Reckless [Dean Winchester]

14. The Cassity Farm

"You know what-"

"Guys. Grow up, will you?" Sam groans. "Focus."

Dean gives me the stink eye before focusing on his brother again. "Well, Ellie's the help, so that rules her out."

"And Carl doesn't really seem like the sell-your-soul type. So, Alice?"

"Ding-ding-ding."

"Should we talk to her?" I pipe up.

"Why? So she can lie to us and then call the cops? No. No, we're gonna have to go stalker on this one, Max."

"Creepy." I shudder. "But if it's the only way..."

"Come on, back to shoveling, farmhand."

I'm seriously tempted to knock Dean over the head with the smelly shovel, but I decide it's better to keep a job I don't want than to have myself arrested.

* * *

"God almighty," says the sheriff as he kneels by Carl Granville's sheet-covered body.

Like Dean had insisted, we creeped on Alice Cassity and waited. Unfortunately, we had been looking at the wrong target. Carl got the Hellhound, Alice hadn't. We'd all heard it, the howl. Alice had gone to investigate the barn to make sure the horses were okay. All it took was the open chance.

And that's when the sheriff got called in.

"I'm sorry, Ellie," I say sincerely. "Carl seemed like a nice guy."

"The best," Ellie tells me quietly.

"You say his head was practically ripped off?" Sam inquires.

"And you are?" the sheriff demands.

"Just curious."

"He's new. He works here," Ellie vouches.

"Carl died bad-let's leave it at that. They've been reintroducing wolves 'round these parts, but I never thought..."

"This wasn't a wolf," Ellie insists. "I got to make some phone calls. The whole family's flying in for this."

"All the Cassitys under one roof. Good luck."

Sam, Dean, and I pull away from the scene a little to talk in private.

"So, what do you think?" asks Sam.

"I think Carl signed the deal, and now he's dog food," says Dean. "Hellhound's gone, and we were too busy chasing a pile of Jack to stop it. Let's grab our stuff and get out of here."

"I'm gonna go find Alice."

While Sam goes to find Alice, I tag with Dean and head back for our room. I guess it's not a total loss of a job; we'd only had it for...what? Not very long. Not long enough, really. Dean's already packing his bag. I have nothing to pack, because I didn't think going into it I'd need anything.

"So...what? We go back on the road and find another terminal?" I ask Dean.

"That'll take too long. We'll be running around forever, and we want to get Hell closed up fast."

"You can't expect it to happen in an instant. Rome wasn't built in a day. And besides, aren't there other trials?"

"Exactly. We blow through this one and move onto the next."