American Noise

13. Gods and Monsters

Castiel held a tray. "I brought you some nourishment. Now that he's, uh, gone, you-you must remember to eat."

"Right. Thanks." Nick sighed and looked at Castiel, who had his back to him. "I'm not him, Castiel."

Castiel sighed. "I know."

"But you still can't look at me."

"It's difficult. You don't remember all the things you did in his thrall, but I do."

"I know. I just don't - I don't... get it. I don't understand why I would do something like that, I don't, I don't get how I would let Lucifer possess me."

Castiel sighed and turned to face Nick. "You were in a lot of pain. And Lucifer saw vulnerability, and he, he exploited it."

"Is that what you tell yourself so you can be near me?"

"I guess so."

"I just don't know what kind of pain would make me allow Lucifer to possess me."

"It was your family."

"My family? Sarah and Teddy?"

Castiel nodded.

Nick gasped. "No." Nick flashed back to Sympathy for the Devil (5.01).

"It's you, Nick. You're special. You're chosen. Nick, I need you to say "yes"," Sarah/Lucifer said.

"Then yes," Nick replied.

"Oh my God. Who could do that? Who could do that?" Nick wondered.

"A man broke in to your house, and you weren't there," Castiel realized.

"That was no man. That's not man. That's a monster. It's a monster, and then Lucifer found me and made me a monster, too." Nick sobbed. "Oh my God!"

MORGUE

The coroner pulled open the drawer to reveal the man. Bobby, Mary and Sam watched.

"These are just some of the victims. More are in the hall, a couple in a store room... we don't usually see this kind of action in Duluth," the coroner said.

"The injuries all pretty uniform?" Mary asked.

"Yep. The boys upstairs think maybe we're looking at a spree killer."

"If they were DOA, you have an ETA on TOD? Any sample DFA?" Bobby questioned.

Sam cleared his throat.

"DNA?" Bobby corrected.

"Uh, frankly we don't even know the precise cause of death. I mean, there were the neck wounds of course, but there was also considerable internal trauma, so-" her cellphone rang. "Excuse me."

"Yeah. Sure." Sam looked at Bobby. "DFA?"

"I've been fighting a friggin' apocalypse for 15 years, my FBI might be a little rusty," Bobby retorted.

"All right."

"Let's give them a quick once-over, see what they missed," Mary suggested.

They put on gloves and each moved to a body.

"Angel kills for sure, and not grunts. We're talking 5-star smitings," Bobby noted.

"Knife slits in the throat, but it doesn't appear they bled out," Sam said.

"He kept these people alive for a while," Mary realized.

Sam opened the mouth of his corpse, the original guy "Maybe these people aren't people. Looking at a vamp."