Nine

We had been driving around the outskirts of Omaha for what felt like hours looking for a motel dingy enough to make sure we flew under the radar. Everything around here seemed so upscale, we would look very out of place in most of the renovated, well lit establishments we had passed. I pulled out my cell phone to check the time.'Hm not hours, just one' I mused.

"Are we there yet?" Dylan moaned from her slouched position for about the fifth time.

"Dylan I swear to god..." Dean started, and I grinned.

"You'll make car turn the car around and no Disneyland for anyone?" I shot at him. I saw Dean's head shake slightly before he turned around and looked at me puzzled. Sam started laughing uncontrollably at his reaction.

"Wow dude, that sounded like something you would say!" he choked out. Dean raised an eyebrow. I really wished he would stop doing that, it made me feel like I had a tumble dryer full of butterflies in my stomach every time. He continued to stare and I shrugged.

"I'm not as dumb as I look." I smiled at him, his eyes widened slightly and he turned back around. This made Dylan erupt with laughter.

"Ha ha ha, Dean's ears have gone red!" she sputtered poking his left ear. Dean swatted her hand away.

"It's just hot in here." he argued.

"Or you think Rayne is!" Dylan teased.

"Shut up!"

"Make me pretty boy!" she poked his ear again. Dean huffed but said nothing. I smiled, at least I wasn't the only one slightly flustered for once. Sam and Dylan were still laughing when all of a sudden a male in a tan trench coat appeared in the seat between Dylan and I, his black wings taking up the whole back-seat. I jumped a mile.

"God dang angels!" I yelled.

Dean turned around and, totally ignoring our new passenger, laughed.

"Did you just say 'dang'" he chuckled and I shot him a glare before looking the stranger up and down. He was average height with dark hair, slightly rugged features, big black wings that I could now see were outlined by a row of dark violet feathers and the typical piercing blue eyes of an angel, both of which were completely focused on Dylan who seemed to be frozen on the spot. I grinned, thanking my lucky stars, the look on her face was one I knew all too well, it had crossed my face several times in the past twenty four hours. It was a look of absolute panic in the presence of an attractive man. Maybe now my oh so perfect angel best friend would walk a mile in my shoes. Plus it would be nice to be on the other side of a ribbing for once. Sam still driving laughed.

"Cas?" he asked Dean who nodded.

"Cas, you have to make sure you aren't going to scare anyone half to death before you just pop in." Dean chastised him, the angel put his head down for a moment before looking at Dean.

"My apologies, I did not mean to alarm anyone, but I did not sense the presence of other humans when I made the jump." he stated in a monotone.

"What Cas? Are your powers working ok? There are clearly two extra humans in the car." Dean shook his head. The angel stared at Dylan and she looked panicked again, but this time it was a different kind of panic. I knew she was terrified he was going to expose the fact she was an angel to the boys. I cleared my throat in a deliberate way and stuck out my hand in his direction.

"Well hi there, seems the boys aren't big on introductions, I'm Rayne Murphy and this is Dylan Singer, pleased to meet you." I held my hand there for a few seconds but he just stared at it and I withdrew it slightly taken aback.

"Don't mind the stone angel there, Castiel's a little slow when it comes to things like manners or social customs." Dean rolled his eyes, "Cas, enough with the staring, you're being rude!"

Dean might have well have not even spoken because Cas had gone back to staring at Dylan as though she were a new species and he was a zoology student.

"You are so beautiful," Cas whispered, his eyes darting from her face to her wings, "so bright." Dylan blushed.

"DAMN IT CAS!" Dean thundered. "You obviously came here for a reason, what was it?" Not taking his eyes off Dylan, he shrugged.

"Dude, did you just shrug?" Dean said incredulously, "that is probably the most human thing you've ever done!" Dean was wasting his breath. Cas was engrossed in Dylan and it looked like the feeling was mutual. I watched them both and noticed that the violet colour on the male angels wings had expanded and seemed a shade or two brighter. This was one of those moments I wished someone else saw what I did so I could turn to them and say something like 'holy heck did you see that?' and be met with anything but a blank look. Cas reached up and caressed Dylans face which made her flinch backwards. My first reflex was to grab his arm to defend her. The second I touched his bare skin with my fingers he whipped his head and looked deep into my eyes like he was trying to read my mind. I shivered as a frown came across his once stoic face. He made a low growling noise and glared before braking the gaze.

"Zachariah must be told about this." he muttered and disappeared. I froze, it was my turn to panic, that name, Zachariah, it had to be the angel from my dreams, the one who wanted me dead. If he didn't know about me before, he did now.

"Crap." I murmured under my breath and looked at Dylan who pretty much had stars in her eyes.

"What was that?" Sam asked looking between the three of us and back at the road.

"No idea Sammy." Dean rubbed his face. Sam let out a small 'huh' and shook his head. The next few minutes passed in complete silence with Dylan staring into space, me staring at Dylan and Dean staring at me.

"AH HA!" Sam exclaimed pulling into the car park of a dingy motel. As the car stopped and the boys climbed out, Dylan came out of her trance and smiled happily at me before jumping out too. I sat for a moment longer going over the events in my head and something hit me. Of course Castiel had been unable to feel Dylan in the car, she was an angel and had gone to great lengths to shield herself from other angels. But me, why couldn't he sense me? I wasn't an angel, I didn't have any Enochian symbols on me to avoid angel detection. He should have felt me in the car along with Sam and Dean. I was human. Wasn't I?