SECTION TWO

Back at the motel…

Dean was lying on one bed, holding an ice pack to his head, with Angel in similar condition on the other bed. Her forehead had a nasty bruise and gash on it but other than that they were both generally unscathed.

Sam opened the door and studied the two of them, "How you guys doing?"

"We're in pain.That's how we're doing." Dean answered as Angel just lifted a thumbs down, "I think we both might have concussions."

Sam stifled a chuckle, "Either of you want aspirin?"

"No thanks, House." Dean answered as Angel just put up another thumbs down earning a puzzled look from her youngest brother, "Hurts worse when she talks." Dean grimaced as he sat up, "So, demons, huh?"

"Yeah." Sam rolled his eyes as he walked deeper into the room and closed the door, "So much for miracles."

"And what the hell happened with Alastair again?"

"I told you, he tried to fling me or whatever." Sam flicked his hand in demonstration as he walked over to the coffeemaker, "And it didn't work, so he got spooked and bailed."

"Why couldn't he fling you this time?" Angel groaned out as she peaked out from under her ice pack, "You got thrown around real good last time like the rest of us."

"I thought it hurt worse when you talked?"

"Well, color me curious, Sammy."

Sam sighed at her and Dean's equally disbelieving look before turning back to the coffeemaker, "I dont know why he couldn't this time."

"You know what, Sam?" Angel rolled her eyes as she placed the ice pack back on her forehead, "Whatever secrets you want to keep is your business. Nobody, not me, Dean or even the freakin angels can make you be honest, but don't treat us like we're idiots."

"What? Angel, I'm not keeping secrets."

"Yeah, I don't even have to be looking at you to know you've got your lying face on right now."

"I'm not lying!"

"Whatever. This is a waste of time, guys." Dean dismissed them before getting back to business, "Did you go back and q-and-a the dead kid?"

"Didn't have to." Sam walked over to sit on the bed beside Angel as he held up a thin notebook, "Bobby called. He did some digging."

"And?"

"He thinks we're right. Local reaper's gone. Not just gone- kidnapped."

Angel carefully sat up and put her icepack on the nightstand, "Why the hell would demons kidnap a reaper?"

"Listen to this." He opened the notebook to read from it, "'And he bloodied death under the newborn sky- sweet to taste, but bitter when once devoured.'" He looked up between them, "It's from a very obscure, very arcane version of Revelations. Basically, you kill a reaper under the solstice moon, tomorrow night, by the way, you got yourself a broken seal."

"Okay, well, how are they planning on ganking a reaper?" Angel questioned, "You can't kill death."

"I don't know. Maybe demons can." Sam scoffed, "Where the hell are the angels is what I want to know. We could really use their help for once."

Dean shrugged, "It looks like we're gonna have to take care of this one ourselves."

"And how do you propose we swing in and save the friendly neighborhood reaper?" Angel raised a brow, "Reapers are invisible. The only way people can see them is if they're already dead or knocking on the door. We're neither."

"Well, if ghosts are the only ones that can see them…" Dean put the ice pack back to his head with a smirk, "Then we become ghosts."

"Yup." Angel grabbed her own ice pack and placed it back on her head, "We've definitely got concussions."

"Sounds crazy, I know."

"It doesn't sound crazy." Sam shook his head, "It is crazy." At Dean's deepening smirk, Sam motioned, "How?"

Dean's eyes traveled to Angel who frowned in return, "What?"

The next day…

Dean opened the door to reveal Pamela with Angel right behind her. He backed up to let them enter as Sam stood up from his seat.

Pamela felt for the counter and then the chair as she shook her head at the three of them, "I can't even begin to tell you how crazy you three are."

"Well, Pamela…" Sam smiled at her, "You're a sight for sore eyes."

Angel rolled her eyes at her youngest brother as Dean looked down to the floor. Pamela turned to him and lowered her sunglasses far enough to reveal white plastic eyes.

