A/N: Three POV's: Evie's, Dean's & Third Person POV

SOMETHING WICKED

Evie's POV

We were in the car obviously…on the way to our next case…well we think since we'd received coordinates from John again and they were leading us to Fitchburg, Wisconsin but neither Sam nor I had found any sign that there was something to hunt which is why Sam was currently arguing with Dean about it.

"Yeah, you's probably missed something that's what" I heard Dean say making me roll my eyes since Sam and I never missed anything, compared to the both of us nothing ever didn't get revealed but Dean had gotten us in the car none the less and we were driving blindly to this town.

"Dude, we ran LexisNexis, local police records, newspapers and couldn't find a single red flag" Sam argued again making me sigh and lean forward cause this back and forth was teetering on maddening.

"Are you sure you got the coordinates right?" I asked looking over at Dean.

"Yeah, I double checked its Fitchburg, Wisconsin" Dean replied. "Dad wouldn't have sent us coordinates if it wasn't important" he added making me frown since usually he'd be right but something was strange about this one.

"Well I'm telling you I looked, all I found was a big steamy pile of nothing, if Dad's sending us hunting for something, I don't know what" Sam replied angrily.

"Yeah well maybe he's gonna meet us there" Dean argued but Sam just scoffed.

"Yeah because he's been so easy to find up to this point"

"You're a real smartass you know that?" I rolled my eyes at Dean since that wasn't smartass it was the truth. "Don't worry I'm sure there's something in Fitchburg worth killing"

"Yeah, what makes you so sure?" Sam asked.

"Well because I'm the oldest which means I'm always right"

"No it doesn't" Sam and I replied at the exact same time.

"It totally does" Dean argued looking at us before smiling as I rolled my eyes leaning back again picking up the book I had been reading before they started arguing.

When we arrived into town I sent Dean on a coffee run and to dig up answers while Sam and I waited by the car but the more and more I stared at the playground across the street something didn't seem right.

"Well…" Dean spoke up coming towards us with a tray of coffees and handed me and Sam ours. "The waitress thinks that the local Freemasons are up to something sneaky but uh other than that nobody's heard about anything weird going on"

"Dean you got the time?" I asked stopping his advance to get in the car without never letting my eyes leave the playground.

"Ten after 4, why?" he replied then asked.

"What's wrong with this picture?" I asked nodding towards the playground and didn't need to look to know that he'd followed where my eyes were.

"School's out isn't it?"

"Yeah" I nodded frowning at the lone kid playing in the playground. "So where is everybody, this place should be crawling with kids right now" I added finally turning towards him.

"Lets go ask" he replied making me frown but followed him anyway while Sam stayed back. "Sure is quiet out here" he said as we approached a woman sitting on a bench watching the kid obviously her daughter.

"Yeah it's a shame" the woman replied surprising me a little since if I was sitting here with a kid and someone walked up to me like this I'd be on guard but maybe that's just because I knew what was out in the world to be weary off and would be a horrible paranoid parent.

"Why's that?" I asked her.

"You know, kids getting sick it's a terrible thing" she replied looking up at us.

"How many?" Dean asked her.

"Just five or six but serious, hospital serious" she replied making me frown. "A lot of parents are getting pretty anxious, they think it's catching" I frowned catching Dean's look before we returned to the Impala getting in and drove to the hospital to take a look for ourselves but made a quick stop over to change into our suits.

"Dude, dude I am not using this I'd" Sam quietly protested as we walked in.

"Why not?" Dean asked back just as quietly.

"Because it says 'bikini inspector' on it" Sam replied and Dean smiled as I rolled my eyes.

"Don't worry, she won't look that close, hell she won't even ask to see it, it's all about confidence Sammy" Dean replied then spun Sam to the nurse station.

"Hi, I'm Doctor Jerry Kaplan, center of disease control" Sam said as soon as the nurse smiled up at him.

"Can I see some ID?" she asked and I glared at Dean since so much for his 'she won't ask for ID plan' and Sam looked back with a small glare of his own.

"Yeah of course" he replied quickly grabbing the ID card back out of his breast pocket and showed it to her quickly not letting her see it thoroughly. "Now could you direct me to the pediatrics ward, please?" Sam added not letting her question the quick flash of his ID.

"Okay well just go down the hall, turn left, up the stairs" she replied and Sam nodded a polite smile at her before turning to us and glared massively at Dean who just smiled.

"See told you it'd work" Dean said still smiling and Sam shoo his head.

"Follow me, it's upstairs" Sam replied leading the way as we followed but I hated being here since the last time I was in a hospital it hadn't been all that great as I was watching Dean die but I kept quiet about it since we didn't talk about it and continued to follow Sam until Dean suddenly stopped looking into a room making me pause turning back confused.

"Dean" I called and he looked up before continuing on following Sam into the ward and found the pediatrician in charge.

"Thanks for seeing us Dr Heidecker" Dean said as he was leading us through the ward.

