Summary: AU: Stanford Era: "Dean … Sammy's in trouble." A late night phone call sends Dean Winchester and long-time friend, Caelan Hagan in a desperate search to find Sam before the unthinkable happens; uncovering lies and secrets involving the youngest Winchester, that have been years in the making.

Warnings: Violence, swearing, physical abuse, torture, implied adult themes.

Disclaimer: I don't own the supernatural characters.

Author's Note: Just another possibility on why Sam left for Stanford. Hope you enjoy.

Special Note: Special thanks to Kas3y for your kind words of encouragement. Here's another chapter just for all you guys who have taken the time out to read this story and to all the people who have this story on their alerts or have put it on their favourite lists. Thanks. It means a lot.

DEMON SPAWN: THE PHONE CALL

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Glancing around in a casual – so as not to be obvious – but thorough – with the practiced eye of an experienced Hunter – way of his immediate surroundings, searching for unknown threats, assailants or any "eyewitnesses" to the crime that John had just committed in broad daylight; John quickly covered up the body of Marc Ley-Lamp with a black tarp and hastily closed up the back of his truck, satisfied in the knowledge that he had avoided detection for the time being.

Although …

John's eyes skimmed the tree-lines behind the pub; his eyes coming to rest upon a particular patch of brush and foliage; and without knowing exactly way, John felt his apprehension and anxiety levels increase dramatically. He combed the area with a more detailed look, but as far as John could see, nothing seemed to be out of place or particularly unusual.

With a frustrated shrug, John attributed his sudden anxiousness on his nervous desire to get out of here before he was caught with a dead body in the back of his truck!

Swinging himself into the driver's seat, John started the truck and took off out of the pub, urging himself to go at a normal, respectable speed so as not to draw unwanted attention to himself.

John couldn't help the slightly panicked and paranoid feeling that over took him and stayed with him until he had driven at least for an hour, firmly putting that town and hunt behind him, unconsciously making his way to where his boys would be, when that horrible, sickening, paranoid feeling finally left him.

John quickly pulled his truck to the side of the road, his hands beginning to shake uncontrollably now that the general adrenaline had worn off with his final confrontation with crazy-as-a-bat-shit, Hunter, psychopath, dead-as-a-door-nail Marc Ley Lamp.

John rested his head upon his arms and took several deep cleansing breaths. Killing was nothing new to John, he'd been killing for a lot of years both supernatural and human alike (especially if they threatened his boys!) and while John didn't generally go around killing humans – unless he absolutely had to – killing another Hunter and someone he had trusted completely with not only his life but his sons' lives as well … was a new and foreign concept to John.

Even though he knew he didn't have any choice – the guy had threatened not only his life but Sammy's as well – and he knew that this psychotic freak was better off dead; John couldn't help the feelings of guilt and the fear of the ramifications that his actions of killing another Hunter might entail.

John knew he had reasonable justification and cause for his actions; self-defence, just to name one. And then there was the "confession" John had recorded which would more than prove that John hadn't had a choice when he'd had to dispatch of the ex-Hunter and his ex-friend, this particular kill seemed to hit John harder than he expected it would.

Of course, given a choice and if he had to do it all over again … he would make the same decision every damn time. This … person had been fucking with him and his family for too long, for too many years, for John to have just let that go unavenged. Plus, by his own admission, he wasn't going to stop. He'd held no remorse, no guilt for what he had done, believing that his actions had been the right and only path to take.

Sammy!

Oh God, how long had that monster been hurting his baby for while John, oblivious to the fact, shoved his boy into the arms of a mad man while he what … tortured, hit, "conditioned", brainwashed his youngest son, putting God knows what into the mind of his young susceptible son?

An intense rage and desire to bring Marc back to life and kill him all over again filled John's entire being, replacing the guilt and regret he'd experienced at having to murder a fellow Hunter, as he thought of the things that sick son of a bitch might have done to his son!

He had a new mission – a new objective as well as the main goal of killing The Demon who had murdered his beloved wife – to find every one of those SOBS who had been involved in … abusing his son, track them down and teach them a lesson they would never forget about not only going after a fellow Hunter's son, but also hurting his son, which in John's eyes was a crime that you only repaid by giving up your own life.

