The air was cold and sharp against her throat as she breathed out a highly visible breath. It felt as if it dropped ten degrees, within stumbled up to her front door, feet scuffing along the pavement. Her house key grinded against the doorlock, and in her haste to get in, she dropped them. "Dammit," she quietly cussed to herself as she bent over to pick them up. Something dark crept behind her, still fumbling for her keys, she was unaware of what was to come. "Ahhhhhh!" she shrieked until her cry was cut-off along with her head.

"Look at this," Sam's curious voice mixed with the others around the room, as he handed a few printed out newspaper clippings to Dean. Dean just set them aside on the table, since his burger had just arrived. He smirked as he pretended to pay attention to Sam's findings. "One girl murdered in Nebraska, head sliced off. Six days later, some guy all the way in Manitoba was murdered, and his head sliced off. Six days after that, today, here in Washington State another guy was killed, head sliced off." Sam leaned forward, indulging in his non-burger food.
"Yeah, but why so spread out? I mean, Nebraska, Manitoba, and Washington aren't exactly a quick drive away..." Dean paused to take a bite of his sandwich. "Could just be hunters taking off vampires, Sam. What else 've you got?"
Sam's face got serious, as he swallowed his bite of healthy "food". "I thought of that, but at every crime scene, there was a-" Sam lightly slammed his fist on the table out of frustration, as they both turned their attention towards the angel sitting in what was an empty third seat.
"Dean," the deep voiced angel called out, "Sam. I'm glad you're both here." Dean stopped chewing for a moment and stared at his burger frightfully they were at the White Castle. Castiel's eyes widended, as he lunged for Dean's burger."As I was saying, I'm glad you're here." his voice barely made it out of his mouth, past his vice. "There was a murder, and-"
"Dammit Cas, finish eating before you start talking." Dean looked disappointedly at his empty hands.
"Dean," Cas leaned toward him, "this is serious. It isn't the first, and about six days before each of they were decapitated, they ended up with some sort of symbol or words bruised into the back of their shoulder." Sam was obviously frustrated. Cas stopped talking for a moment to call a waitress over. "One slice of apple pie, please." Dean looked at him, holding down his slight anger. First he steals his burger, then orders himself pie? It was cruel.
Everyone focused their attention back to the subject at hand. "This is what it looked like:" Cas turned to the table behind them and stole one of a child's crayons. He grabbed a napkin and drew it.
θυσία, ας, ἡ

"All I know so far is it's ancient Greek, but I believe it was part of a lost text, I can go search for it now-" Cas disappeared as the pie arrived. Dean was content.

Later that evening, Dean was playing pool to get some money, and Sam was sitting at the bar alone, thinking. Cas appeared beside him. "Hello, Sam." Cas obviously disliked how it sounded compared to his usual 'Hello, Dean'.
"How is he?" Cas asked, nudging in Dean's direction.
"Dean? Well, I think he-" Dean started heading towards them after winning a few games. He still had that tortured and guilty look in his eyes. No matter how good things went for him, he still felt a heavy weight on his shoulders.
Dean ordered a drink and sat on the other side of Cas, him and Sam both wanting to hear about the marking."I've found the text." Cas said.
"That's great, where is it? What does it say?" Sam eagerly pried.
"It has been well locked away, we can't get to it..." Cas solemnly held his head low.
"What do you mean? Where is it?" Dean questioned.
"Bella has it. She has it in a place guarded from angels, demons, everything. She's even got it watched and locked up. I think I'll ask Garth for his assistance on this." Cas saw the surprise in Dean's green eyes, and felt badly for it.
"Cas, what do you mean? Since when do you count us out?" Sam quandered.
"I think it would be safer for you, both of you, to sit back on this one- at least while we get the text." Cas disappeared. Sam and Dean talked a bit and then decided to head back to their motel.
Their room had forest wallpaper, and near the door was the fake vine covered lattice decoration. The bed sets were both green, and the carpet was brown. The typical cheap motel poor taste.
Dean felt betrayed so he decided to go to the store and get a pie. "Maybe I'll share some with Sam," he thought, and laughed. It was very unlikely.
Cas came back, after of being gone, and appeared to Sam. "We failed at getting the text. Garth was being mutilated, so I took him back home and healed him. Although he is now fine, I am running out of power."
"What was it that attacked you?" Sam asked, as he guided the angel into a chair.
"When Dean escaped from Purgatory, something dark clung to his back and hitched a ride. Like shadows that consume. They weren't anything we were familiar with, although they reacted to the angel dagger well."
"What do you mean? What's-" Cas cut Sam off.
"They were being possessed by something. How is Dean?"
Castiel was getting weaker and weaker by the moment.
"Wait a minute, so what was-" Castiel cut him off once more, barely able to still speak. "Is Dean okay?" his voice faded off and he passed out.
He awoke a long time later in a bed, with the smell of pie. "Here," Dean saved him a small piece of pie, although he had eaten the rest. Castiel smiled gratefully and ate it, surprised that Dean was fairly calm after he left them.
Dean left the room to go wash his face in the bathroom. When he looked in the mirror, he saw something dark and cold behind him, every time. It was like his spine was always frozen, so cold and so awful.
"We went to see Bella while you were asleep. She sold it," Sam let on, "she seems different though."
"What about Dean?" Castiel asked.
"I'm not so sure... He seems normal, but I don't know."
Dean could hear their muffled voices. He didn't know what to do with any of this.

