June 25, 2012

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

"It's nice. Kind of like a men's room with beds."

Alex rolled her eyes, dropping her bag on the far bed of their new motel. Ever since Wichita, Lucifer had been getting more and more persistent, sticking around for longer and showing up whenever he could. The soles of Dean's boots clicked on the tile floor as he paced to the other side of the room, unaware of the devil's presence.

She glanced up to see Lucifer scrape some of the green algae off of the far wall, carefully studying the build up on his finger. "Mmm," he hummed delightfully. "Avocado grime."

On the other bed Sam paid him no attention, instead busying himself by pulling out a stack of manilla folders they had picked up from the police station on the way in.

"Takes years to build up a patina like this." The devil stuck his finger in his mouth, tasting the grime, and then he suddenly flickered and disappeared.

Alex glanced over at Sam, who was digging his thumb into his palm. "Thanks," she mumbled, rolling her eyes. "Even for him that was disgusting."

Sam nodded, and Alex sat down on the bed, looking around the room. Admittedly, Lucifer had been right about his assessment of the place; it was disgusting. The floor was a dusty, brash mix of brown, green, and dark gold tiles. The wall across from the bed was a dark wooden panel, but the rest were a nasty yellow-green tile with a slightly darker colored mold in the grout. Her grace curled unpleasantly, and she shook her head in disgust.

"What do you mean you can't find him?" Dean walked back over to Alex and dropped his duffle bag down beside her. "It's Dick Roman. Turn on CNN. Didn't you see him at that, uh, press conference down in Phoenix? That bastard's everywhere."

Alex shook her head again, getting up off of the bed to reluctantly check out the bathroom, leaving Dean to his conversation with Frank Devereaux. "You sure? No, I—I—I don't care that they've infiltrated the luxury boat industry, Frank."

Alex snickered, which immediately died into a frown when she flicked on the bathroom lights. Mold and fugly tile.

"Great!" She heard Dean snapped, his patience stretched to the limit. "Call Kanye." Alex heard his phone snap shut, and she turned off the lights and stepped back into the main room.

"Frank still stumped on Roman?" Sam guessed from his bed. The manilla folders were lying around him, each one open to the first page.

"Yeah. Alright, let's do this." Dean sat down on the bed across from his brother, and Alex cross the room to join them.

"Okay, um, look at the victim profiles." Sam motioned to the two autopsy photos of bloodstained women. "Same age, same hair color, body type. The ritual mutilations line up exactly."

Dean grunted in agreement, and Alex tipped her head. "Yeah," she began, "you mentioned you'd worked a case just like this a couple years back." Alex sat down on the bed beside Dean, pulling her wings and legs in close.

Sam nodded. "Four years ago, same town. A demon was killing women. We caught him, grilled him for intel on Lilith, then exorcised him."

"Who down there would have let our demon out of the can?" Dean wondered, his face twisted in puzzlement. "He squealed on his superiors. We made sure of that. I mean, he should be down under until, uh, trumpet day." He got up off of the bed and walked over to the cooler, and Alex watched as he retrieved two beers. "Want one, Pip?"

Alex shook her head, and Dean returned, handing one to his brother. Sam continued, "Yeah, except two women were killed in the last two weeks, same parts missing, I mean, same old hunting grounds, even."

"Alright," the Winchester grunted, "well, we can take a swing at it. But you know it's all about the Leviathans now, right? They're the ones we need to be hunting."

"Yeah," Alex slowly agreed, "but we've got nothing. Frank's got nothing. And nothing's better than a good old-fashioned demon hunt to kill some time."

"And this one's ours, Dean," Sam added. "It's unfinished business, apparently."

Dean hesitated, then reluctantly gave in. "You're right," he agreed. "I, uh . . . where do you want to start?"

...

The static of the police scanner had Alex stirring from beside Dean. Her wings folded outwards as she heard Sam roll over, and her gaze flickered towards the clock. 7:43 am. "Repeat, this is Unit 32," the scanner crackled. "We've got another one. That's an 187. Female, caucasian, maybe late thirties at the parking garage on Summit."

Alex nudged Dean into consciousness as the voice ceased for a second before a second, female voice came through. "Unit 32, assistance on route."

"We got a real mess here, dispatch."

Sam flipped on the lamp, and Alex blinked at the sudden light, wings . Beside her, Dean groaned, rolling over and almost off of the small bed. "What?" he muttered, glaring up at his brother.

"Police found something. Female, thirties." Sam tossed back the sheets and got out of bed. "Come on. Could be what we're looking for." He grabbed his bag and moved towards the bathroom.

...

