Note from the author: Here's another chapter and I hope it brings a little joy to you today. Since posting the last chapter the world has changed and I get the feeling that by the time I post the next chapter it will have changed even more. So please, take care of yourselves and of those you love and to stay safe and healthy.

We live in dark times but we will get through this, but we must stay true to love, kindness, family and community.

Take care

Chapter 52: Reality bites

Sam's POV:

The irony was not lost on Sam as he slowly made his way through the back hallways and corridors of the mansion. For the last few days he had been rushing full steam ahead trying to get closer to Dean, but now that he was literally within reach of his older brother, Sam had to take his time and move slowly and quietly.

Unfortunately as the small team moved through the house, the silence provided Sam with extra time to think, but more importantly, reflect. He couldn't help recall what the slave Stanley had told him. The older man's words, reinforced by the images of the many malnourished house slaves, haunted him with every step he took. He struggled to imagine how bad Dean's condition really was and he could only hope that there was enough of his Dean left to reach. 'His Dean.' That was a joke.

Sam couldn't ignore his own actions in the entire sorry affair. After all, it had been his cruel words and ill thought out and heartless deeds that had pushed Dean away in the first place. And despite the continuous efforts of both himself and Cas, there was no sugar coating the fact that there was a serious amount of repair to be done in order to fix what he, and others, had broken.

The more he thought about it, the more his fear increased, as he considered the possibility that Dean may have no wish to leave his new home and return to his old life. Dean had been extremely vulnerable when he was kidnapped. The chances are high that he'll choose the Volkovs when confronted with a choice. The Grand Master had time, money and magic to help break down his brother's defences and make this happen.

Besides, what could Sam really offer Dean? Remembering how things had been just weeks before Dean's departure from the bunker, Sam recalled how his brother's had merely existed. Neither Cas or himself had bothered to understand or help Dean. Instead, they had been judgemental, distrusting and, in short, mean assholes.

When he compared their behaviour to how the Volkov's treated humans, Sam was hard pressed to see much of a difference. Both Viktor and Sam had used Dean's body. Albeit, in different ways and his brother had certainly bled for both of them. Both Viktor and Sam had mentally manipulated Dean into being whatever they needed him to be, but worst of all, both thought that Dean belonged to them.

Shaking his head, he tried to inwardly deny it was true, but Sam knew that he always had a claim on his brother. Even his father had got it when he conditioned Dean to 'always look after Sammy'. In fact, even his mother had caught on and she too had capitalised on Dean's self sacrifice and lack of self worth. In fact, everyone saw it and everyone strived to use Sam's older brother – case in point, even the archangel Michael.

Despite Sam's internal mutterings, the million dollar question remained, when he found his brother and unshackled him from his physical chains, what was the likelihood Dean would allow Sam to make it up to him? And Sam really wanted forgiveness from his big brother. Despite their previous discussions and brotherly moments over the years, in which it seemed they forgave one another for the many transgressions, Sam still wanted more. He knew he had no right to ask for forgiveness and Dean had every reason to walk away from everyone at the end of this fiasco, but Sam knew he had to try everything he could to get Dean to believe him, forgive him, come home with him and rejoin Sam's crusade. In short, Sam wanted Dean to believe in him again.

Sam was snapped out of his internal musings by his mother. "Phew! Sam… Oh My God!"

At first the younger Winchester wasn't sure what he was looking at, but it didn't take him long to work things out as he saw two young men.. no! Boys, no older than 13 cower in front of them. Crouching down to take a closer look at them, Sam whispered, "Shuussshhh. It's OK. We're not going to hurt you. I promise. We're just trying to find my brother. Dean Winchester? Do you know him?"

As Sam spoke, he managed to take out his phone and swipe the screen until he found one of the more recent images of Dean. Practically pushing the phone into their faces, Sam watched. It was the older looking boy who nodded. After some coaxing, he spoke, "Yes. He's Grand Master's favourite. He's also the one who murdered our friend."

The fear on the young man's face as he spoke was equally matched by the honesty in his voice. Sam couldn't believe what he was hearing, and it must have shown on his face as the other young man, continued. "Ryan. He killed Ryan. He was only 15. He didn't do anything wrong."

Sam had to know. "What do you mean, Dean killed him?"

"He tried to escape. Grand Master stopped him, but his big mouth angered Grand Master. So one of us had to suffer. But, Ryan was killed because he took pity on your brother. Theyyyy whipped him to death." Finding strength through his anger, the younger boy stood up and pointed towards the window. "Look out there if you don't believe me. If you look closely at that post, you'll still see some of Ryan's blood."

