Kat was still struggling with trusting Sam. She didn't say anything to Dean right away, especially since he was still dealing with the fact that he had almost lost her. In this mindset, he would probably lash out the moment she said something. Instead, she confided in Bobby. Dean and Sam were in line at a street vendor getting food, so Kat got on the phone.

"I know what I saw, Bobby," she was saying.

"We tested him," Bobby replied, sounding tired. "Salt, silver...everything."

"He threw me and Dean at that vamp. If I hadn't been there...I'm sure Dean would have been turned. I'm telling you, that's not Sam."

"Well, then he's something we ain't never seen before," he sighed.

"Or it's Lucifer," Kat grumbled.

"Did you call Cas or Sara?"

"Of course. Neither are answering. Screw both of them. I can't wait anymore," she replied, getting more frustrated at the lack of answering from her heavenly help.

"Look, I get it," Bobby said, trying to calm her down. "You're rattled. You're right to be. But let's be professional -"

"Professional?! He watched me get turned!" Kat snapped.

"What you saw...are you sure that's what you saw?" he asked, still trying to be reasonable.

"Damn it, Bobby, yes I know," she sighed, trying to calm down.

"Well, 'you know' ain't the same as proof. 'Cause we're talking about -"

"We're talking about doing something about this and fast," Kat finished. "It's not just the vamp, okay? He's been different since the djinn. Dean's noticed it too, I'm sure of it."

"All right," Bobby finally said. "I'm with you."

"Are you?"

"Yeah," he assured her. "I'll hit the books hard. Just don't shoot him yet, alright? Watch him. We need facts. 'Cause if it ain't Sam...we don't know what it is. And if we're gonna put him down, we need to know how."

"I'm having trouble being in the same car as him, much less working a damn case," Kat said.

"Get in the car, and tell Dean. Sam is your case," Bobby said firmly. Kat sighed and hung up as the boys walked up and got in the car.

"Work stuff," she said as Dean handed her a foil-wrapped hot dog with an inquisitive look. As she grabbed it, he didn't let go right away, studying her face.

"You okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she replied after a moment. Dean eyed her for another moment before turning back to the newspaper Sam was holding.

"Check this out: think it might be something," Sam was saying. Kat leaned over the front seat to look over Dean's shoulder. "Four people dead, out of nowhere, all in the last couple of weeks." The latest victim, according to the article, was a waitress named Jane Peterson. "Whaddya say?"

"Yeah," Kat agreed. "Sounds like a plan." Dean looked back at his wife, noting the curt tone. Kat looked back at him, and the two had a very short, non-verbal conversation that amounted to, 'let's talk later'.

They went to the latest victim's house, where they met her sister, Olivia. She had been the last person to speak to Jane before she passed, so it was the perfect place to start. Sam opted to talk to her while Dean and Kat had a look around.

"I don't understand," Olivia said. "Why would federal investigators be interested in a suicide?"

"Well, um...it's a new, more caring administration," Sam explained.

"Well, I already told the cops," Olivia began. "Jane was having a really bad day, so I-I did what any sister would do." She began playing with her hair as the other two hunters walked into the room. "I...tried to cheer her up, you know? Told her to hang in there." Sam looked at her, and Kat swore she saw the same smirk as the night she was turned come across his face.

"You know what a 'tell' is?" he asked Olivia.

"Excuse me?"

"It's a poker term...for when you're bluffing. Like what you just did with your hair."

"What are you trying to say?" Olivia cried, getting flustered.

"You're lying," Sam said. The other hunters frowned at how forceful he was being.

"What?!"

"Tell us what you did to your sister," Sam demanded. Dean looked stunned as Olivia looked to him for some kind of comfort. When it didn't come, she broke down crying. Kat frowned at the vindicated look on Sam's face.

"Okay, you're right," Olivia wept. "I was lying. I wanted to tell her, 'I love you. I'm here for you.' But what came out was, 'You're a burden. Just kill yourself.' Who says that?! I...I just couldn't stop!" The married hunters took that as their cue to leave, all but yanking Sam out. They compared notes as they walked back to the Impala.

"See anything in the house?" Sam asked.

