Me and the boys are sitting at Fat Mack's Rib Shack for lunch. Dean is on his phone talking to Bobby while me and Sam are eating.
"I know, Bobby, but there's gotta be another way. I don't know. Keep digging. I mean, if Crowley thinks we're just gonna-"
"Crowley thinks you're gonna what, Dean?" Speak of the devil... "Is that Bobby Singer? Give him a kiss for me."
"I'll call you back." Dean says.
"Good news! I've got a job for you." Crowley says as he pulls out a chair and sits with us.
"I'm gonna say this once. You can take your job and shove it up your ass." Dean says.
"Is that any way to talk to your boss?"
"You're not my boss, dickbag."
"Dean. Dean. Been through this. Quit clutching your pearls. You've been working for me for some time now. Sam and Ash, here, longer. And Ash your boss doesn't approve of you consorting with the enemy."
"What enemy?" I ask.
"Castiel."
"Oh...right." Dean glares at me.
"We didn't know we were working for you." Sam says.
"Like that makes a difference to you. You'd sell your brother for a dollar right now if you really needed a soda." Crowley says. Then Sam gets a glare. "Look, I'm sending you-"
"No." Dean interrupts.
"Beg pardon?"
"I've done some shady stuff in my time, but I am not doing this. No."
"Ten quid says you will." Crowley puts one of his hands on mine and Sam's. We both let out a little gasp of pain as our hands sizzle and the burn spreads. "You like pain? You like hell? You need to stop thinking of this as some kind of deal. This is a hostage situation, you arrogant little thug. I own your brother and your girlfriend. Do you understand me?" Crowley snaps his finger and the burns are gone. "Come on Dean, smile. It's not that bad. Here's incentive, you bag me a live alpha and I'll give you little Sammy and Ashlee's souls back with a cherry on top."
"What, an alpha vamp not good enough for you?" Sam asks.
"Best mind where you poke your nose, if you want to keep it. Your merry little hike up the food chain starts here." Crowley puts a newspaper down on the table. "Business man found dead in his car, chest ripped open, heart missing, sounds like?" I pick up the newspaper. The headline is 'Businessman Falls Victim to Animal Attack'.
"Werewolf." I say.
"No, its not a full moon." Dean says.
"Werewolves turning on the full moon, so '09." Crowley says.
"He's right. Ash and I ganked one about six months back on the half-moon. Things have been out of whack for a while now, I guess." Sam says.
"Yeah, I guess." Dean says.
"So, its settled then. You bag the howler, bring it home to papa. See you soon." Crowley says then disappears.
"Great, well let's go then. Even working for him, this is a case." I say. We take off to the city... Buffalo, NY. One long ass drive.
"Wait, Ash?" Dean asks.
"Yeah?"
"How many times of you and Cas...you know..?"
"Umm...as of this morning...more times than I have fingers on one hand."
"Let's go." Dean just says.
"So, the vic's a real class act. Owned a bunch of slum-grade apartments. Couple houses, too." Sam says once we're on the road.
"So this is it? This is...this is what you're gonna do?" Dean asks.
"What am I doing?"
"Crowley. He's so far up our asses we're...we're coughing sulfur, but you...you're just gonna work the case?"
"Well, he's got us by the short and curlies. What else are we supposed to do?" I ask.
"Its just...you know. I... I'm working for a demon now. I don't even know who you are. I just need...a second to adjust."
"Look, this is a crap situation. I get it. But, Dean, we're still us. Same melon, same memories. We still like the same music. He still thinks about...what did you say her name was?" I ask Sam.
"Suzie Heizer." Sam says.
"Biology class Suzie Heizer?" Dean asks.
"Can you blame me? Look, I know you don't trust me. And we can't take back what we did. But we're going to prove it to you. I'm still your brother...and Ash is still..."
"Banging one of our best friends." Dean says sternly. He's pissed. Maybe Cas shouldn't come around for a while.
By the time we get to Buffalo it's already the next day. When we're about 15 minutes out we get a call through the police radio that we have on, there was another murder. We pull over to the side of the road to change into our FBI outfits before going to check it out.