"Aw, that's sweet, grumpy." She promptly put her sunglasses back in their place as Sam began to look uncomfortable, "What do you say to deaf people?" She huffed, "Which one of you brainiacs came up with astral projection?"

Dean raised a hand, "Yo."

"Of course." She scoffed, "Chachi." Dean turned to Sam and Angel and mouthed 'Chachi?' earning shrugs from both, "So, let's be clear. You want to rip your souls out of your bodies and take a little stroll through the spirit world?" She earned a 'Mm-hm' from Dean and folded her arms, "Do you have any idea how heavy-duty insane that is?"

"Maybe, but that's where the reaper is, so…"

"So, it's nuts."

"Not if you know what you're doing."

"You don't know what you're doing."

"No, but you do."

"Yeah, I do. And guess what?" She burled up in agitation, "I'm sick of being hauled back into your angel-demon, Soc-Greaser crap!"

"Look." Dean's eyes narrowed in just as much agitation, "I'd love to be kicking back with a cold one, watching Judge Judy, too-"

"Nice." She scoffed, "More blind jokes?"

"You know what I mean!"

"Alright, just chill out. Everybody." Angel stepped between them before giving Dean a dismissive look and turning to Pamela, "Pam, right now it's all hands on deck. We're talking about the end of times here, okay?"

"That means no more tasseled leather pants, no more Ramones CD's…" Dean interjected loudly, "No more nothing."

Angel all but snapped at him in the face to get him to shut up. Pamela wasn't having anything he was spouting. Her body was turned away from them and she was shaking her head in irritation. She only turned when Angel took her arm.

"P… We really need your help."

Later on…

Sam closed the curtains as Dean flicked closed a lighter and dropped it on the table next to several candles burning around the motel room. He brought one of the candles over to a bedside table, shielding the flame with one hand.

"Tell me something, geniuses." Pamela spoke as she took a seat on a chair between the beds, "Even if you do break into the veil and you find the reaper, how you gonna save it?"

Sam and Angel closed the other curtains in the room as Dean smirked, "With style and class."

"You're gonna be three walking pieces of fog who can't touch or move anything. You'll be defenseless, hotshot."

Sam smirked, "I seem to recall a bunch of ghosts beating the crap out of us."

"Yeah, well, they had plenty of time to practice."

"We'll figure it out." Angel cut in, "We always do."

"Wow, bunch of heroes. Alright." Pamela took a heavy breath before patting one of the beds, "Lie down and close your eyes."

Later on…

Angel, Sam and Dean were all spread out on the beds. Angel was lying diagonally on one, while Sam and Dean laid side by side.

"Animum vult decipi, ergo decipiatur. Vis, vis, vis." She leaned back in her seat, "Okay, that's it. Showtime."

"Well…" Dean sat up and frowned as he looked around the room, "Nothing like shooting blanks." He turned to Pamela, "What's plan B?"

Pamela, though, didn't hear him and continued silently sitting between the beds. Dean looked from Angel's sleeping body to Sams before looking over his other shoulder and noticed both of them standing beside him.

"Oh…" He then looked to his own unconscious body and smirked, "I'm so feeling up Demi Moore."

"Alright, so…" Pamela earned their attention, "I'm assuming you're somewhere over the rainbow. Remember I have to bring you back." She stood up and walked over to Angel as the three watched her, "I'll whisper the incantation in your ear." She leaned over Angel to do exactly that, "You have got a great rack."

Angel chuckled as both of her brothers turned to her, "What'd she-"

"What'd she say?"

"No idea." Angel smirked as she turned to leave, "Let's get to work, boys."

On the street…

The three Winchesters walked along the street as they studied the surroundings around them. Everything around them was shaded blue, like the hotel room was when they woke up. A jogger ran right through Sam without noticing. Dean laughed, watching her go, before turning back to Sam.

"That was wild."