"No hexbags, no sulfur, no EMF," Dean replied.

"There was a tuba and an issue of Crochet Today," Kat added with a shrug.

"So, what...already kind of suicidal?" Sam speculated.

"Right, then big sis' Taxicab confession sends her over the edge," Dean agreed. "Question is, what made big sis open her big fat mouth in the first place?"

"That's the question," Kat said, and the three of them hopped in the car.

Later, Kat called Bobby again to check in on the research while the boys were out doing some more recon.

"Hey, you got anything?" she asked when he answered.

"I've been up all night, lookin'" he replied. "Nothing fits."

"Awesome," Kat sighed.

"You got anything else to go on?"

"My skin crawls being in the same room as him," Kat said sarcastically. "Why don't you look that up?"

"I'm working on it," Bobby grumbled.

"I don't know how much longer I can do this, Bobby," Kat said after a moment. "You gotta figure out what the hell he is and fast."

"I'm trying," he replied. "But, Kat...there's a worse-case scenario."

"What, Satan's my brother-in-law? Yeah, I know."

"Well, that'd be the other worst case."

"Then what?"

"Maybe it's just Sam." Kat paused, realizing that Bobby could be right...and what it could do to both her and Dean.

"I gotta go," she said quietly.

"Kat."

"You got a day, Bobby, and then I'm handling this," she muttered, and hung up. Kat looked out the window of the motel room. She saw Dean walking back with a six-pack in his hands and her stomach dropped. She knew this would be the perfect time to tell him everything, but she wasn't ready for his possible reaction. She didn't bother masking anything when he walked through the door.

"Hey," Dean said as he walked in.

"Hey," she replied.

"Sam back yet?" he asked, handing her a beer.

"Not yet," she said, cracking it open.

"Good," he said and sat down across from her, opening his own beer. "You notice him being off lately?" Kat didn't bother to conceal her relief when he brought it up.

"I was hoping you noticed," she said. "He's been weird since the djinn... probably longer."

"That thing with the vamps, too," he added. Both of them shuddered slightly at the memory. Kat took a swig of her beer to calm herself, but when she looked back at Dean, he was studying her. "How you doing? Since that whole fiasco, you've been...weird." Kat sighed.

"When I took the cure, I...saw something…," she began. She proceeded to tell him everything, including what she had asked Bobby to do and what he had said. Dean was quiet for a minute afterwards, processing everything.

"You really think Sam threw you under the bus?" he asked finally.

"Yeah," Kat said softly. "Dean, I know he's your brother, but -"

"But nothing," Dean said, cutting her off. "If he's not telling us something, we'll figure it out. Together." He reached out and grabbed her hand, giving her a reassuring squeeze. The door rattled and Sam walked in, wearing his fed suit.

"There was another one," he said.

"Yeah? What?" Dean asked.

"Dentist drilled a guy to death," Sam answered.

"You mean the...not-sexy kind of drilling, right?" Kat cocked an eyebrow at him, causing him to shrug, and looked back to Sam for his answer.

"50 bucks says he's mixed up in all the crazy," he said, nodding.

"You think?" she asked.

"Yeah. Let's go talk to him."

"Why don't you go ahead," Dean suggested. "We'll do a little research." Sam frowned slightly.

"You sure?"

"Yeah," Kat agreed. "We gotta know what we're up against, right? Besides, I can check more of the older lore that you guys can't read."

"Yeah," Sam said, shrugging but still sounding a little unsure. "Yeah, good idea." Once he left, Dean and Kat sighed, but shared a very anxious look.

Later, Sam called and reported in.

"Anything from Marathon Man?" Dean asked when he answered the phone, and put it on speaker.

"Not exactly," Sam sighed. "He hung himself in his cell before I could get to him."

"Damn," Kat cursed.

"But he was definitely involved," Sam continued. "Just got the scoop from his assistant. Let's say the stuff his patient was confessing to...I'd have murdered him too."

"So, root canal and Russian roulette….both of 'em, it's like they're cursed, right? I mean, people are just compelled to puke the truth all over 'em?" Dean pondered.

