Dean laid out 6 scratch cards on the hood of the Impala as he calculated their winnings giddily, "Oh, man!"
Angel turned to him with a glare and she spoke to Bobby on the phone, "Shush." She sighed heavily, "Bobby, we didn't know it was cursed."
"You let your brother touch it? Damn it, Angel!"
"I didn't let him do anything. It was a gut reaction to almost being murdered by a bunch of luck drunk idiots, and Dad never told us about this thing, alright? I mean, he and I have gone on dozens of hunts together, just us, and he never mentioned having a storage place in Black Rock. Did you know about it?"
"His lockup? Yeah, I knew. Hell I built those curse boxes for him. Listen, you three have got a serious problem. Especially Sam."
Beside her, as Angel listened to Bobby, Sam noticed something shining under a newspaper on the ground. It was a gold watch. Angel glared at him to leave it be as Bobby continued.
"That rabbit's foot ain't no dime store notion. It's real Hoodoo, Old World stuff. Made by a Baton Rouge conjure woman about a hundred years ago."
Angel shook her head at the gold watch on the ground, "So far it's been one hell of a luck charm for Sam."
"It's not a luck charm, it's a curse! She made it to kill people, Angel! See, you touch it, you own it. You own it, sure, you get a run of good luck to beat the Devil. But, you lose it, that luck turns. It turns so bad that you're dead inside a week."
"Alright so we just make sure Sam keeps the damn thing. Simple. He won't lose it."
"Everybody loses it!"
"Okay, alright." Angel sighed heavily again, stressed, "How the hell do we break the curse, Bobby?"
He sighed just as heavily, "I don't know if you can."
Angel flinched turning away from her brothers, "Bobby we have to. We have to figure out a way. This is my brother. He's not dying like this. Not after-" Her breath caught and she cleared her throat of emotion, "Just... are you sure there's no way?"
Bobby quieted for a moment before his voice sounded again, "Lemme look through my library and make some calls. You three just sit tight."
Bobby ended the call and Angel turned back to her brothers.
Dean grinned, "Ang, we're up fifteen grand!"
"Great..." She gave him a half smile looking worried, "Uh, let's just go eat. I'll explain everything Bobby said."
After she explained they entered the restaurant as Dean patted Sam on the shoulder, "Don't worry, Bobby'll find a way to break it. Until then I say we hit Vegas, pull a little Rain Man." He smirked, "You can be Rain Man."
"No." Angel dismissed, "We're laying low until Bobby comes up with something so that means no Vegas and no more scratchers. No more using the cursed rabbit's foot, understood?"
"Alright, jeeze." Dean put his hands up, "I'm on bored, Moody Judy, i'm on bored."
"Okay..." She glared, "What the hell have i told you about using that stupid nickname?"
Sam smiled embarrassed at the restaurant owner at their bickering before laughing, "Hi, uh, table for three please."
The owner grinned excitedly at them, "Congratulations!"
As an alarm went off Dean gave him a weird look, "It's exciting, I know."
"You are the one millionth guest of the Biggerson's Restaurant family!"
The staff started singing as they took photographs. Balloons and streamers fell from the ceiling as the man handed over a huge check and took their picture. Angel looked annoyed and exasperated, Sam looked embarrassed, while Dean looked ecstatic.
Inside Kubrick's RV...
"Right, you hear anything, give me a call." Kubrick sighed as he turned back to Creedy, "Well that clears my book. The word's out. Now we wait."
"Now we eat."
"Good idea. What do you like? I got canned everything."
"No, no, man, I'm not eating in the RV. Look, I know a good place. Wide menu, good service, homey atmosphere. Garlic knots!" He motioned to his computer, "The menus on their website."
Kubrick didn't look convinced as he stared at the Jesus fish on the window of the RV.
Back with the Winchesters...
Once they had a table Sam had his laptop out as Dean ate the free bowl of ice cream Biggersons supplied them.
"Bobby's right." Sam pointed, "This lore goes way back. Pure Hoodoo. You can't just cut one off any rabbit. Has to be in a cemetery, under a full moon, on a Friday the thirteenth."
"Of course." Angel grumbled, "Because what doesn't have to be done at a cemetary on Friday the thirteenth?"
