The boys easily found Neil's house and made their way there. Fortunately, Neil was home. "I didn't realize the college employed grief counselors." He said, skeptically.

"Oh yeah. Yeah, you talk, we listen. Or maybe throw in a little therapeutic collage, whatever jump-starts the healing." Dean said with a little smile.

Neil tried to dismiss the boys. "Well, I think I'm okay. Thanks."

"Well, you heard what happened to Matt Harrison, right?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, I did."

"Well, we just wanted to make sure you were okay. Grief can make people do crazy things." Sam tried to convey sympathy, compassion with his tone and expression.

Dean offered another smile, with a crinkling around his eyes, that didn't quite seem understanding but to an unassuming stranger might.

The kid seemed a little cagey but it wasn't clear what exactly was making him behave. "Look, I'm sorry about what happened to him. I am. But if Matt killed himself it wasn't 'cause of grief."

"No? Then why?"

"It was guilt. Angie's death was Matt's fault and he knew it." Neil said.

"How was Matt responsible?" Sam asked.

"Well, she really loved that guy. But the night of the accident she walked in on him with another girl."

"Hmm." Dean said, finally having that missing piece that could add up to this being an actual case, with an actual motivation for a spirit seeking revenge.

"She was really torn up, that's why she crashed the car. Um, look, I gotta get ready for work, so ... thanks for the concern, but... seriously, I'll be okay."

Dean turned and exchange a look with his brother before they walked away from the house.

"Well," Dean said, "that vengeful spirit theory's starting to make a little more sense. I mean, hell hath no fury..."

"So if Angela got her revenge on Matt, you think it's over?"

"Well, there's one way to be sure." He said as they got in the car.

"Yeah? What's that?"

"Burn the bones."

"Burn the bones?" Sam asked, then scoffed. "Are you high?" Dean gave a joking assessment of his current sobriety. "Angela died last week!"

"So?"

"So, there's not gonna be bones. There's gonna be a ripe, rotting body in the coffin."

"Since when are you afraid to get dirty? Huh?"

The boys returned the motel, planning to eat and wait until night before the took care of the body. Once it was dark enough, they gather their supplies to unearth the casket and burn the remains.

Dean swatted Mae's hip lightly. "Hey, you wanna help us deal with the body?" Mae gave a disagreeable expression. "What, you too? You just wanna do the fun parts of the job now?"

"Oh no, I'm super jazzed about digging up a corpse. That's totally my favorite thing to do. C'mon man, I'll do it, it's just gross."

"Sam and me can handle it if you..."

"Wanna hand around the motel waiting for you to come home from war?" She asked with an affected accent. "You want me to bake you a cake too?"

Dean smirked a little. "I mean, I wouldn't say no to a pie."

Mae rolled her eyes. "Okay pal, well the three of us can make quick work of this and then, hopefully, we're done with this."

They were back at the cemetery, the trio of hunters working quickly and efficiently to dig down to the coffin. For being such a fresh grave, it was surprisingly hard work. It left them panting and sweating with exertion until they finally stood atop the coffin. Dean cleared off the remain dirt from the surface before turning to Mae.

"Move your ass Red." She raised an eyebrow at Dean's command, "three people is just too many in a grave, okay?" he finished.

"I wish that were the weirdest thing you said to me," she said as she hoisted herself up out of the grave.

"Ladies first." Dean then said to Sam.

"Hold that." Sam handed his flashlight to his brother.

Mae gave a quick scan of the cemetery, just to make sure they were still alone. Sam open the casket, anticipating the worst. But to their surprise it was empty.

"They buried the body four days ago." Dean said.

"So...I mean, there aren't a lot of signs of grave robbers. Was it...empty all along? Otherwise...who the hell took the body?"

Neither brother answered as they thought through the possibilities. "I don't get it." Sam said. He looked a little deeper into the casket and noticed something carved inside. "Look."

"What is that?" Dean asked.

"I'm not sure."

Dean shined his flashlight in the coffin and examined the carving more closely. "I've seen these kind of symbols before." He said with bitter coldness.

Dean, of course, would have been more than happy to confront Angela's father then and there, sweaty and covered in dirt. Together, Mae and Sam managed to talk him down from that plan and convince him to wait back at the motel.

However, back in their room, Dean was still agitated. "Dean, take a breath."

"I don't need you to calm me down, Mae."

"Okay but you need to. You need to get your head on straight."

"His daughter died and he brought her back to life."

