Chapter 11

Castiel walks out of the forest, telling himself firmly that he will not look back to where he has left the smirking demon. Snowball whines in his arms and licks the young warrior's face, as if apologizing for getting him into this mess.

"It's alright, we're fine, see? He can't harm us. It's all over." Castiel pats the puppy.

Snowball slips out of his owner's arms and runs forward, barking. Then some strange things start to happen.

Castiel can no longer see the dog or hear its yelping. The meadow, which he has to cross to get home, changes its appearance. The small path vanishes in a thick row of hundred year old trees – which appear out of nowhere, like mushrooms after the rain.

"What's happening?" Castiel mumbles, astonished, and tries to see through the thick curtain of mist that envelopes him.

Boom… Boom… Boom…

Where is the noise coming from? It sounds like a hundred war drums rolling. It takes Castiel a few minutes to realize that it's the sound of his pounding heart. The young warrior curses himself for being so absentminded by leaving his sword at home. Something terrible lurks around in this mist and he is helpless.

He goes to the nearest tree and tears a thick branch off. The young warrior plucks the leaves and small twigs off, trying to make it look like a sword, or at least a decent weapon. He knows it's just a poor resemblance of his sword, but still, it provides him some protection and confidence.

Castiel practically swims forward in the heavy layer of mist, shuffling his feet in search of the solid ground underneath. Little animals rustle in the bushes, squeaking and shrieking. An owl hoots above Castiel's head, probably telling a sad tale.

And then all the noises are gone. Dead silence falls. The blue-eyed man recalls all the dreadful and eerie stories that he heard at Blazing Blades, and when he was a young child. They say that a long time ago, a king lived in these lands with a heart blacker than underworld's abyss. He had done so many wrongs throughout his life that after his death, the world of dead refused to accept his soul and he had been damned for eternity to roam the earth, neither living nor dead, in the place where he killed so many innocent people. The tale says that the damned king appears with a thick mist and hunts whoever may cross his path.

Castiel shakes the crazy thoughts off and continues his walk with determination to leave this cursed place.

The mist disperses a little before him and he cannot help but cry out: he has entered the forest once again.

"What kind of sorcery is this?" Castiel hisses and turns around towards the exit but, but his surroundings shift and change.

He gasps and pales when he sees the familiar bushes and pile of rocks, the ones he had only just seen a few minutes before, knowing well what it means: the forest doesn't want him to leave, