I sat on the hood of the Impala eating a hot dog as I watched Dean pace in front of me, talking to Bobby—whoever he was—on his phone.
"I know what I saw, Bobby. He threw me to that vamp. I'm telling you, it's not my brother." Dean said, glancing to where Sam was in line for more hot dogs. "Yeah, or it's freakin' Lucifer.....'Course I called Cas. He's not answering. Screw him. I can't wait anymore.
Professional? He watched me get turned! Damn it, Bobby, yes. I know—we're talking about doing something about this, and fast. It's not just the vamp, okay? He has been different from the jump. I don't even want to ride in the same car with him, much less work a damn case. At this point, I'd rather be hanging out with the demon here." he ended the call.
I crumpled up my wrapper and threw it at his head, having it bounce off his hair.
Sam walked up to us with a newspaper and two hot dogs in hand. "Hey."
"Hey. I was just, uh, I was leaving Lisa a message." Dean lied to his brother.
"Still hasn't called you back, huh?" Sam asked as he handed his brother a hot dog.
"No."
"Sucks."
Dean nodded. "Yeah."
"You and Bianca got into it again while I was in line?"
"When are we not fighting?" I asked.
"Fair enough." Sam nodded, looking at Dean. "You okay?"
"Yeah. I'm fine. How are you?" Dean asked.
"Me? Great. Here, look. Check this out. Think it might be something." Sam handed Dean a newspaper featuring the story about a girl named Jane Peterson.
"Four people, out of nowhere, all in the last couple of weeks. What do you say?"
"Yeah. Sounds like a plan." Dean nodded.
"Let's go."
We found our way to the latest victim—Jane Peterson—house a half hour drive later. Dean and Sam changed into their FBI suits as I kept my eyes away until they changed fully.
"Do you guys do this often?" I asked as the sister of the victim let us into the house.
"Shut up." Dean told me, the two of us walking around the living room as Sam questioned the woman: Olivia.
"I don't understand. Why would federal investigators be interested in a suicide?" Olivia wondered.
"Well, um... it's a new, more caring administration." Sam said.
"Well, I already told the cops. Jane was having a really bad day, so I-I did what any sister would do. I...tried to cheer her up, you know? Told her to hang in there." she said as she played with her hair.
"You know what a "tell" is?" Sam asked Olivia.
"Excuse me?"
"It's a poker term...for when you're bluffing. Like what you just did with your hair."
"What are you trying to say?" Olivia asked.
"You're lying." Sam answered.
"What?!" Olivia gasped.
"Tell us what you did to your sister." Sam said sternly.
I looked at an ornate, gold-speckled dagger sitting on top of a glass case, reaching towards it.
"Hey." Dean lightly smacked my hand away, getting me to look at him. "Don't touch that."
"Okay. You're right. I was lying. I wanted to tell her, "I love you. I'm here for you." Oh, but what came out was..."You're a burden. Just kill yourself." Who says that?! I-I-I just couldn't stop!" Olivia said on the verge of tears.
"Thank you for your time." Sam said, and got up; gesturing the two of us out of the house.
"See anything in the house?" Sam asked us.
"No hex bags, no sulfur, no EMF. You?" Dean asked.
"A tuba and an issue of Crochet Today. So, what, already kinda suicidal?" Sam guessed as we got into the car.
"Right, and then big sis's Taxicab Confession sends her over the edge. Question is, what made big sis open her big, fat mouth in the first place?" Dean said:
"Yeah, that is the question." Sam agreed.
========
"Hey. You got anything?" Dean asked, yet again, on the phone with Bobby. "Awesome." he sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Yeah, my skin crawls being in the same room with him. Why don't you look that up?"
I wordlessly poured two glasses of bourbon and set one in front of him, sitting down across from him and watching him as he made the call.
Dean took a drink, setting it down. "I don't know how much longer I can do this, Bobby. You got to figure out what the hell he is and fast. What, Satan's my co-pilot? Yeah, I know. Well, then what?.....I gotta go." he hung up the phone and tossed it onto the table.
"Look at that. You didn't even ask if your glass was poisoned this time." I said as I emptied my drink.
"I'm too tired to deal with you." he answered me.
