Listening to Featherstone by The Paper Kites, Dean automatically smiled. He was more the classic rock type of guy, obviously, but Castiel loved that indie hipster music. "And my love is your's but your love's not mine..so i'll go but we know i'll see you down the line. And we'll hate what we lost but we'll love what we find.." Dean sang quietly to himself. He knew the lyrics to this song by heart. He couldn't help but cry a little bit listening to this, though. This was Cass's CD. He left it here. After Cas gulped down Purgatory and died then came back and all that craziness, Dean was beyond mad. He was pissed. Cas was kicked out without hesitation. He didn't even have time to gather too many of his things. The ghost of him was everywhere, and Dean knew it. It made him uncomfortable whenever he got in the impala and smelled Cass's manly-vanilla scent. Who knew vanilla could be manly? Well, it can. Don't even try to protest, just believe it. Vanilla can be VERY manly.
Even Sam was missing Cass. He would try to bring him up, telling Dean "Hey...maybe you should call him. I bet he's really missing you." But Dean would just wave it off, pretending like Sam was not only chopped liver but CUBED liver. He would waste his sorrows in straight up whiskey. Not watered down and not in small quantities. Dean was rarely sober these days. He missed his angel. He also seemed to have developed anxiety. I know right, Dean Winchester being scared? Oh yeah. He got put on medication. He wasn't only scared, but he was ashamed. He was ashamed of himself and everything that he'd done. Of course, being the prideful bastard that he was, Dean would never just pick up the phone and call Castiel to apologize (although he was sure tempted). Sam was sure that if he just talked to Cass then his anxiety would get better and he could be taken off the pills, but nothing he said to his brother availed.
Dean shut off the song and leaned back, sighing. He stared up at the star-stricken sky. There was a shooting star, and for a brief moment he thought about what angel was falling and WHY they were falling. A tear escaped his eye. "Are you crying?" Sam asked, walking up with a bottle of beer. "Crying? Psh. No. Never. I don't cry, I'm a man. I'm a man full of testosterone and I love boobs. Men like me don't cry. I just got some dust in my eye. You know, there's too much dust outside. Let's go inside and lock the doors and watch busty Asian babes, that's what manly men like me do. Or maybe we should go kill a monster. YEAH! Man stuff." Sam blinked and stared at him. Dean barely ever talked, let alone ranted about what a man he was. "Yeah um...okay. Sureeee...are you okay? You seem a little...off. Like someone maybe stole your man card and you're trying to convince me that you still have a dick." Dean didn't respond but grinned at the starry sky.
When the two bros got back to the hotel, they completely crashed. They both fell asleep, and they didn't even care that there was only one bed. Dean only slept because of the copious amounts of alcohol that he imbibed. Sammy, on the other hand, was completely beat. So, they slept. And when they woke, they were both in for quite the shock when they found Sam's mouth drooling all over Dean's muscly shoulder and Dean's knee shoving into Sam's chest. Their arms were pretty much wrapped around each other, which immensely freaked them both out. They agreed not to talk about it ever again or even think about it.
"I got a hunt," Sam told Dean as they were climbing into the Impala. "Oh yeah? Where and what?" "Well," Sam replied "It's a little weird. It's in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Ah man, real nice place." Dean put the car into gear and slowly drove backwards "Woah woah woah you mean that creepy vintage town we went to a couple years back with dad? THAT Eureka Springs? Man we went into that gift shop and all those old ladies started putting makeup on me! Don't make me go through that again, Sammy." Sam stifled a laugh and continued "Oh Dean, shut up. It was funny!" he rolled his eyes. "Might've been funny to you but you weren't the one dressed like Lady GooGoo on steroids.." "Dean..." "what?" "It's Gaga, not GooGoo..." "Like I care."
As soon as they got to Arkansas and Sam explained a little bit about what was going on, Dean was feeling very uneasy. That's the worst part about his new anxiety, it makes him uneasy before every single case. "Sammy i'm not feeling so good," Sam patted him on the back and continued walking. Dean never "felt so good". He always felt terrible.
So what was going on in Eureka Springs was that tourists were complaining of seeing a woman on the staircase of the Crescent hotel. This hotel was named "The most haunted hotel in America" by several spectators but was never taken that seriously. This woman wasn't just like any other ghost, though, she was a demon that turned INTO a ghost. There were no bones to burn, or cursed objects to smash. It was a rare case and they knew it was dangerous. Salt and iron would help, but how would they kill it? They decided that they would use Ruby's knife to kill it...or at least TRY to kill it. Sam even said that this was a dangerous mission and perhaps Dean should sit this one out, but who would watch over little Sammy? No one but Dean.
They got to the Crescent hotel and checked in. Room 66. Just their luck. Sam slammed the door behind them and Dean jumped. "SAM! Can you watch your temper with that poor door?" "Dean...it's a door. I don't think it's feelings will be hurt," "SAM, THAT IS MAHOGANY" Dean breathed out, panting and shivering. He was often cold and scared these days. "Okay...jeez. Sorry, Effie Trinket." Sam sighed and sat down on the red velvety couch, popping open a beer and sipping it coolly. Dean sighed and looked over at his phone. He really wanted Cass. He wanted him bad. He missed him so much that it hurt. Castiel hadn't even TRIED to get in contact with him. Was he not worth the fight?
"Dean, wake up! We gotta go. This demon ghost thing is killing people fast. We gotta get rid of it at soon as we can. This thing is on the move. It's fast, but we gotta be faster." Sam quickly spoke as he packed a duffle bag and shook his brother several times to wake him up. Dean rubbed his eyes and got up, jogging to the door. "Okay, let's go." They ran down the stairs, hearing a muffled scream near the lobby. When they got to the lower level, they both spotted a lady wearing an old Victorian style pale colored dress with blood streaks running down the side. Behind her was a young girl of only about 13, crying. She looked terrified.
The lady twisted her head in a totally unnatural way and stared at them. Sam quickly spoke a Latin exorcism incantation, but to no effect. Dean grabbed the demon knife but before he could do anything, the lady threw out her hand and send Dean flying into the wall. The little girl ran up the stairs and screamed for her parents. Sam yelled at his brother to get up. Both boys ran towards the lady, and she threw them both back against the wall. She spent quite a bit of time beating the almighty crap out of Sam before she moved on to Dean. He strained as hard as he could against the electromagnetic force pushing him against the wall. He just couldn't move.
Sam lay on the hotel lobby floor, a small trail of blood running from his mouth and nose. Dean struggled against the weight of the ghostish demon woman, but everything went fuzzy. He suspected that she had the power to make people lose their thoughts, and maybe even go crazy. Well, that wouldn't work. He was already crazy.
The woman leaned in towards him and whispered in his ear "your little boyfriend is gonna be dead when i'm through with him. I just wish I could keep you around to watch him die," and she stabbed him in the chest with one of her razor sharp nail. He gasped and slid down the wall. Just as his eyes were closing, he thought "Well that was a quick hunt," and saw Sam sliding Ruby's blade through the ghost demon's neck as if it were butter.
"Dean? Dean! Can you hear me? DEAN! wake up!" He heard Sam, but he couldn't respond. He couldn't move. He couldn't think. He faded into sullen blackness.