The brothers took their turns showering. Dean was lying on his bed, playing a game on his phone when Sam got out of his shower. Having already gone through the routine of local area checks, Sam decided to dig further, checking both alongside the west coast and then along their route back home to the bunker. There were a few instances of unusual activity that seemed promising, so he made a note to follow up the next morning to see if anything progressed further.

Once he had completed that more thorough check, he went back through notes that they had gathered over the last couple of days, seeing if there was anything he could pull out that would put a definite number to the vampires that were affecting this town. He looked up at one point to see Dean had fallen asleep, and Sam fervently hoped that would help with the other's attitude.

It was odd, the thought of this random song. Sam had barely even remembered it from the previous night. Recalling the non-fight, the only real point of interest was the fact that the vamps had seemingly snapped out of whatever trance they had been in when the song had stopped. But for Sam, it wasn't really the song that was the key part of that. It was the silence. As if the lack of the song was what had pulled them out.

Then there was Dean. He had seemingly been in a similar trance last night as well, all the way up to nearly running into one of the vamps. And now this random song was stuck in his head? Enough to keep him from sleeping? Sam couldn't help but come to the same thought he had come to earlier but was still hesitant to consider it. It was really a far stretch, even for the weirdest of their fights. He couldn't even really bring it fully to mind, it was that outrageous to consider.

With Dean still sleeping, Sam figured it was his turn to go get food. He quietly scribbled a note on the pad left by the motel staff, before slipping out the door. When he returned, he found Dean awake and on the laptop at the table.

"Hey," Sam said, setting down the styrofoam containers and soda cups down on the table. "Got ya a burger and fries."

A groan of appreciation came from behind the laptop screen as hands reached around to grab at the container.

So much for a better attitude. "Get any sleep?" Sam asked, sitting down to his salad. There wasn't an immediate answer. He could hear typing and clicking coming in spurts between sounds of things being removed from the styrofoam. "Dean...?"

"Huh?" other asked, finally popping his head up from the laptop.

"Did you get any sleep?"

"Oh. Yeah. Some." Back to the laptop.

"That's good..."

Back to silence. Eating. Typing. Clicking. Drinking.

"What are you looking for?" Sam finally queried.

"Earworms."

"What?"

Dean closed the laptop with a slap. "Earworms." He grabbed a bunch of fries and shoved them in his mouth. "Was trying to figure out if they were a real thing."

"Sure. Songs that get stuck in your head. Earworm."

"No, I mean a real real thing. Like an actual worm. In my ear." He emphasized this with a wave of a fry at his ear.

Sam again tried not to laugh. "Guess the song is still stuck."

Dean tossed the fries he'd just picked up back down. "It's so annoying! It's not even a full song. No lyrics. Not a full tune. At least, not that I can pick up." He slapped the laptop closed and slouched back in the chair. "I can't even tell if it's good."

This time, Sam didn't bother disguising the laugh. "Ah. That's what's really bugging you. The idea that a crappy song is stuck in your head. Hell on earth."

Dean just glared.


They eventually gave up on finding entertainment in the motel and wandered the town. Anacortes was like any other small town along this side of Washington - right on the water and all the usual ambiance that that created. Folks who passed would smile if they caught another's eye, otherwise, just move along. Here and there would be neighbors or friends catching up, asking about families, or discussing the weather. It was kind of nice to just...ramble.

Not that Dean wasn't still keeping an ear out. Each time they passed a group, he would listen closely for any odd comments or curious questions. Just in case. He told himself it was to keep up and be sure they had, indeed, ganked all the vamps in the nest. And if it happened to focus his brain on something other than that dang song, so be it.

They eventually wandered to the bar that was boasting the open mic night.

"Sure you want to do this?" Sam questioned amusingly.

"Shut up." Dean jabbed at his brother's arm. "The place might be packed, depending on the popularity of this...event. One stop, last stop to get all the info we need. Then we can get the hell out of here."

They walked towards the front door, wide open and welcoming. Sam couldn't help but shake his head at his brother. It really would've helped if there had been more of a fight from those vampires last night. Maybe he'd check his phone while they were here, see if he couldn't dig up a fight on the road back.

A young girl, late teens the brothers guessed, met them at the door. "Hello. Here for the open mic night?"

"To witness, yes," Dean grumbled.

"To... Oh! Just to watch, right?" She smiled, waiting for him to respond. When Dean just looked away, she turned to Sam with a bit of concern in her smile now showing.

"Just to watch, yes," Sam said encouragingly. "And, dinner if possible."

