By the time they pulled the impala up to the motel parking lot it was already day and Sam was still laughing at Dean's reaction as well as the old woman.

Sam chuckled as he got out from the passenger's seat, "'I was sleeping with my peepers open?'"

"I almost smoked that old gal, I swear." Dean glared at him when he cackled again, "It's not funny!"

Sam was still snickering as he unlocked their room, "Oh man, you shoulda seen your face."

Dean grumbled, "Whatever."

"Well we're back at square one so that's great." Angel pointed out before spotting the owner's son sitting behind the office looking forlorn, "Hang on." Walking over to the kid, Angel sat next to him, "Hey buddy, what's wrong?"

He looked up at her with teary eyes, "My brother's sick."

Dean knelt down to him as Sam stood behind, "The little guy?"

"Pneumonia." He explained sadly looking from him back to Angel, "He's in the hospital and it's all my fault."

"Hey, I'm sure that's not true sweetie." She looked him over sadly, "What happened?"

"I shoulda made sure the window was latched." He sniffled, "He wouldn't've got pneumonia if the window was latched."

Angel looked pained as she and Dean stared at one another for a beat. A look of understanding crossing between them. It was a moment Sam doesn't miss, making him frown thoughtfully.

"Listen to me." Dean earned his attention, conviction filling his voice, "I can promise you that this is not your fault. Okay?"

He turned to Dean unconvinced, "It's my job to look after him."

"Yeah but sometimes… bad things happen that we can't control." Angel finished, clasping her hands tightly together, "Things that affect the people we love."

Sam looked back and forth between them as the kids mother hurried out of the motel toward her car, "Michael, 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."

He got up and rushed over to her, "I'm going with you."

"Not now, Michael."

"But I gotta see Asher!"

"Hey, Michael. Hey." Angel knelt down in front of him, "I know you're scared for your little brother. I know you wanna see him. I know how you feel…" Her eyes filled with understanding as she motioned behind her to Sam and Dean, "I'm a big sister but you gotta take it easy on your Mom right now, okay?"

He nodded sadly at her as his mom dropped her handbag in her haste, "Dammit!"

Sam reached down and picked it up for her, "I got it.

She sniffled and quickly took it from him, "Thanks."

Angel turned to her with a soft expression, "Listen, you're in no condition to drive- why don't you let me give you a lift to the hospital?"

She shook her head but couldn't help the tears that fell down her cheeks, "No, I couldn't possibly…"

"It's no trouble, really." She offered a smile, "I insist."

Nodding sadly she handed her keys to Angel, "Thank you." Turning to Michael she kissed his head, "Be good."

Dean helped her into her seat before walking back over to Angel and Sam.

Angel's eyes darkened as she caught sight of Michaels broken expression again, "We're gonna kill this thing. I want it dead, understood?"

At the hospital…

Angel stood silently in Asher's room watching the doctors work on him. When her phone vibrated she immediately answered upon seeing Sam's name.

"Hey."

"Hey… How's the kid?"

She sent a look behind her to the unconscious boy and frowned, "He's not good. Where are you two?"

"Library. We've been trying to find out as much as we can about this Shtriga."

"Like?"

"Found some bad news. I started with Fort Douglas around the time you guys said Dad was there?"

"Yeah?"

"Same deal. Before that, there was, uh, Ogdenville, before that North Haverbrook, and Brockway. Every 15 to 20 years it hits a new town. Ang, this thing is just getting started in Fitzburgh. In all these other places it goes on for months. Dozens of kids before the shtriga finally moves on. The kids just… languish in comas and then they die."

Angel tensed, "How far back's this thing go?"

"Ah, I don't know. The earliest mention I could find is this place called 'Black River Falls' back in the 1890s. Talk about a horror show… Whoa."

Worry filled her when he quieted, "Sammy?"

"Hold on… I'm looking at a photograph right now of a bunch of doctors standing around a kid's bed. One of the Doctors is Hydecker."

She raised a brow, "And?"

"And this picture was taken in 1893."

Angel reeled at that, "You're sure?"

"Yeah. Yeah absolutely."

Angel immediately hung up and turned to watch Hydecker sit on Asher's bed as he spoke to the mother, "Don't worry. Your son's in good hands. I'm going to take care of him." Once he got up he moved toward Angel who was standing in the doorway looking like she was ready to slit his throat, "So what's the CDC come up with so far?"

