The music was pounding, and as Dean stepped in over the threshold of the club, giving a curt nod to the bouncer, he couldn't help but wonder about how the hell a girl who would visit such a place could be classed as the epitome of innocence. The place was grimy, it stank of smoke and sweat, and the clientele were not the most respectable looking class of people, the majority of them wearing several holes in their face with large, elaborate tattoo's swirling across their skin.
"This is the place." Castiel said firmly as he got a view of the place. He could feel it, like a sixth sense, he understood that she was near. He had heard warnings about this girl from other angels in the garrison. She was innocent, but she was capable of horrendous things, she was gifted with a power that was lacking in all humans, she was truly exceptional. He glanced from Dean to Sam, both of whom seemed unconvinced that they had arrived in the right place.
"Seriously, this is where she's hiding out?" Sam asked. Castiel frowned slightly.
"She is not hiding." He told them, "She is unaware of what she is."
"Great, so we've got to waste some chic who hasn't done anything and has no clue that this is coming?" He heard Dean complain. Of course Dean would think this way, that much he'd established during the brief time that he'd known him. Dean's respect for human life was tremendous, and it was a characteristic that Castiel did appreciate, more than most of his other flaws. But when it came down to it, the loss of this girls life would be benefit the entire planet. It was simple math, one life for 6 billion.
"How do we find her?" He heard Sam ask. Castiel narrowed his eyes, searching the crowd of writhing bodies, moving to the beat of the song.
"She is marked." He repeated to them. He saw Dean roll his eyes.
"We get that, but that's a little vague." Sam mumbled.
"I will know it when I see it." Castiel said confidently, and he stepped into the crowd of dancing humans, his eyes seeking out something striking.
The must was loud and screeching, and Castiel recognized the song, it was one that Dean would sometimes play in his car during long road trips. The guitars would echoing throughout the club, and the lights were flickering harshly, accompanied with a film of smoke which was making everything difficult to see. He pushed past people, seeing Dean and Sam move through the crowd, examining each person they pushed past.
And then he felt it. It was strange, and a sensation that Castiel was not used to, something which stopped him in his tracks. He felt her before he recognized her. His eyes landed on a girl, long white hair, her eyes shut as her body moved instinctively to the beat, her hips shaking in a way that he had never seen before, that made Castiel's stomach tighten. When her eyes fluttered opened, a broad, dizzying smile playing on her lips, Castiel sucked a gulp of air into his lungs, a physical reaction that he had never experienced - breathing was rarely an issue. He couldn't look away, he wanted to, he felt as if this was it, he was being drawn in by some form of dark power, something straight from the bowels of hell.
And then her eyes caught his, and he realised she was smiling at him as she moved. She raised a hand, moving her fingers, greeting him, as if they were friends. He opened his mouth, his eyes catching the outline of the snake that seemed to move across her skin like it had a mind of it's own, and he knew that he had the right girl. He knew what he had to do but doing it in a room full of people was not an option.
"You okay?" He heard Dean's voice cut across his thoughts as they girl looked away from him, focusing her attention instead on the man she was dancing with. Castiel cleared his throat, feeling as if he was finally able to think again, and turned to face Dean, "You look as if you've seen a ghost."
"She's there." Castiel muttered, nodding towards the girl, "That's Eve."
"A tattoo." Dean sighed, his voice barely audible above the music, "You should have just said she had a freaking tattoo." Castiel stared at him, narrowing his eyes, confused. Dean shrugged, "Never mind."
"You found her?" Castiel heard Sam's voice and turned to see him push past a pair of barely dressed women to reach them, glancing around, "Where is she?"
"The one with the freaking snake tattooed on her shoulder." Dean shouted, motioning in her direction.
"What now?" Sam asked, turning to look expectantly at Castiel. He frowned, glancing around the full room, knowing that they had to get her on her own.
"There's an alleyway outside, bring her there." Castiel said decisively, turning to leave.
"Hey, wait a second," Dean called, grabbing him by the shoulder, "Some chick isn't going to just follow us outside into some Alleyway!"
"Persuade her." Castiel growled, "She'll believe you, she's trusting, it's in her nature." He sighed, shrugging Dean's hand off his shoulder and heading outsideinto the cool night air.
"Excuse me?" Eve had been caught up in the music, the alcohol in her system erasing any form of trepidation she had about making a fool of herself, and instead she moved in whatever way she felt was right. She turned in the direction of the voice, feeling a warm hand on her shoulder, and found herself face to face with a handsome man. She grinned at him.
"Yeah?" She asked. He smiled at her.
"Is your name Eve?" He asked. She raised her eyebrows, before slowly nodding.
"Yeah, it is." She told him with a small nod of her head.
"Right, some guy asked me to come in here and get you, he's stuck outside, having trouble with his ID." Eve raised her eyebrows, her mind racing, trying to figure out who could be stuck outside, who was missing.
"Is it Nicky? He always forgets his license." She shouted over the music. A strange expression crossed the strangers face, one that was similar guilt, but it vanished just as quickly as it had appeared.
"Yeah, Nicky." He said with a nod. She rolled her eyes with a smirk, grabbing her friend, mumbling an excuse for running outside into his ear, and turned back to the stranger.
