Years of experience had Dean waking up the instant the door to the motel room opened. He had a grip on the knife under his pillow and was prepared to leap out at whoever was coming in when he heard his dad whisper. "Dean."

Relaxing he sat up, quickly checking to the next bed to make sure Sammy was still asleep. "Yes sir?"

"Come on. We need to go." Dean nodded solemnly and reached over to wake his brother. "Leave him. We won't be gone long."

Dean tensed again, his hand slipping under his pillow for the knife. "He needs someone to watch out for him." He looked over at the figure still in the doorway, could be a shifter, maybe a ghoul, but it wasn't his dad. This felt to wrong, there was no way this was his dad. First staying in a motel in Sioux Falls instead of with Bobby, then this. He should call Bobby. But he would need to get this monster out of the room first. How? "I'll meet you in the car, but I need to tell Sam where we are g-"

He abruptly stopped because he realized he could feel that familiar pressure on his mind that he had come to realize was Castiel. "Is Castiel here?"

"Yes. He's in the car. Dean, it's best if you don't wake Sam up. We need to go now though."

This was his Dad then. But something was very very wrong. He got out of bed and quickly pulled on his boots. "What's going on?"

"Kiddo, I don't got a lot of time to explain it right now, but it's important. We're so close to ending all of this buddy."

Dean nodded and followed, but he also did something he'd never thought he would do. He reached out for that little light-bond-thing that Castiel had helped him put into the box in his mind. It had gone completely quiet when they had pulled out of Bobby's place. He imagined pulling off one of the slates of the box and reaching into it. He felt the bond thing nuzzle up to his mind's projection of himself's hand, and he felt a blast of emotions come from it.

There was a deep dark fear that ran through everything, a strange sense of determination, and a sad sense of resignation. Castiel deeply believed he was going to die. Dean frowned, he got other impressions from Castiel through the bond thing, images of yellow eyes glowing in the dark, and images of his dad.

At least now he had confirmation that this was his dad, even though this didn't sit right.

This all happened before he closed the door of the room to follow his dad outside. He could see the car, and he could see Castiel sitting in the front seat. The kid was wearing some weird over-sized coat that he was huddled in like it would protect him and the red rims of his showed that he'd been crying. Dean frowned, as much as he didn't like the other boy he couldn't just let him sit there cry with that intense fear and resignation to die, and in his mind imagined stroking the bond thing in the box, he tried to recall that deep inner peace stuff that he had felt last night and pushed it through to the bond. In his mind it felt like the bond being nuzzled closer to him and he could see Castiel suddenly sit up straight and look back at him in shock. Weirdly, instead of feeling Castiel calm down like he had last night now he just felt more undercurrents of worry and concern but this time it was directed at him. He frowned at Castiel as he climbed in. "What's going on?"

Castiel shook his head. "Don't do that. You're just going to make it stronger if you poke at it and Bobby won't be able to make it go away."

"What are you talking about?" John asked as he started the car.

"Nothing." Castiel muttered.

John looked back at Dean for an answer but Dean was focused on Castiel.

"You think you're going to die." Dean pointed out. "Why?"

"I don't think I'm going to die." Castiel shot back. "Psychic. I know what's going to happen."

John frowned. "Cas-"

"I think we've already established that I am unwilling to hurt you. I'm even less unwilling risk hurting Dean. So what am I going to be able to do to stop you from doing this focusing spell?"

"I understand why you're angry, but believe me, once we do this we will be one step closer to ending all of this."

Castiel huffed and looked out the window.

Dean frowned. He mentally touched the bond being again where he felt spikes of irritation emanate from Castiel.

"Stop touching it." He snapped at Dean. "You're going to make this all a lot harder if you keep meddling with the bond."

Dean frowned. "Tell me what's going on."

Castiel sighed. "Your father wants to use me to find the demon that killed your mother. The spell itself can be very dangerous for the psychic involved. It's very much like shining a spotlight at the target, and the demon will be able to follow the trail back to us. To me. And he will follow it. He will kill me. And when that happens, it can cause a psychic shock to you if the bond is strong enough, it could kill you too. So leave the bond alone. Box it up like you have had it."

"Why am I here then?" Dean demanded.

"You're like a prism for me. You'll focus my energies." Castiel fiddled with the belt of his coat. "Don't worry. You'll be fine after this."

Dean wanted to reassure Castiel, to comfort him because the kid looked so small and scared, and to let the kid know that it wasn't himself he was worried about, but by the time he got the courage and figured out what to say they had arrived.