Sam entered the room, still dressed as an FBI agent. "There was another one."
"Yeah? What?" Dean said.
"Dentist drilled a guy to death." Sam reported.
"You mean the...non-sexy kind of drilling, right?" I guessed.
Sam nodded. "50 bucks says he's mixed up in all the crazy."
Dean drained his glass. "You think?"
"Yeah. Let's go talk to him."
"Okay. Uh...why don't you go ahead? I'll catch up. I'm gonna do a little research." Dean said.
"You sure?"
"Yeah. We got to know what we're up against, right?" Dean said.
"Yeah. Yeah, good idea." Sam nodded.
"I'll go with you." I said to Sam, getting up and following him out of the motel.
We drove the entire way to where Sam had gotten the call from local PD. Talked to the assistant of the dentist to figure out more about the dentist, then walked into the dentist's office that was splattered with blood and crime tape.
"Mmh. Yummy." I said, making Sam look at me oddly. "What? I can't joke now and then?" I said as I opened another door and the dentist's body swung out—his neck hanging from a noose. "Ooh. Looks like it got more interesting."
"Oh, great..." Sam sighed, pulling out his phone and pressing on his brother's contact, holding it between us so we could both hear what he had to say.
"Anything from Marathon Man?"
"Not exactly. He hung himself before we could get to him." Sam answered.
"Yikes."
"But he was definitely involved. Just got the scoop from his assistant before we came in here." Sam said.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. Let's say the stuff that his patient was confessing to—I'd have murdered him, too." Sam answered.
"So, root canal and Russian roulette—both of 'em, it's like they were cursed, right? I mean, people are just compelled to puke the truth all over 'em?"
"Oh, getting hit with the ugly truth, you go postal? I'd call that a curse. Do me a favor—we're going to the morgue to check out the body. Why don't you come over to the dentist's office, see if you see anything we couldn't."
"Yeah. No problem."
========
"Now, I'd actually like to see all the suicides that came in this week, not just Dr. Giggles. Is that gonna be a problem?" Sam said to the coroner pulling out Paul's body.
"Well, they're—they're already gone." he said.
"As in transferred?" I said.
"Yeah, not exactly." the coroner said.
"Would you like to tell me what's going on here, or should I have a little chat with your supervisor?" Sam said darkly.
"They're gone." he repeated confidently.
"As in...gone gone?" Sam said.
The coroner nodded. "You know. It's strange. All these deaths happened within days of each other. But this one woman—she died a whole week before the others. Car accident."
"Where did this person live?" I asked.
"Um....Carlton Court. An apartment building."
"Great. Thank you." Sam grabbed my arm and we walked out of the morgue, heading out of the building and into the car. "Where's Carlton Court?"
"A mile from here." I answered.
We stayed silent the whole drive to Carlton Court, getting out of the Impala and heading into the apartment,
Sam called Dean. "All the bodies are gone."
"What do you mean, they just vanished?" Dean's voice answered faintly.
"That's what the coroner said. But we got a lead. One of the missing bodies, she died a whole week before everybody else." Sam said.
"Suicide?"
"Reported as a car accident, but no reason it couldn't have been." Sam said.
"So then that would make her our patient zero, right?"
"I'm thinking maybe. Whatever got this whole curse thing rolling started with her. Bianca and I are at her place now, corner of Burnham and 159th." Sam said.
"Yeah, give me 10."
Sam and I continued up the stairs and I knocked on the first victim's door, having a young girl answer it—probably her roommate.
"We'd like you ask you a few questions about your roommate?" Sam said.
She looked confused, but let us in. "Why is there an investigation for a car accident?"
"It wasn't an accident. Corey committed suicide." I said.
"You know...I wondered. I-I'm sorry. I just..." the roommate wiped away tears.
Sam handed her a box of tissues. "So, you had some idea Corey might have taken her own life?"
"Well...she had been going through a bit of a hard time lately...at school. And then, um, her cat, Mittens, had just ran away. But, really, it was her boyfriend. She was sure that he was cheating on her. But he was just very good at covering his tracks. Which, of course, made her completely obsessed with—"
"—finding out the truth." Sam finished.
