Chapter Thirty-Four: Tall Tales

"You sure we should go on a hunt?" Sam whispered to him as they walked closer to Alec's room.

"I think he's ok," he replied. "I don't think he should be hunting yet, but he's a lot better than he was when we left last time. It's just the internal stuff that still needs time to heal, and he can do that here." He knocked on Alec's door as a warning before he opened it a crack. "You decent in there, kiddo?"

"'M sleeping," Alec grumbled.

He opened the door the rest of the way and smirked when he saw his little brother tangled up with Jo. She'd been with them for a couple weeks now, and she had definitely made up with Alec. "Hey, me and Sam are thinking about going on another hunt. You wanna stay here? You're not hunting, but you can come with us if you want," he said.

"'M gonna stay home," Alec slurred, still mostly asleep. He smiled a little since Alec had called Bobby's house home. Alec had never had a home before.

"We won't be gone very long," he said. "You call us if you need something, ok?"

"'M'kay," Alec mumbled. "Be safe."

"We will be," he said. He closed Alec's door again and smirked at Sam. His brother just rolled his eyes as he walked away. "What?"

Sam just shook his head and kept walking.

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He put his hand against his chest as he slowly sat down. He checked his phone to make sure his brothers hadn't called, but then looked over when Jo rubbed his back. "You want anything?" she asked.

"Y'know, I can get up and get things myself now," he said with a small smile.

"You just sat down," Jo said. "And usually, your brothers would've already been here with water, soup, smoothies…"

"I'm ok," he said. "I really am better. I probably could've gone with them on the hunt, but I wanted to stay home instead."

Jo smiled and leaned over to kiss him. He really liked having her here, and he really, really liked kissing her. And sleeping with her.

"You held your chest as you sat down," Jo pointed out. "Are you sure that you're ok?"

"I'm sure. It's just internal stuff that needs a little more time. I'm not gonna be doing any marathons any time soon, but I'm good to walk around a little bit," he said. He looked over to the doorway, noticing that Bobby was standing there now, looking at him. "What is it?"

"Dean called," Bobby said.

"Are they ok?" he asked. It was supposed to be a simple hunt. They'd been gone a week, but his brothers had both been talking to him every day. They never mentioned anything being wrong. But if Dean called…

"He said they needed some help," Bobby said. "You up for a ride?"

"I can go too?" he asked.

"Only if you're up for it," Bobby said. It wouldn't be the most comfortable ride, but he was pretty sure he was up to it now. And even if it hurt a little, he needed to suck it up since his brothers needed help. It was a no brainer really; he would do anything for his brothers.

Jo kissed him again, and then said, "Text me and let me know you're doing ok." He smiled as he shrugged into his new jacket, happy that he was going to see his brothers again.

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Bobby had been quiet all the way to where Sam and Dean were staying. He'd slept most of the way, but even when he was awake, Bobby wasn't saying much. The ride wore him out, but he wasn't in as much pain as he thought he was going to be in from riding in the car. He wished he was in the Impala again, but he was planning on riding back to Bobby's with his brothers.

He was slow getting out of the car, but Bobby didn't say anything about it. He just waited for him before he started over to the motel. He knew Bobby was watching him though, ready to jump over and help him if he needed it. He only felt a little dizzy, and even that passed after a moment. His chest felt tight, and it was still difficult to get a decent breath, but he was guessing he'd be sitting down again soon.

"Dude. You mind not eating those on my bed?" He could hear Sam from outside, and Sam really sounded annoyed.

"No, I don't mind," Dean replied. "How's research going?" It sounded like an innocent question, but he got the feeling his brothers were mad at each other.

"You know how it's going?" Sam challenged. "Slow. You know how it would go a heck of a lot faster? If I had my computer." What happened to Sam's computer? If he'd known Sam's computer wasn't working, he would've brought his new one. He smiled to himself since he really loved his computer.

After things had calmed down, Sam, Dean, Bobby, and Jo had surprised him one night with a sort of party. He'd gotten to eat real food that night, and Dean had gotten him pie for dessert. Even though he'd already gotten a new computer, his brothers gave him another package after dinner was over. He'd smiled when he saw the brand new, brown leather jacket. Dean had messed up his hair before he'd helped him try it on. He loved the hand-me-down jackets Dean gave to him, but this jacket really was his.

