A week had passed since my chat with Cass. After I'd said yes Cass had asked me to repeat an oath. I was hesitant at first but I'd done so. The words he'd had me repeat were burned into my memory either by supernatural force or coincidence, I wasn't sure.

"I give myself over wholly to the service of God and his angels." I'd said.

"Do you swear to follow His will and His word as swiftly and obediently as you did your own father's?"

I had cringed slightly at that. "Yeah, I swear."

Cass had nodded in approval. "Will you be a willing vessel for God's work?"

"Yes."

Cass nodded again. "I will keep in touch." Then he'd taken off.

I stared out the window of the Impala remembering that night. I was starting to have doubts about this the more I thought about it. But I pushed them aside not allowing myself to dwell on them.

I lifted my head from the cold window and sat up rubbing my eyes. Ever since I'd died I couldn't help but remember the time I'd been in the backseat of the Impala trying to get Sam and Dean's attention not knowing I was ghost.

I shuddered as I thought about it again. Dean and Sam hadn't ignored me again since I'd told them about it for which I was grateful. I probably would have burst into tears if something like that happened again.

"Where we at?" I asked groggily. We hadn't stopped driving for three days, all of us taking turns sleeping and driving.

"Uh, somewhere out of Illinois." Dean said glancing back at me.

I breathed in deeply and glanced at Sam in the front seat. He was leaning back against the headrest his mouth open. A little bit of drool dribbled down the side of his chin. It was pretty laughable and I quickly pulled out my cell to get a picture of it.

Dean grinned and shook his head when he saw what I was doing but he didn't say anything. When I was through he poked Sam in the ribs causing Sam to jump up and groan. He wiped a hand down his face and I resisted the urge to burst out laughing.

"What? Where are we?" He garbled.

I grinned. "Rise and shine, Sammy."

Sam glared at me and then looked at the dashboard where the time read 4:30 a.m. Sam groaned again.

"Where are we?" He repeated.

"Illinois." Dean and I replied in unison.

Sam groaned for a third time. Dean looked at him and then turned back to the road. "What is it?" He asked.

Sam shook his head. "Nothing. Just a really bad headache."

I winced in sympathy and dug some painkillers out of my backpack for him.

Dean finally stopped driving that night and I slept like the dead. Bad joke, huh?

The next morning however I woke to a panic. Dean was tearing up the hotel room and sprouting curses worse than a sailor.

"Dean, what the heck's wrong?"

Dean turned toward me clenching his phone in his hand so hard I was afraid he might break it. "Sam's gone." He said tightly.

Panic and worry set into my heart. Surely Sam couldn't have gone too far. I mean maybe he just went to get breakfast. I told Dean as much, but even I didn't believe myself.

Dean shook his head as he hung up after he got Sam's voicemail again. He grabbed his duffel and began shoving things into it. I flung the covers back and pulled on some clean clothes.

We were on the road again within ten minutes. While I called Bobby, Dean called Ellen. Neither one had heard or seen from Sam. Dean ran his hands distractedly through his hair. I bit my lip.

We searched everywhere. We took turns driving, sleeping, and looking for signs of where Sam could've gone. It wasn't until a week later though that we got any leads.

Dean had parked under an overpass to call Ellen again. I was trying to reach Bobby when Dean suddenly jumped in the car again. I looked up startled.

"Sam called." Was all he said.

I could have fainted with relief.

When we pulled in to the hotel parkind lot we jumped out and hurried inside and down the hall to the room where he was. "Sam, it's me. Sam!" Dean said knocking on the door. When there was no answer he turned the knob on the door and it opened. Sam must've been pretty out of it if he didn't even lock the door.

"Sam? Hey." Dean said as we cautiously came into the room.

"Hey, Dean. Kenzie." Sam said numbly. He was sitting on the bed staring at his hands. I gasped. They were covered in blood.

Dean quickly kneeled at his side. "Are you bleeding?"

"I tried to wash it off."

Dean touched Sam's blood-soaked shirt looking for a wound. "Oh my God." He muttered.

"I don't think it's my blood."

"Whose is it?" I asked, horrified.

Sam shook his head. "I don't know."

I swallowed hard.

"Sam, what the hell happened?" Dean asked.

