Sam, Dean and I were still in Rufus' cabin, daylight outside.
Sam was typing on his laptop at the table.
Dean was sitting on the sofa reading the notebook in which Kevin translated the word of God. "Okay, man, I have read this more times than the Playboy I found in Dad's duffel."
"Anna Nicole?" Sam asked.
"Anna Nicole," Dean answered. "Oh, the good, they die young, huh?"
I rolled my eyes. "Look, we can read this till our eyes bleed. It ain't getting any clearer."
"Okay," Sam told us. "Then what does it mean?"
"Uh..." I trailed off. "Cut off the head, and the body will flounder."
"Yeah," Sam agreed.
"Okay," I said. "Well, I think we all agree that, uh, the head is Dick. Right?"
"Right," Sam agreed.
"So, bottom line is, we go grab the stuff, and we mix ourselves a weapon," Dean told us. "End of story."
Dean took a drink from a beer bottle.
"Look, I'm all for killing Dick," Sam told us. "I'm just saying, what then? I mean, what about the rest of the leviathan? What, are they gonna just... drop dead?"
"I don't know," I told them. "Maybe."
"Maybe?" Sam repeated. "'Maybe' is good enough for you right now?"
"One problem at a time, all right?" I asked.
"Okay," Sam told us. "But it's not a crazy idea to try and figure out what the catch is before we go crashing the gate."
"Maybe this is the catch," I told them. "God's not telling us every detail. You know? The word is from God. I don't know how much better it's gonna get."
~~~~~~
I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom, spitting it into the sink.
The mirror in front of me misted over.
I exhaled. My breath was visible. I turned around to see Dad. "Hey, Dad. How you feeling?"
"Stronger than ever," Dad answered. I looked down. "Now, while you three have been chasing your tails, I've been thinking on that weapon."
"Wait a second," I told him. "Don't you think you should be saving your strength?"
"For what?" Dad asked.
"I'm just saying you might want to slow down," I told him. "You don't look so hot."
"I'm in the veil," Dad told me. "My Brad Pitt days are over. Now, the kid says that the only way to kill leviathan is with a bone washed in the three bloods of the fallen. It's got to be from a human as light and good as the leviathan are hungry and dark."
"Yeah, I know that, Dad," I told him. "Good luck with that."
"The rest is doable, and doable now," Dad told me. "You've already got the fallen angel blood. Now, next up is blood from the ruler of fallen humanity."
"Crowley," I told him.
"Right," Dad agreed. "Numero tres is the father of fallen beats. Which means you got to bleed an alpha."
"But they're all dead," I told him. "I mean, every one Sam and Dean found, they rounded up for Crowley, and then Cas whammied them all."
"Well, then, make this Cas' problem, too," Dad told me.
"Cas ain't exactly in the problem-solving mode, Dad," I told him.
"Then Crowley!" Dad told me.
"All right, I get it," I told him. "I get it."
"Do you?" Dad asked. The mirror behind me cracked, shatter. I closed my eyes. "I'm just saying. I have faith that you and the boys will figure it out." I looked at Dad. "Relax. I'm fine. Just got a little carried away."
I didn't answer, looking away.
~~~~~~
Out in the main room, Sam was watching a Sucrocorp video on his laptop.
"Here at Sucrocorp, your well-being is our number one priority."
Dean poured himself a glass of whiskey.
"Sucrocorp. Eat well, live well."
I walked toward them. "Little FYI. Dad's officing out of the john these days."
"Uh..." Dean trailed off. "Awkward."
I sat down at the table next to them. "Yeah, you're telling me. Uh, he does have some ideas about the weapon, though."
"Really?" Sam asked. "Well, uh, he may be just in time."
Sam turned the laptop around to show us an article titled 'Roman Acquires Sucrocorp.'
"'Roman acquires'..." Dean trailed off. "What's Sucrocorp?"
"They make food additives, namely high- fructose corn syrup," Sam explained. "That crap is in—well, it's in just about everything—um, soda, sauces, bread."
"Don't say 'pie'," Dean told us.
"Definitely pie," Sam told us.