Half an hour later, Alex followed Sam and Dean under the yellow police tape in the parking garage and towards the scene of flashing lights. A body lay up ahead, with police officers and forensics all around. "You know," Dean muttered, casting a dark glance around, "every time we do this, I wonder if today's the day. We walk up, flash our tin to a bunch of chompers pretending to be policemen."

At those words Alex flared her wings out, pushing her grace through the empty parking level. Then her wings fell back down. "They're human," she promised, lengthening her stride to fall in step with Sam.

"Thought you guys might show up." A short, stout man appeared behind the Winchesters and clapped them on the shoulders, a friendly smile on his face despite the circumstances. "It's the drummer boys: Agents Bonham and . . . Watts, right?" When both the Winchesters slowly agreed he looked down at Alex. "And fresh blood, I see."

"Agent Spencer." Alex curtly shook the detective's hand, gaze sliding past him to where Lucifer was leaning against the side of the large van that read CORONER MOBILE UNIT, and her eyebrows knitted together in pure confusion as she watched him exhale with pursed lips, finger going up to poke at the air.

When Dean didn't speak up, Sam cleared his throat, taking over. "Uh, it's a pleasure to see you again, Detective . . ."

"Sutton," Lucifer reminded, poking at what had to be another imaginary bubble. Alex's head tilted as she watched.

Sam ignored the devil. "You know what?" he said instead, "Pardon me. Um, what was it, Detective . . ."

" n." Lucifer over-enunciated each syllable, crossing his arms over his chest, and Alex's gaze flickered over to him once again.

"Oh, no problemo," the detective smiled, and held out his hand to the taller agent. "Detective Sutton."

"Sutton," Sam repeated, shaking hands. "That's right."

Dean nodded. "Sutton, yeah." He reached out as well to shake the detective's hands. "Hi."

Sutton smiled, which faltered after a second as he looked past them at the crime scene. "Sad to say the case looks to be open again," he frowned.

"Are you sure?" Dean and Sam followed the detective over to where a SUV sat with it's back hatch open, broken glass all around. Alex hesitated, watching as Lucifer made a face towards Sam's back, sticking out his forked tongue in contempt. Alex rolled her eyes and followed after Sam.

"Same tools, same cuts," Sutton was explaining. "Same crazy." He motioned down to the body and Alex crouched beside it. Deeps cuts crisscrossed the woman's bloody face, and the angel tipped her head as she noticed part of the woman's left pinky was missing; it looked like the bones from the second knuckle down to the palm had been extracted. "Makes sense," the detective continued. "We didn't catch the critter last time, did we?"

Dean didn't answer that. However, he did ask, "And no suspects?"

Sutton shook his head. "Same as before. Very thorough. Cold-blooded." Alex stood up to see Sam standing by the vehicle's open front door.

"Thank you, detective." Dean dismissed the man, and once Sutton had walked away, Sam circled back to them. Alex turned her attention to the open trunk, gaze flickering across the mess of glass and blood. She opened her mouth to ask a question, but Sam cut her off.

"Hey." He pointed down to the corner of the truck, where a fine dusting of yellow powder lay along the top of the bumper. He dipped his finger and smelled it, but Alex knew what it was long before he exhaled sharply at the pungent smell. "Sulphur."

"Dammit," Dean muttered. "Better go check on Havelock." Sam nodded, and the two of them walked away, leaving Alex staring after them, dumbfounded.

"Who?" Alex hurried after the two brothers, wings flittering behind her. "Dean! Who's Havelock?"

...

Alex followed Sam and Dean down the sidewalk and into a store nestled in with the rest of the brick stores along the street. A young woman stood at the corner, looking nervously around; when she spotted the Winchesters her eyes lit up, and she waved them over. "Sam."

"Nora." Sam greeted her with a small smile. "You're looking good."

"As are you." The woman looked down at Alex, brushing her long brown hair out of her face. "I don't think we've met. I'm Nora Havelock."

"Um, hi. Alex."Alex shook her hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Uh, why don't you come in." Nora led them into the brick building and up a flight of stairs, and Alex fell back so the Winchesters could take the lead. They stopped beside a locked door. "This is it." Nora unlocked it and stepped inside, and the three hunters followed.

Sam and Alex's attention was immediately drawn to the large sign that read "Wiccan Web." A devil's trap was behind the letters, and underneath was the website .com. Sam read it aloud, and Nora looked back at them. "Internet mail order," she explained. "White magic only — herbs and talisman."

"Huh." Alex walked over to Nora as she opened a door in the back, revealing her office. A cluttered desk sat in the middle, a photocopier was in the back, and a plaid futon sat off to their left. A large, brown devil's trap was painted on the floor, and Nora scooted around it.

Sam noticed it also, and asked, "You sure about that?"

