New chapter! Once again, thanks to all of you for your reviews and your continuing interest. Not a lot of things can make me smile these days but you guys always manage :)

Chapter 10

It's a place where a wish will be granted

Come, you'll see I'm right

It's a force that will live on within you

Dark as day is light

Epica-Sancta Terra

Sam strode through the forest, Dean following without complaining. He had listened to Sam's account of an altar and what had happened there, and while he had no idea what this new development meant, he trusted Sam's memories.

"So, what are you hoping to find?" he asked. "You think Loretta's there?"

Sam shook his head.

"I doubt she'll be here in daytime. And since all reports have the Pied Piper attacking only after dark, I think we're safe for now."

They walked on until they reached the clearing. The stone slab was still there.

"Someone's been tidying the place up regularly," Dean observed. "The slab should be covered by grass and leaves, but someone's been taking care of it."

"Like an altar," Sam completed. "Or some place of sacrifice."

Dean frowned.

"Yeah, I'm not liking that one bit."

"You know," Sam said. "I told Greenberg what was happening. I told him it was a woman, I tried to describe her…he thought I was delirious or making it up or whatever. If only I'd have gotten him to take me seriously then, we wouldn't be here now."

Dean wanted to grab Sam by the shoulders and shake him. Hard. Maybe he'd knock some sense into his brother like that, so that he'd realize he was definitely not responsible for an asshat like Greenberg using him as bait, losing him to a monster, and then refusing to believe Sam on top of that.

"Just one more reason to tear up his intestines," Dean muttered.

Sam looked puzzled, not quite catching his words.

"What was that?"

Dean shook his head quickly.

"Never mind."

He did not want to involve Sam in his plan to take revenge on Greenberg. He knew Sam would never approve for one thing.

They made their way towards the altar. There were carvings on the stone. Sam bent down to take a better look.

"Is that more Gothic?" Dean asked from behind.

Sam frowned.

"No, it's actually a mixture of German and Latin. There were quite a few texts in the Middle Ages that mixed languages like that. The Carmina Burana for example has some parts where it mixes Latin with French or Medieval German."

Dean snorted.

"You know, sometimes I wonder how someone like you doesn't have chicks flocking all around you. Then you open your mouth and reveal just how much of a nerd you are. So…can you read it?"

"Why?" Sam quipped. "So you can call me a nerd again?"

Dean chuckled, feeling lighthearted for the first time since finding out Sam had nearly died at the hands of the Pied Piper.

"Sammy, I don't need to call you a nerd for you to be one."

"That's really mature, Dean," Sam said, his focus on the inscription. "And I'm pretty sure I can read the Latin bit. Could make a guess at the rest, too, I suppose."

"And?" Dean prompted.

He waited in silence as Sam ran his hand over the writing.

"It's something about a Rat-catcher….I'm guessing the original Pied Piper? I think this is an altar to him. It's says something about keeping him bound to the town…and keeping some source of power from him."

Sam got up abruptly, turning to look at Dean, his eyes lit up.

"Dean, I think I've got it," he said. "Loretta made a deal with the original Pied Piper. You know, to get rid of the guy who jilted her or of her family or both. And in exchange, she had to become him. The pipe, that's his. That's the original pipe he used to draw the kids of Hamelin. I think, when enough energy from the kids is contained in it, Loretta can set him loose."

Dean glanced at the stone, feeling a sudden sense or wariness.

"You're saying the Pied Piper is a prisoner here?"

Sam nodded quickly.

"One of the original settlers must have had the pipe. Maybe they did not know what it was and found out too late. Maybe they had been tasked to keep it with them, keep the Pied Piper bound, so when they emigrated, they had no choice but to carry the pipe with them. They probably figured, as long as they kept him bound, nothing would happen."

"And they did not imagine a crazy hotel manager discovering the secret and trying to use the Pied Piper to take revenge," Dean completed scowling. "All right, so I'm guessing if we burn the altar, we might solve the problem."

"Only if we burn the flute first," Sam said getting up.

So, they still needed to find Loretta, hopefully before she did something stupid.

"Out of curiosity," Dean said. "What happens if the Pied Piper does get free?"

Sam's face turned grim.

"I'm guessing his first move is to destroy Rattigan. Loretta, too, probably. He might not be one for gratitude. Then, probably move on to bigger things."

Dean nodded. He had thought the same.

"Well, we're putting a stop to him. Let's go."

Sam nodded and turned away. Then, Dean noticed in concern as his brother's expression changed into one of confusion and then of pain. Sam tried to take a step forward then toppled down, calling Dean's name.

Dean saw the thick vines winding themselves around Sam's legs, keeping him still. Sam struggled to break loose, but whatever was keeping him in place was too strong. Dean ran back to Sam and tried to help. More vines sprang up from around the grave, trying to catch Dean.

