ROAD
Bela approached her car and was startled by a figure just as she reached it. It was Gordon.
"It's rude to sneak up on people," Bela said.
"Bela Talbot," Gordon greeted.
"You have me at a disadvantage. I don't know who you are."
"Gordon Walker."
"I've heard of you. Heard you were in prison."
"Got out."
"Released early on good behavior?" She opened the car door and casually reached inside as Gordon held up a small gun.
"You looking for this?" He removed the clip. "I know you were just in Massachusetts, and I know you were with the Winchester boys and Adeline Steele and her daughter. Tell me where they are."
"I don't think I know."
He pulled another, larger handgun on her. "Why don't you think a little harder?"
"Put that down. What's so pressing about finding the boys and girls, anyway?"
"Sam Winchester's the Antichrist."
"I'd heard something about that..."
"It's true."
"...from my good friend, the Easter Bunny, who'd heard it from the Tooth Fairy. Are you off your meds?"
"The world hangs in the balance. So you go ahead and be a smart-ass, but tell me where they are, or I shoot."
"Gordon, you and I don't know each other very well, so let me tell you a little something about me. I don't respond well to threats, but you make me an offer, and I think you'll find me highly cooperative."
"Okay." He lowered the gun. "How about..." he raised the gun, "you tell me where they are, or I kill you right now?"
"Kill me. Good luck finding Sam, Dean, Adeline and Eva."
"I can wrangle up three grand."
"I don't get out of bed for three grand."
"You..." As he lowered his arm, Bela saw a small cloth bag hanging at his belt and her eyes lit up.
"Scratch that. Give me the mojo bag, and we'll call it even."
"Oh, hell no. This thing's a century old. It's..."
"Priceless. Believe me, I know. Now, how badly do you want the Winchesters and Miss Rivera?" Gordon tossed her the bag and she pulled out her phone and dialed. "Hello, Dean? Hey, where are you?"
ALLEY
Sam, Dean and Adeline found a man bleeding but conscious on the ground. Eva had been left in the car. He'd been bitten in the neck. They crouched over him.
"Hey, hey. Don't worry," Sam reassured. "We're gonna call you some help, okay?"
"Where is she?" Dean asked. "Where'd she go?!"
The man gestured vaguely down the alley. Sam and Adeline stayed with the man as Dean ran off in the direction the man was pointing. He stopped in the middle of an open space, raised his machete and slowly drew it across his left forearm, drawing blood.
Dean held the bleeding arm up. "Smell that?! Come and get it!" A young woman emerged from a side alley and stared at him with her chin covered in blood. "That's right. Come on. I smell good, don't I? I taste even better." The vampire approached cautiously and he dropped the machete. "Come on! Free lunch!"
The vampire charged and as she grabbed him and sunk her teeth into his neck, Dean whipped out a syringe and plunged it into her neck. She convulsed and fell to the ground, unconscious. Sam and Adeline came running and frowned at Dean.
"What?" Dean wondered.
"Cutting it a little close, don't you think?" Sam retorted.
"Ah, that's just chum in the water. Worked, didn't it?"
Adeline rolled her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh.
MOTEL ROOM
Sam, Dean and Adeline had the vampire tied to a chair in the middle of an extremely dingy motel room. Eva was in another room, so she couldn't see. The trio circled her.
"You with us?" Dean asked as the vampire woke up fully, struggling against her bonds. "Oh, yeah, sorry. You're not going anywhere."
"Where's your nest?" Sam questioned.
"What?" the vampire asked.
"Your nest... where you and your bloodsucking pals hang out," Dean told her.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Please! I don't feel good."
"Yeah, well, you're gonna feel a hell of a lot worse if we give you another shot of dead man's blood."
"Just let me go."
"Yeah, you know we can't do that," Adeline told her.
"I'm telling you the truth. I'm just... I took something. I'm freaking out! I don't know what's going on!"
"You took something?" Sam repeated.
The vampire began freaking out. "Yes! I can't... come down. I just want to come down."