Once he had dealt with the main people who had hurt his boy, then John was going after the … organisation that Marc spoke of; because if they could condone torturing and brainwashing innocent children, then they were capable of doing anything. And that made them dangerous, too much of a threat in John's eyes and needed to be taken down as quickly as possible (especially if they decided to come after his son again!).

John shook his head, clearing his mind of acts of revenge and the violence he would be committing upon those who had dared to even think they had to right to put their hands on his boy; he had other things to consider and get to before he could got after the "organisation".

His boys.

His thoughts once more turning to his sons, John sent a quick text message to Dean, assuring him that he was okay; had something to care of and that he would meet up with them later. Although John would have loved nothing better than to go screeching toward them right now, accelerator pressed in all the way as he hurtled down the road toward his children … John had a dead body to get rid of.

With a heavy sigh and a nervous feeling within the pit of his stomach, John knew that he would need to call someone in to help with this. The only problem was … who the hell could he trust?

JW DW SW JW DW SW JW DW SW JW DW SW JW

Dean and Sam reached the top of the slight crest that would take them all the way down to the Impala and their means of getting the hell out of here, when Dean heard his phone cite a familiar tone, letting him know that he had received a new text message.

"Hold up Sammy," Dean told his brother, carefully supporting both of their weight, Dean reaching into his pocket for his phone as Sam gave him a curious, questioning look. "Text message," Dean waved his phone in reply as he quickly opened it up and scrolled down to the list of new messages.

"It's Dad," Dean explained to his younger brother, a sigh of relief escaping him. "He's okay Sammy. Said he has to take care of something and then he'll meet up with us. See? I told you! You were worrying for nothing little brother!" Dean nudged Sam's shoulder gently, teasingly, hoping to calm his sibling down a little, recognizing from the subtle signs that Sam gave off that his brother was rapidly losing the war with his new-founded "fake" bravado and confidence the closer the two of them got to not just the Impala and immediate safe haven and exit, but also the assholes who had helped to hurt his baby brother.

Sam nodded distractedly, probably not even hearing a word that Dean had said; too busy concentrating on trying to contain his rising apprehension and fear.

DW SW CH DW SW CH DW SW CH DW SW CH DW

Caelan stared at Peter in dumbfounded amazement before he burst out laughing at Peter's ludicrous outlandish claim. "You expect me to believe that Sam is responsible for my father's death? Have you completely lost your mind Stewart? Sam was only ten-years old when my father died, how the hell can he be responsible for my father's death?"

Peter's expression twisted into dark malice, his face turning an angry red shade of humiliated scorn as he glared up at Caelan, his blue eyes flashing with seething rage. "Don't you laugh at me," Peter snarled at Caelan, his composure becoming completely non-existent in the face of Caelan's laughter. "Nobody laughs at me! Especially not some lowly two bit Hunter who thinks he knows what the hell is going on but is like a fucking child stumbling around in the dark with no clue as to what is about to hit the hunting community!"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Caelan asked, his interest piqued because he knew that Stewart had revealed more than he should have while consumed by his red hot furry. "Have you guys got some secret agenda going on? Have you been initiated into some secret club that enjoys going around torturing and targeting ex-Hunters?" Caelan taunted in an almost flippant manner, trying to appear uninterested in Stewart's reply when all of the time Caelan was hoping that he had taunted the Hunter enough to give him all of the information he needed in order to figure out who had really targeted Sam Winchester and what the hell this was really all about.

Stewart snorted. "Yeah, right, that's exactly what our "secret club" is up to!" He retorted sarcastically. "You really hit the nail on the head with that one Hagen! It's no wonder you didn't stay in school and finish your education with the amazing deducing skills that you have!" Peter mocked.

"So, there is a secret club," Caelan couldn't help but grin at Peter's look of mortification as he suddenly realised what he had said. "Please Stewart, why don't you enlighten me some more?"