Sam shook his head, clueless. He looked up. "Dean. I don't remember anything."

Dean nodded, but I could see the fear in his eyes. I glanced back at Sam, and screamed.

His face was hideous. I couldn't even begin to describe it. His eyes seemed black. I scrambled backwards drawing my knife.

Sam's face seemed to return to normal in the bat of an eyelash. My breath was heavy. Both Dean and Sam's faces were drawn in concern.

"MacK, what's wrong?" Dean asked.

I shook my head and swallowed hard. "Nothing." I closed my eyes tightly and then opened them again. Sam's face stayed the same. "I'm fine. Just jittery is all. I'm fine."

Both Dean and Sam gave me disbelieving looks. I quickly continued. "How about I go get some food or something and I'll find out what name this room's under."

Before I could even finish my sentence I was out the door not even stopping for the car keys.

On the street I walked as fast as my legs would carry me. A loud piercing noise was going off inside my head and I clamped my hands to my ears to make it stop. Luckily no one was nearby and nobody saw me.

Hundreds of voices rolled around in my head. They were speaking some strange language but I could understand it. Something about demon attacks, something not being time yet, something about vessels, Michael, Lucifer, and something about me. I definitely heard my name in the snatches I caught.

Then as soon as they started, they stopped. I looked around; breathing heavy, but still no one was nearby.

I was shaky for the rest of the day as we searched for clues as to what Sam had been up to. And every clue just made me shakier. The bloody knife, the smoking, the drinking. And then the house with the dead hunter. When I saw the body more of the whispers started going off in my head and it took everything I had to hide the truth from Sam and Dean.

I stared out the window of the house watching for anyone who might show up. A loud crash surprised me and I whipped around to find a frightened and upset Sam and a pissed off Dean.

"Wipe your prints, then we go." He said.

I stared. Dean looked between me and Sam. "Come on, the both of you. What's wrong? Pick your jaw off the floor, MacK. Let's go."

Me and Sam shared a look.

The car ride back to the motel was silent until Dean turned the radio up and Sam immediately reached up and turned it off. Dean looked over at him, agitated.

"Sam, I mean it. Come on dude. Look alive." Dean glanced back at me. "And what's your problem?"

I turned to face the window not giving him the satisfaction of an answer. Dean shook his head and gassed the pedal. "I swear," He muttered. "If it isn't one of you chicks brooding, it's the other. Or both." He added giving me a glare in the rearview mirror.

"You know what, Dean? Shut your piehole, and leave me and Sam alone!" I snapped.

Dean near wrecked. I hardly ever raised my voice to him. But he surprisingly didn't say anything. He just gave me an incredulous look and shook his head.

Once back at the hotel room I flopped down on the bed wanting nothing more than to sleep this week of nightmares off.

"All right, we get a couple hours sleep and then we put this place in our rearview mirror. Look, I know this is bad, okay? You've gotta snap out of it. Sam, say something!" I heard Dean say. I glanced at them both.

"Just get some sleep and leave in the morning? Murder, Dean. That's what I did." Sam protested.

"Maybe." Dean said and Sam scoffed. "Okay? Hey, we don't know... shapeshifter!"

"Oh, come on. You know it wasn't, you saw the tape. There was no eye flare, no distortion."

"Yeah, but it wasn't you! All right? I mean, yeah, it might have been you, but it wasn't you."

"Dean's right, Sam. It couldn't have been you." I tried.

"Well, I think it was." Sam sat down on the bed at my feet. "I think maybe more than you know."

I raised my eyebrows questioningly. After the hallucinations from earlier and now this. I was starting to get scared. I sat up.

"What the hell does that mean?" Dean asked.

"For the last few weeks I've been having... I've been having these feelings."

"What feelings?" Dean and me asked in unison.

"Rage. Hate. And I can't stop it. It just gets worse. Day by day it gets worse."

Ok. Sam has finally succeeded in scaring me.

"You never told me this." Dean said. I could tell he was more than annoyed and scared.

"I didn't want to scare you." Sam tried.

"Well, bang-up job on that." Dean said and I scoffed in agreement.

"Dean, the yellow-eyed demon, you know he has plans for me. And we all know that he's turned other children into killers before, too."

"No one can control you but you."