"Well I'm glad you guys are here I was just about to call the CDC myself, how'd you find out anyway?"

"Oh some GP, I forget his name" Dean replied dismissively. "He called Atlanta and must've beat you to the punch"

"So you say you've got six cases so far?" Sam asked getting down to it.

"Yeah, yeah five weeks, at first we thought it was a garden variety bacterial pneumonia not that newsworthy but now…" I looked back frowning at the kids all looking like they were on deaths door and that wasn't right.

"Now what?" Sam asked.

"The kids arent responding to antibiotics, their white cell counts keep going down their immune systems just arent doing their job its like their bodies are wearing out"

"Excuse me Dr Heidecker?" a nurse quickly asked handing him a clipboard.

"You ever seen anything this before?" Sam quickly asked.

"Never this severe" he replied

"The way it spreads that's a new one for me" the nurse added.

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"It works its way through families but only the children, one sibling after the other" she replied making me frown confused by all this since none of that made sense to any disease known to me.

"You mind if we interview a few of the kids?" Dean asked nodding towards the room.

"They're not conscious" she replied.

"None of them?" Sam asked.

"No" she replied sadly shaking her head.

"Can we…can we talk to the parents?" Dean asked them.

"If you think it'll help" Dr Heidecker replied.

"Yeah, yeah who was your most recent admission?" Dean asked and the doc pointed us to a father who had both of his daughters admitted and he wasn't too happy about being separated and knew neither would I in this situation.

"I should get back to my girls" he said after we tried asking him a few questions.

"We understand that and we really appreciate you talking to us" Sam replied always being the sincere one out of us three. "Now you say Mary's the oldest?"

"Thirteen" he replied looking up at us.

"Okay and she came down with it first, right and then…?"

"Bethany, the next night" he said nodding.

"Within 24 hours?" Sam asked.

"I guess" he shrugged. "Look I already went through all this with the doctor"

"Right now, just a few more questions if you don't mind" Dean cut in. "Um…how do you think they caught pneumonia, were they in the cold anything like that?"

"No we think it was an open window"

"Both times?" I asked to clarify.

"The first time I don't…I don't really remember but the second time for sure, I know I closed it before I put Bethany to bed" he replied.

"So you think she opened it?" Sam asked with a confused frown.

"It's a second story window, no ledge no one else could have" he replied so we thanked him and let him get back to his family as we started walking out.

"You know this might not be anything supernatural, might just be pneumonia" Sam spoke up as we walked.

"Maybe" Dean replied but I could hear the hesitance in this voice to believe that. "Or maybe something opened that window, I don't know man but Dad sent us here for a reason I think we might be barking up the right tree"

"I'll tell you one thing" Sam said stopping.

"What?" Dean and I asked him stopping to.

"That guy we just talked to…I'm betting it'll be a while before he goes home" we all shared a knowing look before we left completely getting back into the car heading to their house after changing from our suits and broke in checking the girls bedroom for any sign of something supernatural.

"You guys got anything?" Sam asked from where he was with the blacklight moving it over the walls.

"No, nothing" Dean replied moving the EMF around.

"Me neither" I added just looking for general clues and was over by the window looking around for signs and saw something on the outside windowsill so I opened the window. "Hey Dean?"

"Yeah?" he asked.

"You were right" I replied pushing the window open more as I turned to them. "It's not pneumonia" they walked over and looked down at the handprint rotted into the wood. "It's rotted"

"What the hell leaves a handprint like that?" Sam asked but I shrugged not having a clue.

Dean's POV

I stared down at the handprint my mind instantly recognizing it even though I haven't seen it since I was a kid but that hunt Dad was on was permanently fixed into my brain reminding me all the reasons why I had to protect Sam.

"I know why Dad sent us here" I spoke up after a minute. "He's faced this thing before" I turned seeing them both giving me confused looks. "He wants us to finish the job" I walked out and they immediately bombarded me with questions so I told them that it was a Shtriga on the way to a hotel for the night.

"So what the hell is a Shtriga?" Sam asked as we got out.

"It's kind of like a witch I think, I don't know much about them" I replied moving to the boot seeing Evie regarding me carefully and I knew she could tell something was up with me, we always did when it was one of us.

"Well I've never heard of it and it's not in Dad's journal" Sam argued as I opened the boot to grab out stuff.

"Yeah Dad hunted one in Fort Douglas, Wisconsin about 16, 17 years ago, you were there, you don't remember?" I asked looking up at Sam.

"No" he replied shaking his head.

"Guess he caught wind it's in Fitchburg now and kicked us the coordinates"

"So wait, this…" Eve cut in pausing.

"Shtriga" I supplied knowing that's what she was looking for.

"Right, you think it's the same one your Dad hunted before?" she asked looking up.

"Yeah maybe" I replied closing the hood after having everything.

"But if Dad went after it, why is it still breathing air?" Sam asked still pressing me.