"What's your name?"
"Lucy. Please, just let me go."
"All right, Lucy, how about this? If you tell us what happened, we'll let you go."
"You will?" She looked at Dean and Adeline, who nodded, then shot Sam a confused look over her head. "Uh, I don't really... um, it's not that clear. I was at Spider."
"Spider?"
"The club on Jefferson. And there was this guy... he was buying me drinks."
"This guy... what's he look like?"
"He was old, like 30. He had brown hair, a leather jacket... Deacon or Dixon or something. Said he was a dealer... he had something for me."
"Something?"
"Something new. "Better than anything you've ever tried." He put a few drops in my drink."
"Was the drug red and thick?" Adeline asked suspiciously and Lucy nodded. "Well, smart move there. That was vampire blood he dosed you with."
"What?"
"You just took a big shot of the nastiest virus out there," Dean told her.
"You're crazy! He gave me roofies or something! No... The next thing I know, we're at his place, and he says he's gonna get me something to eat, just wait. But I get so hungry."
"So you busted out?"
Lucy nodded. "But it won't wear off... whatever he gave me?"
"Lights are too bright? Sunshine hurt your skin?"
"Yeah... And smells. And I can... hear blood pumping."
"I hate to tell you this, sweetheart, but your blood's never pumping again."
"Not mine... yours. I can hear a heart beating from half a block away. I just want it to stop."
"It's not going to stop. Listen, Wavy Gravy. You've already killed two people... almost three."
"No, I couldn't. I was hallucinating!"
"You killed them, all right? We've been following a sloppy trail of corpses, and it leads straight to you."
"No. No, it wasn't real! It was the drug! Please! Please, you have to help me!" Sam jerked his head at Dean and Adeline and they all got up to leave. "No, no."
Sam, from the next room near Eva, stated, "Poor girl."
"We don't have a choice," Dean reasoned.
Sam and Adeline nodded. Dean took his machete back in the room.
"No... please!" Lucy begged.
Sam and Adeline watched as Dean decapitated Lucy and flinched.
Eva pulled at he mother's shirt. "Is Wucy otay?"
Adeline shook her head. "No, honey, she isn't."
"Is she wif annos?"
"Annos?"
Eva made snow angels. "Annos."
"Oh, angels. I don't know. Maybe."
"I fink so."
HOSPITAL ROOM
The man Sam, Dean and Adeline, holding Eva, rescued was in a hospital bed, with a bandage on his neck and an I.V. in his arm. Two hunters impersonating FBI agents entered; Gordon and Kubrick.
"Sir, a few questions about the attack," Gordon said.
"I already talked to the cops," the man replied.
Gordon flashed a badge. "Well, we're not cops. We're FBI."
"FBI?"
"Can you describe your attacker?"
"She was crazy. She had that, uh, super-PCP strength, you know? She gnawed on my neck."
"And did she bleed on you?"
"On me, no."
"In your mouth, open wound, anything? You sure about that?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. Why?"
"This woman has a very dangerous virus."
"What? She bit me in the neck!"
"The bite doesn't matter," Kubrick said. "You have to actually ingest the blood to be infected."
"Good thing, too," Gordon told the man. "We'd have to kill you." The man laughed nervously but Gordon just stared at him, dead serious. "The attack?"
"She jumped me, then bit me," the man explained. "Then those two guys and a girl found me and chased her down the alley."
"What did they look like?"
"I didn't get a good look."
"Think."
"One of them was real tall and the girl was just taller than average height."
Gordon turned and gave Kubrick a darkly significant look.
EXT. SPIDER
Sam, Dean and Adeline, holding Eva, exited Spider, a club with red lights and beautiful young people drinking things, looking frustrated.
"That was a big, fat waste of time."
Sam glanced at him. "Look, three blondes have gone missing, including Lucy, all last sighted here. I'm telling you, Dean, this is the hunting ground."
Across the way, Dean and Adeline saw a 30-something man duck into an alley with his arm around a young blonde.
