Jake had slept for over 24 hours, so when he awoke the next day with a headache he wasn't all that surprised. Castiel had been sitting on a chair next to his bed when he first opened his human eyes to the world; the angel held his hand tightly and kept it there even after Jake tried pushing it away. The boy had almost no energy, so when Cass refused to let him go, Jake simply sighed and retreated into his thoughts. After about a half an hour of awkward silence Jake returned his attention to the trench-coated angel that continued to stare at him.

"What are you doing?" Jake asked, finally getting annoyed with the uncomfortable hand-holding. Castiel simply smirked, breaking eye contact to watch the clock on the opposite wall.

"Easing your pain," Castiel replied after a few moments hesitation.

"By holding hands?" Jake halfheartedly chuckled.

"Yes," Castiel responded quickly, "I am using my own grace to help soothe the pain of your newly cleaned soul." Jake pondered his explanation, and then turned back to the angel with a confused expression.

"Why would my soul be hurting, if that's even possible?"

"A newly cleaned soul has, in a sense, been removed of its outer layer. For example if you fell and skinned your knee, the new layer of skin underneath is very raw and sensitive to the touch. Your soul responds in a similar manner," Castiel explained. Jake nodded slowly, finally understanding his situation.

"When will it get better?" He asked.

"It may take a few more days before you no longer feel its presence. Until then I will try to ease as much of your pain as possible."

"What about Sam and Dean?" Jake questioned an almost accusing look showing on his face. Castiel hesitated, not wanting to anger Jake and make things worse, but he didn't want to lie either.

"I've sent them to continue on with their hunt to find and kill your father," Castiel stated simply. He was aware of Jake's hand tensing underneath his own, the boy was obviously upset.

"I said I wanted to go," Jake said flatly, trying hard to keep the anger from seeping through his voice.

"As Dean had said earlier, it's far too dangerous," Castiel warned. Jake ignored the angel and kept his gaze locked onto the ceiling above him. After a couple of minutes of silence, Jake took in a deep breath and then sighed dramatically.

"I'm hungry," he lied, looking back at Cass. Castiel stiffened slightly, forgetting that Jake, now being a human, would need to eat to gain strength.

"What would you like?" Castiel finally asked. Jake closed his eyes thinking of somewhere he could send the angel to buy him enough time to escape the bunker.

"I want some noodles from China, freshly bakes bread from France, and some naturally harvested honey straight from a bees nest," Jake answered, trying hard not to reveal a sly smirk. Castiel looked at Jake with suspicion, but he gave him the benefit of the doubt and nodded in agreement.

"While I am gone, I will no longer be able to take away your pain," Castiel explained, "Gathering your food may take a while, so are you sure of your order?" Jake smiled and nodded dumbly, hoping the angel would hurry up and vanish. Castiel sighed and finally took his hand off of Jake's, watching the boy's reaction carefully. As Castiel had said, the pain appeared without the angel's touch, but Jake suppressed it and smiled weakly to show Cass he would be fine. With a quick nod if his head, Castiel disappeared from the small room, off to fetch Jake's ridiculous food order.

Jake let out a long groan of both annoyance and pain as he slowly sat up and got off the bed. He wobbly made his way too the library of the base and searched for something he could use as a weapon if needed. Much to the three mens' displeasure, Jake had formed a plan to hitch hike a drive to the location he knew his father would be at, and slay the demon himself. Dean and Sam may have known which town his father resided, but they did not know his exact location. Jake remembered being dragged to a seemingly occupied factory, for his father knew better then to hide in an obviously abandoned one. The old factory, re-painted to look new by his father's workers, was used to make Halloween props. So when the demons brought home another victim, the public took the blood and screaming as simply part of the Halloween decorations.

Snapping back to reality, Jake grabbed a sharp looking knife that was sitting on a stand on top of a bookshelf. Though normal blades wouldn't kill a demon, he had no other weapon and decided it was his best option. Jake took one final glance around the empty bunker before exiting, a devilish smirk plastered onto his face,

After a couple of hours of standing at the closest gas station, pleading to anyone for a ride into town, Jake was about to give up and simply walk. The raw pain he felt from his soul was exhausting to say the least but he was determined to be the one that took his fathers life, even if that meant walking the 3 hours all the way there. As Jake was about to leave the gas station, a mother and her young 4 year old daughter pulled up next to him. She rolled down her window and smiled warmly.