"Careful, it's still drying. I have a friend at the sheriff's office," she explained as the hunters entered the office. "I know all about the new murders. I'm doing what I can to protect myself. I'm also translating some very old banishments." She handed several pieces of parchment to Sam, and Alex craned her neck to look at them. At the top was the spell scrawled in Latin, with the English carefully printed below it.

"Wow," Sam finally praised after scanning through a couple pages. "These are good."

Nora nodded, turning back to her desk. "Thanks. I've got an affinity. But back then, that night at the farmhouse, I was in over my head. I know that now, believe me. I will leave all of that to the pros."

Alex made a questioning noise, not sure what she was talking about as she hadn't heard the full story of what had happened in this town, but Dean just nodded in agreement. "Well, you helped track it down. I mean, it was some solid legwork."

Nora Havelock gave a small shrug, not wanting to take all the credit. "When it came down to it, all I knew was somebody who knew somebody who knew the right number to call. And your number's not working, by the way."

Sam and Dean exchanged looks, and Alex grunted. "Yeah. Technical difficulties."

"It's a monster problem, really," Dean added.

Sam shot his brother a look, letting air out from his nose before turning back to Nora. "So, uh, you haven't had any contact?"

"With the demon? No, thank God. I only have one or two things to finish in town, and then I'm leaving." When Dean voiced his approval she added, "Have you found Jeffrey yet?"

"Who?" The Winchesters exchanged look, and Dean firmly shook his head.

Nora blinked, as if she was surprised that the brothers could have forgotten him. "The man who the demon possessed. The one you almost beat to death."

"Yeah, Jeffrey." Dean slowly nodded as he connected the name to the face. "That poor bastard."

"Some demons tend to be sentimental, don't they?" Nora guessed, gaze flitting between the three of them. "Always go back to the same host if they can."

The young angel looked thoughtful. "I've never heard of that," she admitted. "Then again, I guess it's possible. I don't know that much about demons." Her phone rang, and Alex quickly excused herself from the conversation. "Uh, hello? Agent Spencer."

"Alex?"

"Garth?" Alex scratched her forehead. "Uh, hey, man. What's up?" She skirted the devil's trap and crossed the room. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. Listen. I'm looking for some intel for another hunter. Something tells me you might be able to help, being so close to Bobby and all."

Alex's throat tightened, and she nodded. "Okay," she got out. "Shoot."

"You ever come across a Keres before? More importantly, any idea how to kill one?"

Keres. Alex closed her eyes, thinking hard. "Uh, sort of," she finally said. "Yeah. Actually it was my first sort of 'case' with Bobby. Uh, let me think. Keres. Greek death-spirits, aren't attached to any one place, have claws and a taste for fresh blood. Um . . . I think you kill 'em like you do a wendigo. Fire and pray that it works." She heard Garth chuckle and quickly added, "Oh, and, uh, don't forget to carry a silver knife. The case we worked ended up being a redcap."

"Ah. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks. "

"Yeah. Stay alive." Alex hung up as Sam and Dean walked out of the office. "So?"

"We're going to go see if we can find Jeffrey." Dean held out half a sheet of paper with an address scrawled on it. "You in?"

"Who was that?" Sam added.

"Garth. Asking about a possible Keres. And maybe I'll head down to the coroner's. The second vic's full report plus tox screen should be in by now, and maybe that'll have some clues. Maybe you can drop me off on the way there?"

"Sure." Sam led the way towards the exit. "That sounds like a plan."

...

Alex's phone rang as she pushed her way out into the afternoon sunlight. "Yello," she answered, pinning her phone against her ear with one hand, the other tightly clutching the folder. "Spencer."

"Alex, hey." That was Sam. "Where are you?"

"Uh, just got the folder, and am currently standing on the sidewalk." Alex kicked at a small rock to emphasize her words, tightening her grip on the folder as she remembered Sam couldn't see it. "Why? What's up? Find Jeffrey?"

"Yeah, we did, actually. Listen, I'm on my way down to the library; Jeffrey said the demon burned a list of names into his head last time he was topside, a list of female targets, and apparently he's picking up where he left off."

Alex frowned. "A demon with an agenda? That's not something you heard everyday. That sounds more OCD serial killer than, you know, demon-y."

Sam grunted in agreement. "Yeah," he conceded, "well, it's the best we've got. I'm headed there now; I can swing by and pick you up."

"Yeah, yeah, that sounds like a good idea."

"Okay, yeah. I'm just a few blocks away. Oh and, uh, Lucifer's riding shotgun."