They pointed them out to Sam. "Hey."
ALLEY
In the alley across from the club, the man held up a dropper full of red liquid, and the girl giggled.
"You're sick," the girl told the man.
"You ready, sweetie?" the man asked. "One taste of this, you'll never be the same." He raised the dropper; she opened her mouth and stuck her tongue out to catch the drops.
Before any could fall, Dean grabbed the man's arm, pulled it down, and clocked him in the face.
Sam pulled the girl away and shoved her towards the mouth of the alley. "Get out of here. Go! Go!"
The vampire hurled Dean into a brick wall, then took off at a run. Sam and Adeline went over and helped Dean up.
"Dean!" Sam and Adeline called.
"Dada!" Eva shouted.
"I'm good," Dean said. "Come on."
They took off after the vampire. As they hurtled around the corner, the vampire was nowhere in sight. Facing them, guns at their sides, were Gordon in Kubrick and Gordon raised his gun.
Gordon and Kubrick advanced, firing freely. Sam, Dean and Adeline, still holding her now crying daughter, dove behind parked cars and managed to entirely avoid getting shot. They ducked behind a wall and crouched, waiting. Gordon and Kubrick reloaded.
"All right. Run. I'll draw them off," Dean told his brother and girlfriend.
"What?!" Sam cried. "You're crazy!"
"No!" Adeline yelled.
Dean ignored them and darted out into the line of fire, leapt on top of a car and used it to get over a second-story entrance. Kubrick followed him. Gordon stayed behind and headed for where Sam, Eva and Adeline had been hiding. As he rounded a corner, a figure leapt down on him from above, sending him sprawling. It was the vampire. He kicked Gordon in the face several times and knocked him out.
MOTEL ROOM
Sam was pacing, worried. Adeline was sitting on the bed, consoling a terrified Eva. Dean entered.
"There you are!" Sam and Adeline said.
Dean, unconcerned, replied, "Yeah. Sorry, I stopped for a slice."
Adeline shot him a look. "Nice move you pulled back there, Dean, running right at the weapons."
"Well, what can I say? I'm a badass." He continued ignoring Sam's worried expression and Adeline's furrowed brow. "So, I guess Gordon's out of jail."
"Uh, yeah, I guess so," Sam replied. "You know, how the hell did he know where to find us?"
Dean came to a realization. "That bitch." He pulled out his phone and dialed. "Hi, Bela."
Bela, while driving, answered her phone. "Hello, Dean."
"Question for you. When you called me yesterday, it wasn't to thank me for saving your ass, was it?"
"Gordon Walker paid me to tell him where you were."
"Excuse me?"
"Well, he had a gun on me. What else was I supposed to do?"
"I don't know, maybe pick up the phone and tell us that a raging psychopath was dropping by!"
"I did fully intend to call. I just got a bit sidetracked."
"He tried to kill us!"
"I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was such a big deal. After all, there are three of you, four if you include the little girl who doesn't doo much, and one of him."
"There were two of them." Her face fell. "Bela, if we make it out of this alive, the first thing I'm gonna do is kill you."
"You're not serious."
"Listen to my voice and tell me if I'm serious."
He hung up. In her car, Bela looked at her phone in worry.
WAREHOUSE
The vampire's lair was a warehouse with a neon sign outside reading TRADE CO. Inside, Gordon was tied spread-eagle to a metal bed frame. He painfully regained consciousness. He looked across the room and could see candles, some armchairs, and two young women strung up in shackles, dangling from their wrists. They moved sluggishly. The vampire entered with a jar of blood.
The vampire approached the first girl and fed her the blood, which she gulped desperately. "I know you're uncomfortable... but this is just temporary. The hunger will pass, and then you'll feel much better." He moved onto the second girl and noticed Gordon. "You're awake."
"Who are they?" Gordon asked.
"Family."
"You always keep your family in shackles?"
"We're still getting to know each other. They've just been reborn."
"You mean you grabbed some poor girls off the street and made them monsters like you."