As we pull up to the crime scene, two paramedics are carrying away a body bag.
"How you doing? Agents Holt, Wilson and Smith." Dean says to a detective as we show him our badges.
"Feds?" The detective asks.
"Yeah." Sam says.
"What are the Feds doing here?"
"Oh, we're specialists. They call us in to answer the questions of mouth-breathing dick monkeys." I say earning a look from Dean and the Detective. "So, you gonna walk us through this or...?"
"Dock worker. Guy in the morning shift found him. Chest ripped wide open."
"Same as the body in the car?" Dean asks.
"Yeah, second one in two days."
"Internal organs missing on both vics? Like their hearts?" Sam asks.
"Uh...looks like it, yeah. How'd you know?" Detective asks.
"So, this guy, he have any enemies?" I ask.
"Yeah, plenty, but, uh, I don't think it was a wolf or possibly a cougar that had a beef with the guy. You do realize these were animal attacks?
"An animal our here? What, you think it came for the sailing?" Dean asks. The detective doesn't really know how to answer which would be our cue to leave.
We check into a motel closest to where the latest crime scene is. As soon as we get into the room. Dean passes out. For the rest of the day and into the next morning while me and Sam are doing research. I hear Dean start stirring in his sleep, I look over at him in bed as he wakes up.
"Morning." Sam says.
"You two didn't sleep. Cause you don't...sleep." Dean says.
"Right." I say.
"Yeah. That's not creepy at all."
"Not like we can help it. So you just gonna lay there staring at us or you want to hear what we dug up."
Dean waves his hand at us signaling for us to tell him what we found.
"Alright. So, we know that werewolves are basically id gone wild, right? I mean, whoever they hate, they kill when they wolf out. So, we've been playing connect the victims." Sam says.
"And?" Dean asks. Sam puts some paperwork into a briefcase. Both me and him never took off our FBI uniforms off yesterday so we're ready to go.
"And we think we found a common denominator. So come on." I say as I toss Dean an ID badge.
"Get the lead out, huh?" Sam says.
"Let me get dressed, Robocop." Dean says.
After Dean is ready to go we take off to a house. We walk up to it and Sam knocks on the door.
"Yes, can I help you?" A woman answers the door carrying a little boy on her hip. We show her our ID.
"Is Cal Carrigan home? We've got a few questions we'd like to ask him." Sam says.
"Yeah, um. Come in." She opens the door wider for us. We follow her into the kitchen. She sets the kid down and hands him a toy from the kitchen table. "Honey, um, why don't you go play in your room for a little while, okay?" The boy runs out. There's a German Shepherd dog lying in the corner. The woman clears more toys off the kitchen table. "Excuse the mess. Please sit." We do as she offers and take a seat at the table. "Um...can I get you anything?"
"No, thank you. Um, so is Cal your boyfriend?" Dean asks.
"That's right."
"And where is he?" I ask.
"Uh, sleeping. I think." She seems nervous.
"You mind telling him up and at 'em? He's got some guests." Dean says.
"Yeah. Yeah, of course." She starts to leave the room, but stops as a guy enters the room with a hand to his head. "Cal..." The dog starts growling and barks once at him.
"Lucky, shh." Cal says. The dog growls once more.
"These are Agents..." The woman starts talking.
"Holt, Wilson and Smith." I say. "Morning...ish."
"Hey, what's this?" Cal asks.
"You out late last night, Cal?" Dean asks. Cal pours himself some coffee.
"Just uh, you know, a couple beers with friends."
"How many's a couple?"
"I don't know. Three, four tops."
"If all you had was beer, then how come you're sweating vodka? And looks to me like you slept in these clothes. Am I right?" Sam asks.
"I don't know. I guess."
"So what you're saying is, you got blind drunk, you blacked out. Something tells me this isn't the first time." Dean says.
"So, Cal, truthfully, who know what you've really been up to at night?" I ask.
"Look, what's this about?" Cal asks.
"We're investigating the death of Ronald Carrigan." Sam says.
