Malleus Maleficarum

Summary
Unrequited love becomes vengeful witchcraft, which in turn leads Sam and Dean to a coven of suburban witches whose black magic is drawn from a much more sinister source.

Recap
Full Synopsis

Sturbridge, Massachusetts - We open to a couple coming home after a party. The woman (Janet Dutton) says she needs a few minutes and goes to the bathroom. The husband (Paul Dutton) goes to get a bottle of wine from the fridge. The scene cuts to someone chanting something like Latin as they light a candle. We cut back to the woman - she's going to clean her teeth. She gets out a tooth brush, and at the same time the mystery chanter also unwraps a toothbrooth. The chanter cuts her hand with a dagger over the brush, letting her blood drip onto the bristles. As the chanting goes on, we see the woman in the bathroom begin to loose her teeth, one by one, untill she is spitting them and mouthfulls of blood into the sink. She calls her husband, but the door slams before he can get to her. The chanter raves on, stabbing her dagger into the toothbrush in anger. Finally, the husband gets into the bathroom to find his wife dead in a pool of blood on the floor...

The Dutton Residence - Dean is interviewing Paul Dutton posing as a CDC official, while Sam is in the bathroom looking for clues. Dean asks if Janet had any enemies, and the husband says no, everyone loved her. The way he reacts and hesitates, suggests he might be lying. The boys leave, and outside Sam shows Dean what he found ion the house. It's a small hex bag with bird bones, rabbit's teeth and more. This leads the brother's to think a witch is involved - something Dean finds highly annoying because He 'hates witches!' 'They're always spewing their bodily fluids everywhere. Its downright insanitary!' The brother's climb into the Impala and Sam suggests that someone Janet knew had an axe to grind. The boys agree that if they can find the motive, they can find the murderer and Dean drives off down a rain-filled street.

Unknown Street - A woman is gardening when she sees her neighbor, Amanda pull up. Amanda climbs out and the neighbor (Elizabeth) shouts her. Elizabeth is worried because Amanda didn't show for 'book club' the previous evening. Amanda says she got busy and scurries inside her house. We see that Amanda has a cut hand - suggesting that she was the mystery chanter who killed Janet Dutton. To add to this, she goes to the oven and pulls out a plate with a rotting chicken on covered with flies and maggots. Defintely not normal!!!

Nighttime, Paul Dutton's Car - Paul is sitting in his car eating a burger. He flicks on the radio and he's obviously thinking. We flashcut back to Amanda's - she's gotten out the rotting chicken and the dagger from earlier. She begins to chant, stabbing the chicken with the dagger and saying 'This dinner was cooked for you, Paul Arthur Dutton. Now you're going to eat it!' Back in the car, the radio changes station and Dutton's food suddenly becomes maggot infested! He beings to gag, choking on the burger. As he clambers from the car, Sam and Dean roar up in the Impala. Sam quickly searches Dutton's car and finds another hex bag. Once he's torched it, Dutton recovers. Dean questions Dutton again, knowing he lied earlier. Dutton confesses he had an affair but broke it off because the girl was unbalanced. Back at Amanda's house, the candles all blow out and suddenly her wrists are slit - three times each. She screams 'no' before colapsing dead in a pool of blood.

Amanda's House - Sam and Dean break in to find the girl dead. It's a weird twist to the tale. Dean thinks maybe Amanda thought she'd killed Paul and then killed herself, but Sam finds yet another hex bag. Dean says it looks like they have a little 'witch in witch violence.' Sam thinks its the work of a coven.

The 'book club' - Elizabeth walks into a house where two other women, Tammi and Renee are waiting. Elizabeth is concerned about what's happened to Amanda and wants to stop the 'book club.' The others really don't want to stop, even though they know Amanda killed Janet. Renee points out all the good things the 'book club' has gotten them, including holidays and a promotion for Elizabeth's husband etc. They turn out the lights, put a black pictogram embelished coth on the table, followed by a large heavy book. More candles are lit and all three join hands and begin to chant.

Elizabeth's Garden - Elizabeth is on her knees digging when Sam and Dean walk up and introduce themselves as detectives Bachman and Turner. Sam says they're asking neighbors and friends about Amanda's death and brings up the fact she had some seriously occult items in her house. Maybe it wasn't suicide! Elizabeth is clearly shaken until two other women appear - Renee and Tammi! Renne is kind of sarcastic with Dean and the boys leave.

Nightime, Impala - Dean says he thinks Elizabeth is a witch. Sam agrees saying she's had too much good luck lately winning things and more. It's not natural. In fact, so has Renee. It looks like the boys have found their coven. Sam says the women need to be stopped and Dean is surprised. He points out the women are human, which Sam counters with 'They're murderers' Dean nods and says 'burn witch burn.' Unexpectedly, the Impala breaks down and Ruby is waiting for the brothers in the middle of the road. She tells them they have to leave but Dean gets out the Colt, he doesn't trust her. The pair verbally spar a little, but Ruby is insistent the boys get out of town - she's not worried about the witches, but who they're serving - a demon so strong the Winchesters wont be able to handle it. There's more Dean and Ruby fighting and Dean almost shoots her. Sam tries to stop him, and Ruby vanishes.