"It sure doesn't seem like that, Dean, it feels like no matter what I do, slowly but surely I'm, I'm just becoming..." Sam trailed off.

"What?" Dean asked and I scooted closer so that I was sitting next to Sam.

"Who I'm meant to be. I mean, you said it once yourself, Dean. I gotta face up to who I am."

"I didn't mean this!" Dean burst out.

"Sam, that's not-" I started but he cut me off.

"But it's still true. You know that. Dad knew that too, that's why he told you, if it ever came to this . . ." Sam trailed off again letting the ending of his sentence hang in the air. We all knew what he meant.

"Shut up, Sam." Dean said simply. The fear still tinged his eyes although I doubt anyone else would have seen it besides me or Sam.

"Dean, you promised him. You promised me."

"Sam." I tried again.

"You promised too, MacKenzie."

I flinched at my full name.

"No." Dean interrupted. "Listen to me. We're going to figure this out. Okay? I mean, there's got to be a way, right?"

"Yeah, there is." Sam said simply as he reached into his duffel. He pulled out a handgun and thrust it at Dean. Both mine and Dean's face were masked with disbelieving expressions. "I don't want to hurt anyone else. I don't want to hurt either of you."

"Sam." I whispered. I looked at Dean. "Dean, please don't do this." I jumped up and Dean looked at me hurt showing clearly in his eyes.

"You won't. Whatever this is, you can fight it." Dean said reassuringly.

Sam shook his head and I caught the glisten of tears in his eyes. "No. I can't. Not forever. Here, you gotta do it." Sam took Dean's hand and shoved the gun into it.

I looked at Dean. I knew him. He wouldn't do this. He couldn't do this.

"Dean." I said. When he didn't snap out of his stupor I turned to Sam. "Sammy, don't make him do this. You can't ask this of either of us." I whispered, feeling tears choking me as well.

Finally Dean broke the silence. "You know, I've tried so hard to keep you safe. Both of you."

Sam nodded. "I know."

I tried to swallow around the lump in my throat. This couldn't be happening. Not to my brother.

"I can't. I'd rather die." Dean choked out. He threw the gun on the bed and made his way past Sam.

"No. You'll live." Sam picked up the gun. I jumped to stop whatever it was he was going to do but before I could he said, "You'll live to regret this." He whipped the gun across Dean's face.

Dean fell to the floor gracelessly. I stared in sheer horror at my eldest brother on the floor. I then looked up to the smirking figure of my older brother. I backed up slowly drawing my knife.

"You're not Sam." I said.

The not Sam smirked. "How would you know?" His face jerked to the side and I caught the hideous hallucination again. Then Sam's face returned to normal with a smirk curling his lip.

"Demon." I said backing up further.

Sam grinned. "Points for the angel bitch. Now it's your turn, sweetheart." He advanced on me.

I steadied myself on my feet. "Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus" Before I could say another word Sam lunged at me. He grabbed my hair and yanked my head back.

He grinned wickedly. "How's your pathetic angel going to save you this time, huh?"

I struggled to no avail and snarled at him.

"We're gonna kill you just like your dear old dad." I struggled harder at those words.

"Like you did to my mother, too!" I spat angrily.

For a moment a flash of confusion washed over Sam's face. Then it was quickly replaced with a smirk. "Actually sweetheart. That wasn't me. Wasn't a demon at all. If you ever see him again, why don't you ask your little angel buddy, huh? I'm sure he'll be thrilled to tell you what really happened to your mom."

I shoved and heaved against the demon's will. "But maybe I'll take you again instead, you know once I'm done with your brothers. It'll be just like old times. Me and you together again, hmm. What do ya say?"

"Go to hell."

Sam smirked. "Been there, done that. Got the t-shirt. But you know compared to what the angels got planned for you, you'll probably wish you'd have taken my offer."

I glared and spat into Sam's face. He wrinkled his nose and wiped off the spit with back of his hand. He gave me a hard look and then drew back his fist and punched me. I fell backwards, unconscious.

Something was pounding loudly. I thought it was my head but when I opened my eyes and flexed my sore jaw I realized someone was beating on the door.

A groan came from beside me. I heard the door being opened to the room.

"Hey. It's past your checkout." I looked up to see the hotel manager standing in the doorway.

