Standing in the Storm

22. Bloodlust

Dean looked the name tag, calculating. "John."

"Jeff," the intern corrected.

"Jeff. I know that. Dr. Dworkin needs to see you in his office right away."

"But Dr. Dworkin's on vacation."

"Well, he's back," Wyatt said. "And he's pissed, and he's screaming, man, so if I were you, I would... okay."

The intern ran off and Dean questioned, "Hey, those Satanists in Florida, they marked their victims, didn't they?"

"Yeah, reversed pentacle on the forehead," Sam said.

"Yeah. So much f-d up crap happens in Florida."

Dean handed Sam and Wyatt a pair of latex gloves and put on a pair of his own. Sam opened a compartment and wheeled out a corpse to see a box between its legs.

"All right, open it," Dean said.

"You open it," Sam shot back.

"Wuss."

Levi rolled his eyes and carried the box to another table and flipped off the lid. Sam and Dean approached, cringing.

He glanced between the brothers. "God, you two are embarrassing. You're lucky Tasie's not here."

Dean looked over the lid. "Well, no pentagram. Be nice, dude."

"Wow. Poor girl," Sam commented.

"Maybe we should, uh, you know, look in her mouth, see if those wackos stuffed anything down her throat. You know, kinda like Moth in Silence of the Lambs."

"Yeah, here, go ahead," Sam and Levi said.

"No, you go ahead."

"What?"

""Put the lotion in the basket.""

"Right, yeah, I'm the wuss, huh?" Sam shot back. "Whatever."

Levi rolled his eyes and started poking his fingers in the mouth.

Sam gagged. "Dean, get me a bucket?"

"Levi find something?"

"No, I'm going to puke."

Dean told Levi, "Wait, lift the lip up again?"

Sam frowned. "What? You want me to throw up, is that it?"

"No, no, no, I think I saw something." He pushed Levi's hands away and pulled back the lip. "What is that, a hole?" He pressed on the gum and a narrow, sharp tooth descended.

"It's a tooth."

Levi looked closer before saying, "Sam, Dean, that's a fang. Retractable set of vampire fangs, you've gotta be kidding me."

"Well, this changes things."

Levi met his eyes. "Ya think?"

BAR

That night, they made their way to a bar and Dean went around to park. They walked inside.

The five approached the bar and a man, Gordon, was at a table to one side, watching them.

"How's it going?" Dean asked the bartender.

"Living the dream," the bartender replied. "What can I get for you?"

"Three beers and a soda, please."

"We're looking for some people." Sam said.

"Sure," the bartender noted. "Hard to be lonely."