"Cause it got away" I shrugged.

"Got away?"

"Yeah Sammy, it happens" I replied turning to him after seeing his dumbfounded look.

"Not very often" he said shaking his head again.

"I don't know what to tell you, maybe Dad didn't have his Wheaties that morning" I shrugged.

"What else do you remember?" Sam continued.

"Nothing I was a kid, alright?" I replied heading inside to check in and rang the bell watching a kid come from out the back room.

"King or two queens?" he asked.

"Two queens" I replied looking back at Sam and Eve outside and he looked to then scoffed.

"Yeah I bet" I raised an eye.

"What'd you say?" I asked since this kid had a lot of nerve.

"Nice car" he smiled just as the door opened and a woman walked in.

"Hi" she greeted.

"Hi" I said back turning to her.

"Checking in?"

"Yeah" I nodded and she turned to the boy.

"Uh do me a favor, go and get your brother some dinner"

"I'm helping a guest" he talked back and she gave him a look making me smile at the kid. "Two queens" he added before walking back into the back room and I laughed ironically.

"Funny kid"

"Oh yeah, he thinks so" she replied writing something down. "Will that be cash or credit?"

"You take Mastercard?" I asked and she nodded. "Perfect, here you go" I handed her one of the stolen cards then grabbed the clipboard when she slid it to me about to sign but looked up at the two kids in the back, the older kid pouring milk for his brother and couldn't help remember doing that for Sam growing up.

(Flashback – Third POV)

"When's Dad gonna get back?" Sammy asked.

"Tomorrow" Dean replied getting the Spaghetti-Oh's off the camp stove.

"When?" Sam pressed.

"I don't know" Dean replied pouring the Spaghetti-Oh's into the bowl in front of Sam. "He usually comes in late though, now eat your dinner"

"I'm sick of Spaghetti-Oh's" Sam whined.

"Well you're the one who wanted them" Dean replied spinning to him as he put the pot back.

"I want Lucky Charms"

"There's no more Lucky Charms"

"I saw the box" Sam argued.

"Okay maybe there is but there's only enough for one bowl and I haven't had any yet" Dean replied but Sam just gave him the 'puppy' look, Dean grabbed the bowl and tipped the Spaghetti-Oh's into the bin before getting a clean bowl and the box of Lucky Charms.

"Do you want the prize" Sam asked his older brother. "And can I call Bobby and Evie after I eat"

"Sure" Dean replied taking both the prize and to his question.

I snapped myself out of the memory looking up when the woman called my attention and looked at her seeing her handing the card back so I grabbed it off her then signed a fake signature into the books and the receipt before went back out to Sam and Eve.

Evie's POV

When Dean came back out of the office I told tell something was troubling him even more than before but knew not to bring it up in front of Sam because he'd just get dismissive so we followed him to the room and Sam got straight onto his computer to search information on the Shtriga while Dean looked through the books and I made coffee handing Dean a cup before grabbing one for myself overlooking what he had so far.

"Well you were right" Sam spoke up with a single scoff scratching the back of his head. "It wasn't easy to find but you were right, a Shtriga is a kind of witch they're Albanian but legends about them date back to ancient Rome, they feed off of spiritus vitae"

"Spirit what?" Dean asked and I rolled my eyes since it was basic Latin.

"Vitae, its Latin and translates to 'breathe of life'" I replied and they both gave me a surprised look making me roll my eyes again at the lack of faith these boys had in me that I knew Latin.

"She's right, it's kind of like your life force or essence" Sam added his surprise turning into a smile and nod my way.

"Didn't the doctor say the kid's bodies were wearing out?" Dean asked without looking up from the notebook he was writing in.

"It's a thought, you know she takes your vitality maybe your immunity goes to hell, pneumonia takes hold" I replied nodding my head since it was an idea on what was happening to the kids.

"Anyway, Shtriga's can feed off anyone but they prefer-"

"Children" Dean said cutting Sam off.

"Yeah probably because they have stronger life force and get this: 'Shtriga's are invulnerable to all weapons devised by God and man'"

"No that's not right" Dean argued putting down his pen and walked towards the bag on our bed as Sam and I gave him a confused look. "She's vulnerable when she feeds"

"What?" Sam asked him.

"If you catch her while eating, you can blast her with a consecrated wrought iron, buckshot's or rounds I think" Dean replied grabbing his journal out of the bag then came back over to me.

"How do you know that?" Sam asked him.

"Dad told me, I remember"

"Oh…so anything else Dad might've mentioned?" Sam asked him.

"No that's it" Dean said shaking his head but I could tell there was something else. "What?" he asked when Sam continued to stare at him.

"Nothing" he replied then stood up. "So assuming we can kill the thing when it eats, we still got to find the things first which ain't gonna be a cakewalk, Shtriga's take on human disguise when they're not hunting"

"What kind of human disguise?" I asked him.