"What?" Me and Dean asked, getting up slowly. Dean glanced at me doing a once over. I knew I had to have a nice size bruise on the side of my face. He had one too.

"It's past checkout, and I've got a couple here needs your room." The manager insisted.

Dean stumbled to the door and looked out. He looked back at the manager. "Yeah, I'll bet they do. What time is it?"

"Twelve-thirty."

"That guy who was with us, have you seen him?" Dean asked.

I rubbed the side of my jaw and looked around the room. Sam's duffel was missing along with a few of the weapons. Guns mostly.

"Yeah, he left before dawn in your car, and you should have gone with him, because now I'm going to have to charge you extra."

"Oh, son of a…" I heard Dean mutter. He swayed slightly and leaned up against the doorway.

"It's just policy, sir."

"I need to use your computer." I said coming up behind Dean.

The manager gave me a funny look. "Now, why would I let you use my computer?"

I looked to Dean who pulled out his wallet and a wad of cash. The manager stared at the cash and then looked back to Dean. He grabbed the money and smiled. "Right this way."

"Go on, I'll grab our stuff." I told Dean.

I grabbed up the duffels and hurried to the lobby pushing past the couple in the hall.

As I entered the lobby area I heard Dean on the phone. "Right. Yeah, boys will be boys. But see, Sammy is a diabetic, and uh, if he doesn't get his insulin, I just, I have to find him. Please, I'm begging you. Yeah, no, no, no, I'm on the web site right now, I just need to activate the GDS in his cell phone."

I raised my eyebrows wondering what story he'd spun off this time.

Dean type din something on the computer and the glanced at me. I gave him a questioning look. "Yeah, right there. Duluth, Minnesota. Yeah, that is a long way to go for a concert. I appreciate your help."

Dean quickly hung up and grabbed his duffel from me. "Let's go. I'll grab a car."

"Sam's possessed." I told Dean as we hurried out to the parking lot.

"Yeah, I figured." Dean said only stopping long enough to hot wire a car.

We drove fast not stopping for any reason. As we drove I kept thinking about what the demon had said to me. How I should ask Cass about what happened to my mother.

The demon could have been lying of course just to throw me off, but I remembered something Dad had wrote in his journal. Something about how my mom had looked after she died.

"Dean." I ventured. "Can I see Dad's journal?"

Dean glanced at me. "Yeah, sure." He pulled it out of his inner jacket pocket.

I took it from him and quickly began flipping through the pages. Finally I found the one I was looking for.

It read:

Jan. 8th Thursday, 1987

Katie called. I have a daughter.

Jan. 11th, Sunday, 1987

Katie's sister called me. Katie was killed by a demon upon entering her house after returning from the hospital. I had to take the boys with me. Katie's eyes were burned out. Possibility it was the thing that killed be a no EMF, and no sulfur. I'll have to research this further.

No sulfur, no EMF, and her eyes were burned out. That didn't sound like a demon, or anything I'd ever heard of. But the angels wouldn't have killed my mother surely. I mean, they're angels for goodness sakes.

I still couldn't convince myself by the time we'd made it to Duluth. Dean had gone over the plan with me on the way and now we both hurried out of the car and pulled our guns. Dean gestured for me to take the rear and I looked around pointing my gun as I went. Dean kicked the door in.

"Sam!" Dean yelled and I followed him in not lowering my gun.

Sam had the knife to a girl's throat. She was tied to a post and gagged. It took me a moment to place her but when I did my eyes widened. It was Jo.

"I begged you to stop me, Dean." Sam said in a desperate panic.

"Put the knife down, damnit." Dean said.

I masked my face into one of panic and worry.

"I told you I can't fight it! My head feels like it's on fire, all right?! Dean. Kill me, or I'm going to kill her. Please. You've be doing me a favor! Shoot me." Sam spread his arms. "Shoot me!" He cried.

"No, Sammy, come on." Dean said miserably. He lowered his gun and I caught the glint of silver as he pulled out the flask of holy water. I lowered my gun.

"What the hell's wrong with you, Dean? Are you that scared of being alone that you'd rather let Jo die?"

I internally blocked my ears. I could barely stand to hear these words come out of Sam's mouth even if they weren't Sam's real words.