"Well… we're still working on a few theories." She forced a tight lipped tense smile, "You'll know something as soon as we do."

He nodded, "Well, nothing's more important to me than these kids. Just let me know if I can help."

She raised a brow at him, "I'll do that."

Back at the motel room…

"We should have thought of this before." Dean growled angrily as he walked into the other room in agitation, "A doctor's a perfect disguise. You're trusted, you can control the whole thing!"

Angel scoffed as she threw her jacket off, "That son of a bitch."

Sam shook his head in surprise at his sister, "I'm surprised you didn't draw on him right there."

"Well I can't really open fire in the middle of the pediatrics ward, Sam."

Sam nodded, "Good call."

"Not to mention it wouldn't have done any good anyway because the bastard's bullet proof unless he's chowing down on some poor defenseless kid!" She huffed as her voice got louder and louder, "Oh, and i wasn't packing, which is probably a really good thing cause I probably would have just burned a clip in him on principle alone."

Sam smirked as he watched her pace irritatedly, "You're getting wise in your old age Ang."

"Excuse you, twenty eight is hardly old!"

Dean walked back into the room looking grim yet determined, "I know how we're going to get it."

Sam looked to him curiously, "What do you mean?"

"Shtriga, works through siblings right?"

"Right."

"Yeah."

"Well last night…"

When he trailed off looking between them knowingly Angel tensed, "It went after Asher, so tonight it's probably gonna come after Michael."

Sam tensed as well, "We gotta get him outta here."

"No." Deans shook his head in dismissal, "No, that would blow the whole deal."

"Excuse me?" Angel's eyes nearly flamed red from the fire she was shooting at her brother, "You wanna use that kid as bait?"

Sam's own eyes widened at that, "Are you nuts, Dean?"

"We're not doing that. No." Angel instantly dismissed, "Forget it. That's out of the question."

"It's not out of the question." Dean argued, "It's the only way. If this thing disappears it could be years before we get another chance."

Sam shook his head, "Michaels a kid, Dean."

Angel whirled on him as she put her hands on her hips, "We're not dangling him in front of that thing like a worm on a hook!"

Dean glared between them frustratedly, "Dad did not send me here to walk away!"

"Send you here?" Sam scoffed, "He didn't send you here." He gestured between the three of them, "He sent us here."

"This isn't about you two, Sam. I'm the one who screwed up, alright. It's my fault." He turned away from them as emotion broke his voice, "There's no telling how many kids have gotten hurt because of me."

"Dean…" Angel's face softened as she realized what her brother was feeling and why, "That's not true. None of this is your fault. You were just a kid. If anything, the blame falls on me not you."

"What's going on?" Sam asked as he looked between them, "Why do you think this is your fault, Dean?" A long silence stretched between them making Sam sigh, "Dean…" When he didn't turn around Sam spoke anyway, "You guys have been hiding something from the get-go. Since when does Dad bail on a hunt? Since when does he let something get away? You guys need to talk to me. Tell me what's going on."

As Dean turned he looked to Angel who nodded for him to talk.

With a pained expression he sat on one of the beds and explained, "Fort Douglas, Wisconsin… It was our third night in this crap room and I was climbing the walls, man. I needed to get some air."

Flashback…

Young Dean sat watching TV on the couch. He turned it off and went to the front door, looking back to make sure Sammy and Angel were sound asleep in the other room. He locked the door behind him when he left. Sometime during the night Angel woke up and tensed when Dean wasn't in bed. Grabbing her coat she went looking for him, finding him at the local diner that had a game in it.

"Dean…" Angel sighed as she leaned on the machine and looked down at him, "You scared the crap out of me. What the hell are you doing over here?" He sent her a frown but continued playing his game, "Dean."

"I just needed to get out of the room." He rolled his eyes, "I'm bored, Angel. All we do is homework and watch crap tv."

"I know… but it's not safe to run around out here by yourself. You know that." She motioned, "C'mon, the guy in the front told me they're closing up anyway."

With a defeated groan Dean allowed her to lead him out of the building and back to the motel room.

"I promise I'll figure something out for you guys to do besides just sitting in the room. I'll talk to dad, but you can't just sneak out like that. What if something- Just… promise you won't do that again?" She took out the room key but looked at him before she unlocked it, "Promise?"

"Okay…" Dean nodded, this time with a guilty look in his eye, "I promise."