CH DW SW CH DW SW CH DW SW CH DW SW CH

"It's okay Sammy," Dean told his agitated sibling, knowing by the slight tremors that shook the young man's body and the way that Sam grasped at Dean's shirt a little tighter that he was more than a little freaked out at having an up close and personal encounter with two of the bastards who had helped to put him in this position! "You don't even have to look at the sons of bitches, okay? Just keep your head down, eyes trained on me and know that I won't let them try any shit with you, okay?"

Sam nodded, hardly listening to his brother's reassurances as he mentally tried to prepare himself for the encounter that he was about to engage in. "Okay Dean," Sam acknowledged, briefly raising his eyes to scan the horizon ahead of them. "Caelan looks pissed," Sam muttered, an edge of worry creeping into his tone now as Dean followed his brother's gaze.

Dean chuckled quietly beside Sam. "You don't need to worry about Cal Sam," Dean told him, knowing from experience what the look upon his friend's face meant. "He's got everything under control, trust me."

Sam shot an eyebrow up skeptically in reply to his brother's declaration, not entirely convinced that Caelan was okay. From Sam's perspective, Caelan's brown eyes held a speck of fear in them.

"Yes, it does appear as if Caelan's losing control, doesn't it? But, believe me when I tell this, Caelan is acting and looking like that on purpose. It's his way of getting the information that he desires. By acting all worried and scared like that, his opponent thinks that Caelan is acting on pure frustration or fear and they think they've got the upper-hand, but then Caelan does a complete one-eighty and ends up getting them all emotional which leads Caelan to be able to both gain the information that he wanted and to beat them at their own game; because any emotion – anger, fear, frustration and hope – that you give into, generally causes you to become sloppy, giving the other Hunter the upper-hand.

Look," Dean said, pointing over at the three Hunters who were all gathered around the opened rear window of the Ferrari, their angry, irritated tones drifting up toward the two boys. "Just watch if you don't believe me," Dean urged, smirking in satisfaction as he watched his friend go to work.

A few seconds later, Sam saw Caelan smirking knowingly while the other two Hunters looked mortified and more pissed off than Caelan had appeared to be before.

"See?" Dean grinned, gently nudging Sam's shoulder. "What did I tell you little brother? Cal played them for the dumb idiots that they are!"

Sam had to agree with his brother's assessment; feeling more relaxed now that he knew Caelan was okay. Sam's eyes flicked over to the two Hunters occupying the back seat of the Ferrari 360, when Sam caught a glimpse of anger fuelled deep blue eyes and slightly irritated, but calculating light green eyes beside him and Sam froze to the spot, images that he had desperately tried to ignore, suppress or deliberately stomp out by keeping his mind and thoughts occupied on something else, suddenly invaded his entire being, and before Sam could stop himself he went spiralling down into the dark recesses of his memories involving a pair of blue eyes and the stinging sensation of a whip across his back.

DW SW CH DW SW CH DW SW CH DW SW CH DW

Peter opened his mouth to say something in a no doubt scathing manner when Adams – Stewart's silent partner – nudged him in an obvious gesture for Stewart to shut his mouth, shaking his head slightly.

"We have nothing to say," Adams said in a monotone voice, his gaze direct and unblinking; and Caelan knew that he would need to do more than "insult" Hank Adams to get the information that he required. Adams was a lot smarter than he appeared.

"Fair enough," Caelan nodded in approval, respecting Adams' strength and determination in keeping his promise about not saying anything more. "But you guys do know that … whoever it was who "called you in" to help in … torturing my brother," Caelan growled through gritted teeth. "That they left you to take the rap for this, right?"

Peter and Hank looked at Caelan with blank, uncomprehending looks. Okay, so maybe Adams wasn't as smart as Caelan thought he was!

Caelan couldn't help but roll his eyes as he proceeded to explain himself. "Gentlemen, you two have been set up. This person, or people, wanted you to get caught. They want you to get blamed for this while they get away with what they have done."

Caelan paused as he considered the two Hunters before him, suddenly feeling a tad sorry for these guys as Caelan saw the dawning horror and realisation enter their eyes.

"But … that's not possible!" Peter spluttered indignantly. "We … we're partners. We've known him for yea –"

Hank harshly jabbed Peter in the ribs, violently shaking his head in an effort to keep his big-mouthed buddy silent beside him. "Hagen's right Pete," Hank admitted, his tone bitter with resignation. "We were obviously meant to take the fall for this."

