Castiel furrowed his brow slightly as he listened to the Winchesters explanation. He had known the second the first seal on Lucifer's cage was broken, but he hadn't expected that Sam would. He figured that he might feel the surge of power had he been in Hell at the time, but he hadn't expected Lucifer to contact Sam the second his prison was weakened. According to Sam, the connection weakened to the point of almost non-existence when he was on Earth.

"How did the seal even break? I didn't shed blood in Hell, and Dad's not in Hell, so what? Did they find another bloodline or something?" Dean ranted as he wore a hole in the cheap motel carpet. There were demon guards outside, but the room was soundproofed by the warding, so he didn't bother to be quiet.

"Well, it was not you or your father, and that leaves on viable candidate." The angel replied. Sam huffed out a humorless laugh.

"In case you hadn't noticed, Cas, I'm not exactly righteous." They had had several secret meetings already, and Castiel still didn't understand the Winchesters need to butcher his name so thoroughly. When he asked, they had simply told him it was a 'nickname' and hadn't elaborated more than that.

"I don't mean you, Sam, I mean your illegitimate half brother." The angel said as if it was the obvious conclusion. Dean even stopped pacing at that statement as he and Sam stared in shock.

"Our what?" Dean managed.

"Adam. Your father's other child, with Kate Milligan,"

"W-we have a brother?" Sam whispered, shell shocked.

"Yes. Were you unaware?" Castiel tilted his head in a birdlike motion of confusion.

"Yeah, you could say that,"

"But even if our supposed brother did want to make a deal, he couldn't. Sam doesn't allow demon deals." Dean argued, not wanting to believe that a brother he didn't even know about was burning in Hell because he got out.

"Not all demons adhere to that," Sam muttered. "I put an end to it, but some would rather try to go over my head. They don't usually get very far, but… it wouldn't be impossible to hide one deal, one soul from me." He stood from the bed abruptly. "I need to start the search for him. The ones responsible will pay for their mutiny,"

…

The King ravaged Hell, sending out his armies to find one soul, with himself leading the charge. They found him with Alistair in a hidden nook of Hell being taught to torture without mercy. Sam was glad that the demonifacation process hadn't even started. Most of Hell looked like one big cave with many tunnels and Hallways. Alastair had tried to run, but Sam caught him, pinning him against the stone wall.

"Who helped you?" Sam demanded, "Who bought his soul?" Alastair laughed.

"Do you really think I'm gonna tell you anything?" He asked in that nasal voice of his. Sam smirked.

"Yeah, I do."

"What are you gonna do, torture it out of me?" He barked another laugh that turned into a yell as Sam twisted his hand.

"Give me a name,"

"You can't do this to me!" He screamed. "I am your best torturer."

"Does it look like I care?" Screams echoed off the walls that even made some of the demons cringe.

"Aeshma! His name is Aeshma!" He screamed after several minutes. Sam nodded thoughtfully. He twisted his hand again suddenly and Alastair let out one last scream before what looked like orange lightning racked his vessel and he fell to the ground. Dead. "Very good, Sam." Lucifer crooned at the back of his mind. He ignored him. The vessel was already dead, seeing as demons were now forbidden from taking living vessels.

"Find me Aeshma." He instructed his demons calmly and they rushed off to do what he said. He looked at the soul of his half brother, still holding a knife, frozen in fear. "If you put down that knife, I'd like to have a talk with you." Adam dropped the knife as Sam started to walk away. "Are you coming?" He asked when the kid didn't follow. He scrambled after the King.

…

"So, you're my brother?" He asked after Sam had finished explaining. Sam nodded. "And you're the King of Hell?" Another nod. "And I just started the apocalypse." That was less of a question and more of a statement.

"Tell him I appreciate it," Lucifer whispered, and Sam flinched a little.

"Not if I can help it," Sam said. "The angels are expecting Hell to start breaking seals, but I'm not gonna let that happen. If any demons are caught attempting it, there will be severe punishment."

"You said that I have another brother- Dean?" Sam nodded. "Is he also…"

"He hunts monsters. I used to and still do sometimes, but he hunts full time. I'm usually pretty busy, but I can make time."

"God, when did my life get so fucked?" Adam muttered, rubbing his head like he could feel a headache coming on.

"I don't think God has much to do with it." Adam huffed a breath that sounded vaguely like a laugh.

"What happens next?"

"That's up to you," Sam told him. "I can put you back into your body, and you can try to go back to your normal life."

"I don't think that will be possible," Adam said. "I just started the apocalypse. You can't tell me that won't have repercussions." Sam's mouth twisted into a sympathetic grimace.

"You're not wrong. I just wanted to give you the option. You could stay here and become a demon, but… well, I don't think you would want that I and I definitely don't want that."

"Please tell me there's a door number three."

"I could put you back into your body and you could learn to become a hunter or my heir. Or both, if you wanted to. As I said, it's up to you." Adam smiled ruefully.

"Door number three it is."