Sam crawled hurriedly over to the bloodied heap that was Castiel, unsure of what, exactly, he should do.
"Cas. Man, are you alright."
The angel unfurled himself enough to shoot a withering glare at the shaggy haired hunter.
"No Samuel I am most assuredly not alright."
His voice was gruff and breathless from pain, and he gritted his teeth with every movement.
"What do I need to do? I mean you-"
Castiel leaned heavily against the wall, his hands gripping tightly at the shredded tatters that were his side.
"I am not an angel! Just treat me like you would a, a-"
He squeezed his eyes shut tightly, a tear slipping silently down his cheek.
"A human. Get me back to the room. I need-"
He swallowed thickly.
"Just get me back."
The hunter pulled the angel to standing.
It only took two steps before he realized that the angel could not hold himself upright.
He attempted to lift him, but was quickly rewarded with more of Castiel's pained keening and the sound his own grunting as his muscles strained against the surprising weight of the angel.
"Cas, There is no way that I can get you up those stairs."
The angel hooked his thumb over to a previously unseen door.
"Right. The hearse entrance. Smart."
He half-carried half-dragged Castiel to the door, wrenching it open and tugging the angel out of it.
After some creative positioning he had the angel propped against the outer wall of the building.
"I'll be right back."
He dashed around the building before hopping into the impala, only to have it refuse to start.
"No no no."
He turned the key.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
"Come on. I know I'm not Dean, but Dean will kill me if anything else happens to Cas."
Hell he'll probably kill me for this.
Finally, with a chocking sputter and a lurch, the engine roared to life.
Sam forced the car down the inclined parking lot at far faster than safe speeds, slamming it into neutral at a precarious angle before dashing back out to grab the angel.
Again he pulled Castiel forward, wrestling him into the back of the car before returning to the drivers seat himself.
He sped through traffic, completely ignoring traffic signs and dashing through the towns singular red light in an effort to get back to the motel as quickly as possible.
Tires squealed as he slid into the lot, not even bothering to turn of the car in his haste.
Dean pulled in at that exact same moment, already out of his car by the time Sam had gotten to Cas's side of the car.
"Fucking hell Sam? What were you thinking, driving like that? Seriously! You could have hurt my car!"
The younger hunter ignored his raving brother in favor of pulling Castiel from the back of the Impala.
As soon as Dean's eyes found Castiel his entire demeanor changed.
He lunged forward, his own arms replacing his brothers as he wrapped them around his shoulders, fingers flitting worriedly over his chest.
He didn't speak as he and his brother pulled Castiel into his hotel room.
Nor did he say a word as they set to work fixing him up.
Dean quickly and efficiently stripped Castiel's torso, his features growing more and more grim with each layer.
He set to work, cleaning and swabbing at the shreds of skin, removing the already caking blood to reveal six perfectly even strips of flesh.
With the expert precision garnished from extensive practice, Dean stitch each strip back into place, his gut wrenching with each of Castiel's pained whimpers and hissed breaths.
As soon as he had finished, Sam brought over the pads of gauze and an ace bandage.
He helped Castiel sit up while Dean carefully wrapped the bandage around him.
With that done the angel slumped back onto the mattress, his face ashen and eyes narrowed with pain.
"Dammit Cas. What happened."
The hunter's voice was soft, slightly broken.
Castiel simply shook his head, squeezing Dean's hand and pointing at Sam.
"Ask him. Come back."
The orders were clear.
Dean stood from his place beside the Angel and led his brother outside, closing the door behind him.
As soon as the latch clicked words poured from the younger hunter's mouth.
"We went to the funeral home to look at the bodies and the owner guy, Schubert's looked a hell of a lot like Zachariah and it freaked Cas out so if he says anything about falling or something he's referring to the fact that e couldn't tell if he was an angle or not. Anyway we went to the storage room and opened up the drawer and one of the corpses had been meticulously put together so I complemented it and then Fucking Crowley appears from nowhere-"
Dean held up a hand.
"Wait, Crowley? As in the king of hell and ultimate asshat?"
Sam nodded.
"Son of a bitch! What did he want"
"He's here hunting something that's been killing his hell hounds. And get this, It's the blur."
The older hunter shook his head in disbelief , narrowing his eyes in confusion
"If Crowley was there, then why didn't he kill Cas, and you for that matter? Why did he just shred my angel up?"
If Sam noticed Dean's possessive wording, it didn't show on his features.
"He wants us to do his dirty work for him. Find out what the blur is, kill it, and then he says he'll give us a head start in leaving."
Dean crossed his arms.
"I'm not working for that bearded bastard again Sammy. Head start be damned."
The younger hunter sighed.
"Dean, if we don't do this, he'll kill Cas. I mean, he can't exactly moo himself back together again, or away from danger for that matter. Besides, we were already on this case anyway, might as well finish the job."
Dean sighed heavily, a hand rubbing his neck while he nudged a stray pebble with his toe.
Finally he looked up,, his gaze weary and defeated.
"Fine. Alright. We gank this ghost and high-tale it back to base. But I don't like this."
Sam nodded, more than a little relieved.
"Neither do I."
He glanced back at the door.
"I'll go back to Schubert's and get a better look at those bodies, and then Ill start interviewing relatives of the victims. Maybe they know something."
He pointed at the door.
"You make sure Cas is alright. Maybe Demon proof the room. Might want to Angel proof it as well, come to think of it."
"Yea. Just so we're clear, it was a Hell hound that did that right?"
Sam nodded one more,his head tilted in confusion.
"Yea, why?"
The older hunter shrugged.
"Just wanted to make sure I had all the facts."
"All-right?"
He started to back up to the car.
"I'll just-"
Dean shook his head.
"Take mine. Trooper Hines lent it to me. It'll look less suspicious than Baby."
Sam nodded, ducking into the Impala to turn it off and grab the keys.
He tossed them to his brother before crawling into the compact blue Prius.
Dean took a deep breath as he watched Sam pull back onto the street, before he opened the door to the motel room once more.