"Historically something innocuous could be anything but it's usually a feeble old woman which may be how the whole witches-as-old-crones legend got started"

"Hang on" Dean interrupted walking to the table behind us and picked up the map. "Check this out, I marked down all the addresses of the victims, these are the houses that have been hit so far and dead center-" he pointed.

"The hospital" Sam and I said at the same time.

"The hospital, when we were there I saw a patient, an old woman" Dean replied but I looked up since that didn't scream foul play.

"An old person, huh?" I asked smiling up at him.

"Yeah" he nodded.

"In the hospital…" I breathed out dramatically. "Better call the coastguard" I laughed.

"Well listen smartass, she had an inverted cross hanging on her wall" he spat back and the smile dropped from my face and he gave me a 'in your face' look, so we found ourselves back in the hospital despite the late hour and Dean was leading the way to where he'd seen this old woman.

"Good night, doctor" we heard and Dean pushed us back behind the wall so we weren't spotted and blow our covers.

"See you, Betty"

"Try to get some sleep" the nurse said as Dr Heidecker walked past as we had our backs turned in case but he didn't see us so we continued on once the coast was clear and found the room 237, Sam reached for the handle as Dean and I reached back grabbing our guns out from behind our jeans and popped the safety's off and Sam gave us a look but we just motioned him to open the door.

We walked in stealthily with Dean and I training our guns on the old woman who was dead still in the wheelchair and it wasn't long before Sam also had his gun out as we walked around to look at the woman staring up at the wall so Dean leant closer and closer.

"Who the hell are you?" she suddenly asked and Dean jumped out of his skin falling backwards into a cabinet. "Who's there?" she asked as Sam flipped on the lights. "You trying to steal my stuff, they're always stealing around here"

"No ma'am were maintenance, we're sorry" Sam replied as Dean breathed calming his heart back down running a hand over his face almost making me laugh because she'd scared the absolute shit out of him. "We thought you were sleeping"

"Uh nonsense, I was sleeping with my peepers open" she laughed making us all share a severely creeped out look, she may not be the Shtriga but didn't mean she wasn't a creepy old lady. "And fix that crucifix, would you I've asked four damn times already" we looked at it and Dean lightly touched it and it fell the right way so we left.

The next morning we drove back to the motel after driving around the streets around the hospital in case we spotted something but didn't see a damn thing and I was tired from the lack of sleep but Sam was overly chipper still laughing and enjoying the fact that Dean got the shit scared out of him.

"…'I was sleeping with my peepers open'?" Sam laughed climbing out of the Impala with Dean and I following.

"I almost smoked that old gal, I swear" Dean replied making me smile as I ran a hand over his shoulder as I passed him. "It's not funny" he added when Sam was still laughing.

"Oh man you should've seen your face Dean" Sam laughed enough to make me smile again

"Oh yeah laugh it up, now were back to square one" Dean replied as I looked back at Dean but he wasn't looking at us with annoyance like I expected him to be instead he was looking over towards the check-in office where I saw the motel managers eldest son sitting on a bench. "Hang on" he quickly said and started walking towards the kid so Sam and I followed. "Hey, what's wrong?" Dean asked him.

"My brothers sick" the kid replied looking over at us.

"The little guy?" Dean asked him making me frown as the kid nodded his head.

"Pneumonia, he's in the hospital" my frown deepened since this thing had been so close but we hadn't been here and now another kid was sick and that was on us. "It's my fault"

"Oh come on, how?" I asked taking a seat beside him.

"I should have made sure the window was latched, he wouldn't have gotten pneumonia if the window was latched" the kid replied and I saw Dean's face making me look back at the kid, a kid shouldn't think that but I knew Dean pretty much thought like that his entire life, he felt responsible for Sam and this kid was the same with his brother.

"Listen to me, I can promise you that this is not your fault…okay?" Dean said getting the kid to look at him.

"It's my job to look after him" the kid argued and I saw Sam looking at Dean now too noticing the similarities between this kid and Dean.

"Michael" his Mom suddenly called coming out of the office with a few pillows and blankets along with a teddy bear likely intended for her other son, she walked to her can and Michael was quick to follow her. "I want you to turn on the 'no vacancy' sign while I'm gone, I've got Denise covering room service so don't bother with any of the rooms-"

"I'm going with you" Michael protested cutting her off.

"Not now Michael"

"But I gotta see Asher"

"Hey Michael" Dean cut in taking steps towards Michael. "Hey, I know how you feel, okay I'm a big brother too but you gotta go easy on your Mom right now, okay?"

"Damn it" his Mom cursed having dropped her purse in her rush.

"I got it" Sam said dropping to pick it up for her. "Here" he handed it back to her.

"Thanks" she replied nodding at him.

"Hey listen your in no condition to drive, why don't you let me give you a lift to the hospital" Dean offered.

"No I couldn't possibly-"

"No it's no trouble, I insist" Dean replied cutting off her protest and held his hand out for her keys.