"I do what I have to. We're a dying breed. But then you know that, don't you Gordon? Gordon Walker: one of the greatest living vampire hunters."
"In the flesh."
"You're a big part of why my people are nearly extinct."
"Your "people" are going extinct because you're a bunch of mindless, bloodthirsty animals."
"Right. We're so much more bloodthirsty than you. Hunters slaughtered my entire nest like they were having a party. Murdered my daughter. I can't tell you how satisfying this is... catching a hunter responsible for so many deaths and making you lunch for my new daughters."
Gordon scoffed. ""Daughters?" Try "fang whores.""
"Watch your mouth."
"Oh, did I hurt your feelings? I'm sorry. I forgot you're just a misunderstood victim. Even though you murder and spread your filthy disease on pure base instinct. You got less humanity than a sewer rat."
"I'm sorry you have such a low opinion of my people."
"Oh, you have no idea."
The vampire knelt over him. "Sorry, change of plans. I'll be going out to get your lunch. I've got a better idea for you." He took a knife and sliced open Gordon's arm, then his own, and pressed the cuts together.
Gordon struggled and stared in horror. "No! No! No!"
MOTEL ROOM
Dean sharpened his machete on a sharpening stone while Sam and Adeline cleaned guns beside him. Eva had fallen asleep.
"That vampire's still out there, Dean, Adeline," Sam said.
"First things first," Dean replied.
"Gordon," Sam and Adeline stated.
"About that. When we find him, or if he finds us... I'm just saying he's not leaving us a whole lot of options."
Sam's tone was calm. "Yeah, Adeline and I know. We've got to kill him."
Dean looked at his brother. "Really? Just like that? I thought you would have been like-" He took on a mock-whiny voice. ""No, we can't, he's human, it's wrong.""
"No, I'm done. Gordon's not gonna stop until we're dead... or till he is."
Dean's phone rang. He looked at it, scowled, and picked up angrily. "What?!"
Bela was on the other end, still driving. "I don't like it when people hold grudges against me, and more to the point, I'd rather you didn't kill me, so I went ahead and found Gordon's exact location for you."
"You're a hundred miles away. How the hell did you..."
"Hello? Purveyor of powerful occult objects? I used a talking board to contact the other side."
"And?"
"Warehouse. Two stories, riverfront, neon sign outside."
"Thanks."
"One more thing. The spirit had a message for you. "Leave town, run like hell, and whatever you do, don't go after Gordon." For whatever that's worth."
WAREHOUSE
Gordon awoke again, hanging by his wrists from the ceiling. His eyes were bloodshot. He struggled with his chains, ripping them out of the ceiling after a few tries.
As he unwound them from his wrists, the girls, still chained up, spoke. "Please... Help us. Please."
Gordon exited the warehouse. He flinched at every sudden light and sound, and stared up at a loud buzzing, glaringly bright street lamp. He covered his ears in agony as a car passed him, trailing red light behind. Across the alley he saw a man crouched in front of his car, changing a tire. Gordon struggled, then staggered over to a window and leaned against it, panting. He looked up at his reflection in the glass and bared his teeth; fangs emerged, filling his mouth.
The man finished changing the tire and got in his car. Before he could start the ignition, Gordon sat up suddenly in the back seat and grabbed the man from behind. The car shook violently and a spray of blood stained the windshield.
WAREHOUSE
Sam and Dean crept down the steps into the room where Gordon had been held. Adeline remained at the motel with Eva. The bodies of the girls were still hanging, headless, and the vampire was kneeling in front of them. Dean took a knife from the table and approached him slowly; he heard Dean coming but didn't move.
"Go ahead," the vampire said. "Do it. Kill me."
"What happened here?" Sam asked.
"Gordon Walker. I never should have brought a hunter here. Never. I just... I just wanted some kind of revenge. Stupid... exposing him to my family."
"Oh, yeah, you're such a family man," Dean shot back.
"You don't understand."
