Dean slid into the Impala and slammed the door shut behind him. He wondered if he was being too hard on Cas, then pushed away the doubt. Cas needs to learn what happens when you betray someone, and what better time than now to teach him.

He started up the Impala, and put her into drive. He was just moving forward when his cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID: Jody Mills.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Hi, Dean, it's Jody," Jody said in a mixture of fear and confusion, "I, uh, I just had a visitor, well not really he kinda broke my door down, helped himself to a beer, then pinned me against the wall. But other than that he-"

"Jody, Jody, take a deep breath. That's right. Now what did this man say?"

Jody took another deep breath and calmed herself down, "Well, that was the funny thing. He said he had a message for you. He, uh, shit, I can't remember. Something about knowing your dad and some one-Sam! Yes, Sam being in Hell?"

Dean shook his head trying to make sense of it all. Was this the same demon that jumped Garth? It was starting to sound like it and if it was then Dean could narrow down the list to demons that John knew. "Are you okay, Jody? Did he hurt you at all?"

"No, no. Well sort of. He broke my nose and gave me a black eye probably, but nothing too serious. I'll be alright," Jody said without her former hysteria.

"Do you need anything, Sheriff? Is there anything else he said?" Dean was desperate for any more information to narrow down who the demon might be.

"I'm fine, Dean, don't worry about me. I was just a little shaken up. He did want me to tell you that he's working his way towards you and he's mad."

"What about Claire and Alex? Are they okay?" Dean asked referring to the two teen girls Jody had taken under her wing.

"Yeah, they're fine- weren't home when it happened, thank God," Jody explained and was back to her old self.

"Alright, thanks, Jody. Sorry about this, we're still trying to figure out who this is."

"Well when you find out, kick his ass for me, would you?"

Dean chuckled, "Sure thing, Jody. Take it easy."

Dean shut off the Impala and went back into the Bunker- the groceries would need to wait. He walked in as Sam handed Castiel a stack of files from the Bunker's archives. They looked up, surprised. "What is it?" Cas asked.

"Jody Mills called and it sounds like she was visited by the same demon Garth was on Thursday."

"Is she okay?" Sam asked.

"She was a bit hysterical when I answered, but she's fine other than a broken nose and possible black eye."

"But as far as the demon goes, did she give us anything to go off of?"

"Yeah, he mentioned Dad and you in the Cage. Not much else, but she was given the same message Garth had."

Sam nodded. A sudden wave of memories overtook him. Lucifer beating Dean over and over again while Sam struggled to pull the Devil back, getting control of his body again, and pulling Michael, who was wearing Sam and Dean's half-brother, Adam, into the hole then the entire experience of being trapped in Hell with Michael and Lucifer. Sam shook his head to clear the thoughts and turned to Dean, "Okay so so far we know that it's a demon possessing a man, both us and Dad have encountered him, but apparently he's one we've forgotten about."

"And was somehow involved in the Apocalypse," Cas offered.

Sam looked down at his phone which had just vibrated. He opened up a text from an unknown number and read it aloud, his face overcome with worry, "Charlie Bradbury: Tomorrow. I won't be as nice this time, Sammy."

"That's got to be him. Sam, can you track down the text at all? I'm gonna call Charlie and tell her to get back here," Dean pulled his phone out and walked to the other side of the room while Cas helped Sam get started on tracking the number.

"Hey, Dean, what's up?" Charlie asked sweetly.

"Charlie, I need you back at the Bunker, now. Just, just be here before tomorrow okay?"

"Dean, what are you talking about? What's the matter?"

"Charlie, you're in danger. A demon is after you and we have no idea who he is or what he's going to do. You'll be safe here, though."

"I'm in St. Louis right now and it'll take me a little less than eight hours to get to Lebanon-"

"That's great. It'll be cutting it closer than I'd like but you'll be okay, Charlie, I promise."

"But, Dean," Charlie said desperately, "I-70 is down to one lane because of road construction. And I'll need to go all the way through St. Louis during rush hour and then through Kansas City... I just don't think I'll make it, Dean."

"We'll get on the road now and speed like hell if you need to, Charlie. I'm not going to let this son of a bitch get you."

"Okay, okay. I'll try. I'll call you once I get out of construction to see where we're at, okay? I'm leaving the convention right now, a particularly expensive one too by the way," Charlie said sternly with an attempt at a laugh, but Dean could hear the anxiety behind it.

