DISCLAIMER: I only own my character! Anything you might recognize is courtesy of the CW.

WARNING: Some of these episodes/chapters may contain graphic violence, cursing, mentions of suicide or assault and other triggering aspects. Proceed with caution please.

Episode Summary:

Angel, Sam and Dean investigate the mysterious deaths of several men who apparently dropped dead of fright. They visit one of the victims in the morgue, and Angel becomes infected with the illness which starts as a general anxiety, then moves on to full-blown terror that eventually stops the heart. Dean, Sam and Bobby must find the root of the disease before Angel dies and is sent back to Hell.

Prologue…

Angel sprinted down the road in the dead of night as fast as her legs could take her. The growling of the hellhound behind her sounded louder and louder, closer and closer, causing her to push her legs further. She was out of breath, gasping heavily, as the fear in her body grew exponentially. Quickly, she hauled ass around a corner and ran full speed into a homeless man's shopping cart, falling to the ground. A man rummaging through the dumpster turned to look at her as she scrambled to her feet.

"Run!" She gasped out as she pointed to the beast of a hellhound chasing after her, "It'll kill you!"

As she took off at another sprint the man turned to see a Yorki with a pink ribbon around its neck turn the same corner. It squeaked out a bark before resuming the chase on Angel, to which she screeched at in fear.

43 hours earlier in the county morgue…

As the coroner opened the body bag he motioned to the three in front of him, "Agent Kramer, Agent Tyler, Agent Perry, meet Frank O'Brien."

"He died of a heart attack, right?"

"Three days ago."

"But O'Brien was 44 years old and…" Sam opened the file in his hands, "According to this a marathon runner."

"Everybody drops dead sooner or later." He shrugged, "It's why I got job security."

"Yeah, but Frank kicked it here." Dean interjected, "Now, just yesterday, two perfectly healthy men bit it in Maumee. All heart attacks, you don't think that's strange?

"Sounds like Maumee's problem to me. Why's the FBI give a damn, anyway?"

Angel sighed as she raised her brow, "We're just here to see Frank's autopsy results."

The coroner frowned, "What autopsy?"

The one you're gonna do."

A few minutes later the coroner began cutting open Frank's dead body as the Winchesters watched closely.

"First dead body?"

Dean shook his head, "Far from it."

"Oh, good. Because these suckers can get pretty ripe." He motioned to the small table beside Dean, "Hey, hand me those rib cutters, would you?"

As Dean picked up the cutters and handed them over, Sam took a fortifying breath, his body tensing with disgust to stop himself from squirming. Angel herself grimaced at the squelching sound the cutters made on the ribs.

"Is that from a wedding ring?" Dean moved Franks hand to get a better look at a tan line on his finger, "I didn't think Frank was married."

"Ain't my department."

Sam picked up Franks arm, which was full of scratches, "Any idea how he got these?"

"You know what? When you drop dead, you actually tend to drop. Body probably got scraped up when it hit the ground." He frowned, "Huh…"

Angel looked from him back down to the body, "What?"

"I- I can't find any blockages in any of the major arteries." He broke off the heart while the three Winchesters tried not to vomit, "Heart looks pretty damn healthy." He forced the heart into Dean's hands, causing Sam and Angel to smirk, "Hold that a second, would you?" As he cut into something else a stream of blood splattered across Sam's face, "Oh, sorry. Spleen juice."

Dean smirked at him while Angel was unable to contain a chuckle at his appalled and disgusted face.

At the Sheriff's station…

After getting cleaned up, the three siblings found themselves sitting inside the Sheriff's station for what seemed like forever. They were waiting to talk to the Sheriff but the kid Deputy at the front desk said it might be awhile. The Deputy looked up and caught Angel's eye before grinning like a schoolboy. She smiled politely back, sending a look to her brothers who each looked irritated at being kept waiting.

The door to the Sheriff's office opened before the man himself walked out, "Hell's bells, Linus, have you seen my…" He stopped when he saw the three strangers getting up from their seats, "Who are they?"

"Federal agents. I, uh…"

The Sheriff scoffed, "And you kept them waiting?"

"You- you said not to disturb-"

The Sheriff cut him off by waving the three of them over, "Come on back, you three." He stopped them before they could enter, "Shoes off."

With an odd look between them, they abided and stepped inside after him.

"Al Britton." He shook their hands, "Good to meet you."

Sam nodded, "You too." When the Sheriff gestured for them to sit, they did, "Thank you."

After taking a seat himself, Sheriff Britton quickly took out a bottle of hand sanitizer and squirted a large amount of it into his hands. Dean eyed him weirdly before once again sharing the look with Sam and Angel.

"Okay." He sighed as he slathered his hands, "So, what can I do for Uncle Sam?"

