Oh. My. God. You know, it took me six chapters to figure out a plot? SIX. Well, at least I got one now; I have a direction! This chapter I guess gets slightly AU, not really fitting in with the show anymore, but I hope that's okay.

I'm my own Beta. Any mistakes are mine and mine along. Otherwise, I own nothing.

Chapter 6. Blood of the Innocent

Soon as lunch was over, Sam was back at it again, begging Dean to give him a piggyback ride. Dean cast a sideways look at Bobby, who shrugged.

"He's your brother," he said, and went off to look in his books for something about Sam's condition.

Dean felt a tug on his coat sleeve.

"Come on, Dean! I wants a ride!"

Dean sighed. "Do I have to? What about…" He drifted off in thought. "Hide and seek? Does that sound fun?"

Sam's brow wrinkled, but then he gave a nod. "Okay. I hide, you find me, 'kay?"

"Okay." Dean turned around and put one hand over his eyes.

"An' no peeking!"

"I would never." Dean began to count.

"One hundred!"

Really? Dean kept on counting, hearing the light patter of Sam's footsteps hurrying across the wooden floor, then the bang of the front door. Outside then…Unless it's a trick. Sam wasn't stupid. He had fooled Dean on more than one occasion when they were both young.

Definitely not planning on counting to one hundred by each single number, Dean counted by fives. Slowly. It was more than enough time for Sam to hide—he was resourceful. "…Ninety…ninety-five…one hundred." He opened his eyes. "Ready or not, here I come!"

In the adjacent room, Bobby rolled his eyes. Boys…

Dean searched the house once over, looking in all the nooks and crannies that a six-year old could fit in, but found no Sam. Outside it was. He bounded out the front door and down the steps. "Well I wonder where Sammy is?" he asked in a singsong voice. "Oh where, oh where has my little bro gone?"

There was a giggle to his left.

"Ah-ha…" He hunched over in a mock stalking mode. "I'm gonna find ya, Sammy…"

Another giggle. Dean pinpointed its location and popped his head into the shell of an old car. "Gotchya!"

No Sam.

Dean scratched his head. "Huh." He walked around again, keeping his eyes wide open. "I know you're here somewhere, Sammy…"

A giggle came again and Dean smiled slyly. There you are…

.x.x.x.

Sam saw his brother weaving in and out of the junk piles, alert and determined, a human bloodhound.

"Here, Sammy, Sammy, Sammy…"

Sam tried to stifle the giggle that rose up out of his throat.

"Hmm, I wonder who that could be…"

Dean was getting closer to where he was crouched hidden in a short tunnel of large piping. Time to move! He slunk away, trying to stay out of his big brother's sight and not make a sound. Seeing an old refrigerator several yards away, he rushed forward and dropped down behind it. He peeked his head out carefully. Try and find me now, Dean!

At that very same moment, without a hint of warning, a hand clamped down on his shoulder.

He let out a small yelp and jumped.

"Sam?"

A woman stared down at him from under her wavy brunette hair, her dark eyes wide. "Damn, so the rumors were true…"

He blinked, pressing himself back against the fridge and causing the wiring to dig rather painfully into his back. Something wasn't right. She wasn't right. He wished Dean would find him now…

"No, it's okay, Sam," the woman said, "I'm a friend."

He didn't care. He wanted her to go away. So he did what any scared six-year old did.

He screamed.

.x.x.x.

The moment the high-pitched scream shot through the air, Dean ditched the playful act. That wasn't the scream of a happy child. No, it was terrified—in danger. Sam was in danger.

The cry was cut off abruptly and Dean quickened his step in the direction it had come, fear gripping his heart. Bobby must have heard the scream too, as he came storming out of his house, shotgun in hand.

That same fear was instantly replaced by immense anger when Dean reached the end of the junkyard and saw his brother—and who was with him.

"Ruby! Let him go, now!"

The demon was hunched over, holding a squirming Sam against herself and one slim, manicured hand clamped over his mouth. At Dean's furious tone, she glanced up, her eyes flicking to black. "Dean."

"Let him go, bitch," Dean growled.

There was a crunch from her other side and she looked up into the silver barrel of the shotgun.

"Ya heard him," Bobby said gruffly, not pleased to see the demon either. "Let the boy go."

Ruby complied, standing up slowly with her hands raised in the air. Sam tore away from her and ran into Dean's arms, frightened tears trailing down his chubby cheeks.

As Dean comforted his baby brother, Bobby jabbed the shotgun into the demon's ribs none too gently. "What're you doin' here, Hellspawn?"

Ruby shifted, annoyed. "Is this how you treat all your guests?"

"No, this is how I treat trespassers," Bobby spat, "'specially demons. Be happy I didn't shoot your ass moment I saw ya."

Ruby narrowed her eyes. "Well, next time I won't bother to come give you a warning."

Dean straightened up, attentive but his hand still stroking Sam's hair in comfort. "What warning?"

Ruby glared at Bobby before answering, and the old hunter got her unspoken request and reluctantly lowered the barrel, pointing it towards the ground. She took note that his finger never left the trigger. "Demons are heading this way as we speak," she said finally.

"You mean more besides you? What do they want?" Dean shifted uneasily.

Ruby waved at Sam, who turned away from the demon and buried his face into his brother's shirt. "Him."

Bobby moved around the demon to stand with the brothers. "Why? He's only a kid, what use is he to demons?"

"Everything," was her simple answer.

Bobby's hand twitched on the gun. "What's that supposed to mean?"

She spoke quickly, realizing that the hunter wouldn't hesitate to blast her away if she didn't tell him what he wanted to hear. It was the only reason he hadn't done so already. "A seal. He's needed to open a seal."

"What?"

"One of the seals requires the sacrifice of an innocent," she clarified. "One pure and free of sin.

"Well, I wouldn't consider a little kid 'free of sin,'" Dean said, trying to cover up his ever growing fear with sarcasm. "They get into all sorts of trouble."

"You know what I mean, smart-ass," she snapped. "Free of pride, lust, gluttony." She studied Sam. "Some his age have known greed, but then," she raised her gaze to Dean's, "he's always had a soft heart, hasn't he? So caring and self-sacrificing…"

Dean unconsciously held on tighter. "But there must be others, someone else!" He didn't like that idea either, but anyone but his Sammy!

Ruby shook her head. "It has to be a pure soul—a hunter's soul."

"But Sam—at this age—he hasn't hunted yet!"

"It's in his blood."

Sam turned his head back to the demon, eyes red and puffy from crying.

"I'm sorry," Ruby told them.

"Is that all?" Bobby asked then.

"Yes."

He raised the shotgun again, aiming it straight for her heart. "Then get the hell off of my property."

Ruby curled her lip slightly. "Nice to know I'm appreciated." Before either Dean or Bobby could respond to that, she turned her heel and stalked off.

"Think she's tellin' the truth?" Bobby asked the younger man. "Or is this her idea of a joke?"

Dean tilted Sam's head up so see his face. The boy was still clearly frightened, even more so now after hearing the demon's words, or at least what he was able to make sense of. "I don't think so. As much as I hate to admit it, Ruby's always tried to help us, though sometimes," he recalled Sam's evolved psychic powers, "it's unwanted. But she wouldn't lie about this. At least, I don't think she would."

Bobby hefted the shotgun in his hands. "Well, best not wait around and find out. Better to be safe than sorry." He looked around warily, as if expecting demons to burst out from hiding at any moment. "Come on, let's get back inside and form a perimeter. No demon's getting Sammy. Over my dead body."

Ooh...I'm such a terrible person, aren't I? Feedback is comfort to little Sammy.