Nodding she unlocked the door and led them in, stopping when she saw a strange light coming from Sammy's room. A bad gut feeling took over when she realized all of the lights were off when she left to find Dean. Turning she motioned for Dean to be quiet and hide before she quietly picked up the rife that was leaning by the door.

When she quietly opened Sammy's door she saw him lying outside of the covers as a hooded figure leaned over him menacingly. After she cocked the rifle the monster reared up and hissed at her. The first shot she fired she hit the thing in the chest but instead of it dying or fleeing it hissed angrily again and charged supernaturally fast right for her.

Just then John burst through the front door, gun raised, "Get out of the way!"

Angel ducked, running over to stand protectively in front of Dean as John shot the shtriga multiple times with his hand gun. The shtriga jumped through the bedroom window making glass shatter everywhere.

"Sammy…" John rushed to Sam's bed and cradled him close, "Sammy. You okay?"

As Sam woke up he looked around in confusion, his voice thick with sleep, "Yeah Dad, what's going on?"

"Are you alright?" John asked again as he held Sam to his chest tightly, his eyes snapped to Angel and Dean once Sam nodded, "What happened?"

Dean looked from Angel to him with wide eyes, "I- I-"

"It was my fault, Dad." Angel interjected, stepping in front of her brother, "I was just gone for a second."

"What!? I told you not to leave this room!"

Dean looked between his older sister and father, "Dad-"

"I know, Dad. I- I'm sorry."

"I told you not to let them out of your sight!"

Angel's mouth snapped shut and she nodded at her father. She and Dean both watched sadly as John cradled Sammy, a look of fear ever precedent on his face.

"Dad just… grabbed us and booked. Dropped us off at Pastor Jim's about three hours away, but…" Dean frowned sadly, "By the time he got back to Fort Douglas the shtriga had disappeared, it was just gone. It never surfaced until now."

"Dad never spoke about it again." Angel continued when Dean trailed off, "Of course we never asked about it either but… shortly after that he started taking me on hunts with him. Guess he thought if i saw things head on i wouldn't disobey him again."

"He treated Angel differently after that. She took most of the heat but he knew it was my fault. I could see it in his face. He, uh, he looked at me differently, you know?" Guilt riddled Dean, "Not that i blame him. I'm the one who didn't listen when he gave us an order, and I almost got you killed."

Sam looked between them, his voice soft, "You were just a kid."

"Don't." Deans jaw tensed, "Dad knew this was unfinished business for me. He sent me here to finish it."

"But using Michael… I don't know Dean." Sam shook his head, "I mean, how about one of us hides under the covers, you know, we'll be the bait."

"No, that won't work." Dean dismissed, "It's gotta get close enough to feed. It'll see us." His eyes flickered between the two of them, "Believe me, I don't like it, but it's gotta be the kid."

At the motel reception area…

"You're crazy!" Michael yelled at them as he held up the motel landline, "Just go away or I'm calling the cops!"

"Just listen for a second, Micheal. We're telling the truth." Angel searched his eyes as she explained, "This thing came through the window and it attacked your brother. I've seen it and so has my brother Dead." She motioned up at him and he nodded, "We both know what it looks like. Because it attacked our brother Sam once too."

Michael stared at her in fear as he slowly hung up the phone, "This thing… is it… like… it has this long… black robe?"

Dean studied him, "You saw it last night didn't you?"

"I thought I was having a nightmare…"

"Listen… it breaks my heart to tell you this but…" Angel frowned as she looked him over sadly, "Sometimes nightmares are real."

"So, why are you telling me?"

"Because we need your help."

"My help?"

"We can kill it." Dean continued, "The three of us, that's what we do. But we can't do it without you."

"What?" He squeaked, "No!"

"Michael, listen to me." Dean met his eye, "This thing hurt Asher. And it's gonna keep hurting kids unless we stop it, understand me?"

Michael stared at him in horror before his eyes flashed between Angel and Sam.

Back in the motel room…

"Well that went crappy." Dean grumbled, "Now what?

"What did you expect?" Sam shook his head as he sat down, "You can't ask an adult to do something like that, much less a kid."

When Angel answered the knock at the door she was surprised to see Michael standing there, "If you kill it, will Asher get better?"

Angel turned back and shared a look with her brothers, "Honestly? We don't know."

"You said those guys are your little brothers…" He continued at her nod, "You'd take care of them? You'd do anything for them?"

Without missing a beat she nodded again, "Yeah, I would."

"Me too…" He took a deep breath, "I'll help."