"Well…" Sam cleared his throat, "We're looking into the death of Frank O'Brien. We understand some of your men found his body."

"They did. Me and Frank, we were friends. Hell, we were gamecocks." Dean snickered at that earning a stern look from Britton that quieted him, "That's our softball team's name. They're majestic animals." He took a breath, "I knew Frank since high school. To be honest, I just this morning got up the strength to go see him. Frank was… He was a good man."

"Yeah." Dean nodded, hiding a grin, "Big heart."

Angel kicked at him to shut up, "Was he acting strange before his death? Maybe like he was scared of something?"

"Oh hell, yeah. Real jumpy."

"You know what scared him?"

"No. Wouldn't answer his phone. Finally, I sent some of my boys over to check on him, and well, you know the rest."

Suddenly he started coughing heavily and quickly grabbed the bottle of hand sanitizer to pour even more sanitizer on his hands. The Winchesters each watched him with confusion etched on their faces at his odd behavior.

"So, why the Feds give a crap? You don't really think there's a case here?"

"No, no." Dean looked at Angel and Sam before turning back to him, "It's probably nothing. Just a heart attack."

Outside…

Dean instantly shook his head as they walked out of the building, "No way that was a heart attack."

"Definitely no way." Sam agreed, "Three victims, all with those same red scratches. All went from jittery to terrified to dead within 48 hours."

Angel frowned, "You guys think something scared them to death?"

"Probably." Dean nodded, "So what can do that?"

"Are you kidding me? What can't?" Angel quipped as she carefully didged passer bys on the sidewalk, "Ghosts, vampires, chupacabra? It could be a hundred things!"

"Yeah." Sam agreed, "So, we make a list and start crossing things off."

"Alright…" Dean nodded as he turned to Sam, "Who's the last person to see Frank O'Brien alive?"

"Uh, his neighbour, Mark Hutchins."

As they neared closer to the impala, a group of teenagers lingering around caught Angels eye. At the sight of them a slice of sharp concern pierced her causing her to stop abruptly. The feeling wasn't normal to her but she was too caught up in avoiding the teens to notice. She grabbed her brother's arms and turned away from the teens, trying to look as nonchalant as she could. She didn't want them to know she was talking about them.

"Hang on, hang on."

Dean frowned from Sam to her, "What?"

"Don't make it obvious but… I don't like the looks of those teenagers down there." They each turned to look around at the teens and she freaked, "I said don't make it obvious!" Before they could react to her behavior she pointed to the crosswalk, "Let's walk this way."

As she walked away, she sent yet another wary look over to the teens. The brothers stared at her perplexed before quickly following her.

At the neighbors house…

"Kramer, Tyler and Perry." Mark Hutchins grinned from the couch across the Winchesters, "Just like Aerosmith."

Angel nodded stiffly as she sat in between her brothers. She was stiff with anxiety and fear as her eyes flashed worriedly around the room at all of the reptiles in the tanks. The tanks looked less than secure. Like any minute any one of them could escape and attack.

"Yeah, small world." Dean dismissed Mark, taking lead, "So, the last time you saw Frank O'Brien?"

Angel turned and inadvertently locked eyes with a huge lizard in a tank. She quickly faced forward and swallowed the lump that formed in her throat.

"Monday." Mark motioned to the window facing outside, "He was watching me from his window. I waved at him, but he just closed the curtains."

"Hmm." Sam turned back to him curiously, "Did you speak to him recently? Did he seem different? Uh, scared?"

"Oh, totally! He was freaking out."

Dean looked at Angel and frowned when he noticed she was staring at a baby alligator in terror. He nudged her before turning back to Mark.

"Do you know what scared him?"

"Well, yeah, witches."

"Witches?" Sam repeated sharing a look with Dean and Angel, the latter of which stiffened even more at the possibility of having to deal with Witches, "Like…?"

"Well, Wizard of Oz was on tv the other night, right? And he said that green bitch was totally out to get him."

"Uh…" Angel nodded stiffly before clearing her throat and trying to ignore the fear creeping up her spine so she could work, "Anything else scare him?"

"Everything else scared him. Al-Qaeda, ferrets, artificial sweetener. Those pez dispensers with their dead little eyes." At his words Angel was starting to fill with more and more anxiety, "Lots of stuff."

"So, tell me…" Sam interjected, "What was Frank like?"

"I mean, he's dead, you know?" Mark frowned, "I- I don't want to hammer him but, he got better."

Dean cocked his head, "Better?"

"Well, in high school… He was- he was a dick."

"A dick?"

"Like a bully. I mean, he probably taped half the town's butt cheeks together…" Dean snickered, earning a glare, "Mine included."

"So he pissed a lot of people off." Dean cleared his throat, "You think anyone would have wanted to get revenge?"