"Thanks" she said handing them over then kissed Michael's head while I shared a look with Sam and Dean. "Be good" I heard her say to Michael before getting into her car with Dean closing her door for her before he turned to us.

"We're gonna kill this thing, I want it dead you hear me?" Dean whispered to us holding out the Impala keys to me and I took them before watching him go around getting into the driver's side and I watched him go before turning to Sam.

"Let's go to the library, we need to find more information on Shtriga's" I nodded to his suggestion before turning back to Michael who was looking in the direction of the disappearing car.

"Hey your brother's gonna be okay, just keep faith okay" I smiled at him but he didn't ever look at me before he rushed inside making my smile drop as I looked up at Sam.

"I wouldn't worry about it, he's a lot like Dean"

"Yeah I noticed" I scoffed as we walked towards the Impala and I held the keys out for him but he just smiled.

"You drive, what Dean doesn't know-" I laughed rolling my eyes but got into the drivers seat as he got in the passenger and I drove us over to the local library where we dived head first into research with him on the computer and me looking through any books I could find. "Hey, how's the kid?" I heard Sam say making me look up from the current book seeing he was on the phone. "Eve and I are at the library, trying to find out as much as we can about this Shtriga" I leaned closer to hear.

"Yeah, what do you got?"

"Well bad news, I started with Fort Douglas around the time you said Dad was there-"

"And?" Dean pressed.

"Same deal, before that there was…there was Ogdenville, before that North Haverbrook and Brockway, every 15 to 20 years it hits a new town" I frowned having read though the info Sam had found them grabbed the phone pressing it to my ear.

"Dean, this thing is just getting started in Fitchburg, in all these other places it goes on for months…dozens of kids before the Shtriga finally moves on, kids just languish into comas and then they die"

"How far back does this thing go?" Dean asked as I held the phone back out to Sam.

"Uh I don't know…the earliest mention I could find was this place called Black River Falls back in the 1890's, talk about a horror show" Sam replied flipping through the articles.

"Wait, wait stop Sam" I called out stopping him on one that had a photo staring at a familiar face.

"Whoa" Sam added seeing it to.

"What?" Dean asked us.

"Hold on, we're looking at a photograph right now of a bunch of doctors standing around a kids bed, one of the doctors is Heidecker" Sam said as we continued to stare at the photo.

"And?" Dean asked clearly not getting what we were saying.

"And this picture was taken in 1893" Sam replied.

"You're sure?" Dean asked and I knew that tone of voice and I didn't like it immediately.

"Yeah" Sam nodded. "Yeah absolutely"

"Dean don't do-" I quickly yelled out but Sam dropped the phone looking at it.

"He just hung up" Sam stated.

"We have to go" I said jumping out of my seat grabbing my jacket off the back of the seat and he was quickly following me as I went out towards the Impala sending Dean a text. Don't do anything, come back to the motel – Eve.

We got back to the motel and I was more than relieved to see Dean already waiting for us and didn't look injured so I knew that meant he hadn't done what I thought he was gonna do and we filled him in on the article.

"We should have thought of this before, a doctors a perfect disguise you're trusted you can control the whole thing" Sam ranted but my eyes were following Dean watching his shoulder tense with anger as he took his jacket off throwing it down.

"That son of a bitch"

"I'm surprised you didn't draw on him right there" I replied given he'd told us that Heidecker had been in the room with him when we told him.

"Yeah well…first of all I'm not gonna open fire in a frigging pediatrics ward" he shot back throwing a towel that he'd used to wipe the back of his neck.

"Good call" Sam scoffed with a smile.

"Second, it wouldn't have done any good cause the bastards bulletproof unless he's chowing down on something and third, I wasn't packing which is probably a really good thing because I probably would've burned a clip in him off the principal alone" Dean added practically radiating anger like he always did when kids were being hurt by the creatures we hunted, you wouldn't think it but I knew Dean had a soft spot for kids.

"You're getting wise in your old age" Sam replied and I had to bite back the laugh.

"Your damn right because now I know how we're gonna get it" Dean suddenly said surprising me on two points, one he didn't disagree with Sam calling him old and two, on what the hell he meant on how we're gonna get this son of a bitch.

"What do you mean?" I asked looking up at him.

"The Shtriga works through siblings, right?" he asked

"Right" I nodded not sure where he was headed with this.

"Well last night-"

"It went after Asher" Sam finished understanding where Dean was going with this.

"So I'm thinking tonight it's probably gonna come after Michael" Dean replied and my eyes widened with understanding.

"Then we have to get him out of here" I stated standing up from where I'd been sitting on one of the beds.

"No, no that would blow the whole deal" Dean argued making me frown confused again.

"What?" Sam and I asked him.

"Yeah" he replied and then it clicked.