Sam hung up, and Alex pulled her phone away from her ear, staring down at the the black screen. "Was that figurative or literal?" she wondered aloud. Her question was immediately answered as a silver Ford pulled up alongside her, and Alex circled around to find the devil in the front seat. "Out," she demanded. When the devil didn't move, she sat down where he was, her body passing straight through his. She heard Lucifer's protest, now from the backseat, and she muttered, "I am not taking backseat to a hallucination."

Sam chuckled in amusement, and the second Alex closed the car door they drove away.

...

Lucifer disappeared at some point during the ride, only to show back up once they stepped through the library doors. A blonde woman with her hair in a tight bun pushed a cart full of books past, whispering out an, "Excuse me," with a smile as she did so.

"You're right." Lucifer appeared directly behind Sam, leaning up slightly so he could look over the hunter's shoulder with a sad shake of his head. "We just don't read anymore." Sam walked away, and the devil frowned, following after. "Marjorie Willis," he said, pointing after the librarian. "Librarian, indoor gardening enthusiast, our demon's next organ donor."

Sam ignored him, circling around to a wooden table where he could keep the librarian in view. Alex sat down in the chair next to Sam, Lucifer across from him, staring expectantly at the Winchester. The hunter shifted, leaning slightly towards Alex to see the librarian, and Lucifer mimicked him, blocking his view. Sam leaned further, and once against the devil leaned as well. Alex found herself leaning slightly away from Sam as his head invaded her personal space, letting out a harsh breath of air until he straightened again. "Relax," she muttered. "I've got eyes on her."

Sam returned to his original position straight up, and Lucifer did the same, crossing his arms. "Come on, Sam," he finally said. "Talk to me. It's been months."

"Don't you dare," Alex added quietly, glaring up at Sam.

"You know what, you are no fun." Lucifer pointed a finger at her, and Alex rolled her eyes. "And a little ironic, Miss I-can't-go-five-minutes-without-needing-affection."

The young angel opened her mouth in a retort, but quickly shut it again, realizing where they were. In retaliation, however, she stuck her tongue out, and Lucifer did the same, the tips of his forked tongue flicking.

Sam rolled his eyes at their childish exchange, but instead of commenting, he simply put his bag on the table and pulled out the pile of manilla folders, both from the recent string of murders and the ones from four years ago. Alex took one of the originals and flipped it open, choosing to focus on the case instead of the devil across from her.

...

Hours passed, and Alex eventually opted out of staring at the files. The sky was quickly growing dark as she turned the page in her Agatha Christie novel, eyebrows rising as the plot thickened and yet another man was found brutally murdered. Her gaze drifted to her left as Marjorie Willis wheeled a cart down the main aisle before she returned her eyes to the words on the page.

"Average annual rainfall — Hackberry, Texas . . ." Lucifer trailed off and dropped the book he was reading on the table with a loud sigh. Alex didn't bother looking up until everyone around them sprang to life. The men and woman started seizing violently, brutally banging their heads against the table. Beside her Sam stiffened, and the angel blinked in surprise, confused as she saw past the devil's trick to the silhouettes of the very same people sitting in their seats as if nothing was happening. Sam, however, quite clearly couldn't see that; his thumb dug into his palm, and Lucifer flickered, the entire library going back to normal. The devil seemed less than pleased. "Come on, Sam, pay attention to me," he half-begged, arms moving in childish frustration. "I'm bored."

Sam let out a long sigh, but his attention was drawn past the devil. Alex tipped her head as a man in dark clothes and a black leather jacket moved down the main aisle, in the same direction as Marjorie had gone.

Lucifer noticed, too. "Civil war buff?" he joked as Sam got up. With a loud, exaggerated groan, he threw his head back, but let Sam walk away. "Glad he's finally gone," he said when Sam was out of earshot. "We don't get a lot of 'us' time anymore, you know?" He leaned forward, the childish humor replaced by something dark and confident, something Alex rarely saw in his eyes around Sam. "You know, I haven't seen a whole lot of angels around. Must be getting pretty hard to keep all those emotions under wrap when they swing by, hmm? Especially after —"

Alex dropped her book on the table, eyes blazing and wings flaring wide. "If you even dare say Bobby's name I'm gonna go down to hell and kick your ass, you understand me?"

"— Cas." Lucifer leaned back in his chair. "After Cas, obviously." His lips twitched upwards into a sly grin at her spurt of anger, and Alex picked back up her book, angrily turning the page.

She let out a huff, trying her best to quell her frustration. "I'm managing," she spat out, gaze dropping back to her novel.

Lucifer fell silent, and two seconds later Sam slid back into his seat. "Uh, yeah, that's not our guy," he told them, but Alex didn't look up from her book, feathers still bristling with anger that had yet to dissipate. "Apparently it's the boyfriend."

