Decisions, Decisions.

What is this?

Only bar for 100 miles, Nebraska.

The Chevelle leaned into the dusty sand lot for Harvelle's. Two doors opened and slammed shut as Dean and Alex exited. He cautioned her to stay in line behind him.

"Like I said, these are friends," said Dean. "Just...they don't know it yet. Stay close. Lots of hunters in there." Alex nodded.

They entered the bar and several people turned to judge them. Dean stared ahead stone-faced as Alex glanced around. It didn't look out of the ordinary to her so she settled down quickly. Convinced they weren't anything to be worried about the stares turned elsewhere. Dean moseyed up to the bar with Alex in tow. He saw Ellen right away and though he wasn't one to get choked up a little something caught in his throat. It was good to see her alive. Dean made a mental note to keep it that way this time. He didn't see Jo. Probably still at school.

"Ellen," he said to her, nodding.
She looked back at him blankly. "Do I know you?"

Dean gathered up all of his confidence for the next part. He knew Ellen was not a woman to be messed with.

"Uh, no, but my Dad does. John Winchester." Ellen raised an eyebrow at this reveal. "He sent me this way. I'm helping this one" -- he motioned back to Alex -- "track down a couple of demons." Alex gave a tentative smile as Dean continued. "Just needed to get off the road for a little bit."

Ellen was toweling down the bar. She digested Dean's story slowly. Dean's heart rate increased with every moment in silence.

"John Winchester, huh? Suppose that would make you Dean. I haven't talked to him in months now, but..." Ellen paused as if going against her better judgment. "What'll ya have?"

Dean ordered for them both and heaved a sigh of relief as Ellen walked off to fetch their beers. They claimed bar stools and Dean started looking around for Ash. Ellen dropped off their beers and started up some motivated small talk.

“So Dean, what brings you to our neck of the woods." Dean wheeled back around to face Ellen.
"A few days ago I caught the trail of this pack of demons that's tracking west," Dean began. He was not eager to get into angel chatter, so instead he talked around it. "Have you heard any talk about one named Ipos?"
Ellen shook her head. "Sorry," she said. "Hunters don't usually wait around for formal introductions."
"Yeah," Dean agreed, taking a swig of beer. "Seen any strange omen patterns around lately?"
"As a matter of fact we have. But you'll need to talk to Ash about that," Ellen said.
"Where is he, anyway?" Dean asked.
"Oh, you know him?" Ellen asked suspiciously.
"I've heard," Dean replied. Ellen eyed Dean for a moment. He tried to give his best version of Sam's Puppy Dog Eyes of Compliance. It seemed to work as Ellen offered to get Ash. A few minutes later she came back with the mulleted genius.

Dean gave Alex instructions and then set off to talk to Ash. Ellen returned behind the bar.
"You traveling with Dean?" Ellen asked.
"Yeah," Alex said.
"You been with him long?"
"Not really. I just kind of fell into this whole thing." Alex laughed, and Ellen nodded in understanding. There was a brief pause and then Alex launched into her task. "So, do you know Bobby Singer?"
"Sure I know Bobby. One of the smartest hunters around."
"We were headed up that way and we crossed paths with a hunter who told us to turn back. Is everything OK with him?"
Ellen frowned. "I just talked to him yesterday so I sure hope so."
"Well, I think we're gonna head back up that way. I'll have Dean let you know how it goes."

Dean and Ash came over together. "Ash said the coast is clear in South Dakota," Dean said. "And everything looks fine for now in California. But there's a whole mess heading towards Colorado and Wyoming."
"Wyoming?" Ellen said. She grabbed a folder from below the back counter. "If you are heading up there you should take a look into this."
"I don't know that we'll have time to..." Dean started to say but Alex elbowed him. She took the folder from Ellen.
"What happened?" Alex asked.
"About a week ago a guy disappeared up near Cheyenne. His wife says he went camping with a friend out near Glendo. Then three days ago the friend stumbles back into town torn up something awful and says his friend was kidnapped. Meanwhile about two towns over another couple had been slaughtered in their sleep. Hardly anything left of them."