"My brother?" Cal and the woman look at each other, she just shrugs.
"Sorry for your loss." Dean says.
"Yeah, I thought that was some kind of animal attack."
"No love lost between the two of you, huh?" Sam asks.
"Look, we had our differences, I guess. You love your brother, of course, but...Ron had a lot of problems. He was, uh...volatile."
"Last time he was here, you called the cops?" I ask.
"Yeah, look, he came in here all messed and he was yelling. He shoved Mandy. So, yeah, I called the cops. I don't see how that has to do with-"
"Your land lord was found dead this week. Were you aware of that?"
"Saw it in the papers. Why?"
"Well, you two were pretty far behind on your rent, right? He had sent eviction papers?"
"I'm sorry. That was an animal attack." The woman, Mandy, says.
"Funny enough yeah, both of them were."
"So, great, great. Yeah, guys. What in the hell do you think I had to do with them?"
"Just following procedure. Had to ask. You two have a good day." Dean says then we leave.
"So, Cal's a prince." I say as we're walking back to the impala.
"Yeah, doesn't even know where he was last night." Dean says.
"Bag him now?" Sam asks.
"No. We make sure."
"Really?" I ask.
"Before we hand him over to a lifetime of demon rape? Yeah, really."
Once its night time we follow Cal around to several bars, the last one looks like a garage on the outside.
"Boy, Cal just doesn't know when to quit." Sam says.
"Three scuzzy bars, one scuzzy strip club, a chili-dog joint, seven or eight nightcaps, and now... scotches in the library. I'm getting cirrhosis just watching this. Other than that, we got squat."
"Let's just see." I say. We sit here all night, Cal doesn't leave.
"Dude, sun's up." Sam says. Two men leave the garage.
"This guy's still on two legs. In theory. He ain't wolfing out." I say.
"Well, not tonight, anyway."
"Let's head back. We can re-attack this in a couple hours." Dean says as he drives us back to the motel. We're only at the motel for a few hours before we hear the police scanner go off. We drive back to the garage/bar. We see Cal's body being zipped up in a body bag.
"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that it's not Cal." I say.
"Masterful deduction, Sherlock." Sam says.
"I mean, a werewolf attack in daylight? This whole thing is just weird." Dean says.
"Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria. So, you know this means that we're down to one suspect, right?" I ask.
"I know." Dean says.
"I mean, Mandy is right at the deep end of the vic pool. Can you do it?" Sam asks Dean.
"Do what?"
"Shove her in the trunk, serve her up to Crowley." I say.
"Yeah, Ash. I can do it." We drive back to Mandy's house. We see her talking to another woman on the sidewalk and taking her dog for a walk. The other person walks away as we're walking up.
"Ma'am." Sam says.
"Agents. What are you doing here?" She asks.
"Nobody called you?" I ask.
"Called me about what?" We take her inside and break the news. The dog, Lucky, is in his corner in the kitchen and we have Mandy sitting at the table with us. "I'm sorry. I just cant believe it."
"I'm really very sorry." Dean says.
"Ma'am I know this isn't the best time, but we'd like you to come with us." Sam says.
"Why? You think I have something to do with this? With Cal?"
"Of course not. We just got a few questions, i's and t's mostly." I say.
"I uh... Could we do this later?"
"I'm afraid not."
"Oh. Uh, my kid has the flu, and he was up all night so.."
"Well, is there a neighbor or friend who can watch him while you're gone?" Sam asks.
"I'm sorry. You said your boy was up all night?" Dean asks.
"Uh, yeah." Mandy says.
"Were you with him all night?"
"Um, well I had half an hour of sleep, maybe."
"Can I talk to your son?"
"Why?"
"Yeah, what difference does that make, Agent Holt." I say.
"Trust me. It's important." Dean says to me, then turns to Mandy. "Please?" Dean gets up and goes to talk to the kid while me and Sam wait outside.
"This is exhausting, you know?" I say to Sam
"What is?"
"Pretending like we care. I mean, when I was a vamp, I did go see Lisa and Ben and I didn't kill them, but god I really wanted to."
