Disclaimer: I still don't own Supernatural or its characters. I and am not making any money on this…I'm just having fun!

End of Innocence

Chapter 6 – Trapped

"The bastard is after Sam…he's using the kids to get to Sam! We have to stop him before he succeeds!"

Dean looked over at his brother as they headed for the orphanage. Sam was sleeping with his head against the window. He knew Sam was exhausted, but he had refused to stay behind. Dean looked forward again trying to quell the bad feeling he had about this job. If a demon was involved, then Sam was at risk. And Dean didn't like putting his brother at risk…it went against the big brother handbook.

"So, you found nothing unusual about our friend Wendell?" Dean asked again, hoping that they had missed something.

"No, but from what I've read, prior to his taking over the orphanage, he was a pillar of the community. This one article that was written right after the state took over the orphanage has more than one interview with people who had known him. All of them expressed their shock over what he had done. A woman who worked with him at his previous job told the reporter that Wendell was the nicest man she had ever known…she couldn't believe he was capable of torturing children." Nick continued to read from Sam's laptop.

"He was possessed" came the quiet reply from Sam. He sat up and began to rub his temples. "He must have been possessed by a demon. That would account for his change in behavior. But if Wendell died in the fire, why is the demon still hanging around? Why is it holding the children here?"

"I don't know Sam…but we can't worry about that now…if it's a demon, we need to find the right banishing spell and get rid of him. The kids will then be able to move on with Nick's help."

Sam smiled. "Dean, you know it is never that easy."

"Well a guy can hope can't he?" Dean grinned at Sam, glad to see his brother was still with him.

As the pulled up in front of the old building, Sam felt the hair on the back of his neck rise. "Well, looks like we found the right place."

"Spidey senses?" Dean asked

"Big time…we should go in prepared Dean." Sam rubbed his temple, the headache that had been with him since yesterday was still pounding in his head.

"You sure you're up for this Sam…you know we can always come back some other time." Dean didn't like the pain he saw in his brother's eyes.

"The sooner we find this bastard, the sooner I'll be able to get a good night's sleep Dean." Sam went to the trunk and began to load his back pack with what they were going to need.

Dean looked at Nick, a slight frown on his face. "You know Nick; this is going to be a little different than your normal gig. Can you handle a weapon?"

Nick smiled. "Don't worry Dean; I've had to protect myself before. You know not all of my former clients know that they want to move on…sometimes they take a little encouragement."

Dean pulled out his shotgun loaded with rock salt and handed another one to Nick. "This is all the encouragement I usually need."

Nick shook his head as he followed the brothers into the building. He was glad that they had agreed to help him with this one. He had handled his share of nasty poltergeists and spirits, but this job had felt wrong from the beginning. "So how do you want to handle this Dean?"

Dean looked back and winked. "If it moves…shoot it!"

Sam snorted. "Real good advice Dean…so when your ass if full of rock salt, don't blame Nick. He'd be just following orders!"

Dean slapped Sam affectionately on the back of the head. The hunters quickly entered the building, each of them on alert for anything unusual. Sam looked over and saw Dean pull out his home made EMF reader. The needle was jumping indicating that there was activity. "Man, they're usually not this active during the day…do you see anything Nick?"

Nick was standing in the middle of the entryway. He had his eyes closed and was reaching out, trying to let the lost souls know that he was back. Dean watched in fascination as Nick slowly began to scan the room, a small smile on his face as he began to speak to the empty room.

"Don't be afraid. My friends and I are here to help." Nick turned to Dean and Sam. "There's a group of kids here but they're afraid. I can almost taste their fear."

Dean looked a Sam who shook his head. At least that was one ability he didn't have to worry about. "You can actually see them?" Dean asked quietly.

Nick smiled. "Don't sound surprised Dean, not all spirits manifest as little globes of light. Only the very strong ones are able to actually manifest so that they can appear to the human world. Most spirits are just out of eyesight, lingering trying to get our attention."

"Well they have my attention!" Dean said swallowing. He definitely didn't like dealing with something he couldn't even see.

"Nick, can you ask them what happened to Wendell?" Sam asked quietly, not wanting to scare the children. He didn't tell Dean, but even though he couldn't see them. He could sense them; he felt their presence and could tell that they were not going to hurt them. Just like he could sense that something evil was definitely in this building…that is what he needed to find.

Nick walked over towards a corner of the room and knelt down. "My name is Nick. I know that you are scared, but we need you tell us where Wendell is…can you tell me what happened?"

Nick smiled as a young girl of about 10 years of age walked towards him. She kept looking around as if someone was watching her. "My name is Susan Marie Henderson, but most of the kids here call me Susie."