"Bastards," Dean told us. "So, now what? Roman's moved past restaurants?"
"And into grocery stores," Sam answered. "Gas n' Sips, vending machines."
"What can we do about it?" Dean asked.
"Short of going Al Qaeda on their trucks and plants, there's nothing we can do about it," Sam answered.
The laptop closed on its own, making them jump.
"Like I said, uh, Dad's got some ideas," I told them.
Sam and Dean looked at me in confusion.
~~~~~~
Dean put a bowl down on a table that was set up with chalk symbols, a bottle of blood and candles.
I slit my hand with a pocketknife, dripping my blood into the bowl. "Et ad congregandum eos coram me."
Sam lit a match, tossing it into the bowl.
Flames rose up from the bowl.
Crowley appeared. "Hello, boys and girl." He looked at Dean and me. "Dean. Ness. Heard the big news. Mazel tov."
I sighed in annoyance.
~~~~~~
We told him what happened.
"So, that's what all the 'rumble, rumble' was about," Crowley told us.
"Who translated it for you?" I asked. "Never mind. You gonna give us the blood or not?"
"Happily," Crowley answered. "But not quite yet. I'm all for chopping Dick, but I can't have you running around with a vial of my blood, now, can I? You know the sheer number of nefarious spells my enemies can use that blood for?"
"Well, then, when?" Dean asked.
"Last," Crowley answered. "After you've got all the other components. Most difficult, the angel part, I'm assuming. Given your role in their little Apocalypse, I can't imagine the choirboys upstairs are wetting their vestments to do you--what's the word?--a solid. Unless, of course, you have an angel up your sleeve."
"Well, that'd be convenient, but, uh, no," Dean told him.
"Don't worry about it," Sam told him. "We'll get the angel blood one way or another. We just need you to be ready next time we call."
"Fine," Crowley told us. "Oh, here's a tip. I have it on good authority there's one alpha still among us."
"Whose authority?" I asked.
"Mine," Crowley answered. "Willy character, that alpha vampire. Somehow made good his prison break before Cas went nuclear on the place."
"And you know this how?" I asked.
"Keep your friends close, your enemies, blah blah," Crowley told us. "Needless to say, I keep tabs. He moves around quite a bit. But I have an inkling I know where to start the Easter-egg hunt. Happy trails."
Crowley disappeared.
"Okay, where jackass?" Dean called.
Flames rose on the table. They died down, revealing that words had been carved into the table.
"Hoople, North Dakota," Sam told us.
I made an annoyed, frustrated gesture. "Piece of paper would have worked."
~~~~~~
In Hoople, Sam, Dean and I were standing outside a gas station, filling up my car, leaning against it as we waited for it to fill up.
"Hey," Sam told me, making a motion with his hand to indicate drinking from a flask. I took the flask out of my jacket pocket, putting it in the car, hanging up the gas pump, walking toward the store. Sam and Dean followed. "He seem angry?"
"Angry?" I repeated. "Of course he's angry. If you were my dad, wouldn't you be?"
"But was he showing signs of fatigue, like—like fritzing?" Sam asked.
"No, actually, it was just the opposite," I answered. "He said he never felt stronger. But that's what I'm afraid of." We walked inside. "The stronger he gets, the closer he comes to going full vengeful spirit."
"We need to talk about what we're going to do with him," Sam told us.
"Do with him?" I repeated.
"Yeah," Sam answered.
"Three weeks ago, you were—you were talking how this could work," I told him. "And now—now you want to go Kevorkian on his ass?"
"I'm just saying that the lore doesn't have a single real life example of Casper the Friendly Ghost," Sam told us. "It's basically poltergeists until a hunter comes along."
"Yeah, well, the lore sucks," I told them.
"I'm talking pure hatred, Ness," Sam told me. "No humanity. I mean, he could... kill... posses people. I mean, Bobby could burn this freaking building down. Look, if he goes off the rails—"
Dean looked across the store. "Hey."
"What?" I asked.
"Check out that guy over there," Dean told us. "He seem a little out of it to you?"
We looked at a man who was pumping mustard onto a hot dog.
"I—I don't know," I told them. "Maybe."