"I know. We need to tell him soon." Sam says right before Dean comes out of the house.
"Well, it wasn't her." Dean says.
"You don't know that." I say.
"She's got an alibi."
"She's lying." Sam says.
"I heard the kid, dude. She's not lying."
"Fine. She still had time to wolf out Dean. The last werewolf was in bed, with me, and she wolfed out." He's talking about Madison, I remember her.
"Don't make this personal. Look, all I'm saying is that between this and the daylight attacks, something's not adding up. I'm not just gonna hand her over to Crowley until we figure out what. You understand?"
"Okay, okay. We understand. How about you go check out Cal's crime scene, see if we're missing anything. I'll come back here and keep an eye on Mandy." I say.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. No, how about you go and I'll stay here?" Dean says.
"Dean. I still know how to do my job. I'm just gonna watch her. That's all. Trust me." I say. Maybe I'll even get a visitor.
"Uh huh." Dean says we get in the car. We wait until its dark to scope out the places. Dean drops me off in front of Mandy's while him and Sam go to the garage/bar.
I'm standing in a park across the street from Mandy's house. Well-hidden by trees and I have binoculars in hand. I can see Lucky peer through the window then he lowers his head so I can't see him. He's pretty cute dog...Then a naked man stands and straightens right where Lucky was. I bring the binoculars to my eyes. The man walks out of the room. I cock the gun I brought so I'm ready. The man reappears wearing clothes. He walks out of the house and crosses the street to the park I'm in. I watch as he stops, sniffs that air and looks around before continuing. He swings himself over a fence. I follow towards the fence. He walks up to someone who was waiting under a tree. They look like they're talking and then the other man walks away. I raise my gun at him as Lucky in man form walks back across the park. He stops to sniff the air again and looks in my direction. I flatten myself against a wall and stay as still as possible. He takes off running across the park, I follow. He jumps another fence at the other side of the park. After I get myself over the fence, I see Lucky the dog running along a path. I stop to pick up the clothes that the man was wearing before continuing after the dog. The dog runs into the street. I pause in my tracks. The dog got hit by a car. A couple gets out of their car and picks up the dog and puts him in the car.
"Hey!" I yell running towards them and waving my arms. "Wait, wait, wait! Wait, wait! Mister! Hey, mister, wait! That's my dog!" They drive away. "That's my dog!" I call Dean.
"Hey." He says.
"Hey, it's me."
"Well, me and Sam got bupkis here." Dean says.
"I definitely got something. It ain't a werewolf, for one."
"Yeah, what is it?"
"Skinwalker."
"A skinwalker? As in..."
"As in, the family dog seriously needs a neuter." I say.
"Wow. I haven't heard of a skinwalker in years. I'm actually a little rusty on the profle."
"You and me both. But I have some idea where he might be. I'll be there in a few." I say then hang up. I walk back to the motel and explain to the boys what happened.
The next day we go to the vet. We show the doctor our FBI badges and walk to the back and to get Lucky.
"Hiya Lucky. Bad dog." Dean says. "First things first. You see this? This is silver. Don't say I didn't warn you." Dean says showing him part of his gun. "Okay, time to go. Now we can either do this the easy way," Dean holds up a pair of jeans, "Or the hard way." He holds up a chain collar making me and Sam laugh.
"What? Soul or not, that's funny." Sam says. He changes to human once we're back at the motel and we tie him up to a chair as soon as he is.
"Well, I gotta tell you, Lucky, you got us stumped. I mean, why shack up with the family? Is it a kinky thing? Do you like to play with your food? Roll over, Lucky. Speak." I say.
"Go to hell."
"Already been. Didn't agree with me. So, look, how about I take this silver knife, and start carving some dog until you behave?" I say.
"You do what you gotta do." Lucky says. Sam starts walking towards him with his own knife, Dean holds up a hand to stop him.
"Hang on Sam. Listen, you don't have to tell me why you're with the family. I get it." Dean says.
"Oh you do, do you?"
"You killed every threat that came near them. You care about them, in your own whack-a-doodle kind of way. It's obvious. What I want to know is, who was that guy you were kibitzing with? He a skinwalker, too?"