Sam, Mary and Rowena couldn't help it as their curiosity got the better of them. After taking in the lone blood stained wooden post standing in the courtyard below, Mary looked back from the window and asked, "It wasn't Dean's fault. He was only trying to escape. … Surely you know, he's as much a victim as Ryan or any of you are."

"No! You're wrong. We all were there. We all were made to watch. We all saw him. Standing up on the balcony looking down, watching as Ryan screamed and cried." Sam realised that he wasn't going to win this battle and debated whether they were going to be of any use. It was Rowena that took the initiative. "Look boys. I feel your pain. I do. I know what it's like to be placed in the middle of a square and tied to a stake. Only mine didn't end in whipping. More, a lot more fire and smoke. But, I understand. But, we need to find Dean and get him out of here. And when we do, he won't be here to get any of the rest of you killed, now, will he?"

Sam couldn't help himself as he looked strangely at the red headed witch. He couldn't understand what her angle was. Then it dawned on him as he watched both boys physically relax. Rowena had worked it out quicker than any of them. Every single human that was enslaved was institutionalised. To the point, that their vampire masters were at no fault and if anything horrendous befell them, it was never because of the vampire. It was always something that a human would have done wrong.

Then Sam felt really stupid. 'Of course, Viktor would want Dean to take the blame.' Dean was loveable, but more importantly, he would put others in front of himself every time. It stood to reason, if Dean had tried to escape, they needed to make sure he didn't do it again. The only way to effectively make sure Dean learned his lesson was to kill an innocent, but an innocent that Dean had bonded on some personal level with. And what or who better than a 15 year old innocent young man. Viktor's evil was much worse as his action had a treble impact. Not only did it 'whip' Dean back into line, it also sent a very strong message out to others to not trust his older brother. Lastly, Ryan's death would have destroyed Dean's resolve further.

Sam felt sick. If this was the type of mind games that his brother had been subjected to, he was beginning to truly believe that there wouldn't be much left of his Dean when he found him. In an attempt to find a distraction of any kind, he turned again and asked both boys, "OK! Where have you two come from… just now?"

As he asked the question he allowed himself to take in their physical appearance. Despite their youth the boys acted older, beyond their years. On closer inspection he could see they had bite marks along their neckline. As a natural reflex he reached out and slightly tugged at their shirt collars. "Who did this to you?" Up until then the younger Winchester had managed to keep his voice barely above a whisper, but not now. As he spoke both boys looked at him strangely. "Emmmm… we were just doing our job.. please don't be angry."

Mary asked, "It's OK boys, we're just trying to understand how things work around here. You know? So that we can make sure that no one else gets in trouble. So, why don't you tell us about what's going on? What is it that you do for the … em.. the masters?" If Mary was uncomfortable, she hid it well when she spoke to the young slaves. Part of Sam believed knowing more wasn't really going to help things. It certainly wasn't going to make things better. But, perhaps, this was part of his punishment.

Sam almost dreaded the answer but he needed to know. The taller of the two replied. "We're normally house slaves, but Grand Master Fischer.. he likes us nice and young." As the boy spoke Sam practically threw up in his mouth at the thought of what 'likes us nice and young' meant. They were barely teenagers and should have been innocent to the horrors of the world. Instead, they knew nothing of freedom. Only servitude. In fact, from how they spoke about their life, they seemed at peace with their position, accepting that they owned nothing, including their body. They lived to serve and if serving meant being whipped to death or raped, then so be it.

"There were three of us but Yuri did something that displeased one of the Clan and he's being punished."

Rowena queried, "what do you mean, wrong … and being punished?"

The second boy turned and simply answered, "He failed to please them when they were playing with us. They said they didn't like us noisy, but Yuri kept crying. He's not used to taking the pain like we are…. And he's…" The witch could almost guess what had happened to young Yuri, but she gestured to them to continued. "hes… emmm. He's joined Ryan in the special place."

Mary added, "what do you mean by special place?"

"You know… the place all of us go… I mean the good ones.. the ones that serve our masters well. We go to heaven, where we are forever happy. But Dean won't go there. He'll never go there."

On hearing his brother's name spoken out loud, Sam asked. "What do you mean? What's so special about Dean? Is it because he's bad or disobedient?"