Dean turned suddenly splashing the holy water on Sam. The water smokes and hisses when it hits his skin and he turns his head away in pain.

"That's holy water, you demonic son of a bitch!" Dean yelled.

Sam jerked his head back and I caught the flash of the demon's true face again. I glanced at Dean to see if he'd seen this but he gave no indication of it. Sam's eyes were pitch black and snarl curled his lip. Dean threw more holy water at him and Sam growled. He turned and ran, bursting through the window on the other side of the room.

Dean cut Jo free while I hurried over to the window pointing my gun down at the street below. There was no sign of Sam and I sighed in frustration and worry. Dean came up behind me.

"He was possessed?" Jo cried from behind us. Dean and I both turned and gave her a look as though it should have been obvious. Then Dean jumped through the window with me close behind.

I heard Jo calling mine and Dean's names but we didn't have time to chat.

A shot was fired behind me and I turned in time to see a body fall over the dock and land with a splash into the water.

"No!" I screamed running toward the figure that I knew had to be either Dean or Sam.

"Oh, yes." A voice said behind me. I turned in time to see the shadowy figure pull the trigger on a gun. Time seemed to slow down as I saw the bullet flying toward my face. Then it stopped in midair.

Sam's face twisted into one of fear. Then he turned and ran.

I blanked. What had just happened? Quite suddenly I collapsed. I was panting hard and my head hurt something awful. I laid my head down on the ground and clenched my teeth in pain.

I swallowed hard, the coppery taste of blood in my mouth. After a moment I got shakily to my feet. I took a deep breath and massaged my temple.

Suddenly my senses came back to me and I took another deep, shaky breath. I hurried to the water's edge but I didn't get another step before unconsciousness overtook me.

"MacK! MacK! Wake up already!"

I opened my eyes a slit and found Jo watching me with concern. A drenched Dean was kneeling on the other side of me holding a hand over his shoulder.

"You alright? What's wrong?" He asked, wincing when he shifted.

I nodded. "I'm fine." With Jo's help I shakily got back to my feet. "Did Sam shoot you?" I asked as me and Jo both looped an arm around Dean's shoulders, mindful of the bleeding bullet wound. He didn't protest much as we helped him back to the bar, proving he was in more pain than he let on.

While Jo was patching him up I laid down on the pool table and held an ice pack to my aching head. I almost smiled at the thought of the first time we'd met Ash. He'd been lying on the pool table at the Roadhouse.

I tuned out of Jo and Dean's conversation mostly, just trying to get the insistent throbbing to stop in my head. When it had mostly gone away I lifted up the ice pack and glanced over at my brother and Jo.

I thought of Jo as a sister and I think Sam probably felt the same way. But Dean? Well, I can't really say. But his love for her was definitely deeper than mine or Sam's.

"All right, are we done?" Dean asked.

Jo gave him a look. "Would you give me two minutes to patch you up? You can't help Sam if you're bleeding to death." She finished laying the gauze over his wound and asked, "So, how did you know? That he was possessed?"

Dean glanced at me. "Uh, I didn't, I just knew that it couldn't have been him."

I narrowed my eyes wondering why he wasn't telling the truth. Then again I couldn't say much about not telling the truth. I wasn't telling my brothers about Cass or about seeing the demon's true face. Or the weird bullet incident. It still bothered me why that demon had run. It took a lot to scare a demon. And if a demon was running from something it meant that I needed to be running from it too.

"Hey, Dean." Jo asked.

"Yeah?"

"I know demons lie, but do they ever tell the truth too?" She looked at him and I wondered what the demon had told her to make her ask such a question.

"Uh, um, yeah, sometimes, I guess. Especially if they know it'll mess with your head. Why do you ask?"

" 't matter. So do you have any idea where he's headed to next?"

Dean sighed. "Well, so far he's been going after the nearest hunter, so…closest one I know lives in South Dakota."

I snapped my head up. Bobby. I hadn't even thought about where Sam might be going next.

"Okay good, I'm done. Let's go." Jo stood up.

"Yeah. You're not coming." Dean said promptly.

"The hell I'm not. I'm a part of this now. Kenzie hunts. And she's younger than me."

