"Uhh, Dean? You might want to head back to the car."
The older hunter shouldered is way past his brother.
"Why? It can't really be-"
He stopped dead in his tracks, his mouth agape in shock.
"What the hell!"
Castiel sat in a grungy chair in the corner, a Styrofoam cup of coffee poised just before his lips.
"Hello Dean."
He simply stood there frozen between shock and awe.
"Cas?"
A whisper, barely perceivable.
The angel took a sip from his up, licking a loos drop from his lips before standing.
"It appears that I should leave."
He made his way forward, attempting to move past the frozen form of Dean.
"If I may."
Unthinkingly, the hunter moved aside, his eyes never leaving the retreating form of the angel.
Sam glanced between Dean and Castiel, before sighing and moving out of the angel's way.
He stepped forward, a hand resting on Dean's shoulder.
"I'll check us in. You go-"
He nodded in the direction of the door, which was still hanging open from Castiel's recent exit.
Dean nodded, nearly tripping over himself to catch up.
Sam Walked up to the counter, surprised to see no one around.
After a few moments of leaning over the chipping counter top and attempting to peer through the cracks around the door, he sighed.
"Hello? Anyone here?"
A young girl in her late teens scrambled out from the back room, her bare feet slapping against the linoleum floors.
"Ya."
Sam looked at her and shook his head.
"I need a room? Double bed, if you have one."
The girl nodded, pulling a key from a peg on the wall before slapping a clipboard on the counter.
"Sign in, name, license plate number, model of car."
The hunter shook his head, writing the information down.
"Do you take credit?"
The girl shook her head.
"Nope. Cash or check only. Don't worry if you ain't got it now, you can pay before you check out."
Sam squinted at her, confused.
"You don't want money up front?"
The girl shook her head.
"Nah. I know yin's 'll pay. If you don't then I'll sic Sunny on ya."
She waved the clipboard in front of him.
"Easy to track a '67 Chevy Impala with Kansas plates. Plus, you know, Agent Sam Hope? It'd look bad for the FBI to skim on a bill."
The hunter huffed a laugh.
"Alright then. Fair point"
She handed him the keys, the sleeve of her over-sized sweater nearly concealing her hand.
"Number 6. You're on the opposite end of that other guy, so it'll be pretty quiet."
Another laugh.
"Is he loud?"
The girl shook her head.
"I wouldn't know, he's only been here an hour. Must've hitched or something, seeing as he didn't have a car. Payed cash though, so I'm not gonna complain."
She shrugged.
"It's still could out though, so the wilder-men aren't out yet. You folks are the only people here."
"Wilder-men?"
She nodded.
"Hikers, rafters, hunters, ATV enthusiasts. We've got enough forest for all of 'm."
The hunter nodded, clutching the key tightly.
"So do you know anything about The Blur that's been around here?"
The girl's countenance fell.
Her eyes shimmered with tears and she leaned against the counter top heavily.
"You mean the thing that killed Derek, Right? Derek Moore."
Sam winced.
"Yea, sorry, I didn't mean to bring up a sore topic."
She shook her head, rubbing her eyes with her sleeves before pulling her scraggly curls up into an unruly pony-tale.
"No, its just that, ahh, we- I - knew him? He was in the drum line here. A junior. I'm a flute player. We are a tight group. But no, I don't know what happened. If you want more info maybe check with some of the other drummers."
She pulled a post-it from a pad o the counter and scribbled on it.
"Here. Schools out tomorrow and Friday for the funeral services. Those are the names of the people I think will be able to help the most."
Sam nodded once more, grabbing the note and waving at her.
"Take care mister."
He smiled back at her.
"You too."
SPNSPNSPN
Meanwhile, Dean had chased Castiel across the parking lot, managing miraculously not to trip an fall on the rain-slicked asphalt.
"Cas!"
The angle turned at his door, has features unreadable.
"Dean. I apologize for interrupting your hunt. Let me just-"
The hunter reached the angel, his brow furrowed in confusion.
"What?"
Cas squinted at the sky, before turning his wide-eyed gaze on the hunter.
"I am getting in the way of this hunt. I had no knowledge of your presence in the area. Please let me vacate the premises."
Dean shook his head as the angel quickly slotted his key into the door knob, jiggling it for a moment before opening the door.
He stepped in, ad was quickly followed by the hunter.
"Cas what the hell are you talking about? What's going on!"
He laid a hand gently on the angel's shoulder, ad was met with Castiel leaping away, a look of sheer horror on his face.
"Don't touch me Dean."
Dean froze.
his hand fell to his side and his chest burned with the sheer horror that filled the angel's voice.
"I-sorry, Castiel. I, never mind."
The hunter swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat and stepped back, before turning and walking out the door, his back straight and head held high.
He met Sam at the door across the small parking lot.
One look at his older brother and Sam knew that mentioning the angel would be a bad idea.
He simply unlocked the room and flipped on the lights, tossing his bag onto one of the dingy beds.
"I, uhh, got some information on our vic."
He received a halfhearted nod from Dean, who had already begun his nightly ritual of removing layers.
"Alright, we'll check it out in the morning. I need some sleep."
Sam glanced at his phone.
11:38
Shit.
"Yea, alright. I'm going to do some research for a bit."
Dean simply nodded, already tugging off his boots.
Sam pulled his laptop out of it's case and opened it up on the scratched wooden table in the corner of the room.
A few moments and some pointless typing later, he heard the muffled sounds of Dean falling into a light sleep.
As quietly as possible, he crept from the room, his goal set on finding out what, exactly, had happened to his brother.