Both boys looked nervous but Mary and Rowena stepped a little closer to try and encourage them that they were safe to answer to huge human in front of them. It seemed to work. "It's not because he's disobedient. It's because he's Grand Master's special toy. He won't ever grow old or die. Grand Master has seen to that. He's being punished because he killed our Father of all."

'Father of all?!' Sam dreaded the answer but he needed to hear it. "Who's that?"

"Dean and his kind or meant to have killed the Alpha of all vampires. That's why he's here and that's why he's being punished." Sam couldn't stop himself. Rapidly turning away from both boys he bent over and threw up. 'Of course, how could he have forgotten? He had killed the Alpha Vampire. Every vampire would have known who had landed the killer blow. And as usual, his brother was paying the price for his sins.'

Knowing what he was thinking, his mother stepped closer and she started to rub his back. Leaning over so she could whisper in his ear, she said, "I know Sam. It's not your fault. We're going to end this, do you hear me? We're going to end this today. Not just for Dean, but for every man, woman and child they've hurt. We're going to get this done and then we're going to bring your brother home and we're going to NEVER let this happen again!"

She was right. Nodding, he straightened up and wiped his mouth clean of any access fluid. Looking at the two slaves he then turned to Stanley. "And I suppose you think this is perfectly OK, do you?" The older slave lowered his eyes and quietly answered. "It's all we know to do. We serve and we serve without question. Those that do, don't last long. Before your brother arrived, we had numerous substitutes, none of them understood and none of them survived. We do what we do to survive."

As much as Sam wanted to fight he knew that time was against them. Bobby had already started his attack and from the sounds of things downstairs, Castiel was already taking out the enemy. He needed to make a decision. As much as he wanted to rescue the two boys he knew that Dean was in the biggest trouble as any invasion would lead to a complete lock down and the younger Winchester sensed that that didn't bode well for his brother.

Turning back towards Rowena, Mary and Stanley, he said, "let them go. They can be rescued with the others later. We can't help their friend and we need to get to Dean." Moving closer to Stanley, Sam pointed at the older slave, "lead on and make it quick and quiet now."

Reluctantly, Mary and Rowena moved away from the two young boys. Sam could tell that it went against both women's motherly instincts, but they both knew that the two slaves were in less danger than Dean was.

It didn't take long for Sam's team to make it up to the Grand Master's suite. As they made their way towards the entrance, it was Stanley that broke the unusual silence. "That's strange, there's normally guards. Grand Master Viktor will not like this."

All of the team looked at the slave strangely. It seems that Stanley was oblivious to the violence and chaos that was currently unfolding across the mansion. Sam was uneasy about his behaviour. Either the slave was confident due to naivety or he knew something that none of them knew. Whatever the case was, Sam couldn't afford to dwell on it for too long. Raising his weapon, he gestured to the slave. "Go on. I understand you've got access to Viktor's quarters? Open the door Stanley."

As the slave moved to open the door, Rowena stopped him. "Hold on Sam. I sense very powerful magic in place around these rooms. I'm not sure what it is but I know it's old." As she spoke she raised both her hands and with her palms pressed towards the walls of the suite she closed her eyes and used her magic to decipher what the truth. "It's no good. I can't get a good read. We'll have to get inside. Maybe then I'll know what I'm feeling exactly."

Sharing a look with his mother, Sam gestured to Stanley to unlock the door. The slave obeyed and as the door began to swing open Mary moved into the room with her gun high and ready to fire. She was quickly followed by Sam, then Stanley, with Rowena bringing up the rear.

As the door closed, Rowena seemed to shutter. "It's as I suspected Samuel, this room is warded up the gills with warding even I've never seem. Whatever was contained in his was important. And I mean very important. This is probably where they kept the game changer that we heard about."

Stepping closer to the red head, Sam asked. "Is it still active? I mean, the warding."

"Partially. Some of it's been broken otherwise we wouldn't have been able to have entered. But I can tell you Sam, there's a lot of warding towards the back of the suite. Just down here. I can feel it from here. .. Oh and Sam, I can't sense your brother."

The last sentence hit Sam like a tonne truck. "What do you mean you can't feel him? He's got to be here, hasn't he?" Turning he moved towards Stanley and in a fit of anger he grabbed the slave and slammed him against the nearest wall. "WHERE IS HE? WHERE'S MY BROTHER?"

Thankfully the slave had the wit to look frightened. "I.. I.I don'tttt . I.I.. I… sw.. swear he is meant to be here."