I sat up and widened my eyes at suddenly finding myself a part of their ensuing argument.

"She's been doing this her entire life." Dean protested and Jo scoffed slightly. "I can't say it more plain than this. You try to follow me and I'll tie you right back to that post and leave you here. This is our fight. I'm not getting your blood on my hands. That's just how it's gonna be."

Dean turned to leave signaling to me. I stood slowly and made my way over to him.

"Wait." Jo said and we turned. "Here," She handed Dean a bottle of pain killers. "Take these; they'll help with the pain."

"Thanks. I'll call you later, okay?" Dean said.

I gave a wry smile, and Dean and I quickly made our way out to the car.

We burst into Bobby's house scared of what we were going to find once we got there.

Blood, bits of Bobby strewn over the house, maybe.

But not a trussed up Sam and a glaring Bobby.

"Bout time you two idjits got here." He said.

"Bobby." Dean said relief showing clearly on his face. "You're ok."

Bobby gave us a look. "Of course I'm ok. You think I can't tell who's a demon and who ain't."

I gave a relived smile. But when I looked around Bobby my smile faded to a glare.

Sam was tied to a chair under the same Key of Solomon that I had once been. His head hung against his chest, his hair covering his face. It still brought back bad memories to me and I fought off a shudder.

"Well, how about we go give Sammy a wake-up call shall we?" I asked.

"Hey." Dean slapped Sam's face.

Sam looked up at the ceiling and the trap. Then he looked back at Dean and me. "Dean, back from the dead. Getting to be a regular thing for you, isn't it? Like a cockroach."

"How about I smack that smartass right out of your mouth?" Dean said, his eyes cold.

"Oh, careful, 't want to bruise this fine packaging."

"Oh don't worry, this isn't gonna hurt Sam much." Dean turned and I handed him the bucket of holy water. "You, on the other hand," Dean threw the water on him and smoke rose off Sam's body as his face contorted in pain and he screamed. "Feel like talking now?"

The demon grimaced. "Sam's still my meat puppet. I'll make him bite off his tongue."

I regarded the demon Sam coldly, my arms crossed over my chest. "No, you won't be in him long enough." I said.

"Bobby." Dean said.

Bobby began reading the exorcism as Dean continued to circle the demon Sam. "See, whatever bitch-boy master plan you demons are cooking up? You're not getting Sam. You understand me? Because I'm gonna kill every one of you first."

Sam began to struggle at first but then he stopped. He threw back his head and laughed. A harsh and evil sound. It took us all aback and Bobby stopped reading.

"You really think that's what this is about? The master plan? I don't give a rat's ass about the master plan." Sam said.

I gave him a suspicious look, and Bobby continued reading. Nothing happened.

"Oops. Doesn't seem to be working. See, I learned a few new tricks." Sam smiled and then looked down. He chanted something in Latin and the flames rose in the fireplace suddenly. The room began to shake and I leaned against the wall for support.

"This isn't going like I pictured! What's going on, Bobby?" Dean yelled over the noise and the sound of Sam chanting.

Then suddenly I noticed it. The burned mark on Sam's arm. Bobby must've seen it too because he said, "It's a binding link! It's like a lock! He's locked himself inside Sam's body!"

"What the hell do we do?" I shouted.

"I don't know!"

Sam threw back his head and screamed. The walls and ceiling started to crack, breaking the protective circle. Sam looked back down, his solid black. I swallowed fearfully.

"There. That's better."

He jerked his head and Bobby went flying, slamming into the wall. Then he jerked it to the other side and both me and Dean slammed back against the other wall. I heard the flask of holy water fall from Dean's grip as he landed in a clutter of books. I forced myself to stay awake despite the insistent throbbing in head.

Sam ripped free of his bonds. "You know when people want to describe the worse possible thing? They say it's like hell." He said as he made his way over to where Dean and I sat groaning. I tried to pull my aching body to my feet ignoring the wave of nausea that washed over me. Sam kneeled in front of Dean and threw a hand out at me forcing me back up against the wall. I heard him throw a punch to Dean. "You know there's a reason for that. Hell is like, um," Sam threw another punch to Dean. "Well, it's like hell. Even for demons."Another punch. I looked over and saw blood trickle down Dean's nose."It's a prison, made of bone and flesh and blood and fear;" Sam hit Dean again and then he grabbed Dean's head. "And you sent me back there."