"Getting hit with the ugly truth, you go postal? I'd call that a curse. I'm going to the morgue to check out the body. Why don't you and Kat take the dentist's office, see what you can see?"

"Yeah, no problem," Dean said and hung up. He and Kat went to change, leaving behind the articles on Dopplegangers they had been reading.

At the dentist's office, after picking the lock, the two of them snuck under the crime scene tape and into the office. On the credenza was an alto sax, as well as a pack of reeds. On an oversized model of the human mouth was a receipt for those reeds from a place called Harry's House of Horns.

"Hey, didn't Jane have something about that palace on her calendar?" Kat asked, examining the reed box. Dean looked at the box and looked up the address.

The Harry in question was a shorter man with graying hair and reading glasses perched on his nose. It reminded Kat of almost every high school band director she had ever met that wasn't fresh out of college.

"Jane and Dr. Conley," Harry said, looking at the two pictures Dean had provided him. "I heard. Awful. What do I have to do with it?"

"Honestly? You're the only thing they have in common," Dean said, taking the pictures back.

"Did they say anything before they…" Kat asked.

"Sorry, not really," Harry replied.

"Right. Just fishing. Thanks," she said, and the two of them turned to leave.

"Hey, by the way," Harry called after them. "How 'bout my horn?"

"Sorry?" Dean asked.

"Stolen horn?"

"Right," Kat said, a little dismissively. "We're working on it."

"I hope so," Harry said, a little defeated. "Thing's one in a billion." The two hunters turned and looked at him.

"What makes it one in a billion again?" Kat asked, moving back towards him.

"It's a museum piece. And near as anyone can tell, about a thousand years old," Harry explained. He pulled out a picture of an elongated horn that had a deep curve, almost like a demilune horn that Kat remembered reading about in a music history class she had taken for a history credit. For some reason, this one was making the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

"Where's it from?" she asked as she wracked her brain for why she was so nervous.

"No one knows."

"When did it get swiped?" Dean asked.

"About….two weeks ago…" Harry answered, slowly realizing why he might be suspicious. "Same day Jane died."

Kat flung her computer open the minute they got in. She pulled up an article about Gabriel's Horn of Truth and scanned it fast, sharing everything she read with Dean. He poured them both a glass of whiskey, which they shot, and closed his eyes.

"Castiel? Hello?" he pseudo-prayed. "Possible loose nuke down here...angelic weapon. Kinda your department. Cas? Sara?" There was a pause, a rush of wings, and the blue-eyed, trenchcoat-clad angel stood before them.

"Hello Dean, Kat," he said in his usual gravelly tone.

"Are you kidding me?" Dean snapped. "Kat has been on red alert about Sam and you come for some stupid horn? And Sara can't be bothered?"

"Dean, it's okay," Kat said, trying to calm him down.

"You asked me to be here and I came," Cas replied simply.

"Dean, stop," Kat said a little more forcefully. Dean took a breath, but pressed his line of questioning.

"Why didn't you answer her?"

"I didn't come about Sam because I have nothing to offer about Sam," Cas said, a little taken aback. "Neither does Sara."

"Well, that's great," Dean scoffed. "For all we know, he's just gift-wrap for Lucifer."

"No, he's not Lucifer," Cas said, grabbing the bottle of whiskey.

"How do you know?" Kat asked.

"If Lucifer escaped the cage, we'd feel it, "he replied, refilling their glasses. Dean looked a little defeated.

"What's wrong with him?" he asked, sounding desperate.

"I don't know, Dean. I'm sorry," Cas answered.

"What happened to you, Cas?" Kat asked, genuinely concerned. She noticed that he seemed drained, physically and emotionally, and for an angel that was weird. "You used to be at least human-like."

"We're at war," was the reply. "Certain...regrettable things are now required of both me and Sara. She's...she's not happy, but she's doing what needs done. She sends her love." Kat nodded her thanks, but saw the sadness in his eyes.

"So, Gabriel's Horn of Truth? That's a real thing?" Dean asked, changing the subject.

"You've seen it?" Cas asked, suddenly interested.

