Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or any of its characters.

Yeah, so I'm switching Hollywood Babylon with one of my own cases I thought up the other day.

You know, a lot of you have been asking me about how Jared looks, because so far all you guys know that his eyes are caramel brown. I'll leave it up to you to imagine, and if you guys actually get it right, I'll tell you!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed!

CHAPTER TWENTY- SEVEN- SONG OF THE MAENAD

Worst. Case. Ever.

You must be wondering why I sound like a bratty teenager, so let's start at the beginning.

It all began when Pretty Boy zapped us halfway across America for a hunt.

And what were we hunting?

A maenad.

A frigging maenad.

And this wasn't any pretty, Maryann- from- True-Blood maenad, either.

(Was nothing sacred?)

Oh no, this was an ugly, flesh-eating monster.

And, uh, the whole eating men and children thing?

Myth.

Maenads, apparently, liked chowing down on girls.

Virgin girls, specifically.

Bit brutal, really, considering they're kinda girls themselves.

It wasn't their fault, technically.

Something was converting the women in town to violently PMS'ing, vicious creatures.

The remaining girls were food.

Good times.

The transformation itself, according to Castiel (and what was the whole deal with Bambi calling him Cas, anyway?) was excruciatingly painful.

And slow.

Which was how Bambi ended up pitching a fit.

I almost told Angel Boy to take care of it himself.

Both of them needed a break.

After the whole Madison business, and Odette finally telling us the truth, we needed some down time.

Sam was spacing out, and the kid looked even skinnier than usual, if that was possible.

But they refused, and that was how we ended up with a terrified girl tied to a chair.

"Please," She whimpered. "Just let me go. This isn't my fault!"

"I'm sorry."

I was, but I didn't have a choice.

The girl was turning, and there was nothing we could do to save her.

Sam didn't even wince, and that was when I knew exactly how bad it was, because Sam always had a problem with this sort of thing.

I raised my gold dagger (angelic intel, never thought I'd live to see the day) and was about to cut her head off when Odette caught my arm.

"What?" I snapped.

"You can't kill her," Bambi pleaded, eyes bigger than ever.

"She's innocent, she doesn't deserve this!"

I sighed, trying to be patient.

"Nobody deserves this, kid, but I got no choice."

"But-"

I lost it, then.

Big mistake.

"Shut up, Odette! You think life is a fairy tale, and the choices you're gonna make are always gonna be easy, is that it?"

"That girl-" I jabbed a finger at her, at it.

"Has to die, and you damn well know it!"

I should have stopped right there, but of course, I didn't.

"What's it to you, anyway?" I sneered.

"Just because you shot your boyfriend in the head doesn't mean we stop doing what's right!"

I really, really could've used a brain-to-mouth filter right about then.

The three of us froze.

You could've heard a pin drop in the room.

Odette flinched.

I opened my mouth to apologize, but the hurt on her face shut me up.

What had I said?

I felt like the biggest jerk in existence.

"If…. if that's what you think," Bambi blinked furiously, wiping her cheek.

She ran out the door.

The next thing I knew, I got a fist to the face by a livid Sam.

"What the hell was that for?" I yelled, rubbing my jaw.

He looked close to hitting me again.

"For?"

"How could you say that to her?"

I looked away guiltily, but spoke, nonetheless.

"I can't mollycoddle her, Sam, she can't just get teary-eyed over every person we can't save!"

Sam roughly shoved me.

"She's fifteen, Dean, how do you expect her to react? Especially after…"

After Jared.

"If you hurt her, I swear I will break your face, Dean, brother or no."

I made a mental note not to mess with Sam when he was in his mother hen mode.

But he was right.

I was a fool for saying that to sweet, innocent Bambi.

"She….." I swallowed. "She knows I didn't mean any of that, right, Sammy?"

Sam glared at me.

"You idiot. Odette's not me, Dean, she doesn't know that you don't mean half the things you say."

I jumped (it was a completely manly jump, if you were curious) as he appeared behind me.

"You shouldn't have said that," Castiel looked at me disapprovingly.

I scowled at him.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious."

I turned away from him.

"But she'll understand when she comes back, right, Sam? When I apologize to her?"

Castiel just looked at me sadly, as if I'd kicked his grandmother or something.

"What?" I was getting worried.

And just like that, Sam stopped glaring at me, flopping down on the bed.

"Dean, has it ever occurred to you that Odette might not want to come back?"

~Supernatural~

She was coming back.

She had to.

I was in a bad mood, pacing the floor restlessly.

I'd just made a fifteen-year-old girl cry.

Great.

Just great.

Sam had returned to glowering at me.

I gave him five minutes before he started punching me again.

I called Odette for the fifth time in two hours.

It went straight to voicemail.

"Odette. I'm sorry, I really am. I shouldn't have said any of that. Just call me. Cas and Sam want you back. I want you back. Just….. come home, Bambi."

No answer.

Two more hours passed, and I cursed.

I hadn't wanted to admit it before, but Bambi like one of those annoying sisters you never wanted, but couldn't help loving anyway.

I'd pushed her away from the beginning, and when she'd finally trusted us enough to tell us everything, I'd thrown it back in her face as soon as I got a chance.

I was panicking, and Dean Winchester does not panic.

Sam was working himself up into a fit, and Odette didn't even pick up the phone when he called.

Cas couldn't find her, which was a majorly bad sign.

I dialed her again.

"It's no use," Cas tossed away my phone. "You have to find her."

I shot him a dirty look, but got up nevertheless.

Sam followed me.

I had a bad feeling about this.

~Supernatural~

"Damn it, where are you, Bambi?" I growled, looking for the third time down the street.

She wasn't stupid.

Angry or not, Odette was smart enough to come back.

I froze as I called her again, craning my head to see in the dark alleyway.

"Sam," I called, and he turned around, hearing it too.

"Oh, no," He breathed out.

That about summed it up.

No, no, no, no, I thought, flipping on my flashlight.

I stepped down the alleyway, disbelieving.

It couldn't be Odette's phone I heard ringing.

All doubts were cleared from my mind when I saw Odette's BlackBerry on the cement.

What had I done?

~Supernatural~

"They're trying to summon their god, Dionysus," Castiel led us through the warehouse silently.

"They needed one last sacrifice, the purest soul they could find," Castiel said grimly.

And Odette fit the bill.

Sam was white and ashen-faced.

"If anything happens to her….."

I closed my eyes.

This was my entire fault.

We crouched down, stealthily moving forward.

I could see the maenad now.

Then Odette screamed in pain, and I threw caution to the winds and ran out.

We reached just in time to see the maenad plunge a knife into Odette's stomach.