Conquistador Motel - The brothers go back to their motel and argue about Ruby. Dean isn't happy that Sam lets Ruby string him along. Sam points out that she might be useful and says they're at war. Dean asks Sam if hes feeling okay because he's changed - he doesn't care about killing people anymore. Sam tells Dean he isn't acting like himself anymore because Dean is leaving (the deal) and he has to learn to be more like Dean if he's going to continue and fight the war against evil. Dean wants to argue more, but he suddenly gets sick, he grabs his stomach saying its like a bunch of knives inside him. He says it must be the coven as he colpases on the floor, spitting blood. Sam jumps up and searches like crazy for another hex bag, but when he can't find one he grabs the Colt and races off in the Impala after the witches.

The 'book club' - The three women are again in a circle chanting when Sam bursts in with the Colt and tells them to stop. They back off, looking afraid. Flashcut back to the brothers motel and as Dean writhes in his own blood on the floor, Ruby bursts in, she tosses him on the bed and pours something into his mouth. Back at the 'club,' Sam tells the girsl stop the spell or die. One of them says they were only getting Renee a lower mortgage rate. Flashcut back to the motel - Dean has recovered and asks Ruby what she gave him. She says it's witchcraft and leaves. Dean is obviously surprised by what she just did for him. At the club, Sam points the Colt at each woman in turn, Elizabeth and Renee have both had something out of the club, but Tammi hasn't. He finally points the gun at her, and after a brief moment of denial her eyes flash over black. Sam tries to shoot her, but the bullet is stopped when she holds up her palm. It falls to the floor, useless.

Tammi tosses Sam and holds him up the wall. Renee argues with her, and is subsequently killed. The demon explains that by chanting and swearing their services, the other women effectively sold their souls to her. Elizabeth pleads, saying she didn't know, but its no good, Tammi says they knew what they were doing when they dabbled with the occult. The demon then turns to Sam, saying she and her demon friends have been looking for him. Not as a leader, but because they have a leader already - and he doesn't like Sam. Basically, Sam has to be taken out of the equation. Tammi teels Sam 'bye bye' and starts forcing him through the wall with her power. Dean bursts in with his shotgun, but he too is then slammed against the wall and held there.

Things are looking pretty bad for the Winchesters when Ruby shows up. She tells the 'Tammi' demon that she wants to rejoin forces with her - that she lured the brothers here as an offering. She walks closer, and at the right moment lunges at Tammie with her demon-killing dagger. Tammi catches Ruby's arm and the fair engage in a kick-ass chick fight. Tammi gets the upper hand on Ruby, but while this has been going on, Elizabeth has begun a little spellwork of her own unnoticed.

Meanwhile, Tammi grabs Ruby's collar, and while holding her looks to the brothers. She explains that Ruby was once a witch many years ago. She basically sold her soul to the demon, just like the four modern day witches they'd come here to deal with. Tammi then starts her own little exorcism to send Ruby back to hell. Black demon-smog starts to come from Ruby's mouth, but then Tammi starts to gag. She brings up a mouthful of blood and pins and finally realizes Elizabeth has been using a spell! She turns, Ruby forgotten and kills Elizabeth with one movement of her hand.

Momentarily weakened, though, Dean, Sam and Ruby are released from her demon-grasp. Seizing the chance, Dean grabs Ruby's special blade and stabs Tammi with it multiple times. She drops to the floor, dead. Dean pulls his brother to his feet, helping him after his near brush of death with the wall. They pause at Ruby, but she tells them to go, she'll clean up the mess.

Conquistador Motel, Nighttime - Sam is freshening up and Dean is outside when all the lights start to go off. Dean looks around, and sure enough Ruby appears. He asks if its right that she was once human and she says yes, back when the plague was big, she was a human. In fact, every demon she's ever met was once human. She explains that when you go to hell, you forget what you are. Dean says he saw Hellraiser, he gets it, and she responds that yeah, Hellraiser was pretty close. She also tells Dean that sooner or later hell will burn away his humanity when he goes there. He says there's no way to save him from going, not really, is there? And Ruby admits that there isn't, but she lied to Sam to get him to talk to her. She needs Dean to help her, to help her get Sam ready to fight the demon war. Once Dean is gone, Sam has to be ready.

Ruby moves to leave, but Dean calls her back asking 'Ruby, why do you want us to win?'

Ruby: 'Isn't it obvious? I'm not like them. I don't know why, I wish I was, but, I'm not. I remember what it's like...'

Dean: 'What what's like?'

Ruby: 'Being human.'

Dean looks down, unsure how to take this all in, and when he looks back up, he's alone. The scene fades to him looking around in an emotional turmoil at what he's been told.

Featured Music
"Every Rose has its Thorns" by Poison

"I Put a Spell on You" by Jay Hawkins