In the following weeks, I either ran research from the Bunker or went on hunts with Cas. If Cas was out doing angel recon with Hannah, I was running info for them and whatever Sam and Dean were up to.

In my free time, I researched my family history on my mom's side. I found a litany of fortuitous things happening to the women, be it contests won or enemies being removed. I found my couple of greats grandmother Rita had apparently been a well-known local healer, and….

Yep, there it was. Way back when, a lot of women in my family were convicted of witchcraft in Salem.

"Well damn." I muttered when I finally found it. "It really was mom." I thought more for a moment. "Or someone who stalked my family history and childhood extensively enough to fuck with me in a dream at the age of 19." I decided.

That one was a fun day.

But when I got a call from Cas about two weeks later, I knew something was up. Dean and Sam were out on a case, and Cas had been with Hannah investigating an angel issue.

"Hey, babe, what's going on?" I asked him, smiling a little.

"I'm on my way back." He stated.

"Great! Is Hannah coming too or," Cas cut me off before I could finish.

"Hannah isn't coming back." He stated. "I am taking her vessel home."

"Oh." I didn't ask what happened. If he was taking her vessel back, then Hannah wasn't dead, she had just… left for Heaven again.

Probably permanently.

"Can you… Can you do me a favor?"

"Anything, babe. What's wrong?"

"Can you look up information on a person for me?"

"Yeah, who?"

"Claire Novak." He answered. I recognized the last name as his vessel's own.

Even more so, I remembered that name.

Claire was his vessel's daughter.

"OK." I agreed.

"I understand that you probably have questions, and I promise I will answer them all when I return." He said. This time, it was my turn to cut him off.

"No, don't worry about it. I'll look her up. You do what you need to get done done, alright?" I told him. I could almost hear the relief on his end.

"Thank you."

"Don't worry about it. I love you, Cas. Be safe."

"I love you too." The line went dead, and I got to work. Information on a demon-killing witch-type spell for Dean and Sam, and info on Castiel's vessel's daughter for, well, my boyfriend. I still hadn't told Dean and Sam about my family history, and wasn't planning on doing it over the phone.

"Just another day at the office." I muttered. On one hand, I wanted to help Cas out as soon as possible.

On the other hand… I couldn't just send Dean and Sam information on the witch spell without testing it out first.

"This is very bad." I muttered, looking at the ingredients. "This is a really bad idea."

I'd been off the magic, trying to work without it, but… It was actually fun. It had been legitimately fun to do the research and learn the spells and experiment and look at it all like a whole huge math or science problem.

That had been a part of what had drawn me to magic tricks in the first place, how I was able to use math or little science bits I knew sometimes to make it work, along with sleight of hand. And now… Now I could do all the same stuff without the sleight of hand stuff.

"Well damn." I muttered, printing off the ingredients. I was going to need a demon to test it out on first, though.

It was then that I got another phone call. The number was familiar, one that hadn't saved in my phone because I didn't want it in my phone.

"What?" I asked, not even bothering to hide the disgust.

"Darling, so lovely to speak with you again." Crowley spoke.

"Don't call me that."

"Ooooh. A bit testy today, are we?"

"Let's try this again, since you clearly don't understand the absolute loathing and resentment I feel every time I have to deal with you." I stated. "What?"

"Fine, fine, fine." He conceded. "I heard that you were looking in to information on witches and witchcraft." I thought for a moment. Did he have a way to track what I looked up? Was he following Sam and Dean's case?

Did he know about my family or just taking a guess?

"And?"

"The anti demon spell." He clarified. "Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum want it."

"They heard about an aggressive activist witch making it, and want the info on whether it's true or not." I stated.

"I want the information as well." He said. "I want to know how it's made, who made it, and preferably who's still making it now."

"And if I refuse?" I asked.

"I thought we'd already gone over this, darling."

"Don't call me darling." I snarled. Crowley just sighed.

"Fine, we'll do it your way." He declared. "Castiel is driving his truly awful pimp-car right now, taking home the former vessel of an angel, something that could be very useful to me." I felt myself freeze a little inside. "If you want me to leave the human and your boyfriend alone, you'll do it."

"I can get you the how, no problem." I said through gritted teeth. "But the other two may be more difficult." That was a partial lie, of course. I'd already gotten info on who from the brothers when Sam had done his research, but as to who was making them now I had no clue.

"Figure it out." Crowley ordered. The line went dead a moment later, and I stared at it with a fair mix of anger and annoyance.

"Figure it out." I muttered, doing my best imitation of his voice. "What a dick." I didn't understand how in the hell Sam and Dean could talk with the guy, much less actually work with him.

"A dick that has leverage, though." I pointed out to myself, remembering that part.

God, I hated Crowley.

I went back to doing my research, partially hating myself as I did so. If I'd just told Cas, it would've been easier.

But I couldn't tell him, could I?

Because he was so relieved that he didn't have to worry about it.

"Good thing I don't go with him on angel business." I decided, rubbing my shoulder. Usually, everything was peaceful, but every once in a while…

I could feel when it stopped being peaceful.

I found the ingredients no problem, and decided to run a search to see if any stores had sold those recently, either large quantities at the same place or small quantities at multiple stores close together. Once I was there, I hit the kitchen and started putting it together. I surprisingly had all the ingredients there that I needed, but I was missing something important.

"I need a demon to test this on." I decided. I had two options for this. I could summon one, or…

If Crowley had me under this thumb, then summoning one could be risky. I didn't want to summon the wrong one and risk him being, well… The King of Hell.

I stared at my cell phone angrily. "I hate this." I muttered, grabbing it. I hit redial, and was connected pretty quickly.

"You have news so soon?" He asked. "I'm impressed."

"I need a demon." I answered.

"Any particular kind?"

"One you don't mind losing."

"Clever." He commented. "Asking permission from the king before killing one of mine."

"I just want to keep Castiel safe." I stated. "I'd rather be careful than sorry. Besides, you're a king. You must have some demons you don't like."

"You're right, I don't." He agreed. I could hear him thinking for a minute. "I'll text you a location. Be there in an hour to test out your spell."

This time, I hung up on him. If I only had an hour to put together this hex bag, I wanted to do it right. I got a text from Crowley giving me an address to a cheap-ass bar maybe fifteen minutes away, one I recognized from going down to hustle pool now and again.

"Wonderful." I muttered when I recognized it. "Not like anybody will know my face at all."

I was going to have to lure the demon outside and see if he liquefies, if what Sam and Dean had said was anything to go by.

Just another day at the office.