Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural; I just borrow the characters and tweak the plot a bit.

Four bodies hung by the wrists, manacled to the wall. Sam gazed at the pitiful figures in front of him, disgusted at these once-powerful demons quavering before him.

Slowly, one lifted its head. "Pl-please. Make the pain stop." Gluttony pleaded, blood slowly dripping down the side of his face.

Dante snorted. "You haven't been down here more than a day in upstairs time. This," Dante motioned towards the abyss around them, "is nothing."

Gluttony's faced filled with half-hearted rage before he dropped his head, defeated. The other forms don't bother moving, accepting the grim fate that has befallen them.

Something stirs within the youngest Winchester. Sam realized that the Sins before him-Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Sloth-were going to be tortured for their crimes. While the demons thought the crime was leaving the all-important army, the Sins were also paying for their crimes against humanity. They deserved what was coming to them.

Glaring, Sam addressed the figures in front of him. "You should've killed me earlier. You could've said your threats, asked your questions, when I was in Hell. When I was where you are now. Ever hear of shoot first, ask questions later?" Sam turned away, tossing over his shoulder, "You missed your chance. Enjoy your torment."

He strode away, Dante close on his heels.

The minutes ticked by slowly. Sam waited impatiently, fingers drumming against the table. Ruby texted him when he left hell to go to this stupid little diner. Sam ordered his lunch and waited, and waited, and waited. Just when Sam was about to leave, the demon sat across from him.

"What the hell, Ruby? It took you forever to get here."

"Hello, Sam. It's nice to see you, too." Ruby reached over and stole one of Sam's fries. "These are amazing. It's like deep fried crack. Try some."

Sam rolled his eyes and leaned forward. "Are we going to start training now, or are you just going to eat my food?"

Ruby leaned back, annoyed. "We are training. There's a job in this town, and you are going to swoop in and save the day."

Sam looked around the café, then leaned closer and hissed, "I thought we were going to enhance my skills, not prance out in the open waiting for my brother to find me!"

Ruby leaned back, stealing another fry. "Think about it. You work better under the pressure of a case, when it's life or death, than you do in some weird training simulation. As for your brother, he won't be able to get to us; he's working another case right now. And yeah, I'm keeping tabs on him." She held up a hand to stop Sam's protests. "Can't have him barging in on your training sessions, now can we?"

Sam sat back into the booth, deep in thought. It was true that the previous training session with Azazel had been a failure, and he did fare well facing off against the Seven Deadly Sins. Maybe a job would be the best way to hone his powers.

"What's the job?"

Ruby grinned. "There have been five deaths recently, all in the same neighborhood. Why don't you do what you do best, and I'll catch up with you later?" With that, Ruby teleported away, leaving Sam with a myriad of questions and a newspaper article that read "Man Dead in Tragic Home Accident."

"So once again I'm very sorry to disturb you, we just really want to expedite that life insurance policy." Sam apologized to the mother as she led him to the backyard.

"Of course." She stopped in front of a ladder propped up against the wall near a boarded up window. "This is, um, where he fell."

Sam looked up at the window. "I see." Walking forward, he asked, "Now how exactly did he?"

"He was just inside changing a light bulb. Must've lost his balance."

Sam looked at her. "Were you here when this happened?"

She shook her head. "No, I was out. Uh, the only one here was our daughter, Dakota."

Sam looked back at the window, his gaze dropping to another window. A little girl stood there, her face blank, staring back at him. A red substance was on the windowsill. Looking a little farther, Sam saw the same thing on the fence lining the yard.

Sam swallowed. "Okay, well, uh, I think that's all I need. I'll get out of your way now."

"Okay, thank you." The mother turned to lead Sam back through the house to the front door. On her neck was a small bite mark, teeth marks created in a circle.

Sam left the house and headed towards the next one on his list. He had an idea of what the creature was, but he had to check out the other houses first to see if the dots connected.

Sam was on his laptop when Ruby popped into his crappy motel room. "Find out what was wrong in a happy-go-lucky neighborhood like Morning Hill?"

Sam glances up at her. "Changelings. There's one in every victim's house." Sam pulled up a map of the neighborhood, red X's marking the houses in question.

He continued. "So, changelings can perfectly mimic children. According to lore, they climb in the window, snatch the kid. There were marks on the windows at every one of the kids' houses; at first glance I thought it was blood. Upon closer inspection I realized it was red dirt."