"Okay, first we don't know-"

"Those symbols looked just like what was in those ancient Greek books he had in his office."

"We don't know what they mean."

"It's pretty obvious."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot you were such a polyglot."

"A what?"

"Let's say her father did put those symbols in there. Maybe they're for protection, maybe they're to send her safely to the next world, maybe it's her name. We don't know. And we don't know it was him."

"Who else could it be?"

"He's got students. Maybe the boyfriend was so over come with guilt that he felt like he had to bring her back."

"And then killed himself?" Dean asked dismissively.

"You really buy that he slit his own throat?"

"No but... whoever brought her back made her something evil."

"We don't know-"

"There's unholy ground. Plants keep dying. Her body is missing. And there are strange symbols in the casket. Something is up. It's not right Mae and you know it."

"Yeah. I'm not denying that. I just don't know that it's the dad." Mae pressed her lips together and stepped closer to Dean, placing her hand on his chest over his heart. "You know it's not the same-"

He took hold of her wrist and pulled her hand away from him. "Don't. I don't want to have this conversation with you, not right now. Okay?"

She held up her hands in surrender. "Okay, fine. But we can talk if you want. I'm gonna wash up and try to get some sleep before we find out what those symbols mean, okay?"

Dean was restless next to her. Normally, they feel into an easy sleep together. Or messed around. Either would have been preferable to the distance he kept with her then. Sam would have been right if he accused his brother of making this case too personally now. But he was wrong about it being about their dad's death, or even their mom's. If that hadn't been clear to Sam, it should have been now. Maybe Dean had shared more with her than he had with his brother.

She turned over and faced him, studying profile in the dark of the room. She reached out tentatively and brushed her fingers down his arm.

"Dean?" she whispered

He didn't respond at first, thinking if he was quiet long enough, she would think he had fallen asleep. But after a moment he sighed heavily and turned to face her. "What is it?"

Mae knew he didn't or couldn't say what he needed to say and if she pushed, they'd fight and he would shut down. "Promise me something?"

"What?"

"If this...if this is something her dad did, don't lose it on him, okay?"

Dean scoffed. "What do you mean 'lose it'? I'm not gonna kill him or anything. But this guy-"

"If he did it, can't you imagine that he was shocked and desperate and...probably didn't even think it would work. He just wanted to...feel like he could do something to save someone he loved."

Dean's jaw tightened as he considered her words. But that doesn't excuse what he did," Dean said, his tone hard as steel. "If he brought her back, not only did he unleashed a monster but he left his daughter with that, knowing that she's something evil now."

"Maybe she doesn't know she died. Maybe-"

"It doesn't matter. Even if her dad didn't bring her back from the grave, if she's responsible for any of this, we have to put her back, which means the best case scenario is that he has to lose her all over again. How could that be worth it?

"There isn't a good parallel between you-"

"Told you before, I don't want to talk about this. I don't need you second guessing me. Sam has been on my case this whole time. I don't need that crap from you of all people."

"Okay but can you promise me you'll keep a level head? We'll ask what we have to ask, find out what we need so we can deal with this thing?"

Dean looked at her intently for a long time in the dark room before finally nodding reluctantly. "Fine. I promise."

She leaned in and kissed the tip of his nose. "Thank you."

Somehow, the convinced Dean to wait until morning and to do some research before they confronted Dr. Mason. It had done little to cool him off or temper his reaction when the arrived at the man's house. Agitated, Dean pounded heavily at the door.

"Dean. Take it easy, okay?"

Dr. Mason opened the door. "You're Angie's friends, right?"

"Dr. Mason," Sam began gently, before Dean interrupted.

"We need to talk."

"Well, then, come in."

Mae and Sam exchanged a concerned look, both hoping that Dean would keep his temper under control.

"Thanks." Sam said as they walked into the house.

Dean didn't wait to exchange any pleasantries before he jumped in. "You teach Ancient Greek. Tell me," he said as he unfolded the paper he had copied the symbols onto and handed it to Dr. Mason, "what are these?"

He looked at the paper but neither Sam nor Mae saw any signs of recognition, shock, or guilt pass over his face before he looked back up at Dean. "I don't understand. You said this had something to do with Angela."

"It does. Please, just humor me."

The older man looked back down at the paper, reading them more intently now, "They're part of an ancient Greek divination ritual."

Dean, unsatisfied with the answer, pushed. "Used for necromancy, right?"

"That's right."