Dean smirked between bited of his sundae, "I think from now on, we only go to places with Biggerson's."
Right as resumed stuffing his face he was struck with brain freeze from the ice cream.
Angel smirked at that and Sam laughed as a beautiful waitress approached their table with more coffee.
Her eyes met Sam's flirtatiously, "Can I freshen you up?"
"Yeah, yeah sure." He smiled shyly, "Thanks."
She poured Sam some more coffee but because she was looking into his eyes and smiling she spilled some, "Oh!"
Sam looked down at the mess, "Oh! Oh I uh-"
She smiled with a slight grimace, "Let me mop up here."
"No, no don't worry it's okay." Sam grinned back, "It's okay- I got it, uh..."
"It's no trouble." She smiled again, meeting his eye as she wiped up the mess, getting very close to him, "Really."
"Okay.."
"Sorry about that."
"It's alright."
As the waitress flirted heavily with him, Sam looked up and gave his siblings a wide eyed look. Dean was staring at her in shock as Angel watched from beside him, thoroughly entertained. She finished cleaning up the mess and walked away, looking over her shoulder to give Sam one last smile as she left. The three of them all leaned in to watch her retreat.
"Dude." Dean turned to Sam with a knowing smirk, "If you were ever gonna get lucky..."
Angel nodded, "It should definitely be with her."
Sam smirked, "Shut up."
He went to pick up his coffee, but knocked the cup over and managed to spill it all over the table and himself.
He jumped out of his seat, "Oh! Oh Geez, uh..."
Turning he crashed into a waiter with a full tray, sending things crashing to the floor and causing a scene. Dean and Angel watched the scene unfold in shock.
Sam turned to the waiter in embarrassment, "Sorry!"
He looked back to his siblings who were equally confused.
Dean frowned, "How was that good?"
Immediately, Sam searched his jacket pockets for the foot but came up empty. It was gone. Angel took a breath and jumped out of her seat as realization came to Dean.
"Son of a bitch."
"No." Angel glared, "More like that bitch. Come on."
The three of them quickly rushed out of the restaurant but as soon as they got outside Sam fell flat on his face. Angel continued to pursue the woman as Dean slowed and turned around.
"Wow!" Dean scoffed, "You suck!"
He reached down and picked Sam up off the ground as he groaned, "Ow."
"So, what?" Dean frowned at Sam, "Now your luck turns bad?"
Sam looked down at his bloody and raw knees where his jeans were torn, "I guess."
"According to Bobby's information, yes." Angel answered as she came back over to them, "The real question is: how bad?" She turned to the Impala, "Lets go."
"Where?"
"Let's pay the first idiots a visit. See who that chick was."
Back with Kubrick and Creedy...
Creedy passed his laptop to Kubrick who looked over the screen, "Looks good. I like that when they drop the whole onion in the fryer.
Creedy took the laptop back with a smile, "Nearest location..." He trailed off with surprise before passing the laptop back to Kubrick, "You seeing that?!"
On the screen was a photograph of Angel, Sam and Dean from their winning visit to the local Biggerson's.
Kubrick grinned, "Yes I am."
He looked from the screen to the sky as though he's been given a sign.
At Wayne and Grossman's apartment...
Grossman was holding a photograph of himself and Wayne in one hand and in the other a bottle of Tequila, He sadly toasted the memory of Wayne as he tried not to cry.
"Adiós, compadre." He poured a lug of Tequila on the floor before taking a large swig as the door to the apartment opened and the Winchesters walked in, making him groan, "Oh, man. What do you want?"
"Heard about your friend." Dean nodded, "That's bad luck."
"Piss off."
"We know someone hired you to steal the rabbit's foot." Angel crossed her arms, "A woman."
"Oh yeah? How do you know that?"
"Because she just stole it back from us."
Grossman laughed, making Sam tense, "Listen man, this is seri-"
As he stepped forward, he tripped on a wire on the floor mid-sentence, pulling a CD player off a shelf and sending it and Sam crashing to the ground. He also took out a lamp as he went.
Dean just rolled his eyes but didn't look as Angel turned and shook her head, "You good?"
"Yeah!" Sam answered from behind the couch as he pulled himself up while Grossman smirked, "I'm good!"
"Look, all we need is her name." Angel pierced Grossman with a glare, "That's it, and we'll leave you be."