"We think it's in town. Something's forcing people -" Dean began, only to peter off as Cas' disappeared with a flap of his wings. "You're welcome!" he scoffed. Cas returned seconds later.

"It isn't the Horn of Truth," he reported.

"What?" Kat asked. "Where did you look?"

"Everywhere." The Winchesters sighed.

"Well, nice seeing you anyway," Kat said lamely "Tell Sara we said hi."

"Dean, Kat," Cas said, moving towards them. "About Sam. I don't know what's wrong with him, but I want to help. I'll make inquiries and see what Sara and I can do." With that, he vanished.

"Thanks," Dean said quietly. The two of them looked at the whiskey bottle and silently agreed that they needed something stronger, so they headed for the nearest bar. After a shot or two, Dean's phone rang.

"Hey, what's up?" he said.

"All the bodies are gone," Sam's voice said on the other end of the line. Kat leaned closer to listen.

"What do you mean? They just vanished?" Dean asked.

"That's what the coroner said. But, I got a lead. One of the missing bodies...she died a whole week before everybody else."

"Suicide?" Kat asked.

"Reported as a car accident, but no reason it couldn't have been," Sam explained.

"That would make her our patient zero, right?" Dean reasoned.

"I'm thinking maybe," Sam agreed. "Whatever got this whole curse thing rolling started with her. I'm at her place now, corner of Burnham and 159th. I could really use Kat's eyes on this."

"Give us 10," Dean said, and hung up.

"One more," Kat called, flagging down the bartender.

"Thought you two were working," she asked as she filled up two more shot glasses.

"Working up to it," Kat explained wryly as the two of them rubbed their eyes.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Not really," Dean groaned.

I talked to local experts to bring you the truth a female voice said on the TV above them. Kat looked up and saw it was from a program called Frank Talk with Ashley Frank.

"On me," the bartender said with a smile. "Anything else I can get you two?"

"I'd just like the friggin' truth," Dean scoffed as he downed his shot. As he did, Kat suddenly felt something come over her: an uncontrollable impulse to spill her deepest, darkest secrets to Dean. "I'll settle for another one."

"Sometimes I think I can't get pregnant 'cause God knows my marriage is a sham," the bartender blurted out. "Why'd I say that? I mean, I've been snorting oxy all day. Why'd I say that?" Dean looked at Kat, who was visibly struggling not to talk. When she nodded, his eyes went wide.

"I'm pretty sure I know," he said, getting up and walking out, gently holding Kat's arm.

"I'm sitting like this so you'll look at my breasts. I just bought them. I need a lot of attention," a woman said as they passed by.

"Married," was all Dean said as they left. When he did stop, Kat grabbed the back of his collar and yanked him out the door.

On the way back to the car, Dean called Bobby. Kat didn't listen in, grabbing her Book of Shadows, her grandmother's book, and an old family spellbook, frantically looking for anything to break this influence. Finally, in her own spellbook, she came to a copy of an Enochian dictionary she had put in. As Dean hung up the phone, she pieced together an incantation and tried it, putting everything she could manage into the intent behind her words.

"Bransg ol iras oi iansh (Shield me from this power)," she chanted, her monotone shaky but loud. When she got the last syllable out, she felt the impulse roll off of her, but looked at Dean to be sure.

"What was that?" he asked. Kat paused for a second, then took a breath and tried to lie.

"A spell to cure herpes," came out of her mouth. She sighed and smiled.

"Seriously?"

"No. It's something I cobbled together in Enochian. I'm not much good if all I want to do is spill my guts out all the time," she explained. Dean waited, and the onslaught never came. "I can teach it to you if you want to try it out," she offered. Dean started to speak, then looked at his phone and called Sam.

"Sam, it's me. Listen, Kat and I are on our way to you, but if you get this before then, give me a call back. There's a few things I want to ask you." Kat realized what he was planning...and was intrigued to see the outcome.

They pulled up to the apartment complex Sam had mentioned and headed up to meet him, catching him as he was coming downstairs.

"Hey, where have you two been? I found something," Sam said when he saw them, holding up a small box decorated with floral upholstery.

"It can wait," Dean said. "We need to talk."