Ruby sat down on the bed, leaning back against the headboard. "So, the changeling steals a kid and takes its place why?"

"Changelings feed on the mom, the synovial fluid. All the moms have weird bruises on the back of their necks, teeth marks ringing the bruises. Changelings can drain a mom for a few weeks before she finally croaks."

"And the dads and babysitter were in between the changeling and the food source." Ruby nodded. "Seems like a fair reason to kill someone." When Sam glared at her, Ruby just smiled. "What? I'm a demon, remember?"

Sam looked back at his laptop. "The real kids are out there somewhere. According to lore, the changelings hide them underground. I don't know why they do it, I'm just thankful we can save the kids."

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Yeah, save the kids. Be the knight in shining armor. We need to focus on the killing part. What kills them?"

"As far as I know, fire is the only thing that kills them." Sam closed his laptop. "I've made a homemade flame thrower. My plan is to look in the basement of a house that is still under construction, one with loose dirt piled around it that the changeling could've stepped in. Once the kids are safe, I'm going to hunt down the changelings."

Ruby scoffed. "Don't waste your time with the kids or the flamethrower. We are here so you can practice using your powers, or did you forget?"

Sam stood up and walked over to the bed. "This isn't a freaking demon problem, Ruby! My powers can't help me here, but I'm not going to just up and leave these poor kids to die! This trip isn't a waste; it's a chance for me to save some lives. You can either help me or get out of my way."

Ruby huffed and stood up. "Well, someone's going to have to save your sorry ass when you mess up. Let's go. We're wasting time."

They pulled up to the last unfinished house in the neighborhood. A pile of red dirt stood in the front yard, illuminated by the soft glow of the moon.

Ruby walked with Sam to the front door of the house. "Of course the brats-sorry, children-are in the last house we check. If they aren't in this one, we are leaving them and killing the changelings."

Sam ignored her, opening the front door. "You take the front; I'm going to go around back."

He jumped off the porch and raced around to the back of the house.

Sam opened the back door, pulling out his flashlight. He slowly crept through the house, listening for any sounds that might indicate the children were there.

A soft bump sounded from down the stairs to Sam's left. Carefully, he descended the stairs, ears and eyes pricked for anything out of the ordinary. Sam stopped at the bottom of the stairs and listened. The bump sounded again, louder this time. Sam turned towards the sound, flashlight moving back and forth, checking every corner.

Turning the corner, Sam saw cages lining the walls. The first few were empty, waiting for another child. A small hand reaches through a cage a few feet away.

"Hey, kid! Are you alright?" Sam kneels down in front of a little boy with short brown hair. Seeing his nod, Sam breathes a sigh of relief. He wasn't too late. "I'm going to get you out of here, okay?"

As Sam checked the locks on the cages, he heard a commotion upstairs. Great, Ruby encountered one of them. Figuring the changeling already knew they were there, Sam took a crowbar out of his bag and started to hit the lock with it. One lock broke, one kid was out. He kept going until all six children, and one adult, were free.

The sounds upstairs had stopped, making Sam move faster.

"Cover your eyes!" Sam used the crowbar to smash open the basement window. He was looking for some way to cover the broken glass when a small jacket was put into his hand.

The brown haired boy looked up at him. "Use this."

Sam nodded and laid the jacket on the ground outside the window. As quickly as he safely could, Sam started to lift the children through the window.

"Sam! Sam!" Ruby came around the corner. "You didn't tell me there was a mother changeling!"

"Mother? Guess that's why she was taken." Sam motioned to the woman leaning against the wall.

"Sam, she got past me. She could be here any second." Ruby went over to Sam's bag lying on the floor and picked up his flame thrower. "I'll stand watch, but you've gotta hurry."

As Sam helped the woman out the window, he felt heat from behind him. Ruby found the mom.

The fire stopped, followed by a clanging sound. The mother had knocked the flamethrower out of Ruby's hand. Sam turned around to see the neighborhood realtor walking towards him.

Pushing the kids behind him, Sam said, "You kept these kids alive to feed on them, didn't you?"

She laughed. "Look who has a brain. Too bad you have to die."

Sam knelt down. "Not today."

Sawdust flew through the air and landed in the mother's eyes. She clawed desperately at them, vainly trying to clear up her vision, as Sam dove for the dropped flamethrower. He turned to torch the mother changeling, only to have the flamethrower kicked out of his hand.