"But why?" Peter whined in complete disbelief. "We did everything that –"

"Pete, enough!" Hank quickly reprimanded him. "No more talking. Remember Protocol Six."

Peter opened his mouth to object before he closed his mouth and nodded, paling significantly at Hank's words.

"What the hell is Protocol Six?" Caelan asked aloud, not expecting and getting no answer from the Hunters before him.

Caelan let out a deep, long sigh as he mentally processed everything that he had learned from Stewart, and even though Caelan tried to put the pieces of this puzzle together, his mind kept coming back to the fact that Stewart seemed to know more about his father's death than he was letting on.

Disregarding the fact that he thought Sammy was responsible for Connor's death … wasn't Dad's last hunt … wasn't it with Stewart and Adams' fathers? Caelan had known that the other two Hunters with his Dad's last hunt had either deliberately left his Dad to get mauled by the werewolf or they knew who was responsible for his father's unproven murder.

Maybe … if Stewart's Dad was as cocky and self-assured as his son … he might have let slip to Peter about what had actually happened the night his father had died eleven years ago. Maybe he could finally get some definite answers about his father's death. Caelan decided that this was too rare of an opportunity to pass up.

"So, you said Sam was directly responsible for my Dad's death?" Caelan eyes Stewart carefully, calculating every muscle-twitch, facial feature and subtle body language that Peter Stewart displayed. "Tell me … how exactly is he responsible?"

Caelan didn't believe for a second that Sam had any part to do with his Dad's death, but in order to get Stewart to reveal more, he had to play into Stewart's deluded little game.

Peter smiled, knowingly, delighted that he now thought he had the upper-hand in this situation.

"Pete," Hank said in a low, warning voice. "Protocol Six,"

Peter shrugged, unconcerned by his comrade's warning. "You really think we have to worry about Protocol Six when that … bastard has left us out to dry?! Come on Hank, if we're going down, then so should he!"

"Stop it!" Hank hissed, looking around in sudden fear as if expecting to be attacked at any moment.

Caelan couldn't help but mimic Hank's actions, searching the surrounding area for any unknown threat or danger, his Hunter instincts on high alert.

"Don't worry Hank, I'm not suicidal!" Peter muttered, irritation creeping into his voice now. "I was just going to mention that if Hagen really wanted to get to the bottom of his Dad's death … he should ask him what happened!" Peter jerked his head to the right, grinning in smug satisfaction when the two Winchester brothers emerged over the crest of the hill.

Shit!

Now the shit was really going to hit the fan! How the hell did Caelan stop the enraged older Winchester from going after the two Hunters in front of him?

"I don't know what you're grinning about Stewart," Caelan told Peter. "Wasn't Dean Winchester the one who broke your fucking nose? And now … what? … You're trying to make me turn on Sam?" Just because you say he might know something about my Dad's death? You really think Dean will allow you out of his sights even if you somehow did convince me to have it out with Sam?"

Caelan turned to smirk at Stewart, seeing his expression darken with rage and frustration. "Distraction. It's a good idea Stewart … unfortunately for you, me and the Winchesters are brothers and nothing you say could break that. Secondly, even if you did somehow manage to distract Dean from watching your every move, then I will be watching your every move. Thirdly … you see that murderous look in Dean's eyes? That look is for you two Stewart. You guys helped in hurting his baby brother. If there's one thing Dean Winchester will never forgive … is anyone hurting his brother." Caelan paused, watching as Peter's gloating look disappeared to be replaced by one of out-right terror.

"He won't kill us," Peter tried to sound confident, but he only succeeded in sounding like a frightened petulant child. "We're Hunters. And as such, he has to honour the Hunters Code."

Caelan gave the Hunter a dirty look before he turned his full attention upon the Winchester siblings, hoping that he could … persuade Dean not to hurt the two Hunters too badly. Although, right now, Caelan would like nothing better than to give into his own urges and beat Peter Stewart within an inch of his life! But as the oldest, he had to show at least some form of restraint and composure.

Damn, sometimes being the oldest majorly sucked ass!

TBC