Castiel heads back to meet with the people watching the "interrogation." It's just Jody and the two agents on the case — Ryan and Esposito — sitting back there, and the first thing he hears is a confused, "You have a nephew?" from Ryan, because that's what's important right now.

Castiel rolls his eyes and turns his attention to Jody instead. "I told you. Swearing and sarcasm."

Jody ignores that. "He says he can get us the Vamps. What does he mean?"

"He means he can get you the Vamps," Castiel says. How much more specific does he need to get? "You want something more out of him, you'll probably have to ask him yourself."

"He won't talk to me," Jody reminds him.

"He will now," Castiel says. "He will if you're talking about the Vamps."

Jody thinks about that for a moment. "You think he could do it?"

Castiel shrugs. "I'm sure he could drag in their dead bodies without breaking a sweat, but I have a feeling that's not what you're looking for."

Jody frowns. "Yeah, no, that's not what I'm going for." She pushes herself to her feet. "I'm going to try to talk to him. Do you want to come?"

"Not particularly, no," Castiel says.

"Will you come anyway?"

Castiel scowls. "Fine." Like he has a choice anyway.

He and Jody head back to the interrogation room, where Dean is back to sitting calmly at the table with his hands clasped in front of him. This time, he doesn't smile when Castiel steps inside. Hell, he barely gives the man a glance. His attention is focused on Jody instead

"You wanted to broker a deal; let's do it," he says. "For the small price of 'absolving me from any crimes I may or may not have committed in the past,' I can get you the Vamps — the leader at the very least."

"So I've heard," Jody says, an eyebrow raised. "How do you plan to do that?"

Dean shrugs. "Depends on how much freedom you give me to do it."

Jody crosses her arms. "Meaning?"

"I can get most of the Vamps together," Dean says, "but if they see you guys sniffing around, they're gonna scatter like rats."

"So you want to go alone," Jody surmises, and, needless to say, she doesn't sound happy about it.

"Oh, no, you can be there," Dean says. "I ain't putting in the effort to bring anyone back here; that's all on you. But you can't show your faces 'til I have them together or you'll lose 'em."

Jody nods slowly, and CastieI has to admit, he really didn't expect her to consider it like this. It feels like all she ever talks about is stopping the Hunters. (Granted, the Vamps don't come up very much because no one even knows who's part of it. At least they have something to go on with the Hunters.) Arresting Dean is a huge win in that regard; is she really willing to risk it on a maybe?

Dean's face remains expressionless. Usually Castiel is good at reading him; right now, he has absolutely no idea what's going on in his head. The man doesn't even look at him, eyes trained on Jody as she thinks.

Finally, Jody says, "I can send you in with one of my guys, but if you try —"

"If you send me in with "one of your guys,'" Dean deadpans, "they're going to get killed."

"My guys know what they're doing," Jody says.

"And so do the Vamps," Dean says. "There's a very select group of people I could walk into Vamp territory with without raising any alarms. If I show up with a cop, it'll be over before it begins."

"They'll be undercover," Jody tells him.

"Doesn't matter," Dean replies. "I have my crew and they know that. Doesn't matter how well your cop thinks he passes for a Hunter; if he's not one of my guys, they won't buy it."

"Dammit," she mutters. She crosses her arms and drums her fingers along them as she thinks. After a few moments, she looks back at Castiel. "What if you went?"

Castiel states at her, eyes wide. What the fuck? No, he doesn't want to infiltrate a fucking gang. Why the hell would he?

Dean helps him out when he immediately shoots the idea down. "That's a great way to get us both killed."

"Why?" Jody asks. "He was a Hunter once, wasn't he? And it certainly sounds like he would have been part of 'your crew' back then. Maybe they'll buy it."

"He was the crew once upon a time," Dean says, "but that was a long time ago. There's not a goddamn Vamp in the city that doesn't know he's a cop. If they see him, they'll shoot him on sight."

Ouch.

It's probably true, but still.

"Well, those are your options," Jody says. "I'm sure as hell not letting you go alone, so you either take one of my guys or you can hang out in prison for a week or two until trial."

"Fine." Dean gestures for them to go. "I hope you think of me every time you find a body or there's a missing person and you think the Vamps are involved. Odds are, they probably were." He gives them a fake smile. "Bye, now."

Jody turns to go. As she's opening the door, she murmurs to Castiel a sarcastic, "Charmer, isn't he?"

CastieI bites his lip. He doesn't like how they're leaving this. If there's something they could do to stop the Vamps and they don't, he's never going to forgive himself. He sure as hell didn't need Dean to remind him of that, but the fact that he did doesn't make it any easier.

Well, this is probably very stupid, but here goes nothing.

"I think I should go."

Casiel glances between the two of them, and he's not sure which one looks more surprised.

Jody slowly closes the door and turns back around. "Are you sure?"

"No, he's not sure," Dean says immediately. "I'm telling you, it would be a death sentence."

"I think we could pull it off," CastieI says. They're both pretty good liars; he'd like to think that would make them good actors, too. They could probably fool the Vamps into thinking he's still a Hunter, at least of the unofficial variety -- assuming he doesn't get shot before he can get a word out.

"And if we couldn't?" Dean asks. "I know I'm mad at you, but I'm not mad enough to gamble with your life."

"Well, I'm mad enough to gamble with my life," CastieI says. After what they did to Alex and Jack, he would like nothing more than to watch each and every one of them escorted into the station in handcuffs. "Someone's gotta take care of the Vamps, and this is the best shot we've ever had."

"And you're sure about this?" Dean asks.

CastieI just nods.

"Fine," he says. "I don't like it, but fine."

Castiel looks back at Jody. Is this official, then? She'll probably have to talk to the DA's office first (and they might need a warrant?) but he has a feeling the biggest obstacle in the way was just getting Jody and Dean to agree on something.

"Great," Jody says. "We'll wire you up and —"

"That is a great way to get him killed," Dean interrupts. "The first thing they're gonna look for when they see him is a wire."

As much as he hates to admit it, Dean has a point. As far as the Vamps are concerned, you can never be too careful around a cop. They're definitely going to check him for a wire to make sure he's there as a Hunter, not an officer.

"We're not sending you in there blind," Jody says, once again proving that the hardest part is getting the two of them to agree.

"If I don't have a wire, they're gonna assume it's an off-the-radar visit," CastieI says. "They'd never suspect Dean is working with us; he can wear a wire."

Jody looks at Dean, which is all the confirmation he needs that she's okay with it. As long as someone is broadcasting what's happening to the police, it should be good enough for her. Now the question is whether this is a risk Dean is willing to take.

After a few moments of deliberation, he just says, "Fine."

"Then we have a deal," she says. "I'll make some phone calls and we may be all set as early as tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Dean scoffs. "The hell am I supposed to do 'til then?"

Jody smiles, and CastieI can tell she wants to laugh. "Absolutely nothing." She nods once as a farewell of sorts before walking out of the room.

CastieI starts to follow her, but he hesitates in the doorway. He glances back at Dean, who just crosses his arms. If he's not happy now, he's really not going to like the holding cell he'll doubtlessly be transferred to for the night.

Twenty years and this is the first time Dean has had to deal with cops like this, and it's all because he didn't know where Jack was. No wonder he's so upset. He has a feeling this is going to put a bit of a strain on their relationship for a while. He just hopes it doesn't get them killed tomorrow.

"I'm sorry," CastieI says quietly.

Dean just rolls his eyes.

Yeah.

Tomorrow's going to be fun.