It was Mary snapped Sam out of his rage. "Sam. He's telling the truth. Look at him. He's petrified. He expected to find your brother here as well. Something's wrong." Turning she asked Rowena, "you mentioned you sense warding, maybe he's hidden somewhere within these rooms. And if not him, maybe we'll find this weapon we've heard about. At least this won't have been such a bust!"

Sam knew his mother was being practical, but he couldn't help but be angry at her ever tactical and cold approach. 'Such a bust!' Looking for Dean was the goal and in his mind, the ONLY goal. He didn't give a flying fuck about finding the 'game changer.' He needed to find his brother and make things right again. But, as he looked into his mother's eyes he realised that she too was hurting and was using her many years of hunting skills to try and keep her shit together.

Whether Rowena had sensed the growing tension or not, she spoke up. "You're right Samuel. He might still be here, just deeper in the room and given how powerful the warding is down there, there's every possibility your brother is in there." Without wasting any more time Rowena made her way towards the powerful energy that was coming from the back of the suite. As she approached, she was hit with an invisible wall of energy. "Well, that's a bummer! It looks like I'm going to have to spend some time getting past this spell work."

Sam looked panicked. "How long?"

"Ock Samuel it will only take me a few minutes. Why don't you and mother dearest have a look around the suite and see if you can find out anything important. You never know what's lying about." Sam knew what she was trying to do and he knew she was right, but he couldn't move from the spot. Looking towards his mother, he realised that she needed something to do.

"Hey mum. Why don't you take a look in the office. Who knows we might find out where this bastard is keeping all the important stuff." Nodding and secretly happy to have purpose, Mary turned and headed back down the hallway towards Viktor's office. Whilst that was happening, Sam stood and watched as Rowena began to dig deep into her bag of tricks, lifting crystals, bowls, vials of powder and loads of unidentifiable stuff that Sam shuttered to think where they came from. Instead, he watched as she began to chant.

It only took five minutes for Rowena to break the warding, but he could tell that it had been no easy task, as the witch physically swayed where she stood. As he moved towards the locked doorway, she grabbed his arm and spoke softly. "Samuel. You need to be strong. Whatever is in that room is very important to the vampire. I mean, why else would Viktor place so much protection. And I mean there were sigils that were there to keep Michael out. Whatever is in there, Viktor doesn't want anything between Heaven and Hell getting in there. Just be careful deary."

The last remaining physical security took a matter of seconds to break as Sam's huge foot kicked the door opened. Wasting no time, he stepped into the room. Well, room was an exaggeration as Sam took in the oversized closet. After a few seconds reality hit him as he took in the makeshift bed that was positioned near the wall. Moving further into the room he realised that the place stank of sweat, blood and urine. Looking down at the damp patch on the floor, he was sure he could see all three types of fluid. Then a sense of dread hit him. This was where Viktor kept Dean when he didn't want to play with him.

A combination of that thought and the smell drove Sam to be sick for a second time. Only this time, the force of the pain and emotion had driven Sam to his knees. Tears streamed down his face as reality punched him squarely in the chest. His keen noise smelt more than urine, blood and sweat, he smelt sex. His brother was beaten, raped and imprisoned in this room and all whilst he had been searching for him. The thought of all the time he had wasted made him vomit again. How stupid and selfish he had been. As he knelt in the room his sorrow began to be replaced with anger. Viktor would pay. In fact, every vampire in the mansion would pay. Sam would see to it personally.

He was interrupted by the arrival of a his mother. Standing at the entrance to Dean's cell, Mary cast a long shadow. Sam knew when the smell hit Mary's noise as she hissed and her hand moved to cover her mouth and nose. It took a few minutes for his mother to compose herself, before she spoke. "Son, I see that this is where the bastard kept Dean. …" There wasn't a question but Sam could tell that there was something that was really upsetting his mother and he knew it wasn't just the room itself. Something was wrong. "What is it mum?"

Lowering her head to avoid eye contact, she replied, "I found something, that .. well, I don't.. I mean you won't want to see, but I don't think I have the right to stop you watching." Sam answered with a question, "what do I not want to see mum?" Mary lifted her head, there were tears in her eyes and as a single tear escaped and began to make its way down her cheek she stepped into the room. "I found Viktor's special video diary. The bastard made a visual record. I. … I only managed to watch a few minutes of it. I"

On hearing the information, Sam sprung from the room, pushing his mother out of the way as he ran towards the office. Running after him, Mary shouted, "Sam! Don't, I beg of you, don't watch it. It..it'll…" She didn't get to finish her sentence as she entered to find Sam had located Viktor's laptop and had managed to open and start playing one of the recordings.

