Dean scrubbed his hands rapidly with the motel wash cloth he had found in an attempt to get the blood off but it wasn't working that well as the water was almost ice cold. He focused his attention on each tiny speck of blood one at a time to see if it helped and it did a little so he kept going. When the last bit was gone he scrubbed his nails and dried his hands. He could hear Sammy packing up his things in the next room. He looked up to call to him, to ask him if he was ready yet but instead jumped out of his skin at the man in the trench coat behind him.

"For god sake Cas, I thought you'd quit doing that!" He exclaimed but Cas hardly blinked. The angel looked lost, like he didn't understand why he was there.

"Dean. How was the hunt? Are you any closer to finding the vampire nest?" He said politely.

"I guess. Why?"

"I'm exchanging pleasantries."

"What?" Dean was confused, what was Cas doing?

"Pleasantries, isn't that what they call them?" Cas frowned like he was trying to figure out why Dean didn't understand him.

"I guess, but why?"

"I have to go now." And he was gone. Dean knew Cas didn't stick around for long, but that was a pretty short visit, even for him. He walked into the bedroom and saw Sam with his rucksack over his shoulder and Dean's bag on the bed.

"Ready to go?" Sam asked him. They'd been tracking a vampire for a few days to figure out if he was in a nest or not. He'd not been attacking so they figure it couldn't hurt to be lead straight to the home. They thought they were close but he'd tried to feed today so they'd had to put an end to it. Luckily he had a few contacts in his phone that had enabled the brothers to figure out what the town was at least. They were heading there now.

"Sure. Have you seen Cas recently? Has he been acting weird at all?" Sam frowned as he tried to think. He shook his head after a moment.

"No stranger than normal? Why?"

"Oh, never mind, let's hit the road." And Sam followed Dean to the Impala.

"Ready Cas?" Dean asked him as they go towards the door. After a couple of days the nest had been located. Dean had decided there was a few too many for 2 of them, and as contacts were short, Cas has been called.

"Yes." Cas said shortly and quietly, in fear of being heard by anybody but the hunters. He found fear to be an intense human emotion he wasn't too keen on. Luckily he didn't feel it's full effects.

Dean nudged his head for Cas to open the door. Cas swung it open loudly just as he began to question their plan. He understood Dean was smart, but this seemed too foolish.

"S'up leeches?" Dean yelled as about 6 heads turned towards them both. Cas gulped and tried to look fierce, but even he could tell he probably didn't. He was amazed at just how quickly two males vampires moved towards them. Dean paced towards one and with a swing on his blade, the head was off.

The other quickly attacked and taking a few hits himself, that vampire was dead too. Cas didn't want to look at the bodies on the floor, or the heads that were separate from them, so instead he keep focused on the other vampires in the room. Most of them looked shocked, other looked angry.

One woman had started to cry, most likely one of the males was her partner and she was a fresh vampire. They didn't seem to be as capable with their abilities as older ones. Cas noticed more of the vampires getting up to attack so he braced himself. He'd killed vampires before, this was no different. Unfortunately he had to use a blade.

One jumped at him and he swung fiercely but stupidly didn't aim, so the blade hit the man in the chest before Cas pulled it out and swung it again, this time hitting its target but not going all the way through. Cas cringed very slightly and hit again before the vampire was dead. Dean had now killed 4, but they were wrong in thinking there were only 7.

Cas couldn't stop to count before he was jumped on. The vampire tackled Cas to the ground but Cas pushed her down and knelt over her stomach, pushing the blade through her neck. Cas could see how many people she'd murdered, how many lives she ruined and didn't regret her death for a second. His confidence grew as he suppressed his human emotions. He was a warrior of God, this was nothing.

Dean was already looking around for more vampires when Cas spotted one in the corner of the room. He moved towards him and waited for the beast to leap, which he inevitably did. His hands, however, didn't reach Cas before Cas' blade struck his neck. The pain would have been only for a second, but it didn't stop him screaming.

Dean looked over for a second, to check if Cas was okay before turning his attention back to the vampire that was attacking him. It wasn't long before Dean won the battle, but Dean's arm was hurt and Cas could see the pain in his face. With no vampire in sight, he walked over to him and healed the wound quickly.