She nodded. "Yeah."
"You mind if we check out her room?" I asked.
"Go ahead..." she pointed down the hall.
Sam and I got up and went into her room, searching everywhere. He reached under the bed and lifted out a cat skull.
"Sorry, Mittens." Sam said, handing me the cat skull, which I tucked under my jacket.
After searching her room, we went out of the apartment building and headed down the stairs, meeting up with Dean as he came up.
"Hey, where you been? We found something." Sam said as I lifted the cat skull out from under my jacket.
Dean paid me no mind, keeping his focus on Sam. "It can wait. We got to talk."
"Yeah. What's up?" Sam asked as we headed out of the building.
"There's a few things I want to ask you, and, uh, you're gonna tell me the truth." Dean said.
"Uh, yeah, Dean. Of course. What are you talking about? Whoa. Are you saying you're..." Sam caught on.
He nodded. "I asked for the truth. And you know what? I'm getting it. So, like I said, I have a few questions for you. When that vamp attacked me, why did you just stand there?"
"I-I didn't. I froze." Sam said.
"You froze. You have been Terminator since you got back." Dean said.
Sam shrugged. "I don't know. Shock? And then it was too late. I feel terrible about it. Believe me. Dean...I can't lie here. Do you really think I would let something like that happen on purpose? You're my brother. H-how could you even—"
"Okay. Okay. Sorry. I...I thought—I thought I saw something. I...I guess I was wrong. It's just been a really, really bad day." Dean said, rubbing a hand down his face.
"Hey. It's okay. I got your back, all right? I always have." Sam said.
Dean smiled. "Thanks, Sammy."
========
"Well, she was obsessed." Sam said as he researched on his computer.
"I think you mean crazy." Dean corrected as he took the cat skull from my hand.
Sam nodded. "All right, so cat skull, uh, grains-of-paradise seed, devil's shoestring. Mix 'em well, you got yourself a summoning spell."
"Demon?" Dean guessed.
Sam turned the computer around, showing us a webpage of Veritas, Goddess of Truth. "God. Corey was so desperate for the truth about her boyfriend's cheating heart, she went digging around. Nothing panned out, so she went looking for a different kind of help."
"Opened a door she couldn't close." Dean said.
"You know, if I found out my boyfriend was cheating on me, I'd flay his bones for all eternity." I said as I laid on the bed on my stomach.
Sam shrugged. "Now anyone in town who asks aloud for the truth invokes Veritas. And she doesn't just give it to you. She slams you with it until you kill yourself and she gets her tribute."
"So, all that "tribute" vanishing from the morgue. What do you think, uh, Soylent Green situation?" Dean guessed.
Sam nodded. "Gods got to eat, too. Which means we got to take her out or you're on the menu."
Dean sighed. "All right, well, what do we know, besides crazy cat lady?"
"Well, dogs are her Achilles heel." Sam said.
"Naturally."
"And she was a pretty hands-on goddess back in the day. Her thing was coming down from the mountain to speak truth to the masses. She wanted more than tribute. She wanted to be worshipped."
"An attention whore." Dean corrected.
Sam nodded. "If you want to put it that way."
"And what is the 21st-century version of speaking truth to the masses?' Dean asked.
"Uh, guys?" I got the brothers' attention. "I know I'm not human and all, but if I were to get attention, I'd go big or go home. Meaning, television star." I said.
Dean looked surprised. "I can't believe something intelligent just came out of your stupid mouth."
========
We sat on the beds as we watched the television studio's computer is running through Sam's laptop. Sam hit 'play' and it started the recording, which is raw footage of "Frank Talk".
"I'm Ashley—I'm Ashley Frank, bringing you "Frank Talk." Let's do that again."
"Okay, still rolling." the off-camera producer said.
"I'm Ashley Frank, bringing you "Frank Talk." Again. I'm Ashley Frank. Are organic fruits and veggies really worth the cost?"
"She's creepy. I mean, the hair alone. I don't know, man. Maybe there's nothing here." Dean said as he ate a donut.
Sam shrugged, and hit to fast forward. "Maybe."
Hours later, sun was creeping into the motel room, and we still hadn't found anything out. Only listened to Ashley Frank talk about the most boring stuff know to humankind.
