Ep. 7 - In Baltimore, Scarlett, Sam and Dean investigate the murder of a lawyer, Tony Giles, who was killed in his office, although the security cameras show no one either entering or leaving the room.
They interview his wife Karen, who reports that he had a nightmare or vision of a woman the night before he died. Breaking into his office, the Winchester siblings find a printout with "danashulps" printed repeatedly on it, which they assume to be a name - Dana Shulps. Scarlett stays with Sam as he hack into the computer while Dean decides to return and ask Karen whether the name means anything.
At her home, Karen sees a ghostly figure and rushes to call 911. When Dean arrives, he finds her dead in a pool of blood with a pile of paper near her which also has "danashulps" printed on it. As he bends over to examine bruises on her wrists, the police burst and arrest him.
Sam and Scarlett were arrested at their motel room, and back at the police station the siblings are interrogated separately. A lengthy police record has been uncovered for Dean, including suspicion of involvement in the murders in St. Louis, where he was reported as dead.
Detective Diana Ballard interviews Sam and Scarlett in separately, and both of them spins her the same tale about Tony being an old friend of their father. Detective Ballard reveals she knows a lot about the siblings' history as well, and tries to get them to admit Dean's involvement in the murders.
Detective Ballard leaves to confer with her colleague Detective Pete Sheridan, with whom she is having a relationship. Sheridan is convinced of Dean's guilt; he appears particularly invested in the case because Tony Giles was a friend of his.
Dean's lawyer, Jeff Krause, arrives, but rather than speak to him Dean borrows a pen and tries to work out if "danashulps" is an anagram. His lawyer helps by pointing out that one word it forms, "Ashland", is a nearby street. Dean gets Jeff to take a coded note to his brother and sister, passing on the information and telling them to escape.
Dean announces that he wants to confess, thus diverting all the police attention onto him. He doesn't confess to the murders, but says that he thinks a ghost is responsible and that the word "danashulps" is a message from her. Predictably, the police believe he is wasting their time, which he has been in order to allow Sam and Scarlett time to escape. Dean is cuffed and put in a cell.
Meanwhile, the word "danashulps" appears on Ballard's computer screen and she sees the ghostly figure of a woman with her throat slit. When she returns to speak to Dean, he see that bruises have appeared on her wrists similar to those he saw on Karen. He suspects she has seen something supernatural and tells her to go to his siblings for help.
Together, she, Scarlett and Sam identify the woman she saw as Claire Becker, a heroin dealer who had worked as a police informant. She disappeared eight or nine months ago, but was last seen at 2911 Ashland Street. Scarlett and Sam explains to Diana that they need to find her body and salt and burn it in order to stop the killings.
While Scarlett, Sam and Diana are searching a building on Ashland, Claire appears again and points them to where they find her body hidden in a wall. Sam is bemused as to why the ghost would lead them to her body. Diana sees that Claire is wearing a distinctive necklace which is identical to one Pete has given her. Scarlett deduces that Claire is not a vengeful spirit, but a death omen who is trying to warn people who are about to be murdered.
Diana tells Scarlett and Sam that a couple of years ago some heroin went missing from the police lockup. She suspects that Pete stole it and used Claire to fence it. They suspect Pete is the murderer.
Pete has taken Dean from the police station and driven out to the woods, intending to kill him. Scarlett, Sam and Diana track the car via its lo-jack and arrive just as Pete has a gun to Dean's head. He admits that he killed Claire because she was going to turn him in, and then killed Tony who had been involved in laundering the money and was getting nervous, and Karen because he suspected she knew too much.
Pete tries to convince Diana that he can pin the crimes on Dean, but as he is about to shoot Dean, Diana shoots and wounds him. Pete disarms her, but the ghost of Claire appears and distracts him long enough for Diana to draw her backup gun and kill him. Diana agrees to let the siblings go, telling them she will feel safer knowing they are out there fighting the supernatural.
Ep. 8 - In Rosedale, Mississippi, in 1930, Robert Johnson makes a deal with a demon at the crossroads, asking to be the greatest blues guitarist that ever lived. The deal is sealed with a kiss.
In Greenwood, Mississippi, in August 1938, Robert Johnson is playing blues guitar at Lloyd's Bar. There is a sound outside and he leaves, running as he hears dogs chasing him until he takes refuge in a house. Soon after he is found dying, mumbling about the black dogs that are after him.