"I don't want to understand, you son of-"
"I was desperate. You ever felt desperate? I've lost everyone I ever loved. I'm staring down eternity alone. Can you think of a worse hell?"
"Well, there's Hell."
"I wasn't thinking. I just, I didn't care anymore. Do you know what it's like when you just don't give a damn? It's like... It's like being dead already. So just go ahead. Do it."
Sam inspected the headless bodies. "Dean. Head wasn't cut off, it was ripped off. With someone's bare hands. Dixon, what did you do to Gordon?"
KUBRICK'S MOTOR HOME
Kubrick heard a noise and pulled back the curtains to look outside. When he turned around again, Gordon was there, staring at him.
"Gordon. You okay?" Kubrick asked cautiously.
"Not even close," Kubrick replied.
"I thought maybe you were dead. What is it?"
"Something happened."
"What?"
"They turned me."
"Those fangs? I'm sorry. You know what this means."
"It means you have to kill me." Gordon grabbed Kubrick by the shoulders. "But not yet."
"What do you mean?"
"You have to let me do one last thing first."
"What?"
"Kill Sam Winchester."
"Gordon..."
"It's the only... it is the good thing to come out of this nightmare."
"Gordon, I'm sorry, you know I can't let you walk out of here."
"Listen to me. There is nothing more important. Please. I can do one last thing for the world."
Gordon was facing the crucifix on the wall behind him. Kubrick carefully reached for his machete. Gordon heard Kubrick's heart rate increase.
"Yeah. I hear you," Kubrick replied. "Gordon, you're right. One last good thing."
Kubrick approached with the blade and at the last moment Gordon turned, driving his hand into Kubrick's guts. He pulled his gory hand out and stared at it. Kubrick slumped forward onto his shoulder.
"I'm sorry," Gordon whispered.
MOTEL ROOM
Dean entered the room, frustrated, and removed his jacket. Sam and Adeline were seated at the table, poring over maps. Eva was still asleep on the bed.
"Man, I must have checked three dozen motels, empty buildings, warehouses," Dean said.
"Yeah, me and Adeline too," Sam replied. "Big city."
Dean washed his face in the sink. "It's like a giant haystack, and Gordon's a deadly needle. We're running out of daylight. Won't have the sun slowing him down."
"Yeah, he'll be unstoppable. Hey, give me your phone. Adeline, give me yours as well."
"What for?"
Adeline frowned. "What? Why? It has pictures of my little girl and Kyle don't want to lose."
"You can get them back," Sam told her, grabbing her phone.
"Hey! Sam, no!"
Sam pulled the SIM cards from his, Adeline and Dean's phones. "Well, if Gordon knows our cell numbers he can use the cell signal to track us down."
"Oh, yeah, thanks," Dean said.
Adeline huffed and glared. "Jerk."
Sam stomped on the phones as Dean looked out the curtains and Adeline glared at the younger Winchester.
Dean walked back with a sense of purpose. "Sammy, Adeline, stay here."
"What? Where are you going now?" Sam asked.
Dean pulled the Colt from his bag and checked it. "I'm going after Gordon."
"What?" Sam and Adeline questioned.
"You both heard me."
"Not alone you're not," Sam said.
"Sam, Adeline, I don't need either of you to sign me a permission slip, okay? He's after you, Sam, not me or Adeline, and he's turbocharged. I want you to stay out of harm's way. I'll take care of it."
Adeline frowned. "You're not going by yourself, you're going to get killed."
"Just another at the office. It's a massively dangerous day at the office."
"So you're the guy with nothing to lose now, huh?" Sam shot back. "Oh wait, let me guess. Because, uh, it's because you're already dead, right?"
"If the shoe fits."
"You know what, man? Adeline and I are sick and tired of your kamikaze trip."
"Whoa, whoa, kamikaze? I'm more like a ninja."
"That's not funny."
"It's a little funny."
"No, it's not," Adeline argued, looking at him sadly.
"What do you two want me to do, Sam, Adeline, huh? Sit around all day writing sad poems about how I'm gonna die? You know what? I got one. Let's see, what rhymes with "shut up, Sam" or "shut up, Adeline"?"