His first reaction was to reach for the gun, only to remember that Loretta had been careful to disarm them. But Loretta did not know Hunters. Like many others, she had missed the knife Dean usually kept hidden in his boot. He used it now to hack at the vines. It was slow work and many were springing up all around them.

Finally, he was able to get Sam free and pull him up, half dragging him away from the clearing. The vines were apparently confined to the place where the altar was.

"Damn!" Dean exclaimed. "That was a close one."

Sam nodded, leaning against a tree.

"Guess he does not like us planning to get rid of him once and for all," he said.

Dean clapped Sam on the shoulder.

"Let's get back into town," he said. "The sooner we can get to our stuff, the quicker we can put an end to him – and Loretta."

xxxXXXXxxxx

Dean and Sam got back into Rattigan without much trouble. They had meant to find a way to sneak into the hotel without passing reception, but it turned out not to be necessary. Loretta was not there. Lisa, from the corner store, was manning the desk, one of her cats lounging nearby.

"Oh, hello boys," she said. "Ms. Bracegirdle had an urgent doctor's appointment. She told me to man the ford. Let me know if you need anything, right?"

"A doctor's appointment?" Sam asked, his tone laced with concern. "I hope it's not serious."

Lisa shrugged.

"I doubt it. I'll let her know you're concerned when she gets back. She'll be touched."

"I bet," Dean muttered darkly.

He led Sam out of the reception and stopped when he was sure they were out of hearing.

"Listen, wherever Loretta is, whether she thinks we've escaped or not, I don't think she's expecting us to be ballsy enough to come back to her hotel. She won't look for us here."

"What do you want to do?" Sam asked.

Dean nodded to a door on which Private. Staff only was written.

"How much do you want to bet that leads to Loretta's room?"

They made their way to the door and pushed it open. It led down a small corridor. The first two rooms were a kitchen and a laundry room. The last one had to be Loretta's room, then.

The place was disappointingly normal. Not that they had expected another shrine to the Pied Piper. Loretta obviously kept that in the summer house, away from prying eyes. This room was just a front. A façade just like Loretta's warm personality.

The two ruffled through the room trying to find something useful. There was no sign of the flute.

"It makes sense I suppose," Sam said ruefully. "She's probably carrying it with her."

Dean stopped in his tracks. He remembered the day of their arrival. The first time he had seen Loretta, he had noticed a thick silver chain round her neck. The chain disappeared under her sweater, but, of course, Dean had seen no cause for suspicion then. Lots of people wore jewelry like that, when they were wearing it more for sentimental reasons than for show.

"She's not carrying it, she's wearing it," he said. "Round her neck."

Sam moved to stand beside Dean.

"Well, it's going to be difficult to pry it off her without a weapon. So let's head back to the car."

Dean shook his head.

"No, let's head back to our room first."

Sam frowned.

"I doubt she left anything in our room, Dean."

However, the room had been warded. Maybe Loretta had had a hard time getting inside.

xxxxXXXxxxxx

The room was a mess. The covers were overturned. Sam's laptop lay face down on the floor. Sam's face fell at the sight until he realized that, while it had been pretty banged up, it was still working.

"All my research was here, though," he said. "Everything I had dug on the Pied Piper and Loretta. She must have seen it."

Dean was scowling. He noticed the broken salt lines. Every protection ward they had drawn had been tampered with or erased.

"I was really hoping she wouldn't be able to get inside a warded room."

"And maybe she can't as the Pied Piper," Sam agreed. "But as Loretta she's flesh and blood. She can come in during the day. She probably did all this in the morning after feeding on us."

Dean did not want to spend more time in the room. He was getting nervous about the car, afraid that Loretta might have tampered with that, too. Luckily, they had parked in a less noticeable spot in the back. And, apparently, Loretta had been too busy to get at it.

"Ah, baby," Dean said patting the hood. "You have no idea how good it is to see you in one piece."

Sam snorted in amusement. In truth, he was just as relieved as Dean, though.

It was time they touched based with Bobby. They had missed checking in, and by now Bobby was probably frantic. When Sam dialed his number, he was not surprised when the first thing Bobby was to start chewing them out.

"Haven't you idjits heard of returning calls?"

Dean and Sam exchanged amused grins.

"Oh, Bobby, you were worried about us," he said. "We're touched."

Bobby snorted.

"Don't flatter yourself, Dean. I knew if you got into trouble, I'd be the one pulling you out of it, and I really don't feel like driving all the way to the middle of nowhere just now…You're not in any trouble, are you?"

"Nothing we can't handle, Bobby, really," Sam assured him quickly. "But, listen, we have hit a bit of a snag."

Bobby's resigned sigh actually made Sam feel a little guilty. Were he and Dean really that prone to getting into trouble?