Alex didn't hold back a sudden snort of amusement, but didn't question how that was discovered. Instead, she shifted in her chair, sinking lower as Sam turned back to the crime reports.

...

A few minutes ticked away as Alex stared at the book in her hands, reading the same paragraph over and over as Lucifer's words replayed in her head. She heard Sam try and make a few calls to Dean, but they went unanswered, and only put down the book when Sam shifted, drawing her back into reality. Marjorie Willis and her boyfriend were walking down the main aisle, and Alex watched as the librarian sat down in her chair, while her boyfriend got onto the ledge, leaning over it to kiss her on the lips.

Lucifer wasn't at the table anymore, and the angel blinked in confusion, pushing away the empty feeling that quickly followed. She looked around to find him leaning against the bookshelf behind her, one hand running through his hair in boredom; he gave her a small wave when their eyes met, and Alex pointedly turned back to the couple in front of her. The devil let out a sigh. "I'm pretty sure this guy's the boring kind of chubby chaser," he finally said.

Sam, of course, ignored him, and dialed yet another number, raising it to his ear. Alex heard Dean's "Leave your name, number, and nightmare at the tone," followed by Sam's insistent voice. "Dean, where are you? I'm scoping zero out here." He hung up, and Alex rested her elbows on the table with a long sigh, head dropping into the space provided.

"Not a good sign," Lucifer whispered. Sam turned back to the autopsy reports, and Lucifer wandered forward, stopping behind their chairs to watch. "Huh," he eventually said. "I'm surprised you haven't picked up on that yet." Sticking his hands in his pockets, the devil casually wandered around the table back into his chair. "It's right there . . . in the coroner's reports."

Sam flipped a page up, and Alex leaned closer to him, curious. It was the toxicology findings; several different drugs has a red POSITIVE next to them. Alex grabbed the folder of the second recent victim, turning to the tox screen to find the same thing.

"Yeah," Lucifer agreed. "Uh-huh. In this latest round of killings, our big girl's had traces of heavy tranquilizers in their blood. Yeah? But our demon's strong enough to make fat Betty do whatever he wants to, right? So why does he need the tranqs? Think he's got a bad back?" When both Sam and Alex let the folders fall closed the devil added, "Yeah, whatever's going on here, you know that demon's not coming back to kill anybody."

Sam reached for his phone, and Alex stared incredulously at the archangel. "How . . ." she breathed. "How the hell did you know that?"

Lucifer gave a dark, knowing grin, and the number Sam dialed when to voicemail, leaving the hunter to hang up. The devil frowned in mock concern. "Oh no. That's every cellphone Dean's got. One of them should've picked up by now. Big brother's probably dead."

"Shut up." Sam stared at Lucifer for only a second before grabbing the folders and shoving them in the bag, hurrying away.

Alex jumped to her feet, taking off after her friend. Lucifer didn't follow, but he did speak, tone endearing. "He said 'shut up' to me."

...

Five minutes later Sam led the way down a dark alley and up to a brick building. Alex unlocked the door, and they crept up the stairs to an apartment. Sam picked the lock on room 101 and the door creaked open. Lucifer strolled through. "This is what I'm talking about, Sam," he explained, leaning against the wall. "Real interaction again. I miss that the rapier wit, the wittier rape." Sam ignored him and walked past, and the devil frowned. "Come on." He clasped his wrist across his stomach and pouted innocently. "I'll be good."

Alex strolled further into the empty room while Sam checked under the mattress, pushing her grace out for any signs of something strange.

"I'll even help you solve your little Nancy Drew mystery of whatever," the devil persisted, and Alex snorted. "Cross my heart," he added, voice a little hurt. He wandered a little closer when Sam moved over to the desk. "No note." Alex moved towards Sam as he unlocked the drawers, and, pulling open the bottom one, picked up a small box. "Hmm," the devil hummed. "A cell phone scrambler. But Luci, those are illegal." He let out a small grin when Alex made an amused sound at his monologuing, which only spurred him to continue. "Think, Sam. Maybe this has something to do with Dean's telephone blackout."

Sam quickly searched the rest of the drawer, but, finding nothing, got to his feet and hurried over to the dresser, and Alex watched, crossing her arms as Lucifer moved to stand beside her.

"There's nothing supernatural in the room," she said as Sam searched through the drawers of clothing. "Maybe we should drive around town and see if we can spot his car, huh?"

Lucifer shook his head, and when Alex looked up he had his thumb and middle finger resting against his mouth, pointer tapping his forehead as he watched Sam work. "Big brother will be dead by then. Keep looking, Sam." Sam pulled open the top drawer and pushed the contents around; he turned around when he found nothing, but paused.