"What about Paula Deen over here?" Dean asked.
We looked at a woman who was staring at a refrigerator containing beer.
"Yeah, they—they look like, uh..." Sam trailed off. The man was still pumping mustard onto his hot dog. Another man was slurping a giant slushie through a straw. "Like those Turducken people. It's starting." Sam picked up a can and read the ingredients. "It's the corn syrup. Everything in the store is laced with it."
"Everything?" Dean asked. The first man continued to pump mustard onto his hot dog. "Hey, man, I'm gonna go into toxic shock, okay? I—I... I need my road food."
"That's what Roman was banking on," I told them.
"Hey," Dean told us. "Hey." He held up a pie in a plastic container. "This one says 'natural'. Th—th—that means it's safe. Right?"
I took the pie from Dean, putting the pie back on the shelf. "I hate to break it to you, but corn syrup is natural, technically."
"Well, then what the hell are we supposed to eat?" Dean asked.
Sam held up a basket containing bananas and bottled water.
~~~~~~
After dark, we were parked out of the house that we thought the alpha vampire was.
I was looking through binoculars from the driver's seat. "It's totally dark. I can't see inside."
Dean was in the passenger seat.
Sam and Dad were in the back seat.
"Well, should we wait for daylight?" Sam asked.
"Hell, no, we're not waiting," Dad answered. "I'll scout it. See if we need to bring in the big guns."
"I don't know," Sam told him. "Look, Bobby..."
We saw that Dad had disappeared.
I looked at the house through the binoculars again.
Dad reappeared. "Okay. Place is clear. But there's something you're gonna want to see."
~~~~~~
We walked inside, Sam, Dean and I carrying machetes.
Three bodies were laid out on a table.
"Careful," Dean told us, leaning over to look at one of the bodies.
The bodies were vampires, their mouths and necks badly burned.
~~~~~~
I looked at Sam, Dean and Dad. "You know a way to kill vamps with battery acid?"
"Only way I know is beheading," Dad told us.
"Well, something didn't agree with them," Sam told us. "Hey. Check out that wall. Something seem weird to you?"
We followed his gaze.
"Yeah," Dean answered. "See if you can find a switch or a lever or something."
"Don't need one," Dad told us, walking through the wall to the other side.
I moved books on the bookcase, picking up one titled 'How to Serve Man'. "Hey."
I held up the book for Sam and Dean to see, pressing a button that was behind the book on the case.
Concealed doors in front of Sam and Dean opened, revealing Dad and a teenage girl inside a pink room.
The girl stood.
Sam, Dean and I walked into the room.
I put the machete away.
The girl was wearing a floral pink nightgown, holding a teddy bear, backing into the mantelpiece behind her.
"Sam," I told him. "Dean. Machetes." Sam and Dean sheathe their machetes. I looked at the girl. "Hey. Look. We're not gonna hurt you. Okay." I showed her my teeth. "No fangs. See? We just want to talk."
~~~~~~
The girl, Emily, was sitting in a chair, holding a cup of tea, Dean's jacket around her shoulders. "I was 8. My mom left me at the playground while she ran to the store. A man approached me and said I was the prettiest girl there. And I've been living with these... things... ever since. At least until now."
"Do you have any idea why?" Sam asked.
"I'm one of his special girls," Emily told us. "All the others, it was their job to make sure I was ready for the alpha, whenever he came. Wash me... give me my IV bags every day. It's my only food. So my blood's pure."
"They've been doing this for, what, 12 years?" Dean asked.
"Virgins are a delicacy," Emily told us. "He always has at least one of us on hand."
"Well, don't worry, okay?" I asked. "We're gonna get you back to your mother."
"Think she remembers me?" Emily asked.
"Of course she does," I answered. "Don't you remember her?"
Emily shook her head.
I looked down.
Sam and Dean looked at me.
Dean looked at Emily. "Hey, these, uh... these guys..." He turned toward the dead vampires on the table. "They, uh, friends of yours?"
"They take care of the alpha when he's here," Emily told us. "Or did."
"What happened to them?" Sam asked.