"It sounds like they're fighting," he said to Bobby.

"I know," Bobby muttered.

He frowned even as he heard Sam tell Dean to turn the music down, and then Dean just turned it up louder. "You knew they were fighting?" he asked.

"Why d'you think I decided to drag you along," Bobby asked.

"Because you didn't think I could make my own soup," he said. Bobby laughed and reached over to mess up his hair.

"You know what? Maybe, uh, maybe you should just go somewhere for a while," Sam said loudly.

The music shut off suddenly, "Hey, I'd love to. That's a great idea. Unfortunately, my car's all screwed to hell."

"Something happened to the Impala," he said.

"Guess we better get in there, huh?" Bobby said.

"Dean, I told you, I had nothing to do with-" Sam stopped talking as soon as Bobby knocked. Then his brother was there, opening the door. Sam looked shocked to see him, which meant Bobby hadn't mentioned that he was bringing him along. "Alec?"

"You gotta be kidding," Dean grumbled.

"Hey, this wasn't my idea," he quickly defended.

"Bobby, we called you for advice, not to drag Alec all the way out here," Sam said with a sigh.

"He's alright," Bobby said as he walked into the room. He followed behind him, shooting a look over at his brothers since he knew they weren't happy to see him. But they were fighting, he was fine, and he was already here, so they might as well get over it. "What didn't you want to talk to me on the phone about?" Bobby asked.

Sam sighed since he still wasn't happy, but then said, "We weren't sure you'd believe us."

Bobby huffed, "Well, I can believe a lot."

"Yeah, no, no, it's just, we've never seen anything like it…" Sam said.

"Not even close," Dean added. "Alec, c'mon, how 'bout you sit down."

"I'm fine," he stated, stubbornly refusing to move.

"Thought you wanted to spend some time with Jo," Dean muttered.

"Bobby said you needed help, so, why don't you get on with it so we can just get this over with," he said. Dean didn't like that answer, but he didn't argue with him.

"This might take a while," Sam said. He rolled his eyes and walked over to one of the beds before he made a show of sitting down. "Ok, you already know about the professor who took a nosedive from a fourth story window."

"There's a campus legend that the building's haunted. So, we went as reporters to check out the local bar," Dean said.

"I was talking to these kids," Sam said. He rolled his eyes since they were probably his age, or even Sam's age since they were in college, but he didn't point it out. "And they didn't think the professor committed suicide. They told me about an urban legend of a girl who had an affair with her professor 30 years ago. She jumped out the window and killed herself when the guy broke it off. They didn't know her name but supposedly she jumped out from room 669 and now she haunts the building."

Dean rolled his eyes, and he wasn't sure if it was because of the legend or if it was something else.

"I went to go find Dean, and he was downing like six shots at a bar," Sam said in annoyance. "I wanted to go check out the professor's office, but Dean had a…'feisty little wildcat' named Starla on the hook and wanted to keep drinking these purple nurples. They were-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Dean finally interrupted. "Hold on a minute."

"What?" Sam asked defensively.

"Come on, dude, that's not how it happened."

"No? So you never drank a purple nurple?" Sam challenged.

"Yeah, maybe that, but I don't say things like 'feisty little wildcat'. And her name wasn't Starla," Dean said.

"Then what was it?"

"I don't know," Dean said, not really helping his case. "But she was a classy chick. She was a grad student, anthropology and folklore. We were talking about local ghost stories. So, I was doing research. And I was actually getting information before Sam decided to barge in and started trying to order me around."

"I did not!" Sam said.

"Dean! What do you think you're doing?" Dean said, imitating Sam in a ridiculously prissy voice. "Dean, this is a very serious investigation. We don't have any time for any of your blah blah blah. Blah blah blah. Blah blah blah! Blah!"

"Right, and that's how it really happened," Sam said sarcastically. Dean shrugged. "I don't sound like that, Dean!"

"That's what you sound like to me," Dean said.

"Ok, what's going on with you two?" Bobby asked before Sam and Dean could start fighting again.

"Nothing. No…it's nothing," Sam said, shooting him a quick look.