Alex showed Dean the article from the Cheyenne Tribune-Eagle. Dean scanned down to where Alex's finger was pointing. The couple appeared to have been killed by a wild animal.
"Sound familiar?" She asked Dean.
He nodded in return and agreed to look into it. And with everything he needed now lined up Dean was ready to go. They all said their goodbyes.

******

Cheyenne, Wyoming.

It was midday but the sky was dark. Dean and Alex had been driving through non-stop thunderstorms and had chosen Wyoming over Colorado to avoid tornados. They had been listening to classic rock but as they lost the station Alex was fiddling with the tuner, trying to lock in on another one.

"Another 10 died last night in Eastern Colorado after three tornados touched down outside of Sterling," the radio announcer said. Dean reached over and snapped the radio off.
"You think this is the same pack of demons?" He asked Alex.
"You're the expert, but, yeah." She replied.

Dean noticed that Alex seemed distracted. She hadn't said much on the drive and seemed to be staring off into space. Dean hadn't thought about it too hard but the whole situation was probably nerve-racking to her. He had been so far from normal for so long that he forgot how strange his life was. He was accustomed to it. She was not.

Dean started talking to Alex but noticed she didn't respond. She was a million miles away. He tapped her on the arm. She popped back into the moment and spun to face him.

"I know this whole deal must seem rotten to you," Dean said. "I'm going to help you though. I won't let you down. I'll help you clean up whatever mess this is before I go." He tried to reassure her. Alex smiled in return.
"Thanks, Dean," she said. And meant it.

She took a breath as though she had to more to say. Instead she just exhaled and looked back out the window. Dean stared at her for a moment before shifting his focus back to the road ahead.

******

Cold, cold storage.

Dean, for now known as Agent Dennis DeYoung of the US Department of the Interior, entered the morgue dressed in his best suit. His only suit. He asked to see the bodies of Gerald and Nancy Hobart, the couple who'd been killed in their sleep by a "wild animal" a few days earlier. The chief medical examiner brought him back to the cages, opened two metal doors and pulled the bodies out.

"Must have been one angry bear," the doctor noted before leaving the room.
Dean pulled down the sheet to look at Mr. Hobart first. He winced as the body was revealed. Deep scratches covered what was left his chest and arms. Part of his ribs were exposed and Dean could see the man's intestines starting to leak out a bit. It was gruesome. It was almost certainly not a bear.

He turned his attention to Nancy. She had a similar look to her but Dean noted that there was an additional trail of burns down her arm. Like acidic drool...or sulfur. He looked at the autopsy notes. Sure enough traces of sulfur had been found on both bodies. That confirmed it.

Dean headed back out to the car, loosening his tie.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" Alex asked as he got in. She was holding a hex bag Dean had given her to throw any nearby demons off their scent.
"Just the bad news I was hoping for," Dean confirmed. "Hellhounds. I'm sure of it. We have to go to the house. Take a look around."

******

Home sweet Hobarts'.

Dean parked the Chevelle down the street and popped the trunk. He took out two knives, two guns and some equipment. He handed Alex one of the guns and Sam's demon-killing knife.

"Probably won't need these," he said to reassure them as he handed them to her.
Alex looked both frightened and amused by his assurances. "Thanks," she said sarcastically.

They crossed under the caution tape and headed into the crime scene. The front door was scraped up. Though it was day it was still nice and dark so Dean and Alex turned on their flashlights and looked around for evidence of demons and their dogs. A few pieces of furniture were broken and an area rug was torn out of place. Dean looked around the windows and doors for traces of sulfur but saw none. Alex was looking at the family photos.

"They had two kids," she noted.
Dean was barely affected by the revelation. "Crime scene report says they died in their beds."

He walked towards the stairs. Alex followed him up. The master bedroom was at the end of the hallway. The door was covered in claw marks. Dean opened the door and Alex gasped. They were met with another bloody scene. Blood had sprayed across the walls, covered the formerly white bedspread and pooled on the carpet. There was a trail running back towards the bathroom. On top of that the room smelled like more than just two dead bodies. Alex covered her face with her arm to subdue the smell. Dean continued inward.