"Thanks Cas." Dean muttered, staring at the angels face. His expression was odd, but Castiel decided there wasn't time to dwell on it now.

Cas wiped the bloody blade on his sleeve, assuming the coast was clear. Dean was completely fine by himself; he was exploring the place, looking for others.

Cas started to look around the place too, any clues that there might be more of them, or that they had anything of worth to the boys or himself. Vampires can get hold of some good stuff sometimes, weapons that shouldn't be around anymore or sometimes they have things that should be destroyed, such as old books on their 'origin'.

Sam had told him after a hunt, you should normally check out the place. Of course, Cas knew he didn't have to be as careful as Dean and Sam did with fingerprints, his DNA was on no system. He wasn't Jimmy, Jimmy had been classed as dead a long time ago, and the vessel had changed so much since he'd taken it. Even his DNA was altered.

He couldn't help but feel bad for Jimmy and his family. Cas understood now how much he'd asked of the family, how much it must hurt for Jimmy's daughter to grow up without a father. Dean and Sam had basically experienced it, and that was no life for children.

Cas opened a door to a small dark room and went to look for a light switch, but couldn't find one. His eyes were adjusting to the lack of light, but he still opened the door completely to let in as much as he could. He saw his must be some kind of bedroom, it had a bed and some shelves, but nothing else.

He glanced at every book on the book shelf to see if there was anything, and then he checked the dust to see if any book had been taken out very recently, but none had. Clearly the vampires were not big readers. Cas looked around the room again, then looked carefully at the bed. It was strange, but he looked at it for a second too long, and thought he saw the covers on the bed move. Cas knelt down, wondering if it was one of the hostages hiding.

"Hello?" He said softly bending over so he could look. Suddenly something pounced at him from under the bed. Cas was thrown backwards against the wall, hitting his head quite hard and the wind was blown out of him. He shook his head slightly and looked up. It was clearly a vampire. Her face had smudges of blood on it from a recent kill, and there were still traces of blood on her lips. Her hair swung in front of her face as she reached down and took the blade Cas had dropped when he was thrown.

"What you gonna do, kill me angel?" She spat at Cas as he attempted at get up. "Yeah, I know what you are. Know how to deal with you too." She laughed a little laugh, one that sent a small shiver down Cas' spine.

"Don't move. I'm not afraid to hurt you." She took the blade in two hands, and snapped it in two with her knee. Then, with one swift movement, she moved towards the door and locked it. Cas, with his hands on the wall supporting him, thought maybe he could over power her if he had the strength. All he had to do was buy a little time he might be able to get the blade back. It would still cut her, even if it would be harder. But right now he could hardly move.

"Aw, poor little angel." She hissed at him, pushing him back against the floor so he fell onto the cold floor. "All trapped and nobody to help him. With the big, bad nasty vampire." She mocked.

"I'm not afraid of you." Cas said as she looks under the bed and pulled out a rope. Cas gulped, she was clearly not stupid, she knew who he was and how quickly he could recover. She grabbed her long nails across his neck, digging them in and pushed Cas onto the ground. She knotted his wrists together with the rope and made sure to pull them tight so Cas could feel the blood dripping down his hands. He was far too weak from the fighting before, and from the hit. He needed time to recover.

"I know I can't kill you Castiel. Doesn't mean I can't hurt this pretty little vessel of your though." Cas looked at the door longingly. Dean must be wondering where he was, he must be coming for him. Sam wouldn't even know, Dean was him only chance.

"Or maybe I can kill you. You never know. I might have a trick or two up my sleeve. Some old vampire tricks. What, you think us vampires don't know about you angels? We've been dealing with you for years."

The next thing Cas knew and the vampire had cut his neck. She was reciting latin in some shape of form but Castiel was in too much pain to focus. He could feel the energy leaving him. Is this what death felt like? The reciting stopped after a loud bang, and he felt something slap his face.

"Cas?! Cas?! He heard Dean's voice through the haze. His lips tried to form his name but it didn't work. Instead, he blacked out.