Alex watched as he turned back the drawer and rapped twice on the bottom, then pulled the whole thing out and dumped it on the bed, dropping it upside down. A metal box was tied to the underside, and Sam pulled it free to open the squeaking lid. The young angel hurried around to see the papers he held in his hand. "Hmm," the devil hummed. "Latin. Not suspicious at all."

Sam grabbed the papers and hurried out of the apartment, leaving Alex and Lucifer to follow him out into the alley. Alex moved to walk on his left, the devil on his right. "I've never seen this spell before," Sam finally said, staring down at the page.

"No," Lucifer agreed, "but you've seen this type."

"A demon summoning spell?" Sam glanced over at the archangel in confusion. "Why?"

"To summon a demon, jackass." Lucifer pointed at the paper. "Start looking at who."

"Sam," Alex snapped. "Stop talking to him, dammit," she rounded on the Winchester, causing him to stop in his tracks. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Hey, I don't like it any more than you do," Sam started, and Lucifer made a hurt noise, "but he can help save Dean."

" 'Save Dean?' " Alex repeated scoffingly. "You serious? He doesn't give a rat's ass about Dean. Whatever he's doing, it's just a means to an end. If you give him an inch, he's gonna take a mile, Sam. I've seen it happen, so if you're in control here —"

"Alex. I know. But Dean's in trouble." Sam turned to face the devil, who was grinning. "Okay. What do you mean."

"Look at the page," Lucifer prompted, and when Sam did he added, "You know that handwriting."

"I know this handwriting," Sam said simultaneously. He looked over at Alex. "It's Nora's."

"Nora?" Alex repeated. "Wiccan Witch of the West Nora?" Sam hurried off towards the car and Alex ran after him. "Hey!" she yelled. "Wait for me."

...

Alex brushed her fingers over the locked door of the Wiccan's Web door, and Sam turned the knob, stepping inside. Alex followed, angel blade slipping into her hands, and her head tipping in confusion when Lucifer wasn't on the other side. Sam drew his gun and crossed the room, opening one of the wooden double doors that led into Nora's office. Alex followed, and there they found Lucifer, sitting at the desk with his hands casually resting on his head. Sam looked around and, finding no one, slipped his gun into his jeans and stepped through the door.

Alex saw Lucifer give a tiny shake of his head of no, no, don't do that, and she pushed her grace out to feel the presence of another human just inside the room. "Sam—"

Nora jumped out as Sam took another step, swinging something large and black down over the hunter's head. Alex jumped forward and Lucifer cringed. "Ay caramba!" he winced, holding his head. "Mi cabeza!"

Alex pulled Nora away as Sam stumbled to his feet, wrenching the black vase out of her hands and throwing it across the room. Sam spun around to face her, eyes blazing. "Nora, stop it!" he snapped as the woman struggled. "Calm down! What is this?" He held up the demon summoning spell, voice rising into a shout. "What is this? Why did Jeffrey have a demon summoning spell in your handwriting?"

Nora went limp in Alex's grasp, and she let go, stepping away as the woman trembled. "Everything's happening the way he said, the way he planned it," she whimpered, the fight in her gone.

"What plan?!" Sam snapped.

Nora didn't answer. "You can't help — you can't change it," she continued, numbly shaking her head, voice and eyes distant.

"Hit her." Lucifer got up out of the chair and circled around the desk.

Alex glared at him, shaking her head. "Luce," she scolded, mouth hanging open in disbelief. "No."

Nora sat down on the plaid couch, and Sam looked down at her. "Nora, tell me what's going on."

"Sam," Lucifer reiterated, this time with more force, "shake her up. She knows what happened to Dean. Get that stupid cow to focus, will you?"

Sam obeyed, dropping to his knees and pointed a finger in her face, voice growing sharp. "Nora, listen to me! Whatever it is, you should be a lot more scared of me right now because I'm two inches away from you, and I can make you talk. Do you understand me?"

Lucifer nodded approvingly, shooting Alex a look, and she rolled her eyes. However, she reluctantly had to admit that it worked; Nora started crying, finally giving in. "It's my son," she sobbed. "He has my son!" Nora broke down sobbing.

"Who? The demon?"

Nora looked up at Sam, eye wide. "Not the demon. Jeffrey!"

"Jeffrey?" Alex's wings flared out as she connected the dots. "Son of a bitch. So you mean to say that the guy who you exorcised the demon is he's trying to get said demon back? Great. Really." She crossed her arms. "I mean, at least demons are predictable. Angels are predictable. Vampires and ghosts are all predictable? Humans? Not at all." Lucifer voiced his agreement, and Alex sighed. "Okay. I can search the town. Maybe I can at least recognize Dean's soul."