"Then you wanna use the kid as bait?" I asked surprised and he raised his eyes. "Are you nuts?!" I exclaimed since that was insane. "No, forget it that's out of the question"

"It's not out of the question Evelyn it's the only way!" Dean spat back at me making me glare at him especially for using my full name. "If this thing disappears again it could be years before we get another chance"

"Michaels a kid, I'm not gonna dangle him in front of that thing like a worm on a hook!" I yelled back standing off in front of him.

"Dad did not send me here to walk away"

"Sent you here?" I asked leveling a stare with his.

"He didn't send you here, he sent us here Dean" Sam quickly interfered getting between us and I was glad for it because I was ready to knock some damn sense into Dean.

"This isn't about you Sam or about Evelyn alright I'm the one that screwed up, it's my fault, there's no telling how many kids have gotten hurt because of me"

"What are you saying Dean?" Sam asked him while I remained furious enough to stay quiet. "How is it your fault?" Sam asked him again but Dean was suddenly tight lipped pissing me off again.

"Dean!" I pressed wanting to know what this was all about. "You've been hiding something from the get-go, since when does John bail on a hunt?" I had a feeling that was what this was about.

"She's right, since when does he let something get away?" Sam added as we watched Dean move to one of the beds and sit down. "Now talk to us man, tell us what's going on" Sam added and I watched Dean's jaw clench then unclench.

"Fort Douglas, Wisconsin…"

Dean's POV

"It was the third night in this crap room and I was climbing the walls man, I needed to get some air…" I explained diving head first into the reason I couldn't let this thing get away again. "…Dad just grabbed us and booked, dropped us off at Bobby's about five hours away by the time he got back to Fort Douglas the Shtriga disappeared it was…it was just gone, it never resurfaced until now" I laughed ironically looking up at Eve seeing she was looking at me and I wondered if she even remembered that Dad had dropped us off and my quietness afterwards, she would've been 8 at the time. "You know Dad never spoke about it again, I didn't ask but he…he looked at me different, you know which was worse not that I blamed him, he gave me an order and I didn't listen and I almost got you killed" I added looking at Sam at the last part.

"You were just a kid" Sam said.

"Don't" I spat back cutting him off shaking my head. "Don't, Dad knew this was unfinished business for me, he sent me here to finish it"

"But using Michael…" Sam replied and I looked up at Evie who was hovering near the bed avoiding my eyes as I waited for her to argue again too. "I don't know Dean, I mean how about one of us hides under the cover, you know we'll be the bait"

"No, it won't work" I replied shaking my head. "It's got to get close enough to feed, it'll see us" I added then looked up at Evie again and she finally met my eyes. "Believe me I don't like it but it's got to be the kid" I added standing up walking away but I felt her hand touch my shoulder.

"Alright, I don't like it but I'm with you Dean like always" I smiled a short appreciative smile then nodded before we headed to the office and tried to convince the kid but he wasn't having it.

"Your crazy, just go away or I'm calling the cops" he yelled picking up the phone.

"Hang on a second, just listen to me you have to believe me okay?" I replied looking the kid straight in the eyes. "This thing came through your window and it attacked your brother, I've seen it I know what it looks like because it attacked my brother once too" I added nodding back at Sam and he finally put the phone back into the receiver.

"This thing is it like…it has this long black robe?" Michael asked and I nodded.

"You saw it last night, didn't you?" I asked him.

"I thought I was having a nightmare" he replied barely looking at us.

"I'd give anything not to tell you this but sometimes nightmares are real"

"So why are you telling me?" he asked looking up at me.

"Because we need your help"

"My help?" he asked.

"We can kill it, me and them it's what we do but we can't do it without you" I replied and saw the instant look of fear on the kids face.

"What…no!"

"Michael listen to me, this thing hurt Asher and it's gonna keep hurting kids unless we stop it, do you understand me?" I said but he shook his head and we had no choice I wasn't gonna press the kid any further.

Evie's POV

Dean began pacing when we got back to the room and I knew he was annoyed that Michael didn't want to help us but I couldn't help be relieved since I didn't agree that using a kid was a good idea especially since he was terrified, I could see it on his face and it reminded me of Dean when John had dropped them off at the time Dean described since I'd always wondered what had happened since Dean had been so bizarre during that visit.

(FLASHBACK – SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA – around 16 years prior)

I was in my room coloring when I heard daddy calling out for me so I dropped my pencils and walked out and started down the stairs only to be met with the sight of Uncle John, Sammy and Dean so I ran the rest of the way and immediately pulled Sammy into a hug.

"Sammy!"

"Evie!" he yelled back before I smiled up at John who was smiling down at us.

"Hey sweat pea, how you been?" he asked as I smiled brighter.

"Better now Uncle John, I missed you's" I replied wrapping my arms around his waist and he hugged me back with one arm before I turned to Dean but he wasn't meeting anyone's eyes. "Deany?" he turned to me with a tight lipped smile but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Hi Evie" he replied but I frowned knowing something was wrong but before I could ask Uncle John spoke up.

"I should be back for them in a few days"

"Your leaving?" I asked suddenly sad since I didn't get to see him that often.