Dean went to the window. No sulfur. He followed the trail into the bathroom. There was a small window in there and along that sill he found a huge pile of sulfur and a trail of blood going out the window. It had been marked with a card reading "8". He called to Alex and opened the window further. The lower tier of the roof ran right up to the window. This was how the demon got in. Dean crawled out and saw more sulfur. He followed it.

Alex ran downstairs to meet him around the outside. It was windy out and the trees swayed against a dark grey sky. She watched through the leaves as Den made his way down to the end of the roof. Alex ran around the corner of the house to meet him.

"Dean! I think you need to see this!"

The lowest part of the roof was just over a story up. Dean shone his flashlight down to the ground around Alex. He spotted something shiny off behind her.

"See where my flashlight is?" Dean asked. Alex nodded. "Grab that!" Then he crouched down and jumped off the roof. He turned to see what Alex had been looking at.

"What is that?" Alex asked about the symbol she'd spotted on the house as she returned with the item Dean had spotted. She held it by two fingers on the handle and kept it as far as possible from her body, as if it were a dead animal.
"A sigil," Dean sighed.
"What's a sigil?"
"It's like angel-B-gon," Dean explained. He took the crime scene report out of his back pocket. "Looks like the wife died upstairs but the husband died down here on the driveway." He said.
"Huh, kinda makes sense," Alex said. Dean looked at her. "These symbols, they look like some kind of Hebrew. They're numbers...or coordinates."
Dean remembered Alex had mentioned being a language expert. "Enochian. Know where the coordinates go?"
"No idea," Alex said. "There's one symbol on the bottom though. It looks like devil, or demon maybe."
Dean shone his flashlight over it. Then to a pool of blood marked "12". "I don't get it. If there was an angel here then why..."
His thought was interrupted by a voice calling out.
"Hey you!" A man approached them. It was the next-door neighbor. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Dean," Alex gasped, and grabbed Dean's arm. He motioned for her to relax.
"Just checking in from the CSI unit," Dean said. "Needed to make sure all the events were labeled correctly."
The man looked at Dean skeptically and said, "I'm calling the cops."
"No problem, we're leaving," Dean said and pulled Alex towards the car. She tucked the knife into her coat. As they passed by the neighbor she gripped Dean's hand tightly. They got into the Chevelle and drove off.
"Not a fan of the neighbor?" Dean asked teasingly.
"You couldn't see his face?" Alex asked, eyes wide.
"I guess he did have a little Freddy Krueger to him," Dean supposed.
"No, Dean. It was disgusting. His eyes were sunk back, his skin was grey and leathery and his mouth was black and nearly toothless! Tell me you didn't see it."
"And it was kind of jerking around in faster time?" He asked.
"Yeah. You did see it?"
"Sonofabitch," he said. Dean turned stony-faced and stared straight ahead. He needed to find a hotel. They weren't going anywhere.

******

Hotel room o'the Episode.

Dean threw his bag down on one of the beds and started removing his suit. On the car ride over he'd explained to Alex that she was seeing the neighbor's true face -- his demon face. He guessed it was because of what had happened to her when she was kidnapped. He asked her if she'd ever been visited by an angel, but Alex shook her head no. Dean wondered to himself if she was actually already an angel and didn't know it. Like Anna.

Alex took out her laptop and started setting it up on the lone table in the room. Dean was back in jeans within seconds. She caught a sideways glance of Dean taking off his shirt.

"Whoa," she said. Dean smiled.
"I get that a lot," he teased.
"Your tattoo...what is it?" Alex asked.
"Wards off demon possession," he replied.
Alex pulled down the collar on her own shirt and revealed an identical tattoo.
"When did you get that?" Dean asked, stunned.
"A few years ago. I was drunk in Vegas and the tattoo artist convinced me to get it."

Dean used the time it took to get his tee and plaid back on to consider his next move. He worried that telling Alex too much would scare her but it was clear that leaving her in the dark meant he might be missing important information.

"Well, good news for both of us. Wastes a lot less rock salt that way." Playing it close to the chest as usual.