"Well, I don't…" He looked between them oddly, "Frank had a heart attack, right?"

"Just answer the question, sir."

"No, I don't think so. Like I said, he got better. And after what happened to his wife…"

"His wife?" Dean repeated, "So he was married."

"She died about 20 years ago. Frank was really broken up about it." Angel stared at the snake around Mark's neck wide eyed as he spoke, earning his attention, "Don't be scared of Donny. He's a sweetheart. It's Marie you got to look out for."

"M- Marie?"

He nodded to the couch, directly behind her, "She smells fear."

A huge python crept up from behind the couch and slithered its way over Angel's shoulder. She gasped sharply as soon as she felt it touch her. Her entire body tensed as the snake made its way over her shoulder and down her lap.

"Oh my God." Angel's hands gripped the couch in a vise as she clenched her eyes shut, "Oh my god, get it off. Please, get it off."

After leaving the house, Angel tried, and failed, to collect herself on the way back to the Impala. Her hysteria was slowly and surely building. Even though she knew it wasn't logical that didn't stop it from feeling any less real. She quickly stripped off her black FED jacket as she tried to focus on what her brothers were saying.

"Okay, well, i think our best bet is to hit the county clerk's office." Sam offered, "We can look into Frank's wife."

"Whatever." Angel huffed as she nearly started sprinting to the car to get as far away from the house of pythons as she could, "Let's just get the hell out of here."

"Wait, wait wait." Dean caught her arm, "You alright? Cuz you're just acting a little-"

"A little what? Like I just had a python slithering all over me?" Her glare shut him and Sam up immediately as she turned and got into the car, "Let's just finish this case and leave, okay?"

Later on, in the Impala…

Night had fallen while the boys were busy in the county clerk's office. Angel opted to wait in the car as she couldn't quite calm herself down to normal just yet. She didn't want to alert them to any problem even though she felt like there was danger and death around every corner. As she waited for them to return she sat in the back absentmindedly scratching her itchy arm, completely on edge.

She racked her brain for any logical reason she could be feeling like this but nothing came to mind. Well, other than the fact that the world around them was a moving death trap. Not to mention, the three of them were lightning rods for supernatural death traps. At the sudden opening of the front doors, Angel nearly jumped out of her skin. She relaxed slightly when she realized it was just Sam and Dean.

Leaning forward she looked between them expectantly, "Any luck?"

"I'm not sure I'd call it luck." Dean passed her a file as Sam frowned and watched her jumpily take it, "Frank's wife, Jessie, was a manic-depressive. She went off her meds back in '88 and vanished. They found her two weeks later, three towns over. She was strung up in her motel room, suicide."

"Jeeze." Angel frowned as she read the article, "Think Frank had a hand?"

"No, Frank was working the swing shift when she disappeared." Dean sighed as he turned the car on, "Airtight alibi." As he pulled onto the road, he looked over at Sam as Angel quickly scrambled to get her seat belt on, "How was Frank's pad?"

"Clean. Searched it top to bottom. No EMF, no hex bags, no sulfur."

"So probably no ghosts, no witches, no demons." Sam scoffed as Dean continued, "3 down and 97 to go."

"Great, just amazing." Angel grumbled before craning her head to look at the speedometer and tensing, "Dean, seriously, you're going 45."

His eyebrows scrunched together in confusion as he looked at her from the mirror, "And?"

"And, the speed limit is 25, Steve McQueen. So slow down."

"You're joking right?" He looked back at her again, "You're telling me to slow down? You're the one that taught me how to drive. You once told me 'I do all of my good thinking at 80 miles down the road'."

"What?" Angel huffed as she crossed her, "Safeties a crime now? I've acquired some sense since then."

"Okay… Whatever."

Her hands flew up in fear and she gasped when got ready to make a left handed turn through oncoming traffic, "Oh my god, Dean!" At her yelp both boys jumped, "What the hell are you doing?!"

"That's our hotel!"

"You're gonna drive through oncoming traffic?! Are you trying to kill us?!" Tense silence stretched in the car as they both turned to frown at her in confusion and she looked back at them just as perplexed, "Did I just say that?" Concern filled both their faces as a nervous laugh left her lips, "That was kind of weird, right?"

As Dean quickly pulled into the parking lot, earning yet another screech of astonishment from his sister, a whirring sound filled the impala.

Dean gave Sam a look, "What the hell is that?"

Sam looked around in just as much confusion as Dean parked, "I dont know."

Sam patted his jacket and pulled out his EMF meter, which was going nuts. He moved it around and noticed whenever it moved towards the backseat it got louder. Once it was right next to Angel it was whining at full power.

Angels fear spiked yet again, "Am I haunted?" She looked between her brothers in panic, "Am I haunted?!"