed at one of the pages. "This is the one she must have used to call it."

Dean shook his head in astonishment. It always astounded him how his kid brother could pin point things like that with so little information. It would annoy him to no end with anyone else, but with Sam, it made him proud. Not that he would ever say that out loud of course.

"Great. So we call it … then what?" He asked. "We still don't know how to kill it."

"I've been thinking about that …" Sam replied hesitantly.

"And?" Dean urged him to go on.

"When the Hrian attacked me, it felt like it was sucking out … my life."

"So you said." Dean replied through gritted teeth. The thought of Sam getting attacked by this thing still sent shivers down his spine. And it multiplied his anger towards the Hrian by a hundred.

"Well, what if we get the Hrian to suck from someone who's already dead?"

Dean shook his head in confusion. "Come again?"

"We bait the Hrian into attacking one of us and while's it's busy with us, we put some dead part in between. If it takes in the … dead, it might die."

"This is the most ridiculous plan I ever heard. But it might work." Dean added with a smirk. "Okay, finding a dead guy won't be hard. There are at least two of them lying around in the woods."

Sam was obviously uncomfortable at the thought. "We should bury them afterwards … or at least tell someone where they are."

"We will." Dean promised. "As soon as we've finished the bad guy off. I get the body and you prepare everything to call the Hrian when I'm back."

"I hope we're fast enough before it attacks anyone else." Sam said quietly.

"It'll be busy with the witch." Dean grinned. He ignored the chastising look of his brother.

His grin faded when he saw Sam getting up from the chair with a pain filled grimace.

"Let me see your wound before I leave." He said.

"Dean, we don't have time for that. Besides, I took so many antibiotics and pain meds before I left, I doubt there's anything else you can do." Sam reassured him.

Dean didn't want to hear any of it. "Let me see for myself."

"Go and get the body, Dean. We don't have time for this." Sam insisted. "People's lives are at stake."

Dean wanted to protest, but Sam's stern look told him that his brother wouldn't budge this time. And he had a point – they didn't have much time if they wanted to stop the Hrian.

"Have everything ready when I come back." Dean said before he turned to leave the cabin. He forced himself to not cast a last glance at his brother; he hated leaving him behind again.

"And watch out for the Hrian." Sam called after him. "It's after everyone now."

Dean wished he didn't know this all too well himself. That would have made it easier leaving Sam behind a second time.

TBC