Rain poured down like bullets, and stung Castiel's wounds like acid. "Dean!" Castiel ran after him, but something dark reached for his shoulders, and dragged Dean back. Like a wave, it kept pulling him away, back into the portal out of Purgatory. "Cas!" Dean fought and flailed, but also like a wave, he was submerged in the darkness. He was consumed and him and Castiel were alone.
"Dean!" Castiel gave up. His wounds were deep, deeper than the flesh and bone, there were lacerations on his soul.
"Casss!" Dean called out, sobbing, as he awoke. He was covered in sweat, in the chair he'd fallen asleep in.
"Yes?" Castiel slowly woke up in the bed near him.
"Oh.. Sorry..." Dean breathed in the thick air. His chest felt heavy, and he was still tired, even after long hours of sleep.
"Huh? Nn," Sam started to wake up too. "Dean? Cas? You okay?" The three of them sat up, exchanging glances.
"Sorry guys, just go back to sleep." Dean whispered as he arose and headed for the door. Castiel and Sam just watched him, concerned and confused.
"What happened?" Sam asked Castiel, still in a haze.
"Go back to sleep, Sam." Castiel got up, wearily and went over to the front window. He peered out, searching for Dean. It had started snowing in the evening, and now in the late night, the ground was entirely covered.
Cas watched as Dean shivered, laying on the hood of the impala. He was just wearing underwear and his t-shirt. Cas grabbed his coat, and as he went to put on his shoes, he noticed Dean's were still there. He looked out the window again, to notice Dean was wearing his. Castiel slipped on Dean's shoes and headed out.
"Dean?" Cas spoke to him as if he were consoling a sad kitten. Dean sat up and looked down at his feet "sorry about that, I wasn't paying attention.." They exchanged shoes, and Castiel put his coat around Dean's shoulders."Dean... What's wrong?" Castiel sat next to him, gazing into his eyes with the most sincere of looks.
"Nothing." Dean sighed as he layed back down again, holding the trench coat against him. Cas layed back and turned his head towards him, "Dean, I know that's not true." Dean had been keeping his face turned away.
"How do you always know?" Dean turned his head towards Castiel, eyes watering. "Dean," he sounded as if he was going to cry too.
"It's so dark, and it's scaring me." one tear rolled down his face, and as he felt it reaching the bottom of his cheek, he sat up quickly. He used the sleeve of the coat to wipe up the water from his eyes, and he breathed deeply a few times. Dean hopped off the impala, Castiel's coat falling into the snow. He just kept walking towards the door, stiffly.
Suddenly, to his surprise, Castiel ran over to him and hugged him tightly. "You don't always have to be so strong," Castiel whispered to him, his eyes glistening.
"Cas," Dean just stood there for a few seconds before finally embracing him.

The way they moved was inhuman itself- they were like robots. They just stood there, looking around, some sort of marking on their lips. "Έρεβος"
"That writing on their lips, I'll ask Bobby about it," Sam zoomed in from their distant position and took a picture with his disposable cellphone. "So, how is it that they attacked you? What do they do?" Sam asked Castiel. "It's hard to explain..." He looked a bit scared, himself.
"C'mon Cas, fangs? Claws? Spears? Super strength? What is it?" Dean budged in his deep voice.
"It's fear. They feed on your fears, but not even just yours. Everyone's, everything's. They attack with darkness, with pain, sadness, with everything that doesn't just scare a man, but scares his soul. I'm still recovering, and Garth may have been physically healed, but he's in a temporary coma." Castiel stopped, thinking everything through again and again.
"Cas, why didn't you tell us this before? Is he okay? How do we even fight them? Even if we do get inside, you won't be able to come. What then?" Dean and Sam shared their worries.
"Well there's this," Cas held up his angel dagger, "but that's assuming you can get close enough to use it. For all we know, they could have you dead from within yards," he lowered his head, "Garth and I were lucky to get within ten yards, I was within a few feet when I-"
They watched for a while. Waiting. "I think we should pay Bella a visit- get everything thorough before jumping into anything.." Sam suggested.
"I'm afraid I can't teleport us there, I'm still too weak..."

"It's okay, Cas," Dean assured him, "Sam and I 'll take the impala."
As Sam and Dean headed for the door, jackets in hand, Castiel got up. "Wait, no. I'll come along- for protection," Cas insisted.

Sam was asleep in the front seat, and Cas and Dean kept exchanging glances through the rear-view mirror. Dean (subconciously) licked his lips. As they pulled into the motel parking lot, Dean and Cas went inside. After hours of laying in their beds, awake, Castiel got out of bed. He headed to the kitchenette and got two glasses of water- placing one on both nightstands.
"Thanks," Dean said quietly. Cas sat on the edge of the bed across from Dean, facing him. "Dean, what is this?" Castiel asked as he looked down at a rise in his pants. "Cas," Dean sighed, "cover up... it's the same as the pizza man," he explained.
"No, this feels different," Cas went on, "it's from you, not that pizza ordering woman-" Dean someone cut him off, "just go to sleep, Cas." Dean turned over and tried to sleep.

Bella's apartment was guarded by two demons that Sam and Dean took out.

tbc