"So it's a demon?" Emma asks as the three of them get in the car.

"Yes," Castiel says simply.

"How do you know that?" James asks.

"I saw its face," Castiel replies.

"And?" Emma prompts. "I didn't see any black eyes, so I don't know what you were looking at."

"No, I mean I saw its true face," Castiel says. "It's an angel thing." It's been so long since he's had to explain that, he'd almost forgotten most of humanity didn't know he could do it.

"Woah," Emma whispers in awe. "That is so cool."

"Hold on," James says, "does this go both ways?"

Castiel cocks his head to the side, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you can recognize a demon as a demon, right?" James says. "So can a demon recognize you as an angel?"

Castiel just nods. That never bothered the Winchesters, but that was probably because it seems every monster knows their face, even without Castiel to draw attention to them. It hadn't occurred to him that not all hunters were in the same situation.

"So if the demon's seen us, it knows we're hunting it," James surmises.

Castiel gives a small shrug. "Sorry."

"Does it matter?" Emma asks. "The worst that can happen is it runs away. No harm, no foul. Best case scenario, it comes to us and we exorcise it. It's probably easier that way, anyway."

James shrugs. "Touché."

"So that's not a problem?" Castiel asks. "Because if it is, I can stay —"

"You're not getting out of this that easy," Emma says.

"Besides," James says. "It'll be nice knowing that if there's a demon nearby, we'll know about it."

"Look at you, being Mr. Optimistic," Emma teases.

"Look at you, being Miss I-value-my-life," James says mockingly. "Overrated, if you ask me."

"You know, that explains a lot."

James punches her lightly on the shoulder, and they both laugh. Castiel can't help but smile, too. This is such an enjoyable atmosphere to work in.

"Well, what do we do now?" Emma asks. "We know it's a demon. We just don't know where the demon is or how to find it, which is arguably more important than knowing it's a demon."

James shrugs. "It doesn't look like it's in any hurry to leave town. Maybe we just stick around and hope Castiel sees it."

"How the hell are you expecting us to run into it?" Emma asks. "This isn't a small town."

"And if it sees me, it'll probably run in the opposite direction," Castiel adds.

"Well, if you have any better ideas, now would be the time to speak up."

Emma and Castiel are silent.

"Alright then," James says. "Then let's head out and run as many pointless errands as we can."

~~

"Not to alarm anyone," Castiel says, "but that man is a demon and he has his vessel's whole family by his side." He gestures subtly down the aisle with his head..

"Which one?" James asks.

"White shirt and blue jeans?" Emma guesses.

Castiel nods. "That's him."

"Well, we can't exactly exorcise him in the middle of Walmart," Emma says.

"I don't know; this is probably the best store to do it in," James remarks. I'm sure stranger things have happened here."

"Touché."

Castiel looks between them for an explanation. "I don't think much would be more unorthodox to a normal human than witnessing an exorcism. I highly doubt they've witnessed anything stranger."

"It's a joke," Emma says, an amused smile on her face at his confusion. "Because everyone says Walmarts are full of weird people doing weird things."

"But we're definitely not exorcising a demon here if we don't have to," James adds. "As long as he doesn't get violent, I say we follow him until we get him somewhere more private."

"What, you don't want people to see this on the news and say 'only at Walmart'?" Emma asks teasingly. "We could go viral on Twitter."

"And that would be exactly why we don't exorcise it here," James says.

"Do we have to exorcise it?" Castiel asks. "Killing it would probably be easier and safer."

James glances at Emma, and, when she doesn't immediately argue, he shrugs. "I mean, I don't have a weapon that could kill a demon, but if you want to, go for it."

"I could give one of you my blade," Castiel says. "I can smite the demon instead."

"Smite it?" James asks. "So you don't even need a blade to kill a demon?"

Castiel shakes his head. "Fortunately not."

"Then I guess that works," James says. "Emma, do you want the blade or do I get the blade?"

Emma hesitates, then asks, "Is there a way to kill the demon without killing the vessel?"

"Unfortunately not," Castiel says.

"Even if you smite it?"

Castiel shakes his head. "That still kills the vessel."

Emma sighs. "I don't like that."

"No one does," James says. "But Castiel was right -- if we exorcise the demon, it can just possess someone else and kill another hundred people. If we kill it now, it can't hurt anyone ever again."

"But then we have an innocent person's blood on our hands," Emma says. "And I don't know if I can deal with that."

"As opposed to having hundreds of people's blood on our hands?"

"As opposed to possibly having their blood on our hands," Emma counters. "We don't know if they'll ever get out of hell to kill again. If we kill the vessel, we know we killed the vessel."

"What if I do it?" James asks. "You don't even have to touch the blade."

"That doesn't change the fact that I let it happen," she says.

"But at least the blood is on my hands, not yours," James says.

Emma cracks a small smile at that. "I feel like you're taking this a little too literally."

"I do what I gotta do," he says with a shrug. "So, what do you say? Wanna rid the world of a demon?"

Emma hesitates, then sighs. "It's two against one. Do I even have a choice?"