Alex felt her anger rising. She had been quiet too long. "That's it? We find out we have the same tattoos which just so happen to ward off demon possession and you make a cheap joke? Dean, don't you think I've been in the dark long enough here?" Alex asked, her voice rising along the way.
"There's nothing to talk about." Dean insisted.
"You're kidding," Alex said frantically. "I got kidnapped by some demon, I apparently stopped the demon by some kind of angel mojo -- to use your words -- I can see demon faces on people now but there's nothing to talk about? I don't even know why I'm sticking with you."
"You wanna leave now? Be my guest. Don't let me keep you here," Dean replied angrily. "I'm just trying to save your life. But don't let that stop you from walking on out of here and getting yourself killed, or worse."
Alex threw her arms up in disgust. Dean grabbed his coat.
"Forget it," she said. "Don't leave. I'm hungry. I'm going to get some food." And with that it was Alex who left the hotel room.
"You shouldn't go out alone," Dean called after her. And then: "Don't let any hellhounds grab hold of that stick up your ass!"

She pretended not to hear him.

Dean opened Alex's laptop. He saw she'd been researching Ipos and started catching up. This demon was known to have a lion's head in Hell. Not unlike a seraph. There was another page up he couldn't read, but he saw in pictures what looked like a demon dragging an angel down to hell. There was another demon in one of the pictures, and in the last panel what had been an angel now looked like a demon. Dean pushed the laptop away. So Ipos was dragging angels to Hell? Or their vessels? Both? He was suddenly nervous for Alex. He took out the cellphone Bobby had given him and called her.

A little while later Dean was furiously clicking away at Alex's computer. Alex was polishing off one of the beers Dean had asked her to get.

"You said the Hobarts had two kids, right?" Dean asked.
Alex nodded.
"Well, one of them died last week. Jumped off a bridge outside Minneapolis. The other one is still alive. For now. A student at the University of Wyoming."
"So the demons are probably headed that way," Alex said.
Dean nodded. "Something doesn't add up though."
Alex saw the knife she'd grabbed back at the Hobarts' on the table next to him.
"And the knife?"
"It's not a knife. It's a scimitar."
"A what?"
"It's a knife that can kill an angel."
Alex plopped down into the chair across from Dean.
"I don't get it. The sigil and now this thing? Was it an angel back at the Hobarts' or a demon?"
"Maybe both," Dean said. "If this demon is killing off vessel bloodlines they're gonna go after the kid up in Laramie next. So we find him first."

******

Home of the Cowboys.

Alex ran back out to the Chevelle, which was parked out in front of one of the campus dorms. "Roommate says Jake's down at the campus track. It's about a 5-minute walk from here."

They walked together and saw what looked like the football team doing sprints on the track's grassy inner field. Dean recognized Jake from his high school yearbook photo and the two approached.

"Jake Hobart?" Dean called. Jake nodded.
"I'm Special Agent Buckingham and that's Agent Nicks. We're from the FBI."
Jake briefly looked at their badges. "You here to ask about my parents? Or about my sister?" Dean and Alex both looked down at the ground.
"It's been one hell of a week," Jake continued. "But I don't know why the FBI is getting mixed up in all of this now. It's over."
"We just need to ask you a few questions and then we'll get out of your hair," Dean said calmly. "Had your sister or parents told you about anything strange in the days before they died? Mentioned any unusual people or anything like that?"
"My sister's boyfriend broke up with her. So she decided to jump off a bridge," Jake said coldly. "And my Dad reappeared after being missing for 3 years. So yeah, I'd say this week was a little unusual."
"Your father was missing?"
"That's right. He just walked out of the house one night in the middle of Monday Night Football. No reason, nothing. We searched the whole damn country for him. Got you guys involved too. Lot of good that did. No trace of him. Then two months ago out of the blue he shows up back at home. My Mom -- she couldn't believe it. They were just getting settled back in to being together. My sister and I were supposed to go back this weekend. But you probably already knew that."
"We have reason to believe your parents might not have been killed in an animal attack," Dean hated to say it. Jake's face twisted.
"What? Why would you...look, you guys were no help to my family then and you're certainly no help now. Why don't you just leave town?" And with that Jake turned his back on them.
"Just one last question," Alex called out, surprising all three of them. "Do you have any tattoos?"
"Tattoos? Really? No, I don't have any. My sister had one of some knot thing. Said it warded off evil spirits or something. She was into that crap."
Dean pulled at Alex's arm so she'd stop. He motioned for them to leave.

