Castiel appears outside of the Salvatore Boarding House, still clutching the girl's arm. He stares stonily at the house's darkened windows. The girl struggles to get out of his grip – she even rakes her fingernails along the skin on his hand. Castiel takes no notice of this.
"What just happened?" she asks, squirming. "Who are you?"
"Quiet," he commands, not taking his eyes from the front door of the house. He waits for several minutes before there's any movement. It's dark now, but the darkness does not prevent Castiel from seeing Damon, the vampire, slink out of the shadows and up to the front door. The vampire's hands are balled into fists, and the door slams shut behind him.
"What's going on?" she asks, this time more desperately.
"You're my leverage," says Castiel, still staring at the house. He finally drags his eyes away to look at the girl. He squints at her. "I'm curious…" he begins. "Why do you associate with these vampires? You're human. You understand what they can do to you."
She scowls at him. "The last thing I need," she says, "is to be lectured by an angel." She wrenches her arm from him, and Castiel purposely lets her go. She falls backwards onto her butt with an oomf.
Castiel crouches down next to her. "I know there is good in the Salvatores, as their names are often spoken by my brothers." His lips purse for a few moments before continuing. "I also understand the concept of loving a lesser being." An image of Dean Winchester appears in his mind; he quickly forces it aside. "Despite this, I warn you against pursuing their friendship any further. It will only lead to your destruction."
If the girl is frightened by this information, she doesn't show it. Instead, her mouth tightens and she hisses, "The difference between us is that I don't think of Damon or Stefan as lesser beings."
Castiel stares at her a few moments. Then, he says, "You should." He touches her forehead with two fingers and she falls limp in the dark grass. He straightens up and watches the sleeping girl. There is something strange about her. She's human, of course, but also something not-so-human. He reminds himself to look into it, as he knows there are other angels keeping tabs on Mystic Falls.
The front door opens again and Damon walks out dragging an unconscious Sam on the floor by an arm; Dean, meanwhile, is slumped over Damon's shoulder. Castiel instinctively takes a step forward to help, but stops himself. He must not interfere.
Damon continues dragging Sam out onto the grass. He halts and shrugs Dean off of his shoulder, slamming the hunter down onto the ground. "Alright," Damon calls, extending his arms challengingly. "I've got your pets, Cassy. Come and get'em." Damon spins in a circle, looking for Castiel. Suddenly, they lock eyes. Damon smirks. "There you are." Damon's gaze drops to the grass where the girl is sprawled out at Castiel's feet.
The vampire flashes forward and grabs Castiel by the collar, though the angel manages to stay upright. "What did you do to Elena?" Damon snarls. "I'll rip your fucking head off."
"She's sleeping," says Castiel, unconcerned.
Damon stares at him before roughly releasing him and kneeling down beside Elena. "For your sake, I hope so," says Damon, lifting the girl's head. He looks up at Castiel. "The Winchesters are fine. I healed their wounds with my blood. Had to knock them out so they wouldn't, you know, kill me. Again."
Castiel walks over to the Winchesters. They're both out cold. "Your blood," Castiel muses. "They need to go somewhere safe. I won't have them turning into…" Castiel stops himself and looks over his shoulder at Damon.
Damon rolls his eyes. "You can say it. Dirty, stinkin' vampires. I'm aware of what people think of us. Or, uh, in your case, angels." He connects his hands together in a circle over his head as if he's wearing a halo.
Castiel hesitates. "Thank you," he says.
Damon is too slow to hide his surprise. He lowers his hands, a strange look on his face; he seems to be struggling in coming up with something witty to say. Finally, he forfeits. "Whatever." He clears his throat. "The Gilberts'. We can take the Winchesters there. When the vampire blood is out of their systems, they can be on their merry way. Back to killing innocents."
If Castiel were the type of being inclined to smile, he would do so now. "I hardly think you're innocent, Vampire." He turns and crouches down beside the Winchesters. Although the Winchesters have angelic runes on their ribs that allow them to be hidden from angels, Castiel was able to find Sam and Dean through their prayer. Looking at Dean, Castiel sighs. He cannot touch either of them; he knows this. For Castiel has his own angelic rune, forced upon him by his brothers in Heaven; if he so much lays a finger on the Winchesters, the angels will know about it. If this happens, Castiel will be plucked from Earth and forced to live out a prison sentence in Heaven.
He shouldn't even be here.
"You're not exactly rainbows and butterflies either, Angel," Damon replies smoothly from behind him. "Taking a human hostage? Don't tell me that's the norm in Heaven."
"Angels are remarkably indifferent to the lives of humans," says Castiel, looking at Dean. Dean's lips are slightly parted, and his chest rises and falls with each breath.