"Yeah, what's up?" He started going down the stairs, and Kat and Dean followed.

"There's a few things I want to ask you, and you're gonna tell me the truth," Dean said simply. Kat watched Sam carefully.

"Yeah, Dean, of course. What are you talking about?" Sam asked, then it dawned on him, pausing in the hallway. "Woah...are you saying you're…?"

"I asked for the truth and you know what? I'm getting it. Like I said, I have a few questions for you. When that vamp attacked Kat, why did you just stand there?" Sam locked eyes with his sister-in-law, who was staring him down as hard as Dean was. He started stammering, his brown eyes going wide.

"I didn't," he stuttered. "I froze." Kat wanted to grill him herself, but she knew she had to let Dean do it.

"You froze," Dean repeated with a scoff. "You have been Terminator since you got back."

"I don't know. Shock? And then it was too late. I feel terrible about it. Believe me Dean, I can't lie here," Sam continued. Kat frowned, not too sure. "Do you really think I would let something like that happen on purpose? Kat's my sister, your wife. How could I even…?" He faded off, unable to say more.

"Okay," Dean said quietly, nodding. "Sorry, I thought...Kat said she saw something." Sam turned to Kat.

"Kat, I promise. I never would have let that happen to you on purpose," he said, all but getting on his knees. She looked at Dean, who shrugged, and sighed, looking back at her brother-in-law.

"Okay, Sam. I believe you," she said. "I'm sorry. I'm just still not completely over what happened."

"Hey, it's okay," Sam said with a forgiving smile. "I got your back, alright? I always have." Kat managed a smile.

"Thanks, Sammy," she replied. She looked at Dean as Sam walked away, her smile all but gone. All Dean could do was put his arm around her and head back to the car.

They went back to the hotel and Sam showed them what he found: a cat skull, grains of paradise seed and devil's shoestring. Dean took the skull and studied it. The first victim, Corey, had gone through a bad breakup after her boyfriend cheated on her, making her obsessed with finding the truth.

"This was the chick's pet?" Dean asked while looking at the skull.

"Well, she was obsessed," Sam said, looking at his computer.

"I think you mean crazy," Dean commented. Kat looked up from her computer.

"All this stuff mixed together is a summoning," she said.

"Demon?" Dean asked.

"God," Kat answered, turning her laptop around to show the boys. "Specifically, Veritas, Roman Goddess of Truth. Corey was so desperate for the truth about her boyfriend cheating, she went digging around. Nothing panned out, so she went looking for a different kind of help."

"Opened a door she couldn't close," Dean continued.

"Yep," Sam agreed, scanning the article. "Now anyone in town who asks aloud for the truth invokes Veritas. And she doesn't just give it to you. She slams you with it until you kill yourself and she gets her tribute."

"All that 'tribute' vanishing from the morgue. What do you think...soylent green situation?" Dean wondered aloud.

"Maybe not soylent green, but most pagan Gods like that ate their tributes," Kat said.

"Which means we gotta take her out, or you're on the menu," Sam added, looking at Dean.

"What do we know about crazy cat lady?"

"Well," Sam read. "Dogs are her achilles heel."

"And she was pretty hands on," Kat continued. "She would come down from the mountain to speak truth to the masses. She wanted more than tribute. She wanted to be properly worshiped."

"An attention whore," Sam said, nodding.

"Sure," Kat agreed.

"And what's the 21st century version of speaking to the masses?" Dean asked, cocking an eyebrow.

They stole a PC tower from the TV studio where Frank Talk was filmed.

"So you really think this God is slumming as some farm-league Diane Sawyer?" Sam asked as they walked out, tower in his hands.

"Call it a hunch," Dean said, paying off the guard. They headed back to the hotel, hooked the tower up to Sams laptop and started cruising all of the raw footage. This took literal hours. Kat found herself dozing off on Dean's shoulder more than once, and most of the time, he let her, never letting go of her hand. When she woke up, they were still at it. It didn't even look like Sam had moved at all.

"She's creepy," Dean commented. "I mean, the hair alone. I don't know, man, maybe there's nothing here."