"A week ago, they came back from what they said was an easy hunt," Emily told us. "Three humans just came, didn't put up any fight. But when they started on them, the vampires screamed in pain. The ones who ate died immediately."
"And the ones who didn't?" Sam asked.
"There was only one," Emily told us. "When he saw what happened, he moved to animals. He's out hunting as we speak."
"Never heard of vamps being allergic to humans before," Dean told us.
"You think maybe it's the corn syrup?" Sam asked. "I mean, think about it. The Gas n' Sip was lousy with stoners. All ripe for the picking."
"She did say it was an easy hunt," I told them. I looked at Emily. "Do you know where the alpha is now?"
"I don't know," Emily told us. "Maybe. He has a place he goes when something's wrong. He calls it his retreat."
Sam took out his phone. "All right."
"What is that?" Emily asked.
"That's, uh, that's Sam's douche tracker," Dean told her. "Helps us find the alpha. All we need's an address."
"I don't know," Emily told us. "But I remember things that maybe can help."
"That's okay," I told her. "Just do the best you can."
~~~~~~
At a supermarket the next day, Sam, Dean and I walked out of the store.
Sam was carrying a bag of fresh vegetables and fruit.
"I can't do this, guys," Dean told us. "I can't live on rabbit food. I'm—I'm a warrior."
"Dean, you'll be fine," I told him.
"You don't know that," Dean told me.
"So, what's next on the list?" Sam asked.
"Well, if we're burn-rushing the alpha, then we're gonna need dead man's blood, which means a morgue," Dean told us.
I looked toward a man who was sitting on a nearby bench, drinking from a large takeout cup through a straw, who was just as out of it as everyone else. "Or..."
"Or what?" Sam asked.
Sam and Dean followed my gaze.
"Guys, forget the morgue," I told them. "We are swimming in vamp poison."
We walked toward the man.
"Excuse me, sir," Sam told him. "Hi. We, uh, we're with the... Red Cross? See, we have an emergency shortage." He held up his FBI badge. "And we're gonna need you to..." The man looked vacantly at us. "You're not getting a word I'm saying, are you?"
"Hey," Dean told him, snapping his fingers in front of the man's face, sitting down next to him. "Hold out your arm. We need your blood."
"Dude!" I told him.
The man held out his arm.
"All right, Sam," Dean told him, taking a syringe out of his jacket pocket, handing it to Sam. "Tap the keg."
"Here?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, Sam," Dean answered. "Look, around. It's freaking Woodstock. Everybody's hopped up on the brown acid. We don't need the song and dance. Give him a little prick."
Sam took the syringe.
Dean put an arm along the bench behind the man.
Sam sat down on the bench on the other side of the bench.
I stood in front of of the man, sort of blocking the view.
The man noticed my movement, looking up at me, smiling.
Sam pushed the needle into the back of the man's hand.
"Ow," the man said. "That hurts." Sam drew blood. "This is for Hurricane Katrina, you said?"
I nodded. "Yes. Yes, we did."
"So, look, uh..." Sam trailed off. "When we get there..."
"Yeah?" Dean asked.
Sam looked at my car, where Emily was in the back seat. "Bobby's gonna have to hang back. Do you disagree?"
"He ain't gonna like it," I told them. "I mean, he helped us in getting Emily."
"Look, I'm Team Bobby, too," Sam told us. "Okay? But there's a reason we left him in the car with Emily. You know that. The more action he sees, the more chance he gets to spin out."
"All right, fine," Dean told us. "So, we'll keep him off the front lines, and he can just, you know, keep calm and carry on, right?"
A police car drove slowly behind us with War's "Why Can't We Be Friends?" blaring from the radio.
"Well, and if he can't?" Sam asked.
The police car siren blared.
Sam hurriedly put the syringe away.
The police car drove away, leaving.
The man continued to slurp on his drink.
~~~~~~
I was driving after dark. Sam was passenger seat.
Dean was in the back with Emily. "When the hauled you off to vamp camp, do you remember how long the drive was?"
"We left at night," Emily told us. "Got in before dawn."
"So, six, seven hours?" Sam asked.
"I think so, yes," Emily answered.
"Do you remember any highways?" I asked.
Emily shook her head. "No. We only took back roads."
"Okay," Sam told her. "So, figure they averaged 45 miles per—"
"Couldn't have been more than 300 miles," Dean told us.
"Right," Sam agreed.
I looked at Emily. "What direction were you going?"
"I don't know," Emily told us. "I'm sorry."
"Oh, that's okay," I told her. "Em, you're doing great. Um... is there anything else you remember?"
"Bells," Emily answered. "As we pulled up, I heard these loud bells."
"It was still dark out?" Sam asked.
Emily nodded.
"You thinking church?" Dean asked.
"No, that's too early," Sam told us. "It could have been a monastery. Monks get up at 4:00 AM to pray."
Dean groaned. "Can't get laid. Can't sleep in. A freaking tragedy."
Sam looked something up on his phone.
"Okay, so, alpha's camping next to a, uh, monkey house," I told them. I looked at Sam. "How many we got in range?"
"Looks like one," Sam answered. "Just outside, uh..."
We drove past a sign that said: "Welcome to Missoula, Mt."
~~~~~~
I parked the car outside the monastery gates.
"This is where he took me," Emily told us.
Someone appeared to be patrolling the monastery grounds, another person on the roof.
"Are you sure?" I asked.
Emily nodded. "What now?"
"We'll get you someplace safe," Dean answered. "Circle back and Ginsu these leeches."
~~~~~~
The next day, we were in a motel room.
Emily was sitting on the bed, watching TV.
Dean was packing a duffel bag, walking toward Sam and me, holding out a syringe for either of us. "All right, here we go. 20 ccs of vamptonite." Sam gave him a look. "It's a thing."
"What's a Kardashian?" Emily asked.
"Oh, that's, uh, just another bloodsucker," Dean told her. Emily looked worried. "No, it's—it's... a joke."
Dean walked toward the safe in the closet.
I walked toward Emily. "Here. If we're not back by dawn, call this number. Jody Mills. She's a friend." I handed her a piece of paper with Jody's number. "She'll take care of you. Here. Use this phone." I put the flask in the safe, speaking softly to Dad. "You gotta hang here. For your own good. Caphiche?"
Emily looked up at me. "Ness? Thank you."
"You bet," I told her, walking toward Sam, Dean and the door, opening it.
The door closed on its own.
Sam, Dean and I looked at Emily.
"It was the wind," Dean told her.
I spoke quietly. "Chill out, Dad. We'll be back soon."
I opened the door, leading the way into the hallway, closing the door behind us.
Sam, Dean and I walked down the motel hallway.
"Well, he didn't take that very well," Sam told us.
"How'd you think he was gonna take it?" I asked.
Sam ran into a cart being pushed by a maid.
"Excuse me," the maid told him.
"Sorry," Sam told her.
Sam, Dean and I walked out of the motel, leaving.
~~~~~~
I parked my car outside of the monastery. Dean was in the passenger seat. Sam was in the back.
"Well, this time of day, most of them would be catching z's," Dean told us. "They won't know what hit them." Sam and I didn't answer. "Hey. You with me?"
"Yeah," Sam answered.
"But?" Dean asked.
"Are you sure you just want to charge in there, machetes blazing?" Sam asked. "Last time, it took a dozen hunters to take down the alpha. And most of them didn't make it out."
"Yeah, well, you got a better idea?" Dean asked.
I looked at Sam and Dean.
~~~~~~
I told them the new plan, walking toward the monastery.
Sam and Dean followed.
Dean looked at me. "Stupid, stupid, stupid."
I held up a finger.
We walked up the stone steps.
I pushed on the front door, which was unlocked. "Guys."
"Maybe we're too late," Dean told us. As I stepped inside, someone grabbed me from just inside the door. "Ness!"
Sam and Dean ran in.
Two other vampires that were waiting for them grabbed them, restraining them in the same way.
~~~~~~
The vampires brought us into a large room with a large dining table.
The alpha was sitting at the other head of the table. "The Winchesters. I'm intrigued."
Emily walked into the room.
"Emily," I told her.
