The Innkeeper

Chapter three

"Sam!" Dean reached out and grabbed Sam's arm just before he would have fallen backward down the steps.

"Whew! That was close." Sam said once he was back on steady ground.

"Are you okay Sammy?" Marge asked.

"Yeah….I don't know what happened. I guess I just lost my balance."

"You were pushed."

Dean looked at Marge.

"Someone actually pushed him?"

"Yes, this thing…this evil spirit will do anything to get us out of the house….including trying to kill us."

"Can you tell if it's a demon?" Dean asked. He knew demons were much more powerful then human spirits and also harder to get rid of. He also knew the overpowering smell they had smelled earlier was one of the signs of a demon's presence.

"I don't think it is a true demon, but I think it has the potential to become one. I feel it is a very evil human spirit. When it was alive on the earth plane it was as evil as one can become."

"Is it still here?" Dean looked back toward the bedroom.

Marge walked back to the doorway and shut her eyes for a few seconds then turned around and looked at them.

"No, it's gone."

Dean looked over at Sam and noticed his nose had started to bleed. Dean swallowed hard worried that Sam, who only had nosebleeds when he was dreaming, was now starting to have them while awake.

"What's wrong?" Sam saw the worried look on his brother's face.

"You're bleeding again."

Sam reached up then pulled his hand away and looked at the blood.

"Oh it's nothing…probably got bumped when the camera flew into my face."

"You sure about that Sam?" Dean was beginning to get pissed at his brother for not telling him how he really was feeling.

"Yeah Dean, it's nothing." Sam checked out the camera to see if it would work, then walked over and stood between Dean and Marge and hit play. "Watch this." They watched as the film clearly showed white orbs floating around the room. Then suddenly a large black orb materialized and charged toward the camera then disappeared. Sam then turned the camera toward the room and began recording again. He watched for about a minute then shook his head and looked at them.

"There's nothing there now… no orbs…. nothing." Sam looked at Dean.

"It's as if the black orb took the others with it."

They both looked at Marge for an explanation.

"This spirit is very evil and the others are afraid of it. It has trapped them here in the house and they are afraid to leave it. It controls them."

"I don't know if we'll be able to cleanse this house." Sam shook his head as he looked into the bedroom a hint of fear on his face.

"We ran into a demon before once and it almost ended up killing all of us." Dean explained to Marge. "It seemed to go after Sam more then dad and me, maybe because he was the youngest and least experienced in dealing with it."

"Or maybe it sensed something in Sam that it wanted to destroy."

"Well Sam's been having a lot of precognitive dreams. We couldn't check all of them out but the ones we could were just as he dreamed them. Something's happening to him and we're not sure what."

"Your brother is very troubled and I am worried about him. Demons are very receptive to gifts in humans and would like nothing more then to destroy them. Maybe you and your brother should leave."

"No, we're staying." Sam had heard her and turned around. "This is what we do. We can't turn our backs on the family that lives here."

Marge reached out and took Sam's hand.

"Honey, I'm worried about you. This spirit will do anything in its power to stop you. I feel it has sensed your gifts and wants you out of here."

"She's right Sam. If this thing is going to come after you I say we get out of here. No use asking for trouble."

"Dean we can't just leave this family with this thing in the house."

"There are other people out there that do this Sam. I'm sure Marge knows some and dad has a list in the back of his journal."

"We're here now Dean and we might as well stay and see if we can help"

"Okay, for now, but if it gets too hairy we're out of here. Agreed?"

"Yeah, agreed."

Later that night

Around eleven PM Marge's friends arrived for the séance.

"Sarah and Robert, this is Dean and Sam Winchester. They're the ones I told you about. Their father is a good friend of mine and we've worked together before." She then looked at Dean and Sam and nodded toward the couple. "This is Sarah and Robert Ludwig, they both have psychic abilities and can tune into the spirits."

"Nice to meet you." Dean extended his hand as did Sam.

"Well we might as well get started." Marge led them all into the dining room where she had all ready prepared the room. Five chairs sat around a small round table with two candles on the middle of it. Marge walked over and lit the candles.

"You've all done this before so you might as well join hands and we'll begin."

They all sat around the table, Sam and Dean sat across from each other.

"Okay, you all know the rules no matter what happens you need to keep the circle connected. Hopefully the spirit will talk through me and you can find out what it wants. Try to get it to move on and warn it that if it doesn't we will find a way to destroy it."

They all sat silently for a few minutes before Marge spoke.

"I invoke the spirit who dwells in this house to make itself known to us. We are here to help it move on to where it will find peace and forgiveness. I open myself to be used as a voice for who ever wishes to speak through me."

After a few minutes the candles began to flicker a little and a cold draft blew over them, something had entered the room.

"Please speak to us, use me as your instrument." Marge volunteered. After a few seconds she suddenly gasped and her head fell forward and then snapped back.

"Help us." The words came quietly out of her mouth.

"That's why we are here. We want to help you move on." Robert spoke up.

"He won't let us."

"Who? Who won't let you?"

"The Innkeeper."

"You need only go into the light."

"He will stop us."

"Is he here with you now?" Dean asked.

"No, but he is watching."

"Go now, quickly, before he can stop you." Sam could sense a dark presence slowly drifting into the room. He looked at the others but could tell they hadn't yet detected it. He caught Dean's eye and gave him a little nod indicating that the evil presence was nearby.

Marge suddenly threw her head back and screamed as the spirit that had possessed her body suddenly left. Her head fell forward and stayed there.

"Do not break the circle." Sarah warned.

The horrible smell once more came into the room.

"We need to try and wake her before that thing possesses her." Sam suddenly blurted out.

"But that's what she wants. She wants it to enter her so we can talk to it and it to us. We must try to get it to leave this house."

"No!" Sam shook his head; they could tell he was getting agitated. "It won't listen; this thing only wants us dead. The only way to rid the house of it is to salt the house and burn it."

Dean was as confused as the others as he listened to Sam. How did he know that he wondered?

"Sam, Marge has done this a million times. I think we should do what she wants."

"No!" Sam leaned over on the table. "Marge! Marge wake up!" He shouted over to her.

Suddenly pictures and dishes began sailing off the walls and bureaus toward them.

"Don't break the circle!" Sarah shouted but it was too late. Robert had been hit hard on the shoulder by a flying dish and inadvertently dropped Sam's hand. Before they could rejoin hands Sam was pulled viciously from his chair and thrown against a wall. He hit the wall hard and crumbled to the bottom of it. He groaned in pain and tried to get up but before he could he was yanked up by his shirt collar and held off the floor in the middle of the room gasping for air, his hands clawed at the invisible hands around his neck. He hung there with his head back, his legs kicking at nothing. Dean flew out of his chair and went to his brother's aide.

"Let go of him you son of a bitch!" He screamed as he reached up and grabbed Sam's legs trying to pull him from the spirits grasp but then Dean also was thrown violently against the wall. He looked up at Sam and his eyes widened in horror. Sam was now looking directly at him his eyes glowing red, no longer fighting the demon. Blood poured out of his nose and ran down his face.

"You will all die!" Sam said as he was lowered to the ground and headed toward Dean. As he walked toward him his face was filled with hate as he grabbed a knife off on of the bureaus.

TBC