"Maybe," Sam grunted, and sped up the footage. He kept going as Dean and Kat ate lunch, dinner, and eventually breakfast. The whole time, Sam didn't take his eyes off the screen, only stopping to pull off his flannel shirt.

"Hold on," Sam finally said after hours. "Check this out." He rewound some of the footage to where Ashley was standing in front of a white picket fence. A doberman came in the background and started barking, making Ashley look uncomfortable. As she adjusted, Dean noticed something.

"Zoom in on that," he pointed at the image. Sam clicked and zoomed in on her eyes. As she was glancing at the dog, they were lit up a bright blue, almost like Cas and Saras eyes when they put their grace on full blast. The hunters looked at each other. They had her.

That night, they staked out the studio until they saw Miss Frank leaving in a red convertible. They followed her to a huge house outside of town and parked nearby.

"Looks pretty normal, right?" Sam commented as they looked at it.

"I'm sure the inside is full of creep," Dean said, shuddering at the thought. He produced three knives as the lights in the house turned on. "Ready?"

"Ready," Kat said, taking a knife from him.

"Ready," Sam said, holding up a jar filled with a dark liquid.

"That's…?" Dean asked, nodded at the jar with a nauseated look on his face.

"Dog's blood," Sam confirmed.

"Should we ask where you got that?" Kat asked, looking equally as nauseated.

"Probably not," was the reply. They all dipped their knives in the jar. As they did, Kat noticed Dean watching Ashely walk up a huge staircase through the huge front windows that had been lit up when she walked inside.

"Alright, let's do this," Dean said. They got out of the car and snuck into the house. Inside was a very minimalistic, modern decor...much to everyone's surprise. There were walls-sized water features and a 5 foot long electric fireplace with plain white and beige furniture. A few statues were sitting around, as well as a baby grand piano. "So where's the creep?" Sam wondered out loud, a little sarcastically. Suddenly, a ginger cat caught their attention. They followed it downstairs, only stopping to look at a huge mosaic of Veritas. It led them into another room, where it jumped on a gurney. The hunters all looked around disgusted at the sight before them. Bodies and blood were everywhere, sitting on gurneys or hanging from the ceiling.

"You came for dinner," a voice behind them said, making them all jump. The hunters whirled around and saw Ashley Frank standing there, wearing traditional Roman dress. She waved her hand, flinging them all across the room and knocking them unconscious.

Kat was the first to come to. Sam and Dean were both still out, and all three were sitting in a huge basin on the floor that seemed to be meant to collect blood, hands tied behind their backs. Veritas put their blood-soaked knives out of reach as Sam woke up, followed closely by Dean.

"Oh don't worry," Veritas said as she walked over to the dentist's corpse. "You're next, little girl." She opened the dentist's mouth and pulled out his tongue with pincers. Dean and Kat looked at each other, then at Sam. He had managed to get a switchblade out and tried to communicate a plan nonverbally to them. "The tongue is the tastiest part," Veritas was saying as she looked at the tongue in her hands. "It's where the lies roll off." She took a bite out of the organ, forcing Kat and Dean to look away in disgust. "I cannot wait to eat yours," she continued, looking at the hunters. "I mean, I've seen liars before, but you three? Gold standard." She put the tongue down and walked over to the basin.

"Point of professional pride," Dean quipped.

"I wouldn't be so cocky," she sneered. "You know what happens when you base your life on lies, right? The truth comes along and...So, while you've still got your tongue, God knows you've gotten an earful. I think it's your turn to spill some, then maybe wifey over there? Or Sam?" Kat glanced over at Sam, who was working on cutting the ropes. "How 'bout we play a little truth or truth? What should we ask Dean first, hmm? Something personal about you?" She looked between Kat and Sam for a moment before settling on the younger Winchester. "Hey Dean, I'm curious: what do you really feel about your brother?" Kat watched helplessly as Veritas' influence fell over her husband. He had still declined her spell, though she wondered if being this close to the Goddess would have even made the spell effective.

"Better now," Dean finally said. "As of yesterday, I wanted to kill him in his sleep." Sam looked surprised. "I thought he was a monster, especially after what Kat had told me about that night with the vampires. But now, I think...he's acting just like me."

