The Innkeeper

Chapter two

As soon as Sam walked into the room he was hit by a blinding headache. He winced in pain and fell heavily against the wall. Dean, seeing him in distress, quickly pulled him out into the hallway.

"What's wrong?" He asked looking into Sam's eyes.

"Nothing."

"Damn it Sammy talk to me!"

"It was nothing…"

Marge walked over to Sam and put her hand on the side of his face.

"Honey, you must be honest with your brother, he's worried about you."

"I'm fine, really, I'm okay."

"Damn it Sammy…." Dean looked at Marge. "Can you tell me what's wrong with him?" He knew she could pick up feelings easily and hoped she'd be able to help him find out what was going on with Sam.

"I sense a deep hurt inside." She looked at Sam sadly. "You're being torn in oh so many directions."

"And he's having nose bleeds at night." Dean blurted out then tried to ignore the dirty look Sam gave him.

"You have a special gift Sam but you're fighting it. And as long as you fight it…."

"What?" Dean asked when she hesitated.

"It could kill you." She looked into Sam's eyes. "But it doesn't have to."

Dean's face immediately became etched with worry at her words.

"What can we do?" He asked Marge.

Sam removed her hand from his face and stepped away.

"Look I feel fine now; I'm just a little tired."

"You heard her Sam; you need to see a doctor."

"A doctor can't help him. It's all built up inside him. He has to help himself or he'll destroy himself."

Sam was getting tired of being the center of attention.

"Look….we're here to help these people. Well, let's do that….I'm going to go get our gear." Sam walked down the steps and left the house.

Dean waited till he heard the door shut then looked at Marge.

"What's going on with him Marge, do you know? Can you sense anything?"

"Sammy is confused. He's been given a gift, or is you'd ask him he'd say he's been cursed with it. Your brother is fighting these feelings he's having. I sense such a struggle in the poor boy."

"Sam's been having nightmares, mostly about mom and his girlfriend Jessica. I think he thinks he could have saved her. She died the same way mom did. He doesn't sleep well, and when he finally does he has nightmares and wakes up with nosebleeds. What's causing the bleeding?"

"His inner turmoil. He's tearing himself up inside with guilt and the guilt manifests itself as nosebleeds."

"How can we make him see that his girlfriend's death wasn't his fault?"

"We can't. He has to believe it for himself and…"She looked at him sadly. "I really don't think he'll be able to."

"So what happens if he can't?"

She took Dean's hand in hers and looked sadly into his eyes.

"He'll die."

Dean was speechless and could only look at her in disbelief.

Later

When Sam came back in Marge continued with the tour of the house. Sam handed Dean the electromagnetic field recorder while he turned on the digital camera. Dean kept a wary eye on his brother. Marge said Sammy could die, well I'm not about to let that happen. No way was he going to lose his brother. He felt a sharp pain in his heart at the thought of it. He couldn't allow himself to even think that way, Sammy would be fine. When this case was over he'd make him see a doctor, a hypnotist, or what ever it took to get him over these guilty feelings.

When they got to the boy's room Marge suddenly stopped them from entering the room.

"There is something evil in there. It wants us out of this house."

"Can you see it?" Dean said holding up the recorder.

"I can sense it." She looked at Sam. "Can you?"

Sam shook his head.

"No, I don't feel anything." He focused the camera on the room and looked through the view finder. "There are all kinds of orbs floating around in there though."

"There is a thickness in the air, an evilness." She stated.

Suddenly an overpowering odor surrounded them.

"Oh God it smells like decaying bodies." Dean said as he covered his nose with his hand and held up the recorder with the other. The lights on it started flashing wildly indicating a presence.

"That smell is definitely the sign of an evil spirit." Sam added as he too covered his nose.

"It knows why we're here." Marge said taking a step backward.

Suddenly Sam jumped backward.

"Whoa!" He pulled the camera away from his face.

"What?" Dean asked.

"Something started coming right at me really fast. It was….well it looked like a big black orb."

"Orbs are white and small." Dean looked back into the room.

"This one wasn't." Sam hit rewind on the camera, then play, and watched as the black orb flew toward the camera. He rewound the film again and held it up for Dean and Marge to see but as he hit play the camera flew back into his face. The force of the blow caused him to stagger backward toward the top of the steep steps.

"Sam watch out!" Dean screamed.

TBC