"No, come on. You're bickering like an old married couple," Bobby said.

Dean got up and shook his head as he walked over to lean again the counter. "No, see married couples can get divorced. Me and him, we're like, uh, Siamese twins."

"It's conjoined twins!" Sam corrected.

"See what I mean?" Dean said.

"Look, it…" Sam stopped and sighed. "We've just been on the road for too long. Tight quarters, all that. Don't worry about it."

He huffed in disbelief, and his brothers both looked over at him. He almost expected them to go off on him, but they didn't. But really, they were on the road all the time and they never fought like this. Maybe it was just because he was usually around and they didn't like to fight in front of him, but he didn't think that was it. Dean liked making fun of Sam, and Sam was usually pretty good-natured about it. But this seemed like they were seriously ticked off at each other.

"So, anyway," Sam continued when he didn't argue with them. "We figured it might be a haunting, so we went to check out the scene of the crime. We went as electricians this time, and the janitor let us in to work on the professor's office."

"You woulda liked the janitor," Dean said to him.

"He was telling us about what happened with the professor, and he told us that the guy hadn't come up to his office alone," Sam said. "That was when Dean decided to stuff his face until his cheeks were bulging!"

"Come on!" Dean complained. "I ate one, maybe two!"

"Just let me tell it, ok?" Sam snapped. Dean grumbled about Sam being a control freak, but he didn't say anything to stop Sam from telling the story. "The janitor said that he'd never seen the girl before that the professor brought up to his office. And he didn't see her leave. But he did mention that it was pretty common for the professor to bring girls up to his office, so he didn't think it was all that weird that he hadn't seen her before."

Dean chuckled, "The janitor said that the professor got more ass than a toilet seat."

He laughed in surprise and had to put his hand against his chest since it still hurt a little. Sam's lips twitched like he wanted to smile, but he was still pissed off. Dean walked over and crouched in front of him. He was still amused enough to let Dean worry about him for a minute. He loved that Jo came to see him at Bobby's, but he'd missed his brothers.

Dean stood up again and messed up his hair, reassured that he was ok. At least his brother could be reassured without checking his bullet wound anymore. He'd started wearing shirts again after his brothers had come back from the last hunt, and Jo had stayed with them, so he wasn't really in the mood to take it off just to reassure Dean that he was ok.

"We came back here to do some research," Sam said. His brother was still watching him, not as reassured as Dean yet, but he'd get there. He would need to be a little more careful on how much he let his brothers see now that they were outside of Bobby's house. At Bobby's house, it was ok to be vulnerable, but now, he needed to make them believe he was fine. Otherwise, he was pretty sure he would never be allowed to go on a hunt again.

"The 669 thing was a load of crap and there wasn't any EMF, but we were gonna check to see if anyone ganked themselves in the building," Dean said.

"Which would've been a lot easier if someone hadn't jacked with my computer," Sam snapped.

"I didn't touch your damn computer," Dean said.

"It was frozen on !" Sam said angrily. "Who else could've done that? And now it's frozen." Dean made a face since he was the only one who would've gone to bustyaisianbeauties. "Just…don't touch my stuff anymore, ok?"

"Why don't you control your O.C.D," Dean grumbled.

"But did you dig up anything about the building? Or on the suicidal co-ed?" Bobby asked to interrupt their fight before they could really get going again.

"No. History's clean," Sam said.

"Then it's not a haunting," Bobby stated.

"Maybe not. Tell you the truth, we're not really sure," Dean admitted.

"What do you mean, you're not sure?" Bobby asked.

"Well…it's weird," Sam said.

"What's weird?" Bobby asked, starting to sound aggravated. Bobby didn't like begging for information. He smiled to himself since he and Bobby really had gotten to know each other. And Bobby's house…it felt like home. He'd never had a real home before, where he'd felt safe. He considered the Impala home, with Sam and Dean, but Bobby's house…It was different to have a home with four walls and indoor plumbing. He liked having his own room.

"This next part, we uh, we didn't see it happen ourselves exactly, but it's pretty freakin' weird. Even for us," Dean said. That was pretty weird. "This kid…he, uh…he claims he was abducted by aliens."

He and Bobby shared a look of disbelief, and then Bobby said, "Aliens?"