"Yeah, I'm sorry sweet pea but I'll be back" he replied pulling me into another small hug before hugging Sam then looked at Dean before he left without even hugging his oldest son making me all the more curious on what happened.

"You boy's hungry, I was just about to make some burgers?" Dad spoke up as soon as John was gone.

"Sure Uncle Bobby" Sam replied but Dean didn't even say anything and went upstairs and I heard a door closing.

"Is he okay?" I asked turning to Sammy.

"I don't know, Dad just got us in the car and brought us here I don't know what happened but they're not talking" I frowned.

"Why don't you kids go wash up and you's can help make the patty's" Dad said so we nodded and headed up the stairs towards the bathroom but I stopped hesitating in front of the spare bedroom which is where the boys and John stayed when they visited.

"I'll catch up Sammy" he nodded continuing towards the bathroom as I raised my hand and knocked on the door. "Dean?" I didn't receive and answer in return. "Dean can I come in?"

"Leave me alone" he replied back making me frown.

"Okay, I'll save you some food" I walked away but really didn't want to, Dean was my best friend and I wanted to know why he was upset, that's what best friends do for each other.

Dean had barely came out of their room for the whole three days that they'd been here and to this day I'd always wondered what had happened to make him shut me out that time but now I understood which is why I knew why this was so important to him, he'd dedicated his life to protecting Sam and he'd almost lost him when it was his one job and John's reaction only made it worse.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when someone knocked on the door and we all looked up over at it before Dean went over answering it while Sam and I stood looking past him to see it was Michael who suddenly looked determined.

"If you kill it, will Asher get better?" he asked straight away and Dean looked back at us for a second.

"Honestly, we don't know"

"You said you're a big brother" Michael replied looking up at Dean.

"Yeah" Dean nodded.

"You'd take care of your little brother?" Michael asked and I fought back my scoff. "You'd do anything for him?"

"Yeah I would" Dean agreed with absolute sincerity.

"Me too" Michael nodded back. "I'll help" he added making my eyes widen a little since my wariness was back since I still didn't agree with this but knew better than to stand between big brothers wanting to protect their little brothers.

We quickly got to work setting everything up with Dean and I in Michael and Asher's bedroom setting up cameras so we'll be able to keep an eye on him at all times and know exactly when the Shtriga arrives, Dean was setting up the camera while I sat on the end of Michael's bed as he watched Dean nervously.

"This camera has night vision on it, so we'll be able to see as clear as day" Dean explained as he was setting it up. "Are we good?" he yelled out to Sam who was in the other room making sure it was pointed right.

"Hair to the right" we heard him call back so Dean turned it. "There, there" he called so Dean stopped.

"What do I do?" Michael asked us.

"Just stay under the covers" I replied unable to stop thinking about what a terrible idea this was.

"And if it shows up?" he asked again.

"Well we'll be right in the next room, we're gonna come in with guns" Dean replied this time sitting on the other side. "So as soon as we do, you roll off this bed and you crawl under it"

"What if you shoot me?" he asked making me smile a little.

"We won't shoot you, we're good shots" Dean replied smiling at the kid too.

"Don't worry we're not gonna fire until your clear, okay?" I added as he nodded.

"Have you heard a gunshot before?" Dean asked him.

"Like in the movies?" Michael asked back and I shared a small look with Dean.

"It's gonna be a lot louder than in the movies, so we want you to stay under the bed cover your ears and do not come out until we say so, you understand?" Dean replied and I couldn't help the small smile as I couldn't help thinking that he was great with kids but I turned back to the kid seeing he'd become nervous again.

"Michael are you sure you want to do this?" I asked him. "You don't have to, it's okay we won't be mad"

"No I'm okay, just don't shoot me" he replied trying his best to sound confidant.

"We're not gonna let anything happen to you" I said squeezing his hand on the bed with a soft gentle smile in hopes to reassure him but was more reassuring myself. "We promise" I added looking back at Dean seeing him smiling at me before he turned to Michael nodding his head in agreement.

"We'll be right outside" Dean added before we stood and walked out closing the door behind us walking towards Sam and Dean took the seat beside him and I sat down in his lap as he pulled me to sit down putting his arms around my waist as we sat and waited. "What time is it?" Dean asked after a while.

"Three" Sam replied checking his watch listening back in with the headphones. "You sure these iron rounds are gonna work?" Sam asked him.

"Consecrated iron rounds and yeah it's what Dad used last time" Dean replied tightening his grip on my waist as my eyes never left the screen.

"Hey Dean, I'm sorry" Sam suddenly said.

"For what?" Dean asked him.

"You know…I've really given you a lot of crap for always following Dad's orders but I know why you do it"

"Oh god, kill me now" I rolled my eyes hitting the arm that was wrapped around my waist but then my eyes settled on something moving near the window and I leant closer.

