Castiel's life was perfect.
He was living the dream.
He had everything he could ever want. The beautiful wife, the wonderful daughter, the little dog, a well-paying job working as an architect, and even the white picket fence.
His life was a routine with a little spice thrown in here and there.
Nothing could have prepared him for the fate that befell him.
He had stayed late at the office late one August night working on a project, calling home to let his family eat dinner without him, and when he left the office it was dark. It happened more often than he would have liked to admit. His boss had him working overtime to finish this task as soon as possible; but Castiel didn't complain. Though he would have liked more time with his family, he liked his job.
The drive home in his grey eco-friendly car was smooth-sailing and he made it home at around 10. The house was dark inside when he unlocked the door and stepped in. Of course the Novak family was in bed. It was a school night and Claire needed her rest.
Castiel draped his messenger bag over a chair at the dinner table and crept up to his room. His wife was lying peacefully in the bed, facing away from the door. He toed off his shoes and placed them on the rack in his closet and unbuttoned that monkey suit he wore for work. He stripped down to his boxers and t-shirt and crawled into bed.
That was when he felt it. A warm sticky substance had soaked into the covers. He looked down and made a face. Now that he was literally lying in it, it smelt disgusting. He peeled back the covers and saw that he was covered in the black slick. He turned on a lamp and—no it couldn't be. There was so much blood. He reached out for his wife, but when he turned her over he saw she was torn to ribbons. She was unrecognizable.
He jerked back and fell off the bed. This was not happening. This sort of thing just did not happen to people like him.
The hairs on the back of his neck raised.
This meant there was somebody in the house.
His first thought was 'Claire.'
He rushed down the hallway into his daughter's room. Flicking on the light, he saw her bed was also covered in blood. He was wrecked. He fell against the wall, his heart racing and his head throbbing. The smell was overwhelming.
He heard a noise from downstairs.
His heart was in his throat when he crept downstairs. Castiel went straight for the kitchen, mind intent on grabbing a knife to protect himself with.
As soon as his fingers grasped the handle of the biggest, sharpest knife he could, he was attacked from behind. Arms constricted his airway and he grappled with the intruder for release. He used the blade to cut into the other's arm, making it yowl in pain as it let go.
Castiel turned and got a good look at it. Its sharp claws and dagger teeth flashed in the moonlight pouring in from the panel windows covering half of the connected dining room wall.
His heart stopped in his chest.
This was not human.
The beast lunged at him again, knocking the knife away from him and tackling him to the floor. They grappled on the floor, each trying to get the upper hand. The monster tore at Castiel's clothing, trying to rip out his throat as the man struggled.
This monster's strength was immense. It gave Castiel's muscled body a run for its money.
A well-placed kick to the chest sent the beast barreling back into the cabinet. Castiel crawled over to the knife and almost cried when he had it in his hands.
He turned back to the other just as it lunged at him.
Castiel was prepared.
He stabbed it repeatedly in the chest, making it stutter in its advance.
But it did not stop.
It kept coming after him, clawing at his skin and clothes.
Castiel fell back against the stove.
The stove.
He turned on the burners and shoved the monster into the flame. It caught fire immediately.
The beast writhed in pain as it fell to the ground.
Castiel stepped back, watching the thing burn and melt like plastic. While it crawled on the floor, it set fire to the surrounding appliances and furniture.
He didn't watch to see if it had died.
Castiel left the house, standing in the front yard in his torn up, bloody clothes as his home went up in flame.
He didn't know what to do.
He had nowhere to go… but he started walking. He walked until he couldn't walk anymore and then some. He was walking along the highway when a man in a truck pulled up beside him.
"You alright?" the man asked, concern garnishing his voice.
Castiel snorted. He was pretty damn far from alright.
The man seemed to get the message.
"Just one of those nights, I guess," he muttered half to himself before reaching over and opening the passenger side door.