"Oh, but you aren't," says Damon.
"How could you tell?" Castiel asks bitterly.
Damon lets out a surprised ha. "The angel makes jokes now."
Castiel ignores this. "Take the Winchesters to safety. Keep them from turning into vampires."
"And in return…?" Damon raises his eyebrows.
"Perhaps I can do something to help your brother."
xxx
Dean is sprawled out on the Gilberts' couch. Sam is on the floor. Elena, now fully alert, paces the living room. She glares at Damon. "Will you stop that? It's annoying."
For the past half hour, Damon's been sitting on the coffee table with a large box of goldfish crackers, casually tossing as many goldfish as he can into Dean's open mouth. So far, Damon's only missed twice – a feat that he's rather proud of.
"Fine," says Damon, lowering the box. "I'll stop throwing crackers at the man who succeeded in killing me."
"It was an accident," says Elena.
Damon gapes at her. "How is pointing a weirdo, vampire-killing gun at someone and pulling the trigger an accident? What if I were to rip his throat out? Does that count as an accident too? I was dead. You do realize that, don't you? It's not like I was on vacation in Bermuda."
"He didn't know you were good," says Elena, sighing.
"Good?" asks Damon. What does that even mean? "When he wakes up, Elena, he's not going to have some grand epiphany and suddenly think the sun shines out my ass. Mark my words, if he so much looks at me funny, I'll – "
Dean jerks awake on the couch. Instantly, he chokes on a mouthful of goldfish and leans forward, spraying Damon in the face with orange crumbs and saliva. Damon, wiping his face, stares at the hunter with dead eyes.
"Damon, don't," Elena warns. She sits beside Dean. "How are you feeling?"
Dean, his mouth still half-full of goldfish, chews thoughtfully. "Hungry," he finally says. He swallows. His eyes fall on Damon's box of goldfish. "Hey, man," says Dean, "gimme those."
Damon hugs the box to his chest. "Nope. They're mine."
"Dude. Really?" Dean raises his eyes from the goldfish box to Damon's face. Realization sets in. "You."
Damon smirks.
Dean lunges off of the couch to tackle Damon, but Damon easily scoots to the left and Dean crashes into the coffee table. Damon sighs and gives Elena a weary look. "See? I told you so."
Dean slowly gets to his feet, using the table to support his weight. He looks over his shoulder at Damon. "How are you still alive? The Colt had to've killed you."
"I'll let you in on a little secret, Dean," says Damon. "It did." Damon crosses his arms. "Apparently, you've got friends in high places." He pauses. "Literally. Your angel buddy brought me back so I could save you from my evil, diabolical brother." He laughs. "You don't know how weird that sentence just was for me to say."
Dean's furious demeanor melts away. "Cas?" he asks, taken aback. "You've talked to Cas?"
"You call him Cas?" Damon asks. "How cute."
"Where is he?" Dean's tough act returns. "I've been praying to that dick for months." He looks around and spots Sam lying on the ground. "Sam," he says, alarmed.
"Your brother's fine," says Elena, standing up to put her hand on Dean's shoulder. "As soon as the vampire blood is out of your system, you're both free to go."
Dean glances down at Elena's hand on his shoulder before looking up at her face. He grins. "And who are you?"
Damon rolls his eyes. "Oh, God," he says. He pushes Dean and Elena apart. "Elena, go find something to do in the kitchen." Damon, ignoring Elena's loud protests, looks at Dean. "As for you, Fabio, sit down before you fall down. You look terrible."
Dean seems to be conflicted over whether he should punch Damon in the face or take his advice. Finally, Dean crumples down onto the couch. "If you hurt my brother, I'll kill you again," he says halfheartedly.
"Even though you killed me, I'm not really the vampire you need to be worrying about," says Damon, kicking Sam's limp foot. "Trust me." Damon wonders how Castiel is faring with Stefan. Damon had to stab his brother with a kitchen knife a couple of times before he was able to lock Stefan in one of the cells in the basement and rescue the Winchesters. Damon feels slightly uneasy about the whole ordeal. On one hand, should Castiel's angelic touch help Stefan, Damon will have his brother back and their lives in Mystic Falls will go back to normal. On the other hand, however, there is the fact that as soon as Stefan gets back on the wagon, Elena will come running into his arms, leaving Damon in the dust. As usual.
Humans, he thinks bitterly. So fickle. He glances at Dean and wonders if Castiel ever suffers from the same problem.
xxx
Just so you know, since one of you messaged me about it, this story doesn't take place at any particular time. Elena's still human, obviously, but don't really worry about where it occurs in the Slavatore/Winchester timeline. Review!