"Yeah," Sam agreed, moving to sit on the corner of the desk. "Do that."

"What is she talking about?" Nora looked over at Alex. "Is she —"

"Angel," Alex explained curtly, leaning against the wall. "Yeah, we're real." She closed her eyes and let her grace trickle outwards, slowly but surely working her way out of the building.

"I kept tabs on Jeffrey after the exorcism," she heard Nora say, voice sounding like it was in the distance, and not five feet from where she stood. "I even sent him care packages in the hospital, but he never responded. And then, not long ago, he came to me. He seemed healthy, put together, except he wanted to know if there was a way to summon the demon back. He said he'd been doing some research. It was mostly nonsense, but he was convinced it was possible."

"You really knocked the cork out of her piehole," Lucifer said, and Alex smirked, pushing her grace out further and further, touching every soul she could find in hopes that it was Dean.

"I sent him away," Nora continued. "I told him to get some more help. The next day, he called me." Her voice trembled. "He put my son on the phone. He had taken him from his dorm room." Alex heard movement, and then Nora's voice was somewhere different. "I gave him everything. The ritual, the sigils. But he kept my boy. And then he sent me this."

Alex heard a drawer slide open and she curiously pulled her grace in to feel the human flesh. She opened her eyes in confusion. She heard Sam open the box and close it again, and before Alex could ask what it was Nora said, "My baby's ear. He cut it off because the ritual didn't work."

"Well . . ." Sam finally said, "that demon gave up some serious state secrets. Would have gone into big lockdown in Hell. Not so easy to bring him back."

"Jeffrey didn't care. He told me to find out what went wrong or else. Finally, I found a spell that would work for sure. And that's when he said I had another job to do."

"Which was what?"

"When you came, I was suppose to send you to Jeffrey." Nora trembled slightly at her next words. "He left a trail of bodies to make sure of it."

Alex's grace hit a wall, and she frowned, pushing against the sigils. Unable to get inside, however, she reeled her grace back into her body.

" 'Blood of the exorcist?' " Sam was holding an old book that contained the summoning spell.

"Strongest summoning I've ever seen," Nora agreed. "Requires the blood of the exorcist who banished him — your brother. You see? It's all part of Jeffrey's plan?"

Alex got to her feet, and Sam glanced back at her. "Well?" he asked, voice urgent. "Where's Dean?"

"No idea." Alex walked over to the humans, feathers rustling as she shrugged. "I searched the whole town; couldn't find his soul."

"He's probably dead," Lucifer added in a stage whisper, hand coming up over his mouth.

Alex ignored him. "I did find a building, though. Couldn't search it; too many sigils. It's on the west edge of town. If I had to place a bet, that's where they are."

"Okay, well, new plan." Sam dropped the book in front of Nora and pointed at the open pages. "Tracking spell. Bavarian, Egyptian, I don't care — dealer's choice. Use the flesh of the body to find the body." He put the small box with the ear down on the book before adding, "And Dean." Nora shook her head, eyes wide, and Sam's voice grew sharp. "Do you want the ear or the kid?"

Lucifer grinned. "You're giving me the chills."

Nora shakily nodded and set to work, and Alex crossed her arms, watching her move. "So all of these killings were Jeffrey," she finally said. "So what? He's actually a serial killer? That — that list he said the demon drilled into his mind was his? Wow."

"Here." Nora pointed to the map of the town she had spread out on the table, where a watermark had moved to a small one block radius on the west side of town. "They're here."

"Okay. Let's go."

...

Ten minutes later Alex jumped out of Nora's, gaze flitting across the large warehouse in front of her. Large sigils were painted on the windows high above, and Alex's grace shuddered as she followed Sam towards the a brush of her grace the door sprang open, and the minute she stepped through the door Alex felt the pressure pushing down. However, her grace was able to push back against it and escape, swirling through the building; one of the sigils must have been done incorrectly. "There." She pointed down the hallway before picking up speed. "Demon."

"Not much to work with. No natural gift." Alex heard the voice before she even reached the red door. "I'll probably burn this meat off on my way to Vegas."

Sam slipped past her as she threw open the door, fingers clenched around a metal pipe. Alex ran after him and slid to a stop as and a man spun around, blood covering the right side of his face and shoulder. The Winchester swung the pipe, and the demon lunged forward, wrestling it away from him with several well-aimed punches and throwing the Winchester across the room. Sam hit the ground with a thud, and Alex jumped forward, positioning herself between Sam and the demon as her angel blade fell into her hand.

"Alex!" she heard Sam warn, but she held her ground. "Don't kill him!"

"Ah. One of heaven's finest," the demon taunted, stalking forward, eyes flashing black. "Can't say I'm —" Suddenly he froze mid-step, and his head fall back so he could look upwards. "You've got to be kidding me," he snarled, and Alex looked up to see a devil's trap painted on the ceiling above.

"You let go of my son!" Nora shakily walked to stand by Alex, and she held out an arm, motioning for her to stop.

The demon laughed. "Where do you keep coming from?" he growled, shifting forward, only to be blocked once again by the devil's trap. Dean circled around so he could stand on her other side, and Alex let her angel blade slide back up into her sleeve, turning her body to look at the Winchester. Dean held up a hand, signally that he was fine.

Movement had Alex's head snapping up to watch a young man pull himself to his feet. In his hands was the demon knife, and he took three, unsteady steps toward the demon, a snarl on his face.

Dean reacted the fastest. In one swift movement he drew his gun, and a shot echoed through the dark building. The man — Alex immediately assumed it to be Jeffrey — stopped, eyes going wide. A second shot brought him to his knees, and the man drew in a bubbly breath before collapsing to the ground. Alex blinked in surprise at the dead man, but turned her attention back to the more pressing matter at hand.

Nora held out a hand and took a deep breath. "Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas —"

The demon laughed as Nora continued the exorcism, looking over at Dean. "He'll be back, you know," he promised. "Back in black."

"Go to hell."

"—omnis congregatio et sect diabolica. Ergo, draco maledicte, ecclesiam tuam, secura tibi facias libertate servire, te rogamus, audi nos!"

The demon threw back its head in a painful scream, and black smoke poured from his mouth, spiraling out into the sky. The boy he was possessing dropped to his knees, and Nora hurried forward to hold him as he slowly became conscious. "Mom?" the young man finally got out.

Nora pulled her son close as his eyes fluttered shut. "I got you," she promised.

Alex quickly crossed the room to kneel down beside her. "Let me see," she insisted carefully, reaching out to feel the side of the boy's head. The ear was gone, but Alex stretched her grace into the wound, stitching together what she could and searching for any other signs of damage. "He's going to be okay," she promised, pulling back. She looked down at the dead body a few feet away. "I take it that's Jeffrey."

"Yeah." Dean walked over to him and waved his brother over. "Come here and help me with this."

Alex stood up, and Lucifer appeared beside her, smirking. "What's so funny?" she grumbled, watching as the two Winchesters hoisted the body onto Dean's back.

Lucifer didn't answer her question. "I see you got Dean back. Glad I could help." He looked down at Alex's face and frowned in mock hurt. "You still don't trust me. You know I'll never lie to you, Alex."

Alex glanced over her shoulder to see that none of the humans in the room here paying her any attention. "I don't trust you with Sam," the young angel said brusquely. "Never mind about me; the only reason you're here is to beat him into the ground."

The devil hesitated, and Alex watched as the two Winchesters made their way to the door. "I wouldn't say that's the only reason," he finally defended. Then he was gone, and Alex hurried after her friends.

...

The sun was coming up when they got back to the motel. Alex unlocked the door, watching as Dean promptly collapsed on the far bed. Sam sat down on his own, but the angel stayed by the door, leaning against it. "God," Dean muttered, burying his face into the comforter. "Oh."

"So, Jeffrey was just pretending to be the victim," Sam finally said. "Way back in that farmhouse during the exorcism, h-he was just . . . acting."

"He was a psychopath, Sam," Dean mumbled against the sheets. "That's all they do all the time is act. Act like they're normal, act like they're not balls-to-the-walls crazy."

Sam didn't disagree. "You going to sleep?" he asked instead.

"Damn straight. Screw consciousness, that's what I say."

Alex huffed in amusement. "I'm going to go grab some breakfast," she volunteered. "Let me guess; something a side of bacon and a lot of coffee." When Dean groaned something of a 'yes' she nodded. "Okay. Be back in five." She closed the door and strolled over to their car, gaze wandering up towards the sky. The angel let out a long breath, wings falling down in hurt as she watched a young couple walk out of their motel room, fingers threaded together as they laughed in quiet voices. An ache settled over her heart, and she did her best to push it away.

Thunder crackled in the distance as the angel reached their car parked on the far side of the lot, and with a sigh she looked up at the grey clouds. Not keen on getting wet, she reluctantly turned back around and crossed the pavement once again to their room. She jiggled open the rickety door and stopped.

Fire filled the room, crackling on the floor and on the bed. Sam sat with his back to her, shoulders tense, and the devil stood beside him, leaning forward with a dark laugh. "Come on!" he was yelling. "Say it with me now. Good morning Vietnam!"

"Lucifer!" Alex stepped forward, eyes wide and voice sharp. "No."