"Yeah…"

"Aliens," Bobby repeated.

"Yeah," Dean said again.

"Look, even if they are real, they're sure as hell not coming to earth and swiping people," Bobby said.

"Hey, believe me. We know," Dean said, shooting him another quick look.

"My whole life I've never found evidence of an honsest-to-God abduction," Bobby said. "It's all just cranks and pranks."

"Yeah, that's what we thought," Sam agreed. "But…we figured we'd at least talk to the guy."

"Which was hilarious," Dean said. Sam glared at Dean, but his brother ignored him. "The guy said he woke up on a medical table and he couldn't see anything except a blinding light, until an alien came over to him. And then he was probed…again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and one more time." Dean was laughing to himself, probably repeating exactly what the guy had said. It was pretty funny.

"Dean," Sam sighed.

"But then he said becoming an alien's bitch wasn't the worst part," Dean said. "The worst part was…the slow dancing." He laughed again since he hadn't been expecting that at all. Shit, he didn't mean to start laughing again. But seriously? He'd think Dean was just trying to be funny if they weren't on a hunt.

"Dean, quit making him laugh," Sam said, walking over to him when he couldn't catch his breath. Sam rubbed his back, and then went over to get him a glass of water.

"What? I can't help that it was funny!" Dean said.

"I'm ok," he finally wheezed. "I just hadn't been expecting that."

"You guys are exaggerating again, right?" Bobby asked.

"No," Sam said, giving him the water. He didn't complain since his brothers were still freaked out.

"Then this frat boy's just nuts," Bobby said.

"We're not so sure," Dean said. He choked on his sip of water. Dean couldn't be serious. "There was a saucer-shaped scorch mark in the ground by the campus. We couldn't really figure out a connection between an angry spirit and a sexed-up E.T., but we didn't know what else we could do, so we just kept on digging."

"We ended up talking to another guy in the same frat house as the guy who got abducted," Sam said.

"Apparently, Curtis wasn't all that shy about sharing his experience with literally anyone," Dean said. "And then Sam went all sappy trying to get the guy to talk to us." Then Dean went back to the prissy voice, pretending to be Sam again, "'I know this all has to be so hard. But I want you to know…I'm here for you. You brave little soldier. I acknowledge your pain. You're too precious for this world."

"I never said that!" Sam yelled.

"You're always saying pansy stuff like that," Dean said. Sam huffed and rolled his eyes. "But we did find out that Curtis was the frat pledge master. He really hazed the freshmen and seemed to like it, so the guy pretty much said it served him right to get probed by aliens. Which got us a connection between the vics."

"What was it?" he asked. He really didn't see a connection between a possible angry spirit and an alien abduction.

"The professor and the frat guy were both dicks," Dean said. "And what happened to 'em; the philandering professing getting a dead girl, and the pledge master getting hazed, it was almost like poetic justice."

"Which we couldn't prove because someone stole my computer," Sam said with a pointed look at Dean.

"Why would I take your computer?" Dean asked.

"Because no one else could have, Dean! We keep the door locked. We never let any maids in," Sam argued.

"You lost it, Poindexter," Dean said. His brothers were really bickering, which was strange.

"Dude, you know something? I put up with a lot from you," Sam said.

"What are you talking about? I'm a joy to be around," Dean said. He felt like he should say something to get them to stop, but maybe it would be better if they just got it all out.

"Did you take his computer?" Bobby cut in. Or that worked too.

"Serves him right, but, no," Dean said.

"Well, I didn't lose it. 'Cause I don't lose things," Sam said.

"Oh, that's right, yeah, 'cause he's Mr. Perfect," Dean said sarcastically.

"Ok, ok," Bobby cut in again. "Why don't you just tell me what happened next?" Bobby looked over at him, and Dean followed his gaze, looking guilty now for arguing with Sam.

"There was one more victim," Dean finally said.

"Right," Sam agreed, also looking over at him. Bobby was right to bring him along. If Sam and Dean were fighting this bad with him around, he didn't really want to know how bad it was before they'd gotten here. "Now, we didn't see this one ourselves either. We kind of put it together from the evidence. But this guy…he was, uh, he was a research scientist. Animal testing." His stomach turned at the thought of a scientist doing tests, even if it was on animals.