Looking at the date and time, the recording took place a few days ago and it looked as if Dean was not putting up much of a fight. Whether it was the shock of seeing the physical state of his brother in the footage, or the actual violation, Sam wasn't sure. All he knew was his brother was naked, lying on the large bed and was being fucked and fed on by not one but two vampires. If he had anything left in his stomach it would have made an appearance as he turned and dry heaved.

"Oh God no." He knew he shouldn't watch, but Sam felt compelled to witness what had happened. In many ways, this formed part of his punishment. Everything that had happened and was happening to Dean was his fault, and his alone. As much as he would love to share out the blame with the other hunters, Mary, Bobby and Cas, he knew he couldn't. He couldn't even blame Michael. All of this was on him. With that thought he scrunched up his fist and hit the table a few times.

"Oh Mum! Look what they did to him." Turning with tears to match his mothers, he looked directly at her. "Look at him. There's barely any life in his eyes. They've broken him… I've broken him. .Oh God! What have I done?" As he cried he fell to his knees for the second time in a matter of minutes. He knew that no matter whether he lived for a thousand years, no other moment would stick in his memory as the last five minutes that he has stood in Viktor Volkov's quarters. Years in hell, in the cage with Lucifer and Michael was a walk in the park compared to what he felt at that very moment.

As he crumbled, Mary moved into the room and did something he did not expect. She fell to her knees and embraced him. The hug lasted at least a few minutes longer than a normal Winchester hug. It was followed by her placing her hands, one on either side of each of his cheeks. She lifted his head and looked directly into his eyes. "Sam. You are not to blame. Don't you dare shoulder all of this. You're just like your brother. Always taking responsibility for everything. This is not on you. Yes, your actions helped push Dean out the door of the bunker, but you were not alone. All our actions, especially mine, contributed to this. But let me tell you this Sam Winchester, the blame for all of this sits on two sets of shoulders and only two. Michael and that bastard, Viktor. Do you hear me? Only them."

Sam seemed to find a coherent thought. "I know mum. I know, but I can't help but feel guilty. He was drowning and we did nothing. No! We did more than nothing, we punished him for saying yes, instead of trying to help him. He was." Before he could finished, his mother interrupted, "enough Sam. We can't break down now. We have to find him and save him. We have to."

Sam nodded. Suddenly aware that they were on their knees, both Winchesters stood up and began to move around the office. As much as Sam should have ignored the footage, he couldn't. "I'm sorry mum, I need to know who else hurt him, because I'm going to annihilate every last son of a bitch this very day."

Looking down at the floor, Mary nodded. "OK Sam, but I can't watch it. I can't see my oldest baby boy go through that. I just can't. I need something to hit and kill. I.." Knowing exactly how his mother felt, he suggested she secure the rest of the floor. It was clear that Dean wasn't in the quarters, which meant they needed to work their way down through each floor of the mansion, killing everything that disagreed with them on their way. In fact, Sam couldn't' think of a more fitting way to deal out some justice.

Before exiting the quarters Mary suggested to Rowena to keep an eye on Stanley for her, whilst she took a look around. The red head had been suspiciously absent when both Winchester's had been viewing the footage. Sam didn't suspect betrayal. Rowena was giving them space. She had already picked up on the negative energy the moment she had entered the suite and knew that some horrendous crimes had been carried out within the walls of the quarters. Equally, she knew she had to share some additional information and she knew it was not going to make Sam's mood any brighter.

"Samuel? We need to talk!" On hearing Rowena's words, Sam closed the laptop. Realising that he wasn't going to get any answers to Dean's location from the footage, he placed the laptop in his rucksack and walked out into the main living area of the quarters. Thankfully the witch was there and not in the bedroom. Sam couldn't enter such a room, knowing what had happened. Sensing his pain, she edged closer. "I'm sorry Sam, but you need to know that the warding wasn't just to keep something out and something in. The Grand Master was taking no chances. He was adamant he was going to break your brother. You've got to know this. Dean didn't break easily. The universe was against him. Quite literally."

As she spoke the last few words he jolted his head and looked directly at her. "What do you mean Rowena?"