In the present day, Scarlett, Sam and Dean are researching the case of an architect, Sean Boyden, who jumped to his death from a building he designed. He had previously reported seeing a dog in the building. Thinking this may be a supernatural black dog, the siblings decide to investigate and under the guise of writers from Architectural Digest, interview Sean's partner. They discover he had been working as a bartender at a bar called Lloyd's ten years ago, when suddenly he'd shown great talent and became an overnight success.
The Winchester siblings start tracking all the complaints about black dogs in the area recently. At the house of Dr. Silvia Pearlman, who has risen to be Chief of Surgery at a young age, her maid confirms the report, and adds that the doctor left unexpectedly a couple of days before. Dean finds a photo of the doctor at Lloyd's. In a hotel room, Dr. Pearlman screams as she is attacked by an invisible dog.
Scarlett, Sam and Dean go to Lloyd's Bar, which is situated near a crossroads. The intersection is surrounded by yarrow, a plant used in summoning rituals, and at its center they dig up a tin containing a vial of graveyard dirt, black cat bones, and the photo of George Darrow. They realize that the black dogs are actually hellhounds which are collecting souls due in payment for deals with a demon.
The Winchester siblings visit George Darrow, a painter, who admits to having summoned a demon ten years ago and made a deal for artistic talent. After the deal, however, the demon stayed at Lloyd's Bar for a week and made deals with Sean Boyden, Silvia Growman, and a man named Evan Hudson. George is resigned to dying and the siblings leave him to his fate.
At Evan Hudson's house, he admits to Scarlett, Sam and Dean that he made a deal with the demon to save his wife from dying of cancer.
Scarlett suggests she go and summon the crossroads demon and try and exorcise it, while Dean and Sam protects Evan. Dean and Sam don't like the idea but as they hear the howling of the hellhounds, they agrees to go along with the plan.
Scarlett summons the crossroads demon and tries to lure her into the Impala, which is parked over a devil's trap. When she realizes the trap she begins to taunt Scarlett about how much she has suffered since John's death. She offers to bring John back, in exchange for Scarlett's soul to be claimed in ten years' time. Just as it appears Scarlett may make the deal, the crossroads demon realizes she is under a devil's trap painted on the water tower she is standing beneath. Meanwhile Dean, Sam and Evan stand inside a protective circle as the hellhounds approach.
The demon refuses Scarlett's offer of her freedom in exchange for Evan Hudson's life, so she begins to exorcise the demon while Dean, Sam and Evan desperately try to avoid the hellhound. Finally, the demon relents and with a kiss to Scarlett (yes two girls kissed, don't say anything bad please), breaks Evan's deal and calls off her hellhound and Scarlett breaks the Devil's Trap. The demon taunts her about John's fate, but before she can do anything to it, it flees its meat suit, leaving behind a confused young woman.
Back in the Impala, Scarlett, Sam and Dean talk about the deal their father made. Scarlett feels undeserving and while Dean and Sam tries to convince her otherwise, Sam asks whether Scarlett considered accepting the crossroad demon's deal. Scarlett doesn't answer and looks out the window of her back seat.
Ep. 9 - Sam has a vision of Dean killing a man tied to a chair, leading them to River Grove, Oregon, where Sam recalls the story of the Roanoke Colony when he stumbles across the word "CROATOAN" carved into a street-side telephone pole.
Scarlett, Sam and Dean seek out the man in Sam's vision and discover increasingly violent people who appear to be controlled by some kind of "demonic virus". They discover that all lines of communication - radio, phone, cell signal - have been cut off from the town, and when he attempts to leave via road, Dean discovers a roadblock made up of "infected" locals who fire upon him.
Dean, Sam and Scarlett hole up in the local medical center along with the local doctor, a nurse, and 'Sarge' (an ex-marine). The doctor studies the blood of an infected person and notes that there appears to be traces of sulfur in the blood, leading Sam to further suspect demonic intervention. The demon virus is transmitted via exchanging blood, but the sulfur does not manifest until four hours after infection. Sam speculates that it could be related to a theory in John's Journal, that Croatoan is the name of a demon associated with plague and pestilence, and calls what's going on "demonic germ warfare".
