A/N: No idea how you guys will react to this, honestly. I'm kind of nervous, but I hope you like it! Let me know what you think :)

The familiar tingle of power coursed through Sam's veins, filling him with confidence and the knowledge that he could do this, he could find his family and get out of here. He could do it.

As soon as they got out of the damn elevator, anyway.

"What do we do now?" The irritation in Max's voice was ruined somewhat by the way his voice broke in the middle of the sentence.

Jake shrugged, Ava looked distracted and Ruby smiled. None of those were encouraging responses. "I'm sure Sam can take care of it, right Sam?"

Sam shot her a surprised look. Was she – was she going to tell them about the blood? "Uh," he said.

"Come on," she wheedled, lipsticked grin flashing across her face. "We know you can do it, Sam. You've done this kinda thing before, right?"

"Uh," said Sam again. "I guess so."

"W-what kinda stuff?" Max looked between the two of them with confusion. "What's going on?"

Sam grimaced. He had to do this, he knew that, there was no way they'd get out of here otherwise – but that didn't mean he had to like it. "Alright." He swallowed, screwed his eyes shut and focused, hand reaching out of its own accord. Focus, that was all he needed to do. He was in control here.

There was quiet as the others watched him, only the sound of his heavy breathing filling the air as he tried to force the elevator into motion. His arm shook with the effect; still the elevator didn't move. "C'mon," he gritted out, trying to forget how the others were staring at him like he was crazy – trying to forget everything except how they needed to get out of here and he could get them there.

Dean. He needed Dean, more than he had ever needed anything in his entire life. Blood rushed in his ears, blocking out everything but the feeling of power as it surged through him and suddenly the elevator lurched into life, flinging itself downwards and sending them all tumbling to the ground. Just as suddenly, it stopped. Slowly, the doors slid open.

Picking themselves up from the ground, they stepped out one by one – they could only have made it one floor down, but they could take the stairs from here rather than stay in an elevator with a death-wish.

Only they never made it to the stairs.

As they stepped out into a spacious office, they were greeted by a pair of bright yellow eyes. Sam's breath caught in his throat as he took in the demon, slouched on the only desk in the room, papers and paper-clips and highlighters scattered across the surface of it.

He should have suspected, really. The demon had disappeared for so long that he really should have been wondering what it was doing – but he hadn't. He'd been so focused on getting away that he hadn't even thought about it.

The demon wasn't smiling as he normally was. His meatsuit's face was seat in a stony, almost disappointed glare. Without speaking, he raised one arm and thrust it out to his seat, fingers outstretched. There was a smack as Ruby hit the wall, pulled off her feet as she struggled.

"What the hell?" Max exploded. "What was that?" Jake and Ava were silent, staring at Ruby with wide eyes. The demon left her there, pinned like an insect. "I'll deal with you later, Ruby."

Sam gave Ruby a startled look, but she had eyes only for the demon. She was staring at him with something like hatred and confusion. Yellow-Eyes paid her no more attention, instead turning to face the cluster of children as they backed away.

"Hey, kids. I guess the others didn't make it, huh?"

Silence. Sam took another step back and bumped into a frozen Max. "What do you want?" he asked at last, trying both to sound brave and to get some sense out of the demon – for once. What others? Surely there weren't more psychic kids.

"First things first, Sammy-boy." The demon held up a hand and reached inside his tan jacket, eventually producing three glass vials almost identical to the one Sam had received from Ruby (had she managed to steal it from him somehow?). "Got a little something for ya, kids. It's only fair, right?" he added, grinning at Sam as he tossed the vials to each of the other kids in turn.

Jake stared at it. "What the hell's this?"

"Don't pretend you don't want it, Jakey. It's alright – we're all friends here." They glared at him, and he raised his hands in surrender. "Whatever, okay? I'm just sayin', you guys need this stuff. Might as well take a swig, huh?"

Jake swallowed, Adam's apple bobbing in his throat. He looked torn. Ava, on the other hand, had already unstoppered the vial and was gulping the blood down before Sam could stop her. It was only now that he noticed the way Jake's hands were shaking and shame crashed down on him. Jake was addicted too, of course he was – only Jake wasn't as weak as Sam. Jake had resisted the draw of the blood, something Sam hadn't been able to do.

Except maybe he'd spoken – er, thought – too soon, because the next thing he knew Jake had followed suit and swallowed down the blood. Max was already wiping the last of the blood from his lips with the back of his hand and Sam sagged in defeat. They were all in this together, more now than ever.

"What do you want?" he asked again, fists clenched at his side, power surging up inside him desperate to be released.

The demon chuckled. "You know what I want, Sammy. I want a general." His gaze flickered between them. "To lead the armies of Hell."

"Okay, you're a psycho." Ava waved her hands for emphasis, something Sam couldn't have done for the life of him, the way he was shaking. "You need to let us go right now."

Another chuckle. "You're a good little actress, Ava, but it's time to drop the act."

Sam turned to look at her, frowning as foreboding crept through him. "What act?"

The demon didn't give her a chance to reply. Tears were already brimming in Ava's eyes when he began to speak. "Little Ava here is not all she appears, I'm sorry to say." He certainly didn't look sorry. "She's planning to kill you all, one by one."

Sam's heart froze. She wouldn't. Ava was just a kid, just like the rest of them. She wasn't a killer, surely she wasn't even capable of it? None of that came out of his mouth, though, and all he managed to say was, "Why?"