"Dude, drop the attitude, Dean," Sam replied. "But turning everything into a punchline. And you know something else? Stop trying to act like you're not afraid."
"I'm not!"
Adeline stared at him. "You're lying. You may as well drop it 'cause Sam and I can see right through you."
"You got no idea what you're talking about."
"Yeah, she does," Sam said. "You're scared, Dean. You're scared because your year is running out, and you're still going to Hell, and you're freaked."
"And how do you know that?"
"Because we know you!" Adeline cried in a shaky voice.
"Really?"
"Yeah, I've been following you around my entire life!" Sam yelled. "I mean, I've been looking up to you since I was four. Studying you, trying to be just like my big brother. Adeline's been hunting with us for the past couple years. So yeah, we know you. Better than anyone else in the entire world. And this is exactly how you act when you're terrified. And I mean, she and I can't blame you. It's just..."
"What?"
"I wish you would drop the show and be my brother again. 'Cause... just 'cause."
Dean paused a moment. "All right, we'll hole up, cover our scent so he can't track us, and wait the night out here."
Later, Dean and Adeline barricaded the doors and windows as Sam lit incense.
Dean's phone started ringing and Sam said, "You've had that phone two hours, Dean. Who'd you give the number to?"
"Nobody," Dean replied as he picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Dean?" Gordon called.
"How'd you get this number?"
"Your scent's all over the cell phone store. Of course, I can't smell you now. Where are you?"
"I guess you'll have to find us."
"I'd rather you come to me."
"What's the matter, Gordo? You're not afraid of us, are you? We're just sitting here. Bring it on!"
"I don't think so." He held the phone in front of the girl who was his hostage.
"Please. Please," the girl begged.
Gordon took the phone back and shushed her. "Factory on Riverside off the turnpike. Be here in 20 minutes or the girl dies."
"Gordon, let the girl go," Dean demanded.
"Bye, Dean."
"Gordon! Don't do this. You don't kill innocent people. You're still a hunter."
"No. I'm a monster."
FACTORY
Dean, Sam and Adeline found the hostage and untied her. Eva had been left in the car.
"Hey we got you," Sam reassured. "Don't worry. We're gonna get you out of here." He helped her up. "Get up. Watch your head. Watch your head."
The girl was sobbing and could barely walk, so Dean slung her arm over his shoulders and picked her up.
"Sam, Frankie, stay close," Dean said.
Sam and Adeline followed Dean, Sam and Adeline not close enough. A mechanized door suddenly slid down in front of them, cutting them off from the others. He, Dean and Adeline each pounded and kicked at the door, to no avail.
"Sam! Adeline!" Dean called.
"Dean!" Sam and Adeline yelled back.
"Damn it, Sam, Adeline!"
Sam and Adeline pounded the door one last time in frustration, then turned and walked away from it, eyes darting around. The lights went out. Sam and Adeline froze, brought their machetes up, and started creeping around with their other arms held out blindly.
"Gordon... you got me where you want me," Sam said. "You might as well come out and fight! Leave Adeline alone. You got no beef with her."
Gordon appeared behind him. "I'm right here, Sam, Adeline. What's the matter, Sammy, Adeline?"
"So, this is really the way you want to do it, huh?"
"Damn right I do. You have no idea what I faced to get here. I lost everything. My life. But it's worth it, 'cause I'm finally gonna kill the most dangerous thing I ever hunted. You're not human, Sam."
"Look who's talking," Sam and Adeline retorted.
"You're right. I'm a bloodthirsty killer."
"Don't talk about it like you don't have a choice," Sam said.
"I don't."
"Yes you do, Gordon. You didn't kill that girl."
"No, I didn't. I did something much, much worse."
On the other side of the door, Dean was still hacking away. As he tossed the tool away in frustration, the girl vamped out and knocked him to the ground. Dean dug in his pocket and pulled out the Colt and fired a single bullet into her head. She convulsed, energy crackled, and slumped to the floor.