Duane Tanner, the man Sam saw in his vision and whose family Sam, Scarlett and Dean first encountered exhibiting signs of infection, turns up at the medical center claiming to have been out of the town fishing and just returned. The medical center occupants suspect he might be infected, and they restrain him by tying him to a chair.
Recognizing the scene from his vision, Sam tries to convince Dean not to kill Duane, as they don't know yet whether he's infected with the Demon virus. Dean locks Sam in a room to stop him from preventing the killing, but Dean is unable to follow through anyway.
Scarlett, Sam and Dean use medical supplies to make explosives, building an arsenal to help them escape the town, as the infected townspeople are milling about outside. The nurse of the medical center attacks Sam, deliberately cutting her hand and his chest to exchange blood and ostensibly infecting him with the demon virus. Scarlett kills the nurse. Believing Sam to be infected, the remaining people in the medical center decide to leave in the Impala. Dean and Scarlett elects to stay with Sam, and Dean seems to be on the cusp of sharing some innermost thought with his brother and sister when the doctor returns with the news that the rest of the townsfolk have disappeared.
Five hours later, the doctor announces that there is no trace of the demon virus in Sam's blood, therefore he wasn't infected. This leaves the siblings uneasy. The team in the medical center go their separate ways, Duane riding in Sarge's truck.
Duane asks Sarge to pull over because he "has to make a call", and draws out a goblet and knife. Slitting Sarge's throat, Duane catches the blood in the goblet. When he swirls, it starts whirlpooling, and Duane speaks into it as if he's communicating with someone (though we only hear one side of it), saying, "I don't think any more tests will be necessary . . . The Winchester boy, definitely immune as expected." Duane's eyes then turn black, indicating that he's probably possessed.
Scarlett, Sam and Dean end up on the shore of a river, drinking beer and talking.
Ep. 10 - Dean reveals to Sam and Scarlett the "big secret" John told him in the hospital - that Dean must be ready to kill Sam if Sam becomes evil and not tell Scarlett becouse she will try to stop him. Sam is enraged and tries to convince Dean that they have to track down the rest of the Special Children to find out more about what's going on. Dean is reluctant, however, and is more inclined to go to ground instead. He begs Sam to lay low with him and Scarlett for a while, but later on Sam sneaks out of their motel room, steals a car, and leaves alone.
At the Roadhouse, Sam gets Ash to track down a list of children whose mothers died in nursery fires in 1983. Ash comes up with a short list: Sam, Max Miller, Andy Gallagher, and Scott Carey. Scott's murder by an unknown assailant formed the opening sequence of the episode. Sam decides to investigate. While talking with Ellen, Sam also finds out that Jo has run away and is hunting on her own.
While staying in the town where Scott was murdered, Sam meets Ava Wilson, who has tracked him down after having a vision of Sam's death. Ava reveals she also had a premonition of Scott's death. While they are talking in the motel room, Gordon fires upon them from a nearby rooftop.
Dean and Scarlett has tracked Sam down with Ellen's help, Dean get to Sam while Scarlett attacks Gordon in order to stop him but Gordon wins the fight, knocking her unconscious and abducting her. Holding Scarlett hostage, Gordon uses her as bait to lure her brothers into an abandoned house he has booby-trapped with grenades. This is the setting and situation of Ava's vision. Gordon reveals to Scarlett that a demon during an exorcism spoke of a coming war and named Sam as a soldier in the demon army, and that this is his motivation - he believes Sam is evil (or will undoubtedly become so), and thus needs to be killed. He also cites an "inside source" at the Roadhouse leading him to Sam's location.
Ava tries to convince Sam to take her with him to the abandoned house but Sam convinces her to go home instead. Sam Dean manages to avoid the traps and fights with Gordon, knocking him unconscious and escaping with Scarlett. As they are leaving the house, Gordon chases them, but is stopped when several police cars pull up (a situation of Sam's engineering). The police discover his weapons stash and arrest him.
Unable to reach Ava on the phone, Sam, Scarlett and Dean proceed to Ava's house where they discover her fiance with his throat cut, Ava's engagement ring in a pool of blood on the floor, and traces of sulfur on the window sill. Ava is nowhere to be found.