"Look, I can't say anything."
"But if you don't, then you're gonna put the girl and the little boy in danger. And sooner or later, all this crap is gonna come for them. Now, look, we don't give a rat's ass about you. We want to help them. That's our angle. That's it." I say.
"Yeah, that guy, he's a...whatever it is I am. And he's not the only one."
"How many are you?" Sam asks.
"About 30. We were all kind of recruited."
"Recruited?"
"Yeah. Me, I was living on the streets. They found me. They told me one small bite, I'd be strong. I'd be fast."
"Sniffing people's butts? Yeah, that's a real step up." Dean says.
"Well, it was for me."
"Everywhere. We're out there finding families and once they take us in, we lay low."
"Lay low? What the hell does that mean?" I ask.
"Well, we're waiting for the word."
"What word?" Dean asks.
"Once we're settled, we get the signal...and we all turn on our families. We change the, all in one night. 30 becomes 150."
"God, you're a sleeper cell."
"Yeah, well, that's one way to say it." Lucky says.
"So you're waiting from the word from who? Who organized you?" Sam asks.
"There's a pack leader."
"Your alpha?" I ask.
"What's an alpha?"
"The first skinwalker, the strongest."
"Well, he's plenty strong, but no, I don't think so. I'm pretty sure there's guys like him in other towns. We're not the only pack out there."
"Fantastic. Then you can help us stop him." Dean says.
"Oh, no. I can't. No."
"Yes, you can." I say.
"No, you guys don't get it. No one can. These guys who turned me, they're ruthless." Sam whistles, holds up a tennis ball and throws it making me laugh.
"Sam, not helping. Listen to me. What are you gonna do to that family, really? You gonna put your jaws around that little boy's throat? Clamp down, listen to him cry for his mom? Because I'm gonna guess that these are the only people who in your pathetic life have ever shown you any kindness. So it's either that...or you can help us stop it." Hopefully this guy doesn't turn on us. We drive to somewhere under a bridge for whatever reason and park there. Dean is taking things out of the trunk.
"So... how are we supposed to get near something that can smell us a hundred yards off?" I ask.
"We don't." Dean says as he opens a case of rifles.
"The pack leader. We're taking him down?" Sam asks.
"Yeah. Got a better idea?"
"No, I... Crowley's not gonna be too happy that." I say.
"Who gives a rat's ass? We let that thing live one second, and it sends out that psychic dog whistle and phew!"
"On the other hand, it could lead us to the Alpha. Then Crowley would give us our souls back." Sam says.
"Are you kidding? 150 people turn into monster. That's what you want?" Dean asks.
"No. Of course not. I... I'm just asking."
"Alright. You know what? That's it."
"What?" I ask.
"You say you're 'just folks', yeah? That you like baseball and apple pie or whatever. But the truth is, I don't know what you are because you're not Sam and Ash."
"Dean, come on." Sam says.
"I mean, it's your body and, maybe your brain, but it's not you. So just... stop pretending. Do us all a favor." Dean grabs the rifle case and walks away. Me and Sam share a look, we both know we've gotta tell him. Sam picks up another bag, I close the trunk and we walk after Dean.
We walk towards a building that's a few streets over from where Lucky told us he'd be to meet with his leader. On the roof of the building we're getting the rifles ready.
"He looks nervous, right?" Sam asks.
"Wouldn't you be?" Dean asks.
"I'd double-cross us. I mean, he's got to realize that's his best bet, if he wants to keep breathing."
"Nah, he'll go through with it." I say.
"You mean because he loves that family?" Sam says.
"Yeah."
"I'd double-cross us." Sam says.
"Thanks Dexter, that's reassuring." Dean says.
"Just making conversation." A vehicle pulls up to Lucky.
"Here we go." I grab the binoculars Sam hands to me and look through them. Three men get out of the vehicle. A roller door to the building opens and three more men come out.
"That big guy, the driver, that's the guy Lucky met in the park." I say referring to the bald man.
"And there's El Jefe." Dean says as he's looking through the scope.