Castiel looked at the man like he was mad. It's because he probably was. Nobody picks up a stranger on the side of the road clothed in torn rags and blood. After a pointed look from the driver, Castiel pulled himself up into shotgun.
They were quiet for a while before Castiel spoke.
"Where are we going?"
"To my place to get you fixed up."
Castiel murmured a quiet 'oh' before silence fell again.
"Why did you stop?"
With this question he received a strange look.
"Because it looked like you needed help."
"But why?"
Castiel was honestly confused.
"Because I've done and seen stranger things in my time, boy. Now quit lookin a gift horse in the mouth before I drop your ass off right here."
Castiel fell quiet until they reached the man's, who had revealed his name to be Bobby, home. It was a tiny shack in the middle of a car junk yard. As he slipped from his seat he looked around at the old clunkers. They needed some work.
He followed Bobby inside the house. It was full of books piled high to the ceiling.
"What are all these books for?" He asked.
"Research," was the gruff reply.
"Research on…?"
"Monsters."
That stopped Castiel in his tracks. Who was this man? Could he have the answers to what happened tonight? He took a chance.
"Bobby, is there any monster out there that has grey wrinkled skin, kind of looks like a gargoyle and eats people?"
Bobby turned slowly to Castiel.
"Balls."
After his first few weeks living at Bobby's he came to know all about the supernatural that did, in fact, exist. He decided to learn as much as he could about the monsters that tore lives apart like that wendigo tore his family apart so that he could destroy them.
He read almost every book in Bobby's library by the time the anniversary of his family's murders rolled around.
He was ready.
He packed up his few things he had collected over the duration of his stay and left. Bobby gave him the old '67 Chevy Impala he had been working on as a parting gift.
She purred like a kitten as he pulled out of the driveway, Bobby in the rear view mirror as he popped a cassette into the player. ACDC. Back In Black. Perfect.
That was the last time he saw Bobby. A figure fading into the background as he drove away from the man that was the father he never had.
Castiel hunted.
And he was good at it.
He had gathered an arsenal of weapons and knowledge he could use against any beast he came up against.
He took any job he could get.
And the summer of '14 was when he met the Winchester brothers.
It seemed like any normal demonic possession case.
Victim started acting strange, raised hell, and disappeared.
Easy.
He traveled to the town of Lawrence, Kansas and started snooping around. Local bars attendees said that they saw Sam acting different prior to his disappearance. Getting drunk, taking home women, quit going to church, and just acting completely different.
Right.
After gathering all the evidence he could without giving himself away he plotted.
Closing his motel room, he thought. He tried to draw patterns to where in hell Sam and that demon that was piggy-backing him could be.
While watching the news idly surfing the internet on his laptop, the name of Sam Winchester popped up on the screen. Castiel turned up the volume. A reporter woman stood next to the most gorgeous man Cas had ever seen. He was Sam's brother. Dean.
"I just want him home safe and sound. Please, Sammy, come home."
The screen flashed back to the reporter who started talking about the weather.
Castiel decided he was getting too cramped in the tiny motel and decided to take a walk.
He walked pretty damn far, lost in his thoughts until he realized he was at the woods near the edge of the city. It had an eerie feel to it. It seemed like a group of woods that children would dare each other to walk into to see who could go the farthest without peeing their pants or chickening out.
Castiel smiled bitterly.
If only those kids knew the boogey monster was real.
Castiel heard a cry from out in the woods. This was straight out of a horror film. It was probably some teenagers messing around. But these woods didn't give him a good feeling, so he followed the sound. He followed it deep into the woods. It grew louder and louder, but then it would seem like it got further away, then it would be close again.
Definitely not something he wanted to be a part of.
As he turned to leave, however, he ran straight into a man with dirty blonde hair, rose petal lips, and the most vibrant golden-green eyes he had ever seen.
He knew this man.
This was Sam's brother.
Castiel had to say something.
He had never been good at subtlety.
"Hello, Dean."