Sighing, Rowena answered. "Dean had no choice and no chance. The vampire has this place layered in specific spell work Sam. The spells were designed to break down Dean's strength and will. Your brother hadn't a chance. The power and energy must have been overwhelming. … What I'm trying to tell you Sam is that your brother must have put up such a fight. If he was as weak when he arrived here, as we all are thinking, then why did Viktor need to go to the lengths that he did? Hmmmph!"

He had to give credit where credit was due. Rowena was an extraordinary witch and a good friend. Her explanation strangely did go some way to helping, but he needed more information. The look on his face seemed to display his intention as she continued. "I'm looking at spells that encourage enticement and bonding. You know, spells to make you fall in love."

The very use of the word love turned Sam's stomach. "Love!? What do you mean by love? You think Viktor want's Dean to love him?"

Rowena couldn't help but let loose a little snort. "Oh Samuel, that's not what I meant." Sighing she continued, "Look, I've been giving this some thought. I can understand why someone would want to do this. I mean, who wouldn't want to soften up your brother in order to get their paws on that body.. but I just don't understand why? I mean no disrespect Sam. What happened to your brother is horrendous, but it's weird. The question is why would Viktor need to use this magic. Think about it. He has his prize all chained and where he wants him. He can do anything he wants to him. And I can tell from the look on your face, that you know that they've been able to DO anything they want to him. But, why the spell? Why does he need Dean to bond with him? I don't understand this, but I get the feeling that if we have the answer to that very question, then we will have a more complete picture."

Sam took in everything that she was saying. He even forgive her comment because he knew what she was really trying to say, but she was right. Why would Viktor need to cast such a spell? What was the bond needed for? As he thought further on it, he recalled the discussion about the game changer. Whatever it was, it could not be ignored. Was there a link between the magic and the 'game changer'?

With so many questions, Sam's head was beginning to hurt. Unfortunately as both were contemplating the information and the evidence, neither were keeping an eye on their environment and Sam's head was about to hurt much more.

Sam caught the movement about a second before he felt the punch to the back of his head. He had no time to get out of the way and managed to take the full force of it. Within seconds he hit the floor, but not before he saw Rowena collapse. Dazed and confused, he managed to see Stanley be ordered to tie them both up. Before Sam could fight back he felt two cold hands grab his arms and pull them sharply back. In an attempt to struggle, the vampire grabbed his hair and pulled Sam's head back before banging Sam's head against the floor. It had the desired effect as the younger Winchester ceased his attempt to escape.

Unaware of how long he was unconscious, Sam awoke to kicking. The offending feet were Rowena's. As he lifted his head he found he was seated a few feet directly opposite Rowena. Both were tied and both were gagged. Moving his head around Sam identified two things. Firstly, there was only one vampire in the room along with Stanley and secondly, his mother was not present. That could mean one of two things, either she is lying unconscious or dead somewhere else, or she's out there and getting ready to strike.

Armed with both possibilities, Sam decides he needs to play for time, but to do that he needs to be heard. It didn't take him too long to dislodge his gag and he opted to channel 'his inner Dean'. "So, evil vampire minion number one over there, you care to tell me your name or do I get to call you whatever I want?"

The huge hulk of a creature seemed to lurch his way towards the hunter and the witch. Stopped a few feet from both of them, he glares down and replies. "I can tell from that smart mouth that you must be the other famous Mr Winchester. The one called Sam, am I right?" As he questioned Sam he moved to check on Rowena's bindings.

"Yeah, I'm Sam Winchester and I know you've heard of me. Just in case you didn't get my full memo, I'm the one that took out your Alpha. Yeah, that's right, I put a bullet in his head and he died crying like a pathetic little girl. I suppose it about sums up how you vampires really are. Weak and sad." Sam knew he shouldn't push too much but he couldn't help it. These bastards had their hands on his brother for weeks and hurt him badly. It may only have been words, but if he was truly going to die at their hands he was going to go down swinging.

Snorting, the large vampire replied, "Just like your brother. All talk, but such a disappointment." Sam couldn't help but look angry at that comment. Then the vampire continued. "But Grand Master has managed to fuck that right out of him. … Yeah, that's right, we've all heard the moans and the begging from your brother. In fact, once Viktor has had his fill, we're all drawing lots to see who gets to feed and fuck next."