"Wait look" they both became serious and leaned forward too and if Dean didn't have hold of my waist I would have fallen off his lap as we watched it closely seeing the window slide open almost by itself but we knew better and grabbed our guns from the table in front of us getting ready clicking the safety's off.

"Now?" Sam and I asked.

"Not yet" Dean replied watching the screen as the Shtriga got closer and closer to Michael before the video started distorting but luckily came back as the Shtriga started leaning down towards Michael.

"Now" I said unable to sit back anymore and jumped up, we ran in kicking the door down yelling for the bastards attention "Michael get down!" I yelled once we were inside and saw the kid do exactly what we told him to do and once he was clear we opened fire loading almost our entire clips into the thing before it fell back.

"Mike you alright?" Dean asked straight away.

"Yeah" we heard him reply from underneath the bed.

"Sit tight" Dean said before walking towards the Shtriga to make sure it was dead while Sam and I kept our guns trained on the thing just in case but it looked to be dead so we relaxed a fraction as Dean looked back at us but the thing was suddenly up and grabbed hold of Dean's throat.

"Dean!" I yelled as it threw him back into a bookshelf then moved lightning fast towards Sam and I before either of us had a chance to pull the trigger, I was sent flying backwards into the wall once again smacking my head, my eyes clouding with blurry images straight away as I blindly searched for my gun.

"Hey!" I heard Dean call out right before a gunshot as I slumped against the ground. "You okay little brother?" I didn't hear Sam reply so he must have signaled he was okay instead of answering. "Eve?"

"Kind of, tell you I'm sick of getting thrown into walls" I replied moving to stand up feeling the back of my head coming away once again with blood meaning I'd re-opened the previous head injury I had back there as we once again approached the son of a bitch watching as it's face started to collapse in of itself but Dean fired a couple more shots into the thing just to make sure and Michael popped his head out from underneath the bed.

"It's okay Michael, you can come out now" Dean said wrapping his arm around my waist cupping my cheek with the other hand looking at something on my forehead meaning I probably had a cut there as well and when I looked him over I saw blood dripping down the side of his face from cuts above his eye as Michael came out completely and came towards us while looking at the thing with fear and shock.

"It's okay" I said placing a hand on his shoulder but he surprised me but wrapping his arms around my waist and I looked up at Dean and Sam seeing them both smiling at this.

The next morning we were all cleaned up packing stuff into the back of the Impala getting ready to leave, the same old deal after every hunt but we saw Michael's mother…Joanna I think her name was looking around so Dean went up to her.

"Hey Joanna, how's Asher doing?" he asked straight away making me smile because he sounded generally concerned making me once again think about how good and caring he was when it came to kids and thought about how if the situation had been different he would've made a great father.

"Have you seen Michael?" she asked.

"Mom, Mom!" Michael yelled running up to us answering her question for us.

"Hey" she smiled at him wrapping him up in a hug.

"How's Ash?" Michael asked her.

"Got some good news, your brothers gonna be fine"

"Really?" Michael asked her with the biggest smile I've seen the kid have.

"Yeah really no one can explain it, it's…it's a miracle" Joanna replied and we shared a quick relieved smile since killing the Shtriga had saved Asher's life and probably the other kids too. "They're gonna keep him overnight for observation but after that he's coming home"

"That's great" Dean replied.

"How are all the other kids doing?" I asked just wanting to make sure that they were okay too.

"Good, real good a bunch of them should be checking out in a few days, Dr Travis says the wards gonna be like a ghost town" Joanna replied with a smile.

"Dr Travis, what about Dr Heidecker?" Sam asked her.

"Oh he wasn't in today, must have been sick or something" try dead…I thought to myself.

"Yeah, yeah must have" Dean replied probably thinking the same thing I was.

"So did anything happen while I was gone?" Joanna asked looking down at her son who's eyes briefly moved in our direction.

"No, same old stuff" he replied making me smile.

"Okay, you can go see Ash"

"Now?" Michael asked excitedly.

"Only if you want to" she replied and Michael smiled at us before running towards their car. "I better go before he hotwires the car and drives himself" Joanna added before walking away and we continued to smile before Dean turned to us and closed the boot after grabbing the keys.

"It's too bad" Sam said as we walked to get in the Impala.

"Oh they'll be fine" Dean replied.

"That's not what I meant" Sam replied making me raise my eye. "I meant Michael, he'll always know there are things out there in the dark, never be the same you know?" Sam added making me frown since at least that was better off then being dead or losing his brother. "Sometimes I wish that…"

"What?" Dean asked when Sam trailed off.

"I wish I could have that kind of innocence" Sam replied before we watched their car finally drive off.

"If it means anything, sometimes I wish you could too, both of you" Dean said turning back to us and I frowned since I didn't since that would mean I'd never met them and I would never wish that since they were everything to me but didn't say anything more as we got in and Dean drove off leaving yet another hunt in the rearview mirror.

A/N: Please let me know what you guys think, it really helps me right knowing that my stories are worth reading.