"Yeah, you know, a dick," Dean added. "Which fits the pattern." Dean looked over at him again, knowing that he didn't like the thought of the scientist. "Cops didn't release the cause of death 'cause they had no clue what the cause was."

"So, we checked it ourselves," Sam said.

"Had to break into the morgue without you, kiddo," Dean said.

"Out of practice?" he teased.

"Well, you do make things look easy," Sam said, finally smiling a tiny bit.

"It didn't take us long to look over the body," Dean said. "I mean, you couldn't really call it remains with what was left of the guy."

"But we did find a belly scale in what was left," Sam said. "Which we thought could've come from an alligator."

"You lost me," he said. "Alligators…they don't live here."

"Well, there's an urban legend," Sam explained. "A kid flushes a baby gator down the toilet, and it grows huge in the tunnels."

"Tunnels?" he asked.

"In this case…we thought in the sewers," Sam said. He made a face, grateful that he hadn't been there for what he knew was coming next.

"Yeah, you missed getting to go through the sewers again," Dean said.

"We split up, each taking one end of campus since that's where everything had happened," Sam said.

"Did you find anything?" Bobby asked.

"Yeah, I found something," Dean said angrily. "Just not in the sewer." This didn't sound good. "Sam let the air out of all the tires!" Dean yelled.

"I didn't do it, Dean!"

"It was your money clip I found by the car!"

"You wanna have this fight again?! Give me back my money!"

"No, I told you, I'm keeping it. You're gonna pay for the damage you did," Dean stated.

"Ok, I've heard enough," Bobby cut in again.

"You showed up about an hour after that," Dean muttered, shooting a quick glare of at Sam.

"I'm surprised at you two. I really am," Bobby said. "Sam, first off, Dean did not steal your computer."

"But I-"

Bobby shushed Sam, which was a little funny. "And, Dean, Sam did not touch your car."

"Yeah!" Sam shot over to Dean.

"And if you two bothered to pull your heads outta your asses, it all would have been pretty clear," Bobby said.

"What?" Dean asked.

"What you're dealing with," Bobby said. His eyebrows jumped in surprise.

"Uh…" Sam said, looking over at Dean.

"I got nothing," Dean said with a shrug.

"Me neither," Sam agreed.

Both of his brothers looked over at him, so he quickly shook his head no. "New hunter. Still learning. Barely have the basics down," he said.

"You got a trickster on your hands," Bobby said.

Dean snapped, "That's what I thought."

"What?! No, you didn't," Sam immediately replied.

"I got to tell you…you guys were the biggest clue," Bobby said. He wasn't sure how his brothers were a clue for a trickster. He didn't even know what a trickster was.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked. At least he wasn't the only one lost this time.

"These things create chaos and mischief as easy as breathing," Bobby said. "And it's got you so turned around and at each other's throats, you can't even think straight."

"The laptop," Sam muttered.

"The tires…" Dean agreed.

"It knows you're onto him, and it's been playing you like fiddles," Bobby said.

"So, what is it?" Dean asked. "Spirit, demon, what?"

"Well, more like demigods, really," Bobby said. "There's Loki in Scandinavia. There's Anansi in West Africa. Dozens of them. They're immortal, and they can create things out of thin air. Things as real as you and me. Make them vanish just as quick."

"You mean like an angry spirit or an alien or an alligator," Dean said.

"The victims fit the M.O. too," Bobby continued. "Tricksters target the high and the mighty, knock them down a peg, usually with a sense of humor…deadly pranks, things like that."

"Bobby, what do these things look like?" Dean asked.

"Lots of things, but human, mostly," Bobby said with a shrug.

"And what human do we know who's been at ground zero this whole time?" Dean said. Sam frowned, but then it looked like he realized who it was.

"Um, I haven't been here the whole time," he said. "Who are you talking about?"

"The janitor," Sam and Dean said at the same time.

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He looked back and couldn't help his smile when Alec sighed happily as he sank down onto the bench seat in the back. Bobby's house was Alec home, but so was the Impala. And Alec was obviously happy to be home. The seat had been a bitch to clean after Alec had nearly died back there, but it had been worth it. Alec was home.