"See, before we came over here we stopped by the library and did a little homework ourselves. Apparently they used rituals like this one for communicating with the dead. Even bringing corpses back to life. Full-on zombie action." The look in Dean's eyes said he knew he caught the man in ins plan.

It was hardly the first time someone gave them the 'you're crazy' look but there was also a sadness to his expression, Mae thought. "Yeah. I mean, according to the legends. Now, what's all this about?" There was almost a smirk on Dr. Mason's face but not one of guilt.

Mae's eyes flicked to Sam, who seemed to be thinking something similar. Dean however, kept pushing with an intensity that was clearly unrelated to the job. His voice dropped and his eyes grew coldly intense. "I think you know."

"Dean." Sam said, trying to redirect his brother.

"Look, I get it. Okay? There are people that I would give anything to see again. But what gives you the right?"

"Dean!" Sam chided again.

"What are you talking about?"

"What's dead should stay dead!"

"Babe." Mae said gently.

"What?!" Dr. Mason asked, increasingly alarmed and confused.

"Stop it!" Sam raised his voice as the three spoke over each other.

"What you brought back isn't even your daughter anymore. These things are vicious, they're violent, they're so nasty they rot the ground around them. I mean, come on, haven't you seen Pet Sematary?"

"You're insane."

"There it is," Mae muttered to herself.

Dr. Mason walked past them, towards the nearby phone.

Yet, Dean continued, "Where is she?"

"Get out of my house." He said as he started dialing the phone. Dean yanked it out of his hands and hung it back down.

"Dean!" The gentleness in Mae's voice was still there but sterner as she grabbed his arm.

"I know you're hiding her somewhere. Where is she?!" The anger was no longer disguised in his voice.

"Dean! Stop, that's enough!" Sam grabbed Dean's jacket, "Dean, look!" He gestured towards the row of plants by the window. "Beautiful, living plants."

Sam's expression softened as he turned back to Dr. Mason. "We're leaving."

"I'm calling the police." He said, albeit calmer this time.

Dean pulled away from Sam and side stepped Mae as he headed towards the door.

"Sir, we're sorry. We won't bother you again."

"That was you not losing it?" Mae asked as they walked down the steps of the house.

He might have responded to Mae had his brother not started speaking. "What the hell is the matter with you, Dean?"

"Back off." His tone was weary but warning.

Irate, Sam pointed back towards the house. "That man is innocent! He didn't deserve that!"

"Okay, so she's not here, maybe he's keeping her somewhere else."

Sam turned to the side to face his brother as they kept walking. "Stop it! That's enough, okay? Enough!"

"Sam, I know what I'm doing." Dean countered.

"No, you don't." The huff of a laugh Dean gave was dismissive as Sam argued with him. "At all. Dean, I don't scare easy, but man, you're scaring the crap out of me. Back me up here Mae."

"Don't be over-dramatic, Sam. You're not scared of me, are you Mae?"

Neither man gave her a chance to refute or support their argument.

"You're lucky this turned out to be a real case." They stopped walking, "Because if it wasn't you would have just found something else to kill."

Dean was genuinely surprised by the assessment. "Wha-"

"You're on edge, you're erratic - except for when you're hunting, because then you're downright scary. You're tailspinning, man. And you refuse to talk about it and you won't let me help you."

"I can take care of myself, thanks."

"No, you can't. And you know what? You're the only one who thinks you should have to. You don't have to handle this on your own, Dean, no one can."

They interrupted and spoke over each other. "Sam, if you bring up Dad's death one more time I swear..."

"Stop. Please, Dean, it's killing you. Please. We've already lost Dad. We've lost Mom. I've lost Jessica. And now I'm going to lose you too?"

Dean didn't relent entirely but knew there was no point in arguing about this right now. They would only go around in circles. "We better get out of here before the cops come." Sam frowned at him. "I hear you. Okay? Yeah, I'm being an ass. And I'm sorry. But right now we've got a friggin' zombie running around, and we need to figure out how to kill it." Sam laughed. "Right?" Dean asked.

"Our lives are weird, man." Sam scoffed.

"You're telling me? Come on."

Dean paced the motel room as Sam went through John's journal on the bed.

"We can't just waste it with a head shot?"

"Dude. You've been watching way too many Romero flicks."

"You're telling me there's no lore on how to smoke 'em."

Dean sat at the table by the window with Mae.