Emily walked over to lean on the alpha's chair. "Hi, Ness."
"Wow," I told her. "For a girl raised in a basement, you're a hell of an actress."
"You were gonna hurt my daddy," Emily told us.
"Hmm," the alpha hummed.
"Wow," Dean told her. "You get a trophy in Stockholm Syndrome. And sorry to burst your bubble, but, uh... we weren't. Ness here had a better idea."
"We're here to talk," I told them. "That's it."
The alpha chuckled. "Now that my guys have taken your blades and your syringes of tainted blood. Is that what you mean?"
"Well, we, uh... figured you might hold a grudge," Sam told him.
"And why would I?" the alpha asked. "Because you captured me, tortured me, sold me to the King of Hell?"
"That was more our grandpa," Dean told him. The vampire restraining Dean grabbed him by his head, slamming it against the table. Dean fell to his knees, groaning in pain, standing. "Thank you. That was awesome."
"I'm going to peel off your faces and drink you slowly," the Alpha told us.
"Just listen," I told them. "You need us."
"Oh, yes," the alpha told us. "I am thirsty!"
"The plague!" I told him. "We know what it is. What do you know about leviathan?"
"A bit," the alpha answered.
"You know they're poisoning the food supply?" I asked.
"Roman didn't mention that when we met for dinner last fall," the alpha told us. "We made lots of plans. We are on excellent terms, he and I."
"You sure about that?" Dean asked. 'Did he mention that he was going to... Maui wowie the human population?"
"Oh, of course," the alpha answered. "He said grabbing a snack would be easier than ever."
"He said you'd all live together, didn't he?" I asked. "You really believe him? You think your children are dying by accident? There is pesticide in the formula."
"It suits you to think so," the alpha told us. "You need me on your side."
"Look, we're not the ones burning from the inside out," Sam told him. "Think about it. Whatever deal he made with you was crap. Trust us!"
"Why are you telling me this?" the alpha asked.
"Because we can stop Dick," Sam answered. "Stop all of it. We just... We need your blood. For the weapon."
The alpha laughed. "So, now you want to prevent the extermination of the vampire race."
"No," Dean answered. "But it beats going down with you."
There was the sound of a door opening.
"Allan, darling..." the alpha trailed off. A young boy walked toward him. "Come."
Allan stood on the other side of his chair next to Emily.
"Well, the creep gets creepier," Dean told us.
"What's wrong?" the alpha asked.
"Edgar's here," Allan answered.
Sam, Dean and I exchanged a nervous look.
The alpha touched Allan's jacket in dismissal.
Allan walked away, leaving.
"Wow, what a funny coincidence," Dean told them. "All right, we need soap, uh, cleanser, anything with borax in it. We need knives."
"Put them in the study," the alpha told them.
"What?" I asked. "No. No, wait."
"Word of advice," the alpha told us. "You do not live through centuries of fire and ice and continental divide... by jumping to conclusions."
The vampires pushed Sam, Dean and me toward the door even as we struggled.
"Okay," Dean told them. "Whoa, whoa, whoa."
Sam looked at the alpha. "You're making a mistake! Listen! Wait!"
The alpha looked at Emily. "Never hurts to get the story first."
~~~~~~
The vampires pushed us into the study.
"Hey," I told them. "Hey!"
A vampire closed the door, locking it.
Sam, Dean and I looked around the study.
Bags of blood were in a refrigerated cabinet.
Empty bags hung from medical stands.
~~~~~~
Dean tried to open the locked door. "Anything?"
"Nothing," Sam answered, looking at the windows. "You think Edgar's here for the same reason we are? I mean, look, if they figured out that we're here to get alpha blood for a weapon... I mean..."
"I think any way you slice it, you got Pac Man and True Blood in the same room, and that's bad news," I told them. "I mean, he's not stupid. Why the hell do you think he locked us in here?"
"Ness, we're his enemy," Sam told me. "I mean, they're like monster cousins or something. Who would you give the benefit of the doubt to? Man, you know what? Maybe the Sucro is poisoning the vamps on accident. Maybe they'll fix it."
