"The same cut." Sam nodded towards Lacey Lambrini's corpse. She had been discovered a couple miles away from her home, badly concealed in a sewage drain. Now, the cops had the area closed off with police tape and her body was covered with a black tarp. Sam flashed his and the angel's badge as they stepped into the crime scene. "FBI." he said, nodding to the other officers.

As they walked towards the body, Castiel struggled to put on a pair of latex gloves, trying to force the right hand glove on the left. "No, Cas, um, here…" In a flash, Sam switched the gloves so that they were on correctly.

"Sorry, Sam." the angel muttered. "Dean usually-"

"No problem, Cas." He stepped up to the corpse and pulled back the sheet, revealing her face and most importantly, neck. "Now look here, doesn't that match the slash on the other victim's neck?"

"Yes."

"Then what does that tell us?"

Castiel paused, thinking. "They have a… connection?"

"Alright, Cas. Bravo. But what is the connection?"

"Um…"

"If the wounds are related, that suggests that the victims' killers could be the same person. One killer." Sam explained in a hushed tone, snapping his gloves off and cracking his knuckles. "And get this: I was up doing research last night, you know, on what this thing could be, and since we know it's not a vampire, it has to be a ghoul. I really don't think it could be anything else. The only problem is, ghouls shouldn't be feeding off live humans. They typically go for the dead ones. Maybe they're getting bored of rotten meat?"

Castiel nodded. "What else did you find out about these… fiends?"

"They can shapeshift into their victims and can only be killed by decapitation. By the looks of her body, she's been dead for awhile too, maybe even longer than her stepfather, Phillip."

"We should get back to Dean and tell him about the hunt. I'm sure it would lift his spirits to hear the case is progressing."

"Yeah, you're doing a good job, Cas. You'll be as good as a hunter as Dean in no time." Sam assured him, not seeing the secret smile Castiel was allowing himself.

"Dean," Sam called, unlocking the motel room door, "I think we found out what it was. It's probably a-"

The pair was greeted by an empty room. "Dean!" Sam yelled, with just the right amount of urgency. "Dammit, Cas, he's gone!"

The younger brother immediately spotted the open window, as well as the broken latch.

"Forced entry." Castiel told him confidently, happy to be getting familiar with hunting lingo. The gleeful feeling drained out of him completely when he fully began to comprehend what this meant. "Dean was taken?"

"Kidnapped. I don't think he tried to leave on his own given the evidence. Damn. Cas, how'd we not see this coming? Leaving him alone, even for half a day?"

"Sam," Castiel said, putting a hand on the man's shoulder, "it's not your fault."

"We need to find him!"

"What should we do first?"

Sam ran his large hands through his rather long hair. "Alright, maybe we could make a list. This is a small town, right? So we make a list of all the possible places a ghoul would love to be. Somewhere where they have access to a lot of bodies, or maybe a lot of people. Like, say, graveyards or airports or something."

Castiel retrieved a napkin off the bedside table and a pen to take notes, like he'd seen Dean do a thousand times.

"Write this down, okay?" Sam was on his laptop, studying a virtual map of the town. "There's two graveyards in the area, one at Goodman Baptist Church and the other is family owned. Just put Goodman. Uh… no airports around…"

"Maybe they could be in a funeral home? There are lots of bodies to be accessed."

"Good point. Now we have, 'Brannigan Funeral Home and Crematory', 'Parker & Son Funeral Home' and 'Henry Family Funeral and Crematory Services'." He pondered this for a moment and then paled. "Two of those places have crematoriums, making it less likely that a ghoul would eat there, considering they have to incinerate the bodies. Cas, remember when we were investigating the death of Phillip Diamandis?"

"Yes."

"Did he act weird? Look different? Have glowing eyes?"

"I - I don't remember."

"Shit, I think that's where he's at. Either that or Goodman Baptist. And I highly doubt the latter."

"We'll find him." Castiel assured the younger Winchester.

"Let's just go." he said, shakily getting up. "He could be dead already."

AN - Thanks to Tricia, dogsbody01 and Singstar4 for their awesome reviews :) Another thanks to EVERYONE who favourited or followed "Thermometers and Head Trauma"; it really means a lot! Hope this chapter satisfies.