"Take him out." Sam says.
"It's not clean. We got one shot at this...literally." Through the binoculars, the bald man walks over to Lucky, looks at him and shakes his head. One of the other men escort Mandy and her son out of the back of the vehicle.
"Take the shot." I say.
"I'm trying! She's in the way."
"Take it anyway!" Dean looks at me, then looks back. The bald man puts an arm around Lucky and he leads him inside the building. Lucky looks back at Mandy and her son.
"Come on, come on, come on. Ahh." Dean says. Everyone is now in the building. Dean lowers the rifle.
"So plan B?" Sam asks.
"We've got one?" Dean asks. We get off the roof of this building and walk over to the one that they're in. Luckily we're able to get out without being heard. Dumb dogs too focused on other stuff.
"So, you with us or not?" I hear a voice ask as we enter the building. Sam and I quietly find hiding spots in the room behind a partition while Dean hides a bit further away with the rifle.
"Yes, of course I am." Lucky says.
"Fine. Prove it. Turn them. Both of them, while we watch. Or I'll kill you all." Someone starts sniffing. Well he knows we're here now. "What is that?" Me and Sam get out of our hiding spots. Sam shoots the bald man. Dean starts shooting with the rifle. I run over to Mandy and her Son and get them out of the way.
"Mommy!" Her son yells.
"It's okay." I try to calm him. Lucky comes over.
"Mandy! Come on, come on." He says.
"Who are you? I don't even know you!" She says.
"Yes, you do. Trust me, I'm trying to help. Come on, come on!" I let Lucky lead them further away. We're able to kill most of them. Lucky and one other guy are left. The one man left is talking to Lucky. I decide to wait and see how this will play out.
"You're protecting them? After what I did for you? I gave you your life back!" The man yells. "Them? You're nothing to them. You're a dog." Lucky punches the man in the face, making the man laugh. "I was gonna turn them, but now I'm gonna kill them." The man punches Lucky, which sends him flying into a door, shattering the glass on the door window. Lucky gets to his feet almost instantly. He changes back into the dog. "So you think this is gonna be a dogfight?" The man says. I have my gun at the ready just in case. The man takes out a gun of his own. "I got a better idea." He shoots Lucky, clearly not in the heart but enough to do a bit of damage, must've used a silver bullet. The second Lucky is wimpering on the floor I fire my own gun at the man. Making him fall to the ground.
"Silver bullets do wonderful things." I say as I walk towards the man I shot and when I turn around Lucky is gone. We call this in to the cops to get them to take care of the mess. And we get Mandy and her kid home as quick as possible. Once she's home we take a drive to the local park just for some time to sit and take a break. A woman jogs past us with a dog on a leash.
"I'll never look at a dog the same. Makes you wonder, though, huh?" Dean says.
"What?" I ask.
"How many packs are out there. What if they're all just waiting for the signal, you know?"
"So... we were thinking. You were right." Sam says.
"About?" Dean asks. Well thanks for the heads up about telling him now Sam.
"I'm not your brother. I'm not Sam. And the same goes for Ash."
"Okay." Dean says.
"Um, all that. 'Blah, blah, blah' about being the old us? Crap. Like Lisa and Ben, right? We've been acting like we care about them. But we don't. We couldn't care less."
"Is this supposed to make me feel better?" Dean asks.
"You wanted the real us. This is it. We don't care about them. We don't even really care about you. Except that... we need your help. And you're clearly not gonna stick around for much longer unless we give it to you straight, so... we've done a lot worse than you know. we've killed innocent people in the line of duty. But I'm pretty sure it's not something the old us could've done. And maybe we should feel guilty. But we don't." I say.
"Guys, get to the punch line."
"I don't know if how we are is better or worse. It's different. You get the job done, and nothing really hurts. That's not the worst thing. But I've been thinking. And it was... it was kinda harder. But there are also things about it I remember that I... Let's just say I think we should probably go back to being them." Sam says.
"That's very interesting. It's a step."
"So?" I ask.
"We do what we gotta do. And we get you two back."
