Sam, Bobby, my mom and I were at the morgue, getting a look at some of the bodies the cops had found dumped at the train tracks.

"These are just some of the victims," the coroner told us. "More are in the hall, a couple in the store room... we don't usually see this kind of action in Duluth."

"The injuries are all pretty uniform?" my mom asked.

"Yep. The boys upstairs think maybe we're looking at a spree killer."

"If they were DOA, you have an ETA on TOD?" Bobby questioned. "Any sample DFA?"

Sam cleared his throat behind him.

"DNA?" Bobby corrected himself.

"Uh, frankly we don't even know the precise cause of death. I mean, there were the neck wounds of course, but there was also considerable internal trauma, so-" the corner's phone rang, cutting her off. "Excuse me."

"Yeah. Sure," I nodded, then turned to Bobby when she'd left. "DFA?"

"I've been fighting a friggin' apocalypse for fifteen years, my FBI might be a little rusty."

"Alright," I rolled my eyes.

"Let's give them a quick once-over, see what they missed," Sam said.

Putting on gloves, we split up to each look at a different body.

"Angel kills for sure, and not grunts," I said. "We're talking five star smitings."

"Knife slits in the throat, but it doesn't look like they bled out," Bobby added.

"He kept these people alive for a while," my mom continued.

Sam peered into the mouth of his body.

"Maybe these people aren't people," he said. "Looking at a vamp."

"Same here," Bobby.

"Me, too," my mom agreed.

"Yep," I nodded after checking myself.

"Why milk 'em if he's just gonna smite 'em?" Bobby queried.

"And why is an archangel hunting vampires in the first place?" my mom asked.

I chewed my lip, touching my wedding ring through my glove. I noticed that the others were avoiding saying either Michael or Dean's names around me, and I kind of appreciated it. It was almost easier to think of the case as going after some other angel when I didn't think about it being Michael wearing my husband.

When Sam asked the coroner if anyone had come to identify any of the bodies, she let us know a young woman stopped by, and then left without giving a name. We got an identification from the surveillance cameras outside and headed to the apartment of Lydia Crawford.

"Hey! Stop!" Sam shouted.

"Get away from me!" Lydia yelled.

"Don't move. We know who you are. We know you went to the morgue."

"We saw your license plate on the security cams and pulled your address. You should've ditched the car when you first got turned," I told her. "Made this way too easy."

"You're not FBI. You're hunters."

"That's right," Sam confirmed.

Bobby pulled his knife and Lydia eyed him warily.

"I haven't done anything wrong!"

"No, vampires never do," Bobby deadpanned.

"Me nest, we- we fed on animal blood," she told us desperately and Sam lowered his gun. "We lived quiet lives, until... until he came."

"He?" I asked. "He who?"

"I don't know his name, but... he was strong. He tied all of us up and one by one he'd take blood from us. I couldn't see what he was doing, exactly, but every time there would be this explosion, and my friends would be dead. When he was coming for me, a couple of the others tried to att- tried to attack him. I was able to get away, but... they didn't make it."

"Why was he killing you?" my mom asked. "Did he say?"

"I don't think he meant to," Lydia admitted. "It-it's just that... things seemed to go wrong. He wasn't killing, it was like... it was like he was experimenting."

"Experimenting?" Bobby echoed. "What for?"

"That's- that's all I know."

"Okay," Bobby advanced forward, blade raised. "Nice chattin' with ya."

"Wait! Wait! I-I don't know what he wanted, I-I don't know who he was, but I do know where he is. If- if you let me go."

⁘

"You think vamp-girl was lyin' about Michael hanging out here?" Bobby asked.

We were in an abandoned church, the place dark and quiet.

"Not sure why she would," Sam replied. "I mean, she has every reason to want him dead."

"She wasn't lying about the slaughter happening here- whole lotta dried blood on the floor," my mom said, she and I staring down at a spot in the corner.

"Why was he killing them? And what does she mean by 'experimenting'?" I asked.

"Don't look like he's here," Bobby observed.

Just then, the stained glass windows shattered and we were joined by several werewolves. However, silver bullets had no effect as we shot at them.

"Silver bullets aren't working! Nothing's working!" Sam yelled.

We each fought a different werewolf, Sam decapitating his while I used my powers to smite mine.

"Well, that works," Bobby said.

We continued fighting until the remaining werewolves had been decapitated or killed with my powers.

"Is everybody okay? Anyone get bit?" Sam asked.

"No," my mom shook her head.

"I'm okay," I added.

"Same here," Bobby nodded. "What the hell kind of werewolves were those?"

"Silver didn't touch them," my mom stated.

The doors opened, revealing Dean backlit in red. He walked in slowly, raising his hand and everyone but me tensed up, but he just leaned against a post for support as he removed the newsboy cap from his head.

"Guys, it's me," he said, though I already knew that.

"Dean, is it really you?" Sam asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, it's really him," I answered the question.

"Are- are you okay?" Sam pressed as Dean sat on the floor.

"No, I'm not okay!"

I put a hand over my mouth, closing my eyes at his tone.

"But you got Michael to leave," Sam continued.

"No, I- I don't... I didn't," Dean corrected.

"What?" Bobby asked.

"He just- he just left."

"Why?" Sam asked.

"I don't know. I don't know."

We were all quiet for a moment.

"We should get back," my mom finally piped up.

"Can I get a minute with Dean?" I requested.

"Yeah," Sam nodded. "We'll be outside."

He, Bobby and my mom cleared out, leaving Dean and I alone. I didn't say anything for a moment, just taking Dean in. He was wearing a suit under a brown overcoat and his hair had been combed and neatly styled in a way I wasn't used to seeing on him.

"Ellie Bear?" he asked gently, looking up at me.

"Why didn't you listen to me?"

He swallowed, but didn't look away.

"You know why."

"Three weeks, Dean. We couldn't find you for three weeks."

"You can't blame that on me. Michael-"

"The hell I can't blame that on you! You said yes, Dean! You let him in!"

Dean got to his feet, taking a step closer to me.

"What was I supposed to do, Eleanor?! We had to stop Lucifer before he hurt Sam or Jack!"

"We could've found another way!"

"There wasn't time!"

Letting out a growl of frustration, I grabbed onto Dean's lapels and pulled him down, smashing our mouths together. He moved with me, backing me into one of the posts as we continued the angry make out session. One of his hands grabbed both of my wrists, pinning them over my head and holding them there while his other moved down my side. After several minutes, he pulled back, leaning his forehead against mine.

"As much as I'd love to continue this right here, we should probably head out there before one of them comes in to fetch us," he said, voice husky.

"Right," I breathed, tongue darting out to wet my lips.

Dean took a step back, releasing my wrists and reaching down to pick the cap he'd been wearing off the ground. Together, we headed out to meet Sam, Bobby and my mom at the car.