Sam and Adeline were still feeling around blindly as Gordon taunted Sam.
"I got to hand it to you, Sam," Gordon said. "You got a lot of people fooled. But see, I know the truth. I know what it's like. We're the same now, you and me. I know how it is walking around with something evil inside you. It's just too bad you won't do the right thing and kill yourself. I'm gonna... as soon as I'm done with you two. One last good deed. Killing you two, and killing myself."
Gordon attacked, sending them each flying through the wall separating them from Dean. They struggled on the ground and Gordon knocked away Sam and Adeline's machetes. Gordon picked up Sam and Adeline and flung them across the room. Dean came up from behind and pointed the Colt and a machete at Gordon's head, but Gordon was too fast for him. He stopped Dean's gun-arm and flung him across the room.
Sam and Adeline picked themselves up and cried, "No!"
Sam and Adeline charged Gordon and clocked him across the back of the neck. Gordon turned away from Dean and knocked Sam and Adeline down, then slammed them across a worktable. Sam managed to grab a piece of cloth and an end of razor wire in each hand. Gordon pinned hm down again and Sam wrapped the razor wire around Gordon's neck and pulled. Gordon began choking out a death-rattle and Sam glared, grit his teeth and pulled harder. Blood dripped from his hands where the razor wire was cutting in, and he pulled harder until he cut all the way through Gordon's neck and sent his head tumbling. He panted from the effort, stared down at Gordon's head on the ground, and examined his bloody hands. Dean stood as he clutched his neck in pain, still holding the Colt. He and Adeline looked down in surprise at the headless Gordon, then back up at Sam who shrugged. They stumbled off together, neither moving very well.
Dean glanced at Sam. "You just charged a super-vamped-out Gordon with no weapon. That's a little reckless, don't you think?"
Adeline nodded. "But you saved our lives. Thank you."
TWO-LANE BLACKTOP
Dean was under the hood of the Impala, poking at something. Sam opened a cooler and pulled out three beers and a juice box, then shut the lid and sat on it.
He opened one bottle and passed it to Dean. "Here you go."
"Thanks," Dean replied.
He opened the second beer and handed it to Adeline. "Here."
"Thanks," Adeline said.
He unwrapped the straw and stuck it in the juice box before handing it to Eva.
Eva grinned. "Fank you!"
"Figure out what's making that rattle?" Sam asked.
"Not yet," Dean answered. "Give me a box wrench, would you?"
"Yeah." Sam picked up a box wrench. "There you go."
"Thanks." He took the wrench, then looked thoughtful. "Sam."
"Wrong one?"
"No, come here for a second."
Sam got up and leaned over the hood with Dean. "Yeah."
Dean gestured to the engine. "This rattle could be a couple of things. I'm thinking it's an out-of-tune carb."
"Okay," Sam replied, confused.
"All right, see this thing? It's a valve cover. Inside are all the parts that are on the head. Hand me that socket wrench." Sam did so. "All right, you with me so far?"
"Yeah, uh, valve cover covers the heads."
"Very good. This is your intake manifold, and on top of it?" He paused.
Sam smiled fondly, like he was remembering something. "It's, uh, a carburetor."
"Carburetor... very good."
"What's with the auto shop? And how come Adeline isn't participating?" Dean held out the socket wrench. "You don't mean you want..."
"Yeah, I do. You fix it. She's got her kid to watch."
"Dean, you barely let me drive this thing. You don't let Adeline drive it."
"Well, it's time. You should know how to fix it. You're gonna need to know these things for the future. And besides, that's my job, right? Show my little brother the ropes?"
Sam nodded and took the wrench, leaned in, and started unscrewing. Dean sat on the cooler, next to Adeline who was on the ground, picked Eva up and sat her on his lap, then turned slightly to watch Sam.
"Put your shoulder into it," Dean instructed.
Adeline nodded and smiled. "You can do it."
Eva nodded with a toothy smile. "Mama and Dada say so."