Sam knows he shouldn't show his emotions. His opponent should never know that the words are getting to him, but the younger Winchester was still reeling from watching the footage and as the vampire boasted about raping his brother, his mind flashed back to the scenes of Dean lying helpless on the bed whilst two vampires violated him in so many ways. Deep down, Sam feared that no one was really ever going to recover from this. But, he shoved all of that down as he had a mission and he couldn't allow himself to fail.

"You know, being so big must make you deaf as well as stupid. I want to know who I'm talking to so when I get free I can gut you properly." Sam was proud of his new found strength. His voice never quivered as he spoke.

The vampire looked pissed. "My name is Thomas. I'm the Head Butler to Grand Master Volkov and I will have the pleasure of handing the killer of our Father to the most powerful vampire to currently walk the earth. And do you know what Viktor will do when he meets you? Let me tell you hunter what he's planning, because he's been telling all of us what he's looking forward to the most. You see, he knew you were going to come looking for that pathetic failure of a brother of yours. So he set this trap to get you lured out of your little nest. And it worked. Now that you're here, he's going to humiliate and punish you by using your brother in every way imaginable. And the best of it is, he's going to make you sit and watch. That's right hunter. He's going to parade your brother naked in a collar and leash for everyone to see and then he's going to bend him over and shaft him. And the best of it is, your brother's going to beg for more, because he's a weak willed toy."

At this stage the butler was inches from Sam's face. So close, Sam could smell the putrid stench of death on his breath. Attempting to put more space between him and the blood sucker, Sam leaned as far back as his restraints would allow him. Despite the smell and the movement, the vampire's words sank deep as the younger Winchester fought to erase the image of his brother being used as a toy.

As Sam contemplated the possible future, he failed to see his mother. Luckily, Thomas was too busy gloating whilst describing a scene were Dean was being gang raped, that he also missed the huntress, until it was too late.

The attack was quick, quiet, deadly but most of all, it was violent. In all the years of hunting, Sam had never seen such a savage vampire kill. The closest to memory was when Dean managed to kill Abbadon all those years ago. Only it wasn't Dean that did the killing this time, it was his mother, Mary and she wasn't wielding the first blade. Instead, she had taken to killing Thomas the vampire butler with a plain old machete. She had managed to take his head off with the first swing, which had been fuelled by the vampires description of raping her first born son.

Unfortunately, what followed the beheading was nothing short of savage as she began to hack and stab at the large corpse. Sam lost count of the hits after ten, but it wasn't the blood and the gore that shocked him, it was the look on his mother's face. He had seen rage, but he had never seen anything like this before. Mary just kept swinging and with each time she sliced, she said, "touch my son, you die. No one touches my children and lives. I'm going to gut every last piece of vampire filth I get my hands on." After that Mary descended into temporary madness. It took a few attempts to get her to stop, but eventually she seemed to come back to herself.

After some composure, Mary untied both Sam and Rowena. On his release, Sam jumped to his feet and embraced his mother. She still seemed angry "It's OK mum. I got you… I know. I know. I'm safe. We're safe now. And we're going to get Dean and he's going to be safe again. I promise mum."

In the time that he had known his mother, he had never seen her break like this. Gone was the cool and calculated hunter, replaced by a vengeful mother. He was so shocked he almost didn't hear her as she whispered, "I'm sorry Sam. I.. I. jjjusttt lost it when I saw him. .. All I could think was him doing to you what has been done to my baby. Then I heard him. I .. I , well I just snapped. I saw red and once I started I couldn't stop."

Sam tightened his arms around her. "It's going to be fine mum. There's no need to apologise the bastard had it coming. And if you hadn't of killed him, I was going to." As he spoke he pulled out of the embrace and looked directly at his mother. His words seemed to get through, but as they did, she seemed to shrink back, as if ashamed. "What's wrong mum?"

Lowering her eyes, she took a few minutes before answering, "I'm not just talking about him. He had it coming." Sam looked confused, "who are you talking about mum?"

Stepped back from Sam, she continued. "The House Slave… Stanley."

Sam looked at her. He was confused, and then he remembered. Stanley had been present when the vampire attacked. The human had been ordered to help tie them both up, so most likely the human had helped, but where did he go? "Eh mum, what do you mean? What happened to Stanley?"

"He's dead! When the vampire got the jump on you two, I was a few rooms down. I was so busy trying to get the images of what had happened to Dean out of my head that I didn't hear the huge beast enter the floor. It wasn't until I heard the thud that I realised something was actually wrong. I managed to sneak out but by that stage the vampire had you both tied up and Stanley was telling him everything about us. The bastard was laughing and agreeing with the vamp about what they were going to do to you. Sam! The man was just as evil as the vampire."