"Of course you did," Bobby said. "What is it this time?"

Sam and Dean brought Bobby up to speed about their time with Loretta and the discovery that she might have made a deal with the original Pied Piper.

"Well, that makes sense," Bobby said. "There hasn't been an attack that could be traced to the Pied Piper since about the time the town of Rattigan was established. If one of the original settlers decided to bind him and keep him bound, that would have been a way to stop him for good. Even if someone else found the flute and decided to take on the mantle, they wouldn't have done as much damage as the original."

"I don't know, Bobby," Dean said. "Loretta sure seems like she's capable of doing quite a lot of damage on her own."

"Yes, but Loretta takes one kid a night. She can't work her mojo on more, and the only kids she can compel to follow her are the ones who want to run away from home in the first place. The Pied Piper took about one hundred kids at the same time. Trust me son, he gets loose, no child will be safe."

"But burning the flute will stop both him and Loretta?" Sam asked hopefully.

Bobby was silent for a second.

"I'd burn that altar too, just to be sure. Along with everything you found in the summerhouse – the books, the bones, the empty coffins."

"Gladly," Dean said, his eyes hard.

They finished the conversation and were planning to lay low until night came when they could confront Loretta. They were just thinking of finding a place to do just that when they spotted Doctor Blackstone striding towards them. His face was pale.

"Agents," he greeted harshly. "It's good to find you here. I supposed you heard?"

"Heard what?" Dean asked.

Blackstone scowled.

"They snatched another kid. In broad daylight, this time. Right outside the school. Where the hell were you two, anyway?"

Sam and Dean exchanged worried glances. That explained Loretta's absence. What they could not explain was her sudden change in MO.

"Who did they take?" Sam wanted to know.

"Lara Schmidt," Blackstone answered. "She was Kelsey's best friend."

Dean gasped.

"I talked to her. I was sure she was no longer in the victim pool."

Sam glanced at his brother worriedly.

xxxXXXxxxxx

Dean kept clenching his jaw all the way to Lara's place. Sam had first thought it was wiser to let him be. But he could not stand by watching his brother drowning in guilt like that. There had been plenty of guilt for Dean since he arrived in Rattigan, and Sam was pretty sure there shouldn't have been. Nothing that had happened to Sam in the past – or that was happening now to the other children – was in any way Dean's fault.

"Look, Dean," he began. "What happened between you and that kid?"

Dean's hands tightened on the wheel.

"She wanted to run away, too," he replied tersely. "Jim Hayes was being a dick to her, telling her once her sibling's born, she'd be tossed aside by her parents or whatever. I tried to make her see things differently." He paused and shook his head. "I thought I had her convinced, too."

"You must have," Sam assured him. "I mean, Loretta did not draw her away. She literally kidnapped her. That means Lara didn't want to leave."

"For all the good it did," Dean muttered. "She's not safe, Sam. The Pied Piper can still feed on her fears. She's a kid. It's easy to convince kids their insecurities are real."

Sam looked away, suddenly fascinated by the scenery outside.

"I know," he confirmed quietly.

He sensed Dean's eyes on him but was in no mood to elaborate. They had said all that needed to be said about Sam's childhood insecurities that had been dredged up by this case. He cleared his throat and tried to change the subject.

"Loretta can't feed on her while she's not the Pied Piper, so Lara's safe until nightfall. We'll get her then. As soon as we talk to the family and confirm this really was Loretta and not some creep taking advantage of the other kidnappings, we'll go to the summer house and get Lara."

"If she's in the summer house," Dean said. "If Loretta knows we've escaped, then she also knows that place is compromised. She'll keep her hidden somewhere else –until nightfall. I think Loretta has big plans."

"Wait, wat do you mean?" Sam asked

"She wants to set the Pied Piper loose, so she can be free herself," Dean answered. "But she needs insurance, right? She needs something that will guarantee she won't be his next meal. Or that she won't go down with the rest of Ratigan."

"And that's Lara?" Sam asked. "I mean, of all the troubled kids Loretta had the chance to kidnap, why her? Lara's fears are normal kid fears. She's not traumatized by anything, she's far more mentally grounded than the rest of Loretta's victims."

He stopped when he noticed something in Dean's eyes.

"Lara is…not the gift he intends to give him," Sam said softly.

He saw Dean square his shoulders.

"No, Sammy," he agreed. "No, Lara's just bait. We're the ones she really wants."

It made sense. Loretta had experienced a taste of what was in their minds – the dark stuff, the memories that could cause a lifetime of nightmares. And that was just the start. There was also what was behind Sam's Wall. If the Pied Piper fed on the fear caused by bad memories – how much energy would he get out of someone who had spent two centuries in Hell?

To be continued. We're up for quite a confrontation soon. Stay tuned and be safe!