"What do you mean?" Veritas asked, cuddling up to him, which made Kat squirm.

"It's the gig. You're covered in blood until you're covered in your own blood. Half the time, you're about to die. Like right now. I told myself I wanted out...that I wanted a family. I even brought it up with Kat."

"But you were lying," the goddess sneered. Kat struggled more, staring daggers at Veritas.

"No," Dean said, making Kat's eyes go wide. "But what I'm good at...is slicing throats. I ain't a father. I'm barely a husband. I'm a killer, and there's no changing that. I know that now."

"Dean," Kat said, tears coming to her eyes. Veritas looked over at Kat and patted Dean's shoulder with a smirk. She then walked over to Sam.

"So, Sam walking back into your life must have been a relief, hmm? Mallory to your Mickey. And how do you feel about the band getting back together. Hmm, Sam?" Kat's eyes were now glued to Sam. But something about his demeanor didn't sit right.

"Look...what we do...is hard," Sam began. He locked eyes with his siblings, trying to communicate what he was thinking. Kat, however, was now looking at Veritas, who had tensed up. "But we watch out for each other, and that's what's important. And that's it. That's the truth."

"No," Veritas said. "No, it's not!"

"You said yourself...I can't lie," Sam said.

"How are you doing that?" she snarled. "That's not possible! You're lying to me!"

"No I'm not!" he cried, actually looking scared.

"What are you?" the goddess cried. "What is he?" she asked Dean. Kat's stomach dropped. He wasn't under her influence...which means he wasn't under Dean's influence. He had lied to both of them...and she bought it.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sam insisted.

"Really? I doubt that," Veritas laughed. "I doubt anything that comes out of your mouth right now. You're not human."

"What?" Kat finally managed to gasp out.

"You didn't know? Now that I believe," she scoffed. Sam chose that moment to strike, tossing the switchblade to Dean and grabbing one of the blood-soaked knives, rushing Veritas. She knocked him back, causing him to drop the knife and fall. As she began to choke him, Dean sliced through his own bonds, got the knife to Kat, and grabbed one of the hooks. He drove it into the goddess' back, causing her to roar and show her true form for a brief moment, a blue eyed, snake faced creature with elongated fangs. Sam grabbed the knife from behind him and plunged it into her heart, killing her. She keeled over into the basin, bleeding out as Kat got out of the way. The witch got up, grabbed the other knife from the table, and turned it on Sam.

"Kat, it's me," he said, his eyes flitting from her to Dean. His brother didn't move.

"You are not Sam," Kat growled.

"Just listen," Sam tried to explain.

"What are you?!"

"I'm me, Kat. Please, let me explain!" Sam looked to Dean, who stood there, stone faced. "Dean, please."

"Why the hell should we believe anything you say?" Dean challenged.

"Okay, you want the truth? Here it is, here it is...God's honest," Sam cried. "She was right. There's something wrong with me, really wrong. I've known for a while. Kat, I lied to you. Yeah. And...I let you get turned by that vamp. Because I knew there was a cure, Kat, and we needed in the nest! And I knew you could handle it!"

"Handle it?" Kat snapped. "I could have died! I could've killed Dean...or you!"

"And that should stop me cold, but I...I just don't feel it!" Sam continued.

"You what?" Dean asked, still shocked.

"Ever since I came back, I am a...a better hunter than I've ever been," Sam said. "Nothing scares me anymore! 'Cause I can't feel it. I don't know what's wrong with me. I think...I need help." Kat put the knife down and turned away, processing everything Sam had just spilled to her. Sam looked at his sister-in-law with something that looked like hope...until Kat reared back and punched Sam as hard as she could in the face, knocking him to the ground. She got on and kept punching until Dean finally pulled her off, possibly a little later than he should have. Angry tears clouded Kat's vision as she let Dean pull her close and hold her. He whispered gentle reassurance in her ear, eyes still on the beat-to-hell form of his brother.

"I believed him," she kept sobbing. "He fed me bullshit and I fell for it."

"We both did," he said, holding her tighter.

He did need help...and Dean knew exactly where to look.