The End | {BOOK 5}

32| Getting Dean Back

Sam, Bobby, my mom and I were at the morgue, getting a look at some of the bodies the cops had found dumped at the train tracks.

"These are just some of the victims," the coroner told us. "More are in the hall, a couple in the store room... we don't usually see this kind of action in Duluth."

"The injuries are all pretty uniform?" my mom asked.

"Yep. The boys upstairs think maybe we're looking at a spree killer."

"If they were DOA, you have an ETA on TOD?" Bobby questioned. "Any sample DFA?"

Sam cleared his throat behind him.

"DNA?" Bobby corrected himself.

"Uh, frankly we don't even know the precise cause of death. I mean, there were the neck wounds of course, but there was also considerable internal trauma, so-" the corner's phone rang, cutting her off. "Excuse me."

"Yeah. Sure," I nodded, then turned to Bobby when she'd left. "DFA?"

"I've been fighting a friggin' apocalypse for fifteen years, my FBI might be a little rusty."

"Alright," I rolled my eyes.

"Let's give them a quick once-over, see what they missed," Sam said.

Putting on gloves, we split up to each look at a different body.

"Angel kills for sure, and not grunts," I said. "We're talking five star smitings."

"Knife slits in the throat, but it doesn't look like they bled out," Bobby added.

"He kept these people alive for a while," my mom continued.

Sam peered into the mouth of his body.

"Maybe these people aren't people," he said. "Looking at a vamp."

"Same here," Bobby.

"Me, too," my mom agreed.

"Yep," I nodded after checking myself.

"Why milk 'em if he's just gonna smite 'em?" Bobby queried.

"And why is an archangel hunting vampires in the first place?" my mom asked.

I chewed my lip, touching my wedding ring through my glove. I noticed that the others were avoiding saying either Michael or Dean's names around me, and I kind of appreciated it. It was almost easier to think of the case as going after some other angel when I didn't think about it being Michael wearing my husband.

When Sam asked the coroner if anyone had come to identify any of the bodies, she let us know a young woman stopped by, and then left without giving a name. We got an identification from the surveillance cameras outside and headed to the apartment of Lydia Crawford.

"Hey! Stop!" Sam shouted.

"Get away from me!" Lydia yelled.

"Don't move. We know who you are. We know you went to the morgue."

"We saw your license plate on the security cams and pulled your address. You should've ditched the car when you first got turned," I told her. "Made this way too easy."

"You're not FBI. You're hunters."

"That's right," Sam confirmed.

Bobby pulled his knife and Lydia eyed him warily.

"I haven't done anything wrong!"

"No, vampires never do," Bobby deadpanned.

"Me nest, we- we fed on animal blood," she told us desperately and Sam lowered his gun. "We lived quiet lives, until... until he came."