Grossman scoffed, "Screw you."
Dean earned his attention, "It wasn't a freak accident that killed your partner."
"What?"
"It was the rabbit's foot."
Grossman scoffed again, incredulously, "You're crazy, man."
"You know I'm not. You saw what happened, what it did. All the flukes, all the luck. When you lose the foot that luck goes sour. That's what killed your friend, and our brother here is next. Who knows how many more innocent people after that. Now if you don't help us stop this thing, that puts those deaths on your head." Grossman looked him over worriedly, "Now I can read people... and I get it. You're a thief, and a scumbag, that's fine, but you're not a killer. Are you?"
Grossman glared but his voice came out in a whisper, "No..." He took a breath, "She only gave us Lugosi to go by."
"Thanks."
Turning Dean motioned for them to go and as they exited the apartment, Angel's phone started ringing. As she answered it she and Dean both stepped over a large wad of pink bubblegum on the ground.
"Yeah?"
Sam followed them but once he put his foot down he heard an audible squishing sound. He made a deeply frustrated look as he lifted his shoe off of the bubblegum.
"Angel, great news. Wasn't easy but I found a heavyweight cleansing ritual that should do the trick."
Angel grimaced as she motioned Dean over to her, "Bobby, hey, you're on speaker with me and Dean." She cleared her throat, "And, uh, that's great but uh Sam kind of... well, he lost the foot Bobby."
She frowned as she looked over to her brother who grimaced when he lifted his shoe off the gum. She shook her head at him as Bobby angered.
"He what?!"
"Bobby..." Dean interjected quickly, "Bobby, listen. This, uh, this hot chick stole it from him. I'm serious. In her mid 20's, and she was sharp you know, good enough at the con to play all three of us."
"Yeah." Angel scoffed, "We should have known something was up. No one flirts that blatantly with Sam."
"Hey!"
"You shush." She glared, "And stop moving around before you break something."
Sam glared back but listened as he was trying to scrape the bubblegum off his shoe using a broken storm drain grating.
"And she only gave the guy she hired one name, probably an alias or something." Dean continued as he looked over to Angel, "Uh, Luigi or something?"
"It was Lugosi."
"Right."
"Lugosi?" Bobby repeated, "Lugos- Aw crap, it's probably Bela."
"Bela?" Angel asked, "You know this broad?"
Meanwhile, from behind them, Sam moved his foot too hard and dislodged his shoe. It dropped into the drain with a splash. Frowning, he bent down to try and retrieve it.
"Bela Lugosi?" Dean smirked, "That's cute."
"Not the time, Dean."
"Right. Sorry."
"Bela Talbot is her real name." Bobby continued, ignoring him, "Crossed paths with her once or twice."
"Alright, well..." Angel sighed, "Since she seems to know all about the rabbit's foot is she a hunter?"
"Pretty friggin' far from a Hunter, but she knows her way around the territory. She's been out of the country. Last I heard she was in the Middle East someplace."
Angel rolled her eyes, "Obviously she's back and ready to rumble, Bobby."
"Which means seriously bad luck for you three."
Dean grumbled, "Great."
"But, if it is Bela... At least I might know some folks who know where to find her."
"Alright... Just uh... keep us posted." Angel instructed, "Thanks Bobby."
"Just... look out for your brother, ya idjits."
When he hung up, Dean and Angel both turned to look back at Sam who looked thoroughly dejected.
Dean frowned, "What?"
Sam's voice sounded plaintively when he answered, "I lost my shoe."
The two of them looked down at Sam's sock-clad foot before Angel groaned in annoyance and turned to walk away.
"Grab him before something else happens, Dean. Jesus."
Sam shuffled forward and hung his head as Dean motioned for him.
Back at Biggerson's restaurant parking lot...
Kubrick leaned against his RV, which is festooned with bumper stickers that said: 'HOW WOULD JESUS DRIVE?', 'DON'T MAKE ME COME DOWN THERE. - GOD' and 'BETHLEHEM OR BUST'.
Creedy approached from the restaurant, "No one saw which way they went. And, their meal was free so there's no credit card trail."
"Don't worry." Kubrick smiled, "We'll find 'em."
"What makes you so sure?"
"'Cause there's a higher power at work here. I know it now."