"Hello Susie, you look like you are the oldest…are there other children here with you?"

"Yes, but they are too afraid of him to come out. He does bad things to you if you don't do what he wants…"

"If you tell me where we can find him, we can help you Susie. You won't have to be afraid of him anymore." Nick noticed that the other children were looking up the stairs as if they expected something or someone to be coming down them any moment. "Is he upstairs Susie?"

Suddenly the temperature in the room dropped and the children scattered, disappearing from view as Nick turned to Dean and Sam. "Something is happening…the kids have disappeared."

Sam looked up the stairs as Dean moved towards the steps. "Do you smell it Dean?" Sam asked quietly

Dean nodded as he started to walk up the stairs. "Yep, definitely sulphur. Looks like Wendell is home."

Sam and Nick followed Dean up the stairs as they continued their search. Nick once again was impressed at the teamwork of the two brothers. Dean took point and Sam brought up the rear, guarding both Dean and Nick's back. They didn't need to speak, each trusting the other to do their part. Nick almost bumped into Dean when he stopped and pointed to a room at near the end of the hall. "That looks like his office. Maybe we can find something in there to help us."

As they approached the office, Nick noticed a flicker of motion off to his right. "Guys, there's something over there."

Sam moved in front of Nick, looking at where he was pointing. "Is it another spirit Nick?"

Nick closed his eyes briefly and when he opened them again he nodded. It's a small boy Sam. "I'm going to try to talk to him."

Dean nodded at Sam. "Go ahead, I'll start going through the files to see what Wendell was up to."

Nick and Sam continued to follow the young boy. Sam was relying on Nick to guide him as he still couldn't see anything. "What's he doing Nick?"

"I'm not sure, he's walking away from us…but it's almost like he's trying to show us something. Should we follow?" Nick was sure that the child wouldn't hurt them, but he had no idea where they would be led.

Sam pulled out his cell phone and quickly dialed his brother. "Dean, the kid is leading us back downstairs…are you ok?"

"I'm fine Sam…just be careful. Make sure you call me back every 15 minutes. I found some of the medical records Sam; it looks like he was trying to brain wash these kids. I can't believe no one found this sooner Sam, it looks pretty bad."

Sam promised to be careful as he hung up the phone and relayed to Nick what Dean had found so far. "It kind of tracks with my visions…the kid in the last one said he wouldn't kill. I wonder how many of these kids he managed to get under his control?"

"Probably quite a few Sam. It's probably why he targeted children. They would be easier to manipulate than an adult. But I don't understand what he was trying to gain by this. Why did he need these kids to kill?" Nick noticed that the young boy was stopping at the bottom of the stairs, looking up as if waiting for them to catch up. "Well, looks like he is definitely leading us somewhere Sam."

Sam nodded and followed. The bad feeling in the pit of his stomach continued to grow with each passing moment. Suddenly Nick stopped and stared at a doorway that looked like it led to the lower levels. "Ah Sam, he just went through that door. Maybe we should wait for Dean before we… argh!" Nick felt himself thrown against the wall with enough force to knock the wind out of him. He struggled to his feet and watched in horror as the door opened and Sam was pulled into the blackness beyond. He could still hear Sam yelling "NICK GET OUT! FIND DEAN!"

Nick staggered back towards the other stairway, moving as quickly as he could. But once again, he felt himself being pulled. Nick grabbed the end of the rail on the stairway and yelled. "DEAN! DEAN HELP!"

Nick felt himself being pulled into a small room off the main entrance. He continued to struggle, calling for Dean as he was pushed into the room and the door slammed shut. Looking around him, he couldn't see anything as there was no window or light coming into the room. Nick refused to panic, he had to find Dean and tell him what happened. He turned as he heard a quiet sobbing in the far corner.

Nick closed his eyes and found the calm that allowed him to see the spirits. As he opened his eyes he smiled. Peggy was sitting in the corner, tears falling from her sad eyes. "I'm sorry, you're just trying to help us…but he's too strong." Nick's eyes grew larger as he saw the small girl look at the door that he had just come through. At first there was nothing but a faint smell of smoke, but before Nick could react, the door burst into flames trapping him inside the room.

Nick coughed as the smoke quickly became thick, he could feel himself losing consciousness as he turned to look at the young girl. Her face wreathed in pain as she seemed to be fighting some internal battle. The last thing he heard before blacking out was her small voice. "I won't kill for you…I won't!"

TBC

Raven524: Of course, we now have the boys separated and our poor boy Nick is really in dire straights. Sam is in the clutches of the bad guy and Dean is doing research? Don't worry, I'm sure he'll come charging to the rescue before too long (or not…). Don't forget to tell me how you like this so far! Reviews really make my day!