******

Pig 'N A Pokeless Diner.

"Here's something interesting," Alex said, looking at her laptop screen while talking to Dean. "Jake Hobart hasn't been in any of his classes or at any of his football practices in almost two weeks. There's a note from the athletics department -- they tried calling his parents to see if he'd gone there."
"So Jake goes missing and Daddy Angel reappears?" Dean mused.
"Dean, what if an angel was the one attacking the Hobarts? Maybe Jake's dad wasn't done with his mission yet?"
"I've seen angels do some pretty crazy things," Dean replied. "But they don't kill their vessels. I don't think so anyway. Cas would know." He looked forlorn.
Alex tensed up as two men walked into the diner.
"Messed-up demon faces?" Dean asked. Alex nodded. Dean slid down in the booth and motioned for Alex to head out the back door. She clicked her laptop shut, slid it in her messenger bag and made her way towards the back. The two men cut her off.
"Going somewhere?" One asked. His eyes flipped beetle black. "Don't want you to miss the show."

From behind them, Dean jumped and pulled one of the demons down from behind. Alex quickly wheeled around and knocked the other one over with the force of her messenger bag. They both worked to escape their respective demons. Dean tussled with his on the ground until the demon rolled him over and took the upper hand. It stood up, taking Dean with it by the collar and slammed him into the side of the booth. It pulled him back and did it again, this time crushing Dean's face into the glass partition. Dean was pulled back again bloodier. He used the force of the pullback to his advantage and threw his weight backwards, forcing him and the demon down onto a table. The demon hit the back of its head with a satisfying thump. Dean used the second of downtime to spin around and started punching the demon before picking him up and shoving him back down onto the table.

Alex meanwhile was not faring as well. She had knocked the demon over momentarily but it quickly stood back up and knocked her back into the bar. Her head hit against the corner, partially knocking her out. While she struggled back to full consciousness the demon picked Alex up and threw her over the bar. She landed on the wet floor mat below. She picked herself back up slowly and grabbed a broom lying across the floor, smacking the demon with it. Alex spotted her messenger bag and quickly pulled out the holy water within. She shook the bottle and sprayed at the demon. It cried out in pain and staggered backwards. But then it charged over the bar and onto Alex. It started hitting her.

She cried out and Dean looked over. Enough was enough. "You wanna tell me what you're doing here?" He asked the demon. It looked at him and hissed. "Fine." Dean started Latinating and the demon below him started vomiting smoke. Dean raced through the 3 verses and expelled the demon from its host. The man collapsed back onto the table, bloody and possibly dead.
Dean flew over to the bar where he heard the demon growling on top of Alex. As he ran to the end of the bar Alex was wrestling the demon. She managed to get one hand free and reached over her own body. She grabbed the knife and plunged it towards the demon. It twisted away and turned it back towards her. Dean grabbed the demon and once again started chanting Latin verse. The demon coughed black smoke out onto Alex as it was exorcised. The host collapsed on top of her. Alex whimpered, stuck under the weight. Dean ran over, pulled the host off of her and helped her up. She collapsed into his arms. He felt the blood trickling down the back of her neck.

"You OK?" He asked her.
"I hit my head," she said woozily. "But I'm OK."
They heard a groan from behind them and the former demon across the table stirred back to life.
"What happened to you?" Dean asked.
"I don't know. One second I was hanging out with a couple of friends and the next thing I know I'm here."
"Which friends?" Dean demanded.
"Pete Tyers and Jake Hobart. You know 'em?"

******

Home of the Cowboys (and the Demons).

Dean and Alex approached the dorm cautiously. No signs of any demons outside. They waited for students to walk out so they could get in. Then they ran up to Jake's room. The door was open. Jake's roommate had met an unfortunate end on the couch. There was a bloody knife and Jake on his knees not too far away. He was slouched over, back to Alex and Dean.