"Oh, sure!" She turned to grab a couple of menus. "You're lucky you're early. I'll get you close to the stage. It will start to fill up in no time." She jovially showed them to a table right in front of the stage, again getting thrown off her hostess game when Dean stalked around that table to take one tucked to the side of the stage in a corner closer to the bar.

"He likes the, uh, acoustics of the corner," Sam gamely offered.

She smiled again. "Oh, makes sense. That works!" She set the menus down as Sam took his seat. "Isaac will be your waiter. If you do decide you would like to take part, just let him know."

"Thank you." Sam kicked his brother under the table but just got a grumble for the trouble. He turned back to the hostess and smiled a bit bigger to try and make up for it, but she was done with her duty and had already skipped off.

Isaac was less jovial than the hostess, which seemed to convince Dean it wouldn't be all doom and gloom for the evening. He decided as an added bonus, he'd treat himself to surf-n-turf. Sam got a lobster roll, curious to see the difference between west and east coast. Beers arrived with some free bread as the brothers watched the crowd fill in, just as the hostess had warned. It did seem like this was the place to be tonight, but as more folks filed in Sam wasn't sure how much conversation they would actually catch. The snippets he actually did catch were combinations of general chatter and discussions on who would be braving the stage that evening.

Food arrived just as the owner of the restaurant, a happy short woman by the name of Meg, climbed up on the makeshift stage to announce the show was about to begin. Sam couldn't help but think the steak had been a good choice for his brother, as he was happily digging into that instead of grumbling at the stage.

The steak and lobster tail lasted only so long though.

They sat through renditions of a variety of songs, from pop to an interesting acoustic metal combo. Even Sam had to cringe at a few. The crowd, however, was encouraging and cheered for each person or group that braved the stage. It wasn't hard to clap along with the enthusiasm. The night moved on relatively quickly, given everything, and both Winchesters were surprised when Meg stepped up once more to announce the finale act.

"Of course, no open mic night would be complete without a few tunes from our lovely Nell now would it!" The crowd practically roared at this announcement as a woman stepped up to give a quick hug to Meg before setting herself on the stool in front of the microphone. As she settled on the stool, bringing the acoustic guitar she held up to the ready position, the whole restaurant seemed to hold it's breath in anticipation.

Sam turned to Dean and saw that he had sat up, finally drawn in with the crowd.

He turned back as Nell started to strum. As she started to sing, nothing immediately seemed to pop out at him as unusual. Dirty auburn curls came to just about her chin, held back by a headband. Her glasses had that sheen that told him they were good for computer use. She had a light flannel on over a t-shirt that had Kermit the Frog on it. This was matched with jeans, some frayed holes here and there - torn in use, more likely than on purpose - and tall socks tucked into worn Converse sneakers.

The longer he listened, however, he felt...he couldn't quite put a finger on it. Happy? Sure. Content? Yeah. Unburdened by woes and worries... He could hear it in the lyrics, but it was more than that. It was like her voice was releasing a blanket of just...goodness.

Sam peered around, seeing folks tapping and nodding. A few were dancing in their seats. But every one of them had a, not really giddy look...but definitely comfortably peaceful. The random thought that had kept coming to him whenever Dean mentioned his mystery tune came running right back to the front of his brain. He turned in his chair back towards his brother and was about to spit it out when he saw the look on his brother's face.

He had never seen his brother look so...calm. Relaxed even. No - that wasn't true. He had seen Dean like that. But the memory was tainted by Soulless Sam's eyes. Because the one time he had seen it was when Dean was with Lisa and Ben.

He sat silent, just letting the moment continue. No rush. No worries. They could decide what to do...after the show.

Nell went through a handful of songs, mostly acoustic covers of popular tunes. Nothing flashy, nothing fancy. It was like she was purposely playing everything off as mundane, which ironically just made her voice all that more of a focus. When she finally reached her ending point, after two encore requests, she gave the crowd a smile and a wave as she stepped off the stage to continuing applause.

Sam turned back to Dean, giving his own appreciative claps. Dean was as well, but also keenly watching Nell as she wandered towards the back. It was a short time later, as the crowd went back to cheerful chattering, when she returned sans guitar and headed past them to the bar. Dean practically jumped up and moved to follow her and Sam could see the intent in the other's eyes. He was already on the prowl.

"Dean," Sam quietly said, grabbing his brother's arm before he could pass too far. "Hold up. I don't think that's a good idea."

Dean gave his brother a frown and then a smirk. "What's wrong? You want to give it a go?"

"No." Sam hesitated, almost letting him go and see what happened. But then he thought better of it. "Dean...I think she's a siren."