Looking directly at his mother, he could tell that her conscience was warring with itself. One part of her mind was rationalising the kill as justified. Whilst the other side of her mind was telling her over and over again that the man had been institutionalised and didn't know to the difference. Unfortunately, for Stanley, Mary lost it when she realised that both her sons could potentially be destroyed and all because of her.

After all, it was her relentless pursuit of vampires when she teamed up with the British Men of Letters that had brought her sons to the attention of the Alpha Vampire again. Sam may have killed the Alpha, but she was the reason the Alpha had come out of hiding. Mary believed deep down that all of this sorry mess was due to her. The guilt was lying heavy with the huntress and no amount of senseless revenge and violence was ever going to eradicate it. And looking at his mother, both of them knew that.

So Sam asked again. "What did you do mum?"

"Whilst you were distracting Tommy Boy here, Stanley had been trying to call for reinforcements. So I did what I had to do. So let's not dwell on it Sammy!"

Knowing that this was neither the time nor the place to have any type of discussion on morals, Sam nodded and in true Winchester fashion, the issue was buried so deep. Sensing the end of the conversation, Rowena decided to change the topic. "I hate to remind you all, but we're on the clock here and with all that noise and the possibility that Tommy or Stanley have given away our position, I say we get the hell out of here. Don't you?"

"Yeah, you're right but how do we find Dean? The house is huge and full of vampires. We have to assume that Viktor knows he's under attack and if he's as obsessed with Dean as I think he is, then we need to find him fast, before the blood sucker does." Sam wasn't' sure where Dean was or who he was with. He didn't have the time to guess or systematically go through each room. The mansion was too big.

As he pondered, he failed to see Rowena move towards her large bag. Sighing she spoke up. "It seems I'll have to do all the heavy lifting today." As she placed a few items out onto the nearest table, both Mary and Sam realised what she was planning to do. "I thought you said Dean was warded? If I'd known we could have tried a locator spell, we would have done this sooner."

Sam couldn't hide his anger and frustration. "Old ye horses Samuel. Do you think I'd be that stupid? Of course, I would have used this from the bloody start if I thought it would work. You idiot. It's not to find Dean. I'm guessing that he's not with Viktor the villain. I'm guessing that Ketch got to him and is somehow trying to help him escape. So I'm doing a spell to locate Ketch. Is that OK with you two?"

Suitably chastised, both Winchesters had the good grace to lowered their heads as the red headed witch performed a simple locator spell. It took a minute tops before she smugly announced that Ketch was still in the house, but about two floors down. On hearing the news, both mother and son nodded in agreement that it was time to stow away their crap because they had work to do. Neither could deny their visit to Viktor's quarters had been traumatic emotionally. Up until they both had viewed the footage, they had been hoping that Dean had somehow managed to avoid such a violation. They had been kidding themselves. But now, they had all the evidence they needed.

Armed with a new reality, Sam and Mary collected their physical belonging as well as their emotional baggage and locked them down. Each Winchester was leaving Volkov's private quarters and each Winchester was changed. Both were on a mission now. A mission to totally destroy every last vampire that had touched Dean and every last creature that knew what had happened. They couldn't change the past but they were adamant that they would do everything to make sure the past stayed hidden and in the past.

As they made their way out of the quarters, Mary couldn't help but ask, "Rowena, how sure are we that Dean is with Ketch?"

The witch slowed down and turned. "Nothing is ever for certain Mary. I just know that he's not with the vampires, so the logically conclusion is that he's with Ketch. After all, who else is going to rescue him? Besides we all well aware that he hasn't got the strength to escape one closet, never mind escaping from the room and the mansion."

Both Winchesters seemed to accept Rowena's rationale and moved to leave, but as Sam went to close the door he happened to make one last sweep of the room. As he did something sparkled and it caught his attention. Unsure as to what made him move to investigate, Sam edged closer to inspect it and was shocked when he found the very same amulet he had given his brother all those years ago.

Smiling to himself, he grasped the necklace in his hand and brought it up to his lips and kissed it gently. "Oh thank God. I thought all was lost." Taking the finding of the amulet as a sign that everything was somehow going to work itself out, Sam smiled. Filled with a renewed hope, he pocketed the amulet and left the quarters behind him.

As he walked away he vowed that once he had rescued his brother, everything evil in this mansion would burn.