Ava blinked away the tears and her expression hardened. "You were gonna betray us, Sam. That Ruby woman, she- she's evil! And you said we could trust her, so I guess that makes you evil too." She took a step towards him, confidence obviously growing with each word that spilled from her mouth.

"I- what are you talking about it?"

She didn't reply; instead, she lunged at him, sending them both flying to the ground. Her hands wrapped across his throat as Sam was pinned to the ground by an invisible force – the same invisible force that sent Jake and Max flying away as they tried to restrain Ava.

Black spots danced in his vision as he struggled, knowing he had to throw Ava away but somehow unable to, panicking as he fought for air.

He was going to die.

They burst into the building armed with the age-old adage most favoured by hunters – shoot first, ask questions later. Guns held rock-steady, they entered and immediately came face to face with three demons, black eyes glittering maliciously. John was the first to shoot, sending one of the demons staggering back with a hiss, and then all hell broke loose.

Holy water was sprayed, guns were fired, knives were thrown. It should have been an unbalanced fight. It should have been suicide – demons were tough, even outnumbered. But these demons were standing between them and Sam Winchester, and that was never a good idea.

Eventually – several cuts and bruises later – they had the three demons bound and tied down, Caleb on standby with holy water while Bobby painted a devil's trap on the ground around them, always pulling away before any of the demons could land a decent hit on him.

Dean shifted impatiently. "We need to go."

John nodded tightly. "Bobby, Caleb, you stay here and watch these sons-of-bitches. We'll go and get Sam."

They nodded back in response, and John strode towards the elevator, not seeing any stairs and not bothering to look because they had already left Sam for too long and he wasn't going to leave him any longer just to look for stairs. He pressed the button for the first floor, the doors sliding shut behind him, Dean and Elkins. The last thing he saw was Caleb and Bobby, still in control.

It was okay. They could do this. He drew in a shaky breath as the elevator jerked upwards, Dean a jittery ball of energy beside him. "Focus, Dean," he said sternly because this was important, this was Sam they were talking about and neither of them could afford to make a single mistake.

"Reckon you'll be needin' this," Elkins said, handing John the Colt that he'd been holding before – the Colt that he hadn't shot a single bullet from downstairs. John nodded in acknowledgement, taking the Colt and handing Elkins his own gun in exchange; they all needed to be armed and ready.

Almost there. If he wasn't on this floor, he'd be on the next, or the next after that. They were almost there.

They were almost with Sam.

Snap.

A horrible noise, like the cracking of bones. Sam had heard it before, too many times – when he was hit by a car as a kid, when he broke his wrist after a poltergeist flung him through the air, when Dean got jumped by a werewolf and snapped his leg... the list went on and on.

He'd heard the sound often enough to know what it meant. And that, when added to the fact that the hands around his throat had disappeared, was not a good sign. Slowly, Sam pushed himself up into a sitting position.

And froze.

Ava lay crumpled on the ground, head bent at an unnatural angle as blood flowed steadily from her wounds. Jake stood above her, hand still outstretched and shaking as he looked down at her with wide eyes.

There was a long, terrified silence before Sam finally got it together, scrambling across the floor towards Ava. "No, no, no..." She wasn't dead. That kind of thing didn't happen to innocent fourteen year old girls. He swallowed, hands trembling. He had to put pressure on the wounds, someone had to call an ambulance... Ripping a section of sleeve from his shirt, he pressed down hard on Ava's obviously broken neck, knowing it was probably hurting her more but needing to do something, anything to help.

Over it all, the demon laughed.

"Butterfingers, huh, Jakey-boy?"

"Oh my God." Max stared at Ava, tears welling in his eyes and spilling over as he swallowed, obviously trying not to hurl.

"I-" Jake stuttered, took a faltering step backwards as he finally lowered his hand. "I didn't mean to, I wasn't, I- oh God." He stumbled forwards to where Sam and Ava were hunched on the floor, hands wavering like he wanted to help.

"Too late, kiddo." The demon grinned. "She's gone. Such a pity, as well. I liked her, she really had potential."

"You sonuvabitch!" Jake threw himself at the demon, his face twisted with a myriad of emotions, teeth gritted and eyes filled with tears even as rage fuelled his movements. He went straight for the neck but the demon just laughed, pushing him away like he was nothing.

"Going for the kill again, huh Jakey? Might as well, I mean, you're already a murderer."

Sam looked down at Ava, at the way her skin was turning grey and the fabric he was using clung to her neck, saturated with blood. She was dead. Bile rose in his throat as he slowly stood, legs shaking.

"Jake, don't-"

"Don't what?" Jake whirled around to face him. "This is all your fault, Sam! If you hadn't trusted that bitch-" he flung a hand in Ruby's direction where she stayed stuck to the wall "-Ava wouldn't have attacked you and I wouldn't have-" With a choked-off sob, he tackled Sam, hands closing around his throat like Ava's before his. Ava's cold, dead hands. "Oh God." He took in a deep, shuddering breath and repeated, "Oh God, oh God oh God oh God." Then his expression hardened, like something inside him had snapped. "This- this is your fault." Jake tightened his grip, tears finally spilling over. "Not mine. Not mine!"

"Jake, stop-" Max tried to pull him back, pulling in short, quick breaths. "Jake!"

That's when the elevator doors opened.

The last thing Sam saw before he passed out was his brother. Dean was here.

With a tiny, weak smile, he let the darkness take him.