"I think you got the oldest monster on Earth thinking that he can hold his own because he always has," I told them.
Sam sighed in realization. "Edgar's gonna eat him alive."
"Yeah," Dean agreed. "Hey." He held up a needle that was attached to one of the empty blood bags, holding it toward me. "You think you could pick a lock with this?"
I took the needle.
"But, Dean..." Sam trailed off. "We gave up all our vamptonite."
"Did we?" I asked.
Sam and Dean looked at me in confusion.
I smirked, taking a syringe out of my shoe.
~~~~~~
Sam, Dean and I walked down the stairs.
At the bottom, a vampire grabbed Sam from behind.
I plunged the syringe into the vampire's neck.
The vampire screamed, his flesh starting to burn, falling to the floor, dying instantly.
"Wow," I told them.
"Vamptonite," Sam told us.
"Freaking vamptonite," I told them. "All right, we need knives. There's got to be a prep room or a kitchen somewhere. Come on."
~~~~~~
We walked into the dining room to see Edgar transformed, trying to eat the alpha alive.
Emily screamed.
Dean ran toward Edgar from behind with a machete. Edgar turned to face him, catching his arm, twisting, making him drop the machete to the floor, gripping his throat. Sam ran up behind Edgar, using a machete to cut off his head, all of us watching the body fall.
Dean turned to the alpha. "Grab a glass. We're juicing this freak."
"No!" Emily told him.
"Stay back!" Dean told her.
The Alpha grabbed Dean, throwing him over the table, making him fall to the floor. "Leave her alone. She's been through quite enough."
"Now, that's rich," I told him "Coming from the guy who took her off the swing set."
"Do you want to do this fight?" the alpha asked. "Or do you want my blood?" He sat down at the head of the table, slicing his wrist with one of his long fingernails, letting the blood drip into a glass, standing, offering the glass to me. "For taking care of Edgar. Now go."
I looked at the glass, looking at the alpha. "What about the little boy?"
"Are you joking?" the alpha asked.
"Do I look like I'm joking?" I asked. "How many other kids you got in here, you freak?"
"At the moment, just him," the alpha answered. I raised my eyebrows, not giving up. The alpha sighed, giving in. "Emily... help Allan with his coat. He's leaving with Sam, Dean and Ness." Emily walked out of the room, leaving. The alpha looked at me. "Now, take it." I took the glass of blood. Sam, Dean and I walked toward the door. "What? No 'thank you'? Oh, right, right. Your flesh is crawling. All you really want to do is kill me now. You hate having to wait and come back and try again."
"Pretty much," Dean answered. "I wouldn't leave that head too close to that body for too long."
"See you next season," the alpha told us.
Dean nodded. "Looking forward to it."
~~~~~~
Sam, Dean and I got back to the motel, walking down the hallway.
"Let's never do that again," Dean told us. "Cops thought we took that kid."
"Long as he gets back to his folks, I don't care what they thought," I told them.
"We had to jump out a freaking window, Ness," Dean told me. We saw that the door to our room was ajar, drawing our guns. Dean opened the door, turning on the light. The mirror was cracked. The room was slightly disheveled. "Bobby. Bobby?"
"Dean?" Sam asked. "Ness?" He showed us the open door of the safe. "He's gone."
~~~~~~
Sam had the EMF. "I'm getting trace bits of EMF, but it's fading fast. And Bobby's probably been gone three or four hours." He looked at me. "He's got the flask, Ness. How the hell are we supposed to track him? Look, I hate to say this..."
"Well, then don't," I told him. "He's gone." I ran a hand through my hair, shaking my head. "How could he do this... now? I mean, we've got half the freaking weapon. We're almost there."
"It's not him," Dean told us. "I mean, he's not thinking."
"So, what, we just keep going while he's out there like this?" I asked.
"Do we have any other option?" Dean asked. "I mean, it's what he'd want us to do. Right?"
"Yeah," I answered. "Yeah, him and Frank and Cas, if his marbles were in the bag." I sighed, nodding sarcastically. "It's a good thing we got Crowley in our corner. Right? Seeing as how it all comes down to him. What could possibly go wrong?"