"—at increased speed. Are we—we're spinning? Do the new rent-to-own prices...A recent trend in furniture stores...But think twice before you decide to buy—Before you make that big purchase...Okay. We'll ask the councilman ourselves."
A large dog suddenly started barking at her as she stood outside a house.
"Are we still rolling?" she asked nervously to the camera-man.
"Hold on. Check this out." Sam zoomed in on Ashley Frank's eyes. They glowed a bright green.
We followed Ashley Frank as she drove away from the tv station in a red convertible. Following her all the way until she drove up to an enormous, modernist house.
"Looks pretty normal, right?" Sam asked as we got out of the Impala, parking it down a ways away out of view.
"I'm sure inside it's chock full of creep." Dean answered, holding up two large knives. "Ready?"
Sam held up a jar of liquid. "Yeah. Dog's blood."
"Do I even want to know where you got that?" Dean asked.
"Probably not." Sam answered.
"What? No weapon for me?" I asked.
Dean looked at me. "I'm not trusting you with a knife. And if you wanted to help us so badly, just use those Hell-abilities of yours and flambé the woman."
"All right, let's do this." Dean said.
The three of us entered into a well-furnished living and dining area, filled to the brim with nothing creepy.
"So where's all the creep?" I whispered, and stopping as I saw a cat scurry away from us. "Follow the cat."
We followed the cat downstairs, and stop at a mosaic of Veritas; we then follow another cat into another room. We peer into the room and see the cat on a gurney, lapping at a bloody, mutilated human corpse. A gutted, bleeding, torso hangs in the middle of the room. The body of the dentist lies on another gurney.
"That's....that's over-the-top. Even for me." I said with a disgusted face.
Veritas suddenly came into view, keeping her back to us. "You came for dinner." she waved her hand, sending the two boys hurtling into the hanging torso, slamming their heads into the wall and lying unconscious on the floor.
Veritas takes the dog-soaked knives from the floor and put them in a drawer, then turns back to me. "It's been a while."
"It certainly has, Veritas." I answered, stepping into the room. "I see you're still in business."
"Yes, I am." she smiled, walking over to the boys and dragging them to separate pillars, tying them to it with strong ropes. "I'm surprised to see you here. With these two."
"Not my choice to be with them. But, I gotta say, if I get to kill you, I won't be too mad about it." I answered.
Veritas laughed. "And why would you kill me?"
"Do you seriously not remember?" I asked, crossing my arms. "Last time I was on Earth, you killed my boyfriend in front of me, made me watch as you ate his heart, and you killed me."
"But you came back." she said as she picked up a burnt tongue with a pair of tongs, eating it.
"Perks of having vampire blood in me." I answered. "I can't die, sure, but I can still be pissed as hell."
"Mm. Sit tight, boys." Veritas pointed her finger to the two boys, who were now awake and looking at us. "You're up next."
I watched as she opened the dentist's mouth and pulled out his tongue. "The tongue...is the tastiest part. It's where the lies roll off." she bit into it, making me gag. "Mmm. Mmm! I cannot wait to eat yours. I mean, I've seen liars before, but you two? Gold standard."
"Point of professional pride." Dean said.
Veritas looked at Dean. "I wouldn't be so cocky if I were you, Dean. You know what happens when you base your life on lies, right? The truth comes along and...so, while you've still got your tongue, God knows you've got an earful. I think it's your turn to spill some. How 'bout we play a little truth or truth? What should we ask Dean first, hmm? Something...personal about you? Hey, Dean, I'm curious. What do you really feel about your brother?"
"Better now. As of yesterday, I wanted to kill him in his sleep." Dean answered, his voice strained. "I thought he was a monster. But now I think...he's just acting like me."
"What do you mean?" Veritas asked.
"It's the gig." Dean answered. "You're covered in blood until you're covered in your own blood. Half the time, you're about to die. Like right now. I told myself I wanted out...that I wanted a family."
"But you were lying." Veritas said.
"No. But what I'm good at...is slicing throats. I ain't a father. I'm a killer. And there's no changing that. I know that now." Dean finished.