Dean turned back to Sam and Cas. Cas looked up from Sam's laptop and explained to Dean, "Sam was able to trace the phone number to St Louis, Missouri. Where is Charlie?"

"Charlie said she's in-" Dean paused as he realized, "St Louis."

Sam's head snapped up, "He must be following her. Smart too. That way he won't need to worry about tracking her down first and he's being led straight to us."

"I could go retrieve her," Cas suggested.

Sam shook his head sadly, "You're too weak. It'd be dangerous for Charlie to tag along with you. That's if you can even fly."

Castiel looked at the floor helplessly, "What do we do then?"

"We let her come," Dean decided in a hard voice, "The demon won't be able to get through the wardings and Charlie will be fine. He said he won't act until tomorrow."

"And we're trusting him? When has that ever stopped a demon, Dean," Sam questioned.

"But yet we continue to do it."

Waiting for Charlie was worrisome for all three of the boys. Cas absently flipped through files and books searching for any tips for the third trial, Sam stared at his computer screen, breaking the silence every so often with a heavy sigh, and Dean made a trip into town, called Kevin to see how the Tablets were coming along, and made a habit of checking in with Charlie every hour to see how the drive was coming along.

The reports were promising: traffic was slow but not as bad as expected. The eighth call didn't bring as positive news. There was a major collision and her estimated time of arrival was now 12:30 Sunday morning.

"There's no way you can get off the interstate?" Sam implored.

"Not for another ten miles and traffic is completely stopped," Charlie said steadily.

Sam sighed and rubbed his eyes, "Okay, well, just be careful, Charlie."

"Yeah, I've basically put salt lines around the whole interior of the car."

"Well, call when you have news. And make it good next time, 'kay?"

"I can only hope. Talk to you later, Sam."

Eleven o'clock call rolled around and there was no answer from Charlie. Dean called her over and over her and left countless messages, but there was nothing. They sat in silence hoping Charlie's phone had died or something and that she would come a-knocking any minute now. Finally Dean announced he was going to take the Impala out and go look for her and Sam and Cas insisted on coming with after being holed up waiting for news all day. Fifteen minutes into the drive and Sam's phone rang with a call from Charlie. He answered it and put it on speaker.

"Charlie? Where are you? Are you okay?" Dean said steadily.

"D-Dean? There's this guy here and he says he wants me to tell you he 'misses you boys, but before he comes to visit he has to stop by and chat with another Winchester buddy,'" Charlie said shakily, "I'm off 181 near Downs. It's definitely a funky tow-"

Charlie had read the Supernatural books and was trying to get a message across to the boys by using one of their code words. Dean caught on immediately and drove like hell to get to Downs. After a quick search, the boys found Charlie's car on the side of an empty road parallel to a thick tree line. With further inspection, they found the car unlocked and Charlie's body slumped in the driver's seat with her neck slit in a fine line.

Sam's shoulders slumped and shook as he turned around and walked back to the Impala. When he leaned on the car, the body sank a foot and creaked under all of his weight. He had lost so many people in his life: friends, family, and now Charlie. They had just gotten to know her well. Sam had just started to think of her as his little sister, but he should have known better. All his family is dead except Dean and even then he's had to live without his big brother before. If Sam wasn't so optimistic they would have left earlier to look for her, but he insisted on waiting, claiming it was only a dead battery. But now Charlie's dead, and it was all his fault.

Dean pinched the bridge of his nose then in a sudden flurry of pent up anger spun around and kicked a tire of Charlie's car and hammered his fist into the roof. He turned away and walked a few paces down the road with his eyes squeezed shut and hands on the back of his head. If only he had left faster. He should have known something was wrong when she didn't answer and now her death was all his fault.

Castiel put his fingers to her forehead in an attempt to heal Charlie, but it was too late and Cas was too weak to heal a paper cut, much less a fatal wound. He guessed that she had been dead for about fifteen minutes, so the demon must have acted and fled as soon as the call cut off. If only Cas was stronger, he would have been able to get Charlie to the Bunker in the blink of an eye, he'd be able to heal her right now. But he couldn't. He couldn't because his grace was occupied trying to fix himself. If only he hadn't been so ignorant to Sam and Dean he would have had the power to save Charlie. But he didn't and it was all his fault.

I know I shouldn't have but I did... Forgive me? ~Peyt