The mother hooked Sam across the face, causing him to stumble backwards. He looked back at her just in time to be kneed in the stomach. Bending over, Sam felt a sharp pain as the mother elbowed him between the shoulder blades. With supernatural strength, she threw Sam across the room.

Ruby came up to the mother. "Take this, bitch." Ruby hooked the mother across the face. The mother didn't seem to notice it, giving a hard kick to Ruby's stomach, sending her flying across the room. Ruby stood up, cracked her neck, and snarled, "Let's play."

Lunging at the mother, Ruby gave her a knee strike of her own, followed by a kick to the back of the knee, knocking her down. On a knee, the mother swept Ruby's legs out from under her.

As Ruby fought the mother, Sam stood up and hurried back to the window to lift the rest of the kids out. Once the children were safe, Sam searched for the flamethrower. Sam spotted it just as the mother knocked Ruby to the ground. Aiming the weapon, Sam yelled, "Ruby, cover your eyes!"

The flames destroyed the mother almost instantaneously. Nothing was left of her, not even a pile of ash.

Sam helped Ruby stand back up. "Do you think the other changelings are gone?" She asked, brushing sawdust off her pants.

Sam shrugged. "Only one way to find out. Let's take these kids home."

Sam pulled up to the last house, the brown haired boy's house. A woman opened the door as he cut the engine.

"Ben? Oh my God, Ben! Baby, are you okay?!" She ran across the lawn and pulled the boy into a hug.

Sam stepped out of the car, while Ruby lied in the backseat, hidden from view.

"I'm okay, mom." Ben assured the woman.

She looked up at Sam, eyes pleading for the truth. "What the hell just happened? Last night, Ben was asking for me to play with him, but it wasn't really him, and then he-it-burst into flames."

Sam gave a half-hearted smile. "I'll explain everything if you want me to, but the important thing is that Ben is safe."

She looked down at Ben, back at Sam, and pulled him into a hug. "Thank you."

Stepping back, the woman tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm Lisa."

"Sam."

"Come inside, Sam. I'd like to know what happened."

They headed inside, where Lisa set up a snack for Ben. As he ate his snack and listened to his music via headphones, Sam told Lisa what happened.

"Changelings? Do you think he'll be okay?"

Sam nodded. "He's a brave kid. I think he'll be fine."

Sam's phone buzzed in his pocket. He knew without even checking who it was: Ruby.

"I'm sorry to leave so soon, Lisa, But I have to go."

Lisa smiled. "It's fine, you've done more than enough. Ben wouldn't be alive without you."

One last hug goodbye, and Sam is out the door and in the car. Ruby slips into the front seat next to him. "Let's go. All these touchy-feely moments are making me want to puke."

A smile creeps onto Sam's face. "What? You're not a fan of chick flick moments?"

Ruby snorts. "Is that what you call it? Dork."

"Jerk." Sam automatically replies. He instantly regretted it, silently kicking himself.

Ruby just laughed and turned the music up, unaware of Sam's inner turmoil. Sam pulled the car out of the driveway and started the drive back home.

A black '67 Impala pulled up to the quaint little home in the Morning Hill neighborhood. Black combat boots step out of the car and walk up the driveway to the front door.

Lisa, hearing someone knocking on the door, paused the TV. She opened the door to find Dean Winchester in front of her.

"Dean!"

Dean smiles awkwardly. "Lisa. How's it going?"

"Wow, so, uh, how, long's it been?"

Dean shifts his feet. "Eight, going on nine years now. Crazy, right?" He smiles seductively.

"Yeah." Silence falls between them. "So, what are you doing here?"

Dean rubs his hand across the back of his neck. "Just finished a job, I was close by, decided to stop and visit. I remember you love surprises." That was only partially true. Dean had just finished a job Bobby put him on and, deciding it was time for a vacation, drove three hours to visit an old hook up of his.

Lisa laughed. "Dean Winchester. Wow. Well, uh, I'm really sorry, but this isn't a good time. Me and my son just went through an ordeal, so..."

Dean's smile fell. "Are you hurt? What happened?"

Lisa tried to brush him off. "Look, it's been handled. Another knight in shining armor already saved the day."

Confused, Dean pressed the matter. "If you were in danger I want to know."

Lisa sighed. "Look, if I told you, you'd think I was crazy, and Sam already got rid of-"

Dean stopped her. "Did you just say Sam?"