Sam gave him an incredulous look as he stuck his arm into Sam's chest, all the way up to the elbow. Sam looked down at it, then up at Dean with a now stony face. Angel rolled her eyes at the two of them as she crossed her arms.

"Am I making you uncomfortable?"

"Get out of me."

Dean pulled his arm back with a frown, "You're such a prude."

Angel walked between them, "Come on."

"Oh, man, we've been spooking this town for hours." Dean said as they crossed the street, "No demons, no black smoke. I say we hit Victoria's Secret and get our peep on, huh?"

"Or." Angel motioned up and to the right, "We go check out the kid in the window."

The two of them look up to notice a kid was looking out an upstairs window at them. It's the same face from the obituary photo earlier: Cole Griffith.

Sam frowned, "Am I crazy or is he looking at us?"

"That's because we know him."

"We do?"

"Newspaper." Dean interjected, "Cole Griffith, the last person to die in this town."

Inside Cole's house…

Mrs. Griffith opened the door to Cole's room and came in. Her sad eyes studied the room carefully.

"Cole?" She wrapped the bathrobe around herself tighter, "It's Mom… Your dad thinks I'm crazy…" Her eyes swept over the room in despair, "Are you here? A picture frame fell over. I could have sworn it was you, baby." Her voice dropped to a whisper, "Are you still here with me?"

A soccer ball was sitting on the dresser still, but soon started spinning in circles. Mrs. Griffith stared with wide eyes as the ball flew past her and bounced off the door.

She put her hands to her head in shock, "Oh, my god!"

Turning, she quickly left the room, running straight through the Winchesters on her way. Cole, who was standing by the dresser, hurriedly threw more balls at the three of them.

"Stop!" Dean dodged two of them before looking at the kid with wide eyes, "How are you doing that?"

Cole glared, "Who are you?"

"Cole, just relax." Angel soothed, "Its okay. We're not here to hurt anyone."

"How do you know my name?"

"Look, this isn't gonna be easy to hear, but… you're…" Sam faltered a little as he tried to find the words, "Dead. You're a spirit. Us too."

"Yeah, thanks, Haley Joel." Cole rolled his eyes, "I know I'm dead. What do you want?"

"We just want to talk."

"About what?"

Later on, in the kitchen…

Mrs. Griffith poured herself a glass of vodka and took a sip. Cole was leaning on the wall watching her as the Winchesters all sat at the dining room table watching him.

"I was outside all morning." Cole turned around to face them, "They tell you to be careful when it's cold."

"Cold air can cause an asthma attack?"

Cole nodded at Deans question, "But then I was in my room." He shrugged, "It happened so fast. I called out for my mom, but nothing came out. Everything started spinning, and then I was just standing there…" He leaned on the table, "Looking down at my body."

Angel nodded, "That's when you saw the suit?"

"Creepy old guy in a black suit. He wanted me to go with him, but…" He looked back at his mother sadly, "I didn't want to go."

"Reaper." Angel eyed her brothers before turning back to the kid, "Did he just leave? Or did you do something to get rid of him?"

"I didn't. The black smoke did."

Dean's eyes widened a little, "Black smoke?"

"It was everywhere. I hid in the closet, and when I came out, it was gone, and so was he."

Dean leaned forward, "Do you know where the smoke went?"

"No, but I know where it is." When the lights started flickering Cole jumped and everyone else looked around, "They're back!"

"Who?"

Cole vanished, causing the Winchesters to reel around. A strong blast of wind hit them in the face before something white and human-shaped flew through the room and up the stairs.

Sam huffed, "Another reaper."

"Hey! Hey!" Dean yelled as the three of them got up and rushed over to the stairs, "Wait! We need to talk to you!"

The three of them stared as a woman, Tessa the Reaper to be exact, descended the stairs. Her eyes were locked onto the eldest Winchesters knowingly.

"Angel."

Sam and Dean both glance over at Angel, who was still just as confused as them, "Sorry, we know each other?"

"We go way back."