"Need a ride, honey?" she asked sweetly. Jake smiled back and nodded, thanking her as he got into the passenger seat of her navy blue SUV. Her daughter was in the back, strapped into a car seat. Her blond curls bounced up and down as she giggled at the new face. "Where too, sweaty?" the mother asked, her smile growing even warmer.

"I just need to get into the next town, thank you," Jake replied softly, keeping his eyes lowered in respect. The car's engine started up with a roar as she drove out of the station and onto the street.

"What's your name?" she asked, hoping to strike up a conversation, "and where are your parents?" Jake quickly thought of an excuse to keep the soccer mom satisfied.

"My name is Dustin," Jake lied, saying the first name that came to mind, "my parents are in the town we're driving too. See, they got themselves stuck because their car broke down, so I'm gonna' go help them out." Taking Jake's lie, the mother, who's name Jake later found out to be Linda, was droning on about how good of a son he was being. Jake simply nodded, appeasing her appetite for conversations.

The long hours of the drive seemed endless with the non-stop talking women and the intense pain filling Jake's soul. Weirdly enough, the 4 year old in the back seat was very quiet as she mostly kept to herself, staring out the window. When their car pulled into town, Jake mentioned that he wouldn't mind being dropped off anywhere, but Linda refused, saying she didn't want Jake walking all alone.

"I really don't mind," Jake almost pleaded, "my parents aren't far from here and I could use the walk." The warm smile that Linda wore turned into a menacing grin as she pulled into the next parking lot. She stopped the car and unbuckled her seat belt, gesturing for Jake to do the same. As he did, she got out of the car and walked over to his side of the car, opening the door for him. Extremely confused, Jake climbed out of the car slowly, almost tripping over his own feet. "Um, thank you for the ride, miss."

"Oh, honey," the mother cooed, "the ride is far from over." Jake looked at Linda in horror as her usually hazel eyes turned completely black. "You had us worried," she hissed, opening the back door of her car, reaching in and taking out the now crying toddler. She shushed the child calmly, stroking her blond hair. "You see Jake, your daddy's been worried sick about you," Linda finally said now that the screaming toddler had been quieted. Jake held his ground firmly, fishing for the knife he had hidden in the belt of his pants. Terror flooded over his face when he realized it was no longer there, fallowed by loud laughter of the demon in front of him. "You really are as slow as they come. I took your stupid play thing when you first got in the car. It wouldn't do much anyway, you twit. Normal weapons don't work on demons, you know that." Jake swallowed down the lump in his throat and continued to hold his threatening gaze towards the demon. As he was distracted by Linda, he didn't notice the other two demons coming from behind him, both wearing similar looking vessels. They looked to be about mid 30's in age, wearing fake uniforms that had logos for the old Halloween factory written across their chests. The taller man grabbed Jake from behind, wrapping one of his arms around the boy's neck and the other holding both of Jake's hands behind his back.

"Shall we take him inside?" the shorter man asked Linda. Linda smirked, handing him the wiggling toddler.

"Yes, and do get rid of this toddler, she's been a thorn in my ass all day." Linda gave Jake one last smirk before walking back to her car and driving away with a screech. Jake kept still in the taller man's grasp, trying to keep calm and think of anyway he could get out of his horrific situation. Without any further words, Jake was escorted into the old Halloween factory that was across the street. Jake hadn't noticed it before, being too busy talking with Linda. They walked inside from the back door, fallowing a dark, dirty hallway that led to a large room. The room itself was disgusting and moldy, stain of old blood practically covered the entire cement floor, making the stench match the sight. Jake was harshly pushed onto the cold metal table that centered the room, where he was stripped from his shirt and strapped down like an animal. His two escorts silently left the room, leaving Jake to his own thoughts. In their place, another man entered, an amused grin washed over his face as he basically skipped over to Jake's side.

"Welcome, boy," the man said in a gruff voice, his think Scottish accent leaking into his words. "My name is Crowley, but I'm sure you've heard of me," the man mused.