He shared a look with Sam, who was also smiling. It was good to be all together again. Maybe things wouldn't have gotten so out of hand if Alec had been here with them. Or…things could have been worse. He didn't want to hurt his little brother.

"Oh, it's good to be back," Alec said as he made himself comfy.

"You're still not hunting," he said.

"Duh," Alec said, which made him smile. Sam even chuckled, so that was an improvement. It was good to have Alec back. He reached over the seat and messed up his little brother's hair before he started for the campus.

He rolled down his window and had Sam roll his down too once they were at the college. Alec was already laying across the backseat, hidden from view just in case the janitor looked this way. Alec wasn't going to hunt, but he didn't want him to be the next target. He didn't fit the profile, but if the trickster saw him, then he might go after him to protect himself.

"You good stayin' here for a bit?" he asked just to make sure.

"Might doze for a little while…" Alec mumbled. "I'll wake up if anyone gets close."

"Alright, I'll be back soon," he said.

He and Sam walked up to the building they had searched before and went to find the janitor. Luckily, he wasn't too hard to find.

"Sorry I'm dragging a little ass today, boys," the janitor said as he fumbled with his keys. He unlocked a gate and led them through to a staircase. "Had quite the night last night." He turned to look at them and continued, "Lots of sex, if you catch my drift."

"Yeah, hard not to," he muttered. "Listen, we won't be long." He motioned to Sam behind the guy's back. "We just need to check a couple offices up on three."

"No problem," the janitor easily agreed.

"I, uh, forgot something in the trunk," Sam said. "You know what? I'll catch up with you guys."

"Ok."

He followed the trickster up the stairs, hoping Sam would be able to find something in the guy's office or locker or whatever. He wasn't sure how they were going to prove this was their guy, but he wasn't sure who else it could be. Hopefully his plan would work.

He distracted the janitor until Sam met up with them again, and then they left the building. Unfortunately, all that Sam had found was a copy of Weekly World News.

"Just 'cause he reads the Weekly World News doesn't mean he's our guy," Sam said. "I mean, you read it too."

"I'm telling you, it's him," he said.

"Look, I just think we need some hard proof. That's all," Sam said.

"Ok, another thing Bobby mentioned was that these suckers have a metabolism like an insect," he said. "A real sweet tooth."

"Well, I didn't find any candy bars or sugar. Not even Equal," Sam stated.

"Eh, that's probably 'cause you missed something," he said.

"I don't miss things," Sam shot back.

"Oh, right, 'cause you're Mr. Perfect," he said. He really hoped this would work.

"What? Are you really still pissed at me 'cause of what the trickster did?" Sam asked.

"You been a tight ass long before that trickster showed up," he said.

Sam just stared at him for a few seconds. "Look, just…stay here, keep an eye on the janitor. I'll go to his place to see if I can find any actual evidence before you go barging in and staking the man! Just wait till I get back, ok?" Sam waited a second, but he didn't respond. "Ok?" Sam repeated.

"Ok!" he said.

He watched as Sam left, taking the Impala to make things more believable. Hopefully, Alec would stay in the Impala for all this. His little brother knew his limits, and he knew he was feeling a lot better, but the trickster could really hurt him. They didn't even know what the trickster was really capable of, except that he made impossible things happen.

He waited outside for a long time. Long enough that he got super bored. "Ah, screw this," he muttered to himself before he walked back into the building.

He snuck around until he heard something strange. He walked into a theater and did a double take. There was a disco ball hanging above a large round bed in the middle of the stage. Two women wearing lingerie were lounging across the bed, looking at him seductively.

"We've been waiting for you, Dean," the pretty brunette said.

"You guys aren't real," he said, shaking his head and trying not to smile. This was awesome!

"Trust me, sugar, it's gonna feel real," the brunette said.

He chuckled nervously, knowing he should probably just take off. He definitely couldn't fall for whatever this trick was. It was obviously something the trickster cooked up, but it was tempting.

"Come on," the blonde said, motioning him over to the bed. "Let us give you a message."

"Wha…you know, I'm a…I'm a sucker for a happy ending," he said. "Really, I am, but…I-I'm gonna have to pass."