"Hmm. One more." she got up and placed a hand on my shoulder, looking at Dean as she trailed her sharp fingernail over my cheek. "I know you claim to hate her. But...what are you thinking now?"
I could tell Dean didn't want to answer, but the truth came out in a rush of angry words.
"If you lay your hands on her one more time, I'll fricking rip your hands off and give them to her as a Christmas present." Dean growled.
Veritas smiles. "There's a good boy. Now, back to Sam." she walked away from me and crouched down in front of Sam. "So, Sam walking back into your life must have been a relief. Hmm? Mallory to your Mickey. And how do you feel about the band getting back together? Hmm, Sam?"
"Look...what we do...is hard. But...we watch out for each other." Sam said.
Dean looked at me and gestured to the empty meat hook that hung down on the ceiling, skin still attached to the metal end.
I slowly moved over to where the meat hook was and reached up, grabbing onto the hook and silently taking it off the chain.
"And that's what's important. And that's it. That's the truth." Sam said.
"No. No, it's not." Veritas said.
"You said yourself—I can't lie." Sam replied.
"How are you doing that? That's not possible. You're lying to me!" Veritas shrieked.
"No, I'm not!"
"What are you?" she looked at Dean. "What is he?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." Sam said.
"Really? I doubt that. I doubt anything that comes out of your mouth right now. You're not human." she growled at him.
"What?" Dean asked.
"You didn't know that? Now, that I believe." she chuckled.
I swung the hook into the back of her head and she shouted, grabbing my wrist and digging her nails into my skin, tearing out a large chunk as she threw me into the wall.
Sam got free from his ropes and untied Dean, the two of the grabbing the dog-soaked knives and slamming them into Veritas' heart.
Dean took out the knife from her heart and held it up towards Sam, who looked at him oddly.
"Dean, it's me." Sam said.
"You are not my brother." Dean answered.
"Just listen." Sam held out his hands.
"What are you?!" Dean shouted.
"I'm me, Dean. Look, please, just let me explain." Sam said.
"Why the hell should I believe anything you say?"
"Okay, okay. You want the truth? Here it is. Here it is. God's honest. She was right. There's something wrong with me, really wrong. I've known it for a while. I lied to you. Yeah. And...I let you get turned by that vamp. Because I knew there was a cure, Dean, and we needed in that nest! And I knew you could handle it!"
"Handle it?! I could've died! I could've killed Ben." Dean shouted.
"And that should stop me cold. But I—I just don't feel it."
"You what?"
"Ever since I came back, I am a-a better hunter than I've ever been! Nothing scares me anymore! 'Cause I can't feel it. I don't know what's wrong with me. I think...I need help." Sam looked at me as I stood up. "Bianca—"
"Hey, hey!" Dean shouted, "you remember what I said to Veritas? Well, that applies to you, too. You so much as look at her the wrong way, you die."
"Dean—" Sam walked forward.
Dean slammed his fist into Sam's face. Over and over again until he was bloody and unconscious.
========
"Hold still." I said to Dean as he fidgeted yet again, accidentally poking into his shoulder with the needle.
"Ow! Dammit, that stings." Dean said as I pushed the needle and thread through again.
"It would hurt less if you stayed still." I snapped at him. "I haven't needed to stitch people back up for a long time. I'm a little rusty."
"If you hadn't noticed, the point of stitches are for you to not loose any more blood." he winced as I stabbed him again—this time, intentionally.
"Just calm down. Think of something else aside from this."
"What, like your hand on my back?"
I frowned and stabbed him again. "You're no help, you know that, right?"
"I'm aware—ow! Would you stop stabbing me?" he snapped.
"I'm not trying to. Only once or twice. But the rest were accidents. Mainly your fault." I said.
"Oh, you just think everything's my fault now, do you?"
"Most of the time, it is your fault!" I snapped back, tying the thread and snapping it off. "There. You're done."
He stood up quickly and grabbed his shirt from the bed, putting it on. "I think you should go."
"Why?"
"Because I'm pissed at you, and as you so helpfully pointed out, I do stupid things when I'm pissed! And after what you heard today, I. Can't. Be. Around you." he pushed past me and slammed the motel door.