"No, Dean, I'm telling you there's too much. I mean, there's a hundred different legends on the walking dead, but they all have different methods for killing them. Some say - setting them on fire, uh, one said, where is it? Right here. Feeding their hearts to wild dogs. That's my personal favorite. I mean, who knows what's real and what's myth?"

"Is there anything they all have in common?"

"No. But a few said silver might work."

"Silver's a start."

"Yeah. But now how are we going to find Angela?"

"We've got to figure out the person who brought her back.

"Any ideas?" Sam asked.

"I think if it's not her dad," Dean nodded towards Mae, in a gesture of apology, "it might be that guy Neil."

"Neil?"

"Yep."

Dean stood and crossed the room, retrieving Angela's diary.

"How'd you come up with that?" Sam asked.

"Well, you've got your journal, I've got mine. "Neil's a real shoulder to cry on, he so understands what I'm going through with Matt." There's more in here where that came from. It's got unrequited Duckie love written all over it."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean he brought her back from the dead."

"Hmm. Did I mention he's Professor Mason's TA? Has access to all the same books."

Sam considered it.

"I haven't met him but did he give off 'obsessed with a girl so much I'm gonna get into necrophilia' vibes?"

"Is that a thing?"

"I don't know but if you're right, he hasn't brought back a dead chick to not bang her."

They broke into Neil's house, which was dark and quiet. "Hello? Neil?! It's your grief counselors - we've come to hug." Dean called out

Mae took a shiny silver blade from somewhere in her coat and Sam assumed it was silver plated. Dean looked down at it and to her face again. "Girl after my own heart." he said with a smirk.

Dean pulled out his gun. "Silver bullets?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, enough to make her rattle like a change purse."

They moved through the house, Dean leading the trio with Mae and Sam following closely in line. There were wilted plants by one of the window but everything else seem normal. When the reached a basement door, Dean nodded towards it. "Unless it's where he keeps his porn..."

Sam opened door and Dean entered, reading his weapon for whatever they might find. The basement room however was empty, save a bed.

"Man, I know we're dealing with some weird zombie chick but honestly, I'm creeped out the most by the dude keeping her locked up in a weird sex dungeon." Mae said, frowning at the bed.

Dean smirked at her. "Sure looks like a zombie pen to me."

"Yeah. An empty one. You think Angela's going after somebody?"

Dean looked around the basement room until he noted a loose grate. Nudging it aside, it looked like it lead somewhere out of the house and was more than large enough for a person to get out through, zombie or not. "Nah, I think she went out to rent Beaches."

"Look, smartass, she might kill someone. We gotta find her, Dean."

"Yeah. All right. She, uh, she clipped Matt because he was cheating, right?"

"Yeah." Sam agreed.

"Well, it takes two to, you know, have hardcore sex." Sam shook his head, unsure where Dean was going. "I don't know, it just seemed that, uh, Angela's roommate was broken up over Matt's death. I mean, like, really broken up."

"Yeah, she cried a lot. A lot." Mae agreed

They arrived at Angela and Lindsey's apartment and entered to find the zombie Angela going after her old roommate. Angela was about to stab Lindsey with a pair of scissors when Dean fired several shots into her. She convulsed but didn't go down. When she turned to them, he fired again, hitting her again, she screamed and ran for the window, jumping out.

Mae and Dean took off after Angela while Sam tended to Lindsey.

Mae was faster than Dean and made a more concerted effort to chase Angela but Angela knew the town better than she did and was able to lose Mae. Out of breath, Mae walked back up to Dean. "I wish she was one of those lumbering 'brains' zombies."

Dean chucked and kissed her temple as he put his arm around her while the made their way back to the house. "Tell me about it. You're pretty fast there Red."

While she didn't didn't need it, Dean gave her a boost up into the open window they'd left through. Once he was inside, Dean said to Sam, "Damn, that dead chick can run."

"What now?" Sam asked

"I say we go have a little chat with Neil."

They drove to find Neil after getting Lindsey settled down. That young woman would still have far more to deal with than they could help with or than they had time to give her.

"So," Sam said from the passenger seat as he went through the journal again, "the silver bullets, they did something, right?

"Yeah, something, but not enough. What else you got?"

"Um, okay, besides silver, we have ... nailing the undead back into their grave beds. It's mentioned a few times. It's probably where the whole vampire staking lore came from."

"Their grave beds? You serious?" Dean asked.

"Yeah."

"How the hell are we going to get Angela back to the cemetery?"