"They're a peace offering," the janitor said. He spun around to see him sitting in one of the chairs, watching him. "I know what you and your brother do." He was hoping the fact that the trickster had only said 'brother' instead of 'brothers' meant that he didn't know about Alec. "I've been around a while. Run into your kind before."

"Well, then you know that I…can't let you just keep hurting people," he said.

"Come on! Those people got what was coming to them," the trickster said. He agreed there, but he couldn't just let this go. "Hoisted on their own petards. But you and Sam…I like you. I do." He breathed out in relief since the trickster didn't know about Alec. "So, treat yourself. Long as you want. Just long enough for me to move on to the next town."

"Yeah, I don't think I can let you do that," he said.

"I don't wanna hurt you," the trickster said. He actually felt like the guy didn't want to hurt him or Sam. "And you know that I can."

"Look, man, I…I got to tell you, I dig your style, alright?" he said. He wasn't just saying that either. "I mean," he chuckled, "I do. I mean…" He glanced over at the two women, and then chuckled again, "And the slow-dancing alien…"

"One of my personal favorites," the trickster said.

"But, uh, I can't let you go," he said.

"Too bad. Like I said, I like you," the trickster said before he sighed. "Sam was right. You shouldn't've come alone."

"Well, I'll agree with you there." He looked back up the aisle just as Sam came into the room from one door, and Bobby came in from the door on the other aisle. They both had the stakes out that they'd made before they left. And he was grateful to see that Alec wasn't with them. Hopefully he was waiting in the car and not somewhere in the building.

"That fight you guys had outside," the trickster said, glancing back at him. "That was a trick?" He smiled since it had been a pretty good plan. "Hm. Not bad. But you want to see a real trick?"

A man with a chainsaw suddenly appeared behind Sam and attacked him. He was about to run over to help his brother when one of the women suddenly grabbed him. She threw him down onto the bed, hard. She was way stronger than he'd been expecting.

He just barely saw Bobby trying to hold off the chainsaw man when the blonde woman hauled him up, and then hit him. The brunette hit him right after, making his vision swim. One of them threw him suddenly, and he hit the theater seats in front of the trickster. "Nice toss, ladies!" the trickster said, clapping. "Nice show." That really hurt. The trickster stood up, "Dean, Dean, Dean. I did not want to have to do this."

He looked over at Sam, and his brother quickly tossed him his stake. He moved just as the trickster came towards him and stabbed him in the chest. "Me neither," he said, grinding the stake deeper into the trickster's chest. The chainsaw guy and the two women disappeared. He pulled the stake out, and the trickster fell back into a seat, dead.

Sam and Bobby walked over to him once the guy was dead. "You guys ok?" he asked.

"Yeah, I guess," Sam said.

"Where's Alec?" he asked.

"Outside. I cuffed him, so he wouldn't come in here," Sam said. He raised his eyebrows in surprise. He totally understood Sam's reasoning, but Alec was going to be pissed. "Yeah," Sam said, as if reading his mind. "He's not very happy with me."

"He can get out of cuffs though…" he said.

"Zip ties are harder for him to break out of…" Sam said.

"Oh boy, he's gonna be so pissed at you," he said with a smirk.

They started back out to the Impala, and he tried to ignore how much he hurt. Alec was out of the zip ties, but he was still standing by the Impala, shooting daggers at Sam.

"Told you," Bobby muttered to Sam. "Now, let's get the hell out of dodge before somebody finds that body."

"Yeah," he agreed.

Sam stopped a few feet from the car, glancing nervously at Alec. "Look, Dean, um…I just want to say that I'm, uh…"

"Hey, me too," he said. "I have no idea how you'll make this up to Alec though…"

Alec walked over, still glaring, and said lowly to Sam, "Don't ever do that again."

"I was just-"

"Never. Again," Alec stated.

"Never again. Got it," Sam agreed with a nod.

Alec shot Sam one more glare before he got in the car. He shared a look with Sam and smiled, giving Sam a grateful nod. Alec was still pissed, but he was ok. And he and Sam were good again.

"You guys are breaking my heart. Could we please just leave?" Bobby said from the other side of the car.

He shared another look with Sam before they both got in the car and drove off.