Dean sneered. "Meg."

I swallowed.

"No. Not anymore. Now I'm Sam." Sam hit Dean again, then he began digging his thumb into Dean's bullet wound. Dean hissed in pain.

"Dean." I croaked.

Dean spared me a quick pain-filled glance. Then he turned back as Sam continued, "By the way. I saw your Dad there - he says "howdy"." He shoved his thumb in harder to Dean's shoulder the latter of whom tried to pull away, groaning in pain. "All that I had to hold onto was that I would climb out one day, and that I was going to torture you, nice and slow. Like pulling the wings off an insect."

I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye. Bobby, some part of me thought. The rest of me was too being in pain.

"But whatever I do to you, it's nothing compared to what you'll do to yourself, is it?" Sam/Meg continued. "I can see it in your eyes, Dean. You're worthless. You couldn't save your Dad, you didn't save your sister yourself, and deep down you know that you can't save your brother. They'd have been better off without you."

Bobby was a blur of flannel as Sam reared up to hit Dean again. He lashed a hot iron poker across the mark on Sam's arm crossing it out. The Sam demon screamed once in pain, and then again as black smoke rose out and disappeared up the chimney.

Sam fell back, confused. He grabbed his arm and grimaced. Dean and I pulled our aching bodies up.

"Sammy?" Me and Dean asked.

"Did I miss anything?" Sam asked.

I rolled my eyes, groaning. Dean reared back and right hooked Sam's cheek before collapsing to the ground.

Sam looked at me and Bobby bewildered, but I just shook my head and lay back with a sigh.

We finally got Dean back conscious and Sam and Bobby helped him to a chair. They tried to help me up too but I shook my head slightly. "I'm good right here on the floor." I told them, still a bit delirious.

Bobby brought us all ice packs which I gratefully put on the growing lump on the back of my head.

I heard my brothers talking but I wasn't listening to their conversation. There was a constant ringing in my ears that I was sure wasn't from where I'd been slung around.

Only one word seemed to be rolling around in my groggy mind though I had no idea why.

Castiel.

I closed the door to the hotel room quietly. I glanced around at the dark parking lot and then made my way toward the back of the hotel.

I let out a puff of air and looked up. I started bouncing on the balls of my feet as I said, "Castiel, I want a word with you."

I waited for a few minutes and then sighed. He must've been busy. That thought led me to the question, what do angels when they're not frustrating the crap out of me?

I was about to turn and go back to the hotel when a voice behind me said, "Yes."

I spun around quickly. Cass however, didn't quiet look like Cass.

His hair was dark, and his eyes a deep celestial blue, same as usual. But he looked younger, more my age. Velvety black wings spread out from his back. He was dressed in a simple white robe and sandals. A golden cord was being used for a belt. A sort of glowy aura was being emitted from him.

I opened my mouth and said, "Cass, what the hell? I could see that demon's face! It, it was hideous."

Cass gave me a somewhat sympathetic look. "Yes."

"And, you. I can see your true form and hear your real voice. I thought stuff like that burned your eyes out and busted your eardrums."

Cass glanced down. "Yes."

"And the voices I hear in my head? They keep speaking in some weird language, but I can understand them. Are those, are those angels?"

Cass glanced at me. "Yes. They're speaking in Enochian."

"That's all you have to say to me?"

"Yes."

I huffed in irritation. "Why?"

Cass looked at me as though it should have been obvious. (Which was starting to get quite annoying by the way.) "You agreed be a willing vessel."

"But—"

Castiel cut me off. "I am needed back in heaven immediately. Don't call for me unless it's a dire emergency."

I growled in frustration and kicked the nearest beer can at a dumpster. It gave off a loud clanging noise and I saw something dark and furry run from behind the trash bin.

I took a breath, trying hard not to fling every ghastly obscenity I could come up with at the angel.

"Son of a bitch." I muttered as I walked huffily back toward the hotel room.

He hadn't even stayed long enough for me to question him about my mother. I was going to get some answers from someone, somehow. Even if I had to climb the stairway to heaven, catch that winged monkey myself and shake some information out of him.