My roommate," Jake said when he heard them come in. "He just...he just came after me. I don't know what was wrong with him." Dean motioned for Alex to go along one wall as he went along the other. Dean took out his gun and prepared to shoot. Quickly, he cocked the gun and took aim.

"My roommate," Jake said again, his voice a mix of surprise and bemusement. "He said something was wrong with me." He turned to Dean as the hunter launched a rock salt bullet. It hit Jake square in the chest but did nothing. The ‘oh shit’ look spread to Dean's face.

"Do you know what happens when you mix an angel with a demon, Dean?" The meatsuit formerly known as Jake asked. "Resistance to that which harms either."

He grabbed Dean by the neck and started squeezing. Alex, across the room, sprang into action. She ran across the room and stabbed the demon in the back with Sam's knife. Nothing happened. Jake remained on the ground. She fiddled through her bag and tried a silver knife. Nothing. Then a brass one. Notta. After a few more knives, the demon, arm still firmly around Dean's neck, turned around.

"That tickles," it said. It used its free arm to smack Alex back. She recovered and reached into her bag of tricks one more time. This time she grabbed the scimitar. She wasn't close enough to stab so she ran it across the demon's back. It opened a gash which emitted a ray of light and it doubled over in pain, dropping Dean. He landed on his stomach, coughing. Alex ran over and put him over her shoulder and then started to run the other way towards the door.

"Roof," he coughed out. He grabbed Alex's bag and they made their way out together. Alex took Dean around the corner from the door and let him down. Then she quickly turned a water bottle into holy water. When the demon came out she sprayed it with the water. It roared and smoke arose off of it.

"What a bonus," the demon said. "I was just on my way to recruit your bodyguard's brother, and I run into another of the 10 most wanted vessels right here." It stumbled towards Alex and grabbed her face. Dean saw it put a hand on her forehead like he'd seen angels do to so many demons, and each other. He'd been working on his own plan but launched into double time when the saw the light appear in her eyes.

"Hey!" Dean said. The demon turned to look at him, dropping Alex. "See ya later!" Dean pressed his bloody hand into the sigil and the demon was engulfed by white light. It roared for a moment before the sound disappeared as it did. Alex was on the ground gasping for air. Dean was still coughing himself.

They halved the distance to each other.

"How did you know to do that?" Alex asked between gasps. "And what was that thing?"
"No idea," Dean said, heaving. His arm dripped freely. "Part demon, part angel, all suck."

******

Hotel room o'the Episode.

"It was here for someone," Alex said. "I wish we knew who."
"You, it sounded like," Dean said absently.
"It said it was on its way to recruit your brother," Alex recalled. "Is that the family thing you were talking about? Ground zero?"
"No," Dean admitted. "Means we now have a reason to get out west as quickly as possible though."
"What about the guy we originally came here about?"
"Bob Gaffert," Dean said from across the table.
"Who?"
"The guy in Ellen's file who disappeared." Dean spun the laptop around. "This guy look familiar to you?"
Alex looked at the police sketch of the kidnapper. "Jake Hobart? What's he got to do with that?"
"Says in the police report that Gaffert's friend told police that the man fitting this description approached them in the woods and swiped him. Friend said, 'I heard him tell Gaffert that his mission was over before it started.'"
"Yikes."
"Yeah. We gotta get to Bobby's." He grabbed the car keys and his backpack. Alex packed up too and they headed for the car.
"Weird how none of the demon-hurting tools got to it but the angel ones did." She noted.
"Cas was trying to warn me. I think the amulet plays a role somehow." Dean said.
Alex nodded. Was Dean sharing with her? Amazing.
Meanwhile Dean was putting pieces together in his head. And with that there was a change of plans.
"Well, according to you we're not supposed to see your friend Bobby..."
"We're not, we're going west."
"Ready for some family history then?"
"Just gotta make a quick stop. Check things out with Sam. Pick up a little something. Then we go back to South Dakota," Dean said.
"That's quite the diversion," Alex said. "Wake me when we're there."