"Alright, I'll come and help him out, hopefully the bouncers will take pity on him." She sighed, and the guy smirked and nodded, "Sorry, didn't catch your name." Eve said to the man as the pair of them started to navigate through the crowd.
"Oh, it's Dean." He called as they approached the door, his eyes scanning her momentarily, "Nice ink!" He pointed at the image running along her collar bone and she smiled at him.
"Thanks!" She sighed as they stepped out into the cool night air. She stopped for a moment, glancing around, no familiar face in sight. She cleared her throat, suddenly feeling the cold night air hitting her bare skin and turned to face Dean, "Where is he?" She asked. Dean was already making his way down the street, and he nodded for her to follow.
"Just round the corner." Dean explained. Eve bit down on her lower lip, glancing momentarily at the bouncers before following the man around the corner.
She found herself in an alleyway, it was long and narrow, with a few large industrial size bins sitting next to the fire escape of the club. There was no one in the alley, with the exception of a man standing there in a beige trench coat, a man that she'd recognized from the club, who had caught her eye momentarily. She frowned, glancing behind her, seeing another man appear, a taller one with longer hair than the other two. She cleared her throat, a hint of fear beginning to unfold in the back of her mind.
"Where's Nicky?" She asked, glancing towards Dean, but he was no longer paying attention to her, instead he was focused on the man in the trench coat, who had moved to face the pair of them straight on.
"You two might want to leave." The man murmured. His voice was deep, flat and had a strange air of authority. Eve wrapped her arms around herself, unsure of what was going on, her eyes returning to look at Dean, who just looked upset. There was something she was missing, something important.
"What are you going to do?" Dean asked, an odd tone of pain to his voice. The man in the trench coat took a step towards them, and Eve felt her back stiffen, inhaling sharply.
"You know what I have to do. I do not have a choice." The man said plainly. Eve took a step backwards.
"Dean, what's going on?" She whimpered. Dean finally turned to look at her, his expression filled with pain and guilt, it did nothing to reassure her.
"There has to be another way." Dean choked out. Eve heard footsteps behind her, and glanced over her shoulder to see the taller of the men coming to a stop next to her.
"We can think this through, come up with something else." He interjected. The man in the trench coat appeared to be growing impatient, his jaw clenched, his hands balled into fists. Eve took another step backwards.
"I told you. This is it." He growled. Eve knew at that point that something was horribly wrong, the man in the trench coat was glaring at her with a sense of hate that she could feel heat up her skin, he was about to do something, something horrific, and it was going to happen to her. She was not an idiot, and knew that despite her curiosity over the situation, if she wanted to survive she needed to leave.
And so she turned on her heel, facing the street she'd just came from, and took of at a sprint, her feet pounding down hard on the tarmac, her legs carrying her as fast as they could possibly manage. She just needed to get to the main road, reach the bouncers, get back to a place where there were other people, people who would be witnesses.
Suddenly she hit something, someone. Without anyone moving in front of her, without the sound of footsteps from behind her, the man in the trench coat was suddenly directly in her way, standing still, staring down at her. She hit him hard, staggering backwards as she glanced up, meeting his eyes. She frowned, not understanding what was happening, where he had come from. She opened her mouth, to cry out for help, to ask him what the hell was going on, but before a sound managed to escape past her lips she felt his hand, closed into a fist, strike her hard on her temple, sending her reeling.
She was no longer standing, she hit the ground hard, feeling pain explode through her head as the concrete came up to meet her. She let out a groan as the world around her started spinning, lights popping in front of her eyes as she blinked, attempting to get her sight back. She could taste blood, she'd bitten the inside of her lip.
"What the hell, Cas! Stop!" She heard the guy called Dean call and her head turned in his direction, seeing him running in her direction.
Before Dean reached her she felt a hand wrap around her throat, and her head turned to see the man, who she assumed to be Cas, standing over her. Her lips parted, preparing a scream, but it was silenced as he pressed down on her windpipe, securing a grip on her throat. Suddenly, she wasn't on the ground anymore, she was upright, the wall of the club on her back. She was pinned by her throat, Castiel staring at her, his eyes narrow, his face tense with concentration and effort. She was choking, unable to breathe, her hands clawing at his arm, unable to free herself.
"Please," She managed to spit the word out past her lips, feeling his grip tighten, her head feeling light.
"Cas, stop it now!" She heard Dean scream. "We can figure this out, just let her go!"
"We can't risk it!" Cas spat out through gritted teeth. Eve dug her fingernails into the skin on his wrists, but he didn't flinch.
"Please don't -" She gasped, seeing the edges of her vision blurring, darkening, her lungs crying out for air.
"We don't murder innocent people!" She heard the taller man scream, but her eyes were fixed on the man who had her pinned, her eyes filled with desperation.
"She hasn't done anything, we have time, we can figure this out!" She heard Dean cry out. She was dizzy, and despite the fact that she was stuck, pinned, the world seemed to be spinning. She tried one last time to take a breath, but it was in vain. Her face was flushed, her eyes turning red. She was trying so hard to remain conscious, but she was failing. The face of the man who had her pinned was blurring, fading into black, the voices of the two other men, begging for her life, were falling silent. Her hands, which had been violently clawing at Cas' arm, fell limply by her side. She didn't want this to happen, she wanted to stay alert, she wanted to fight. But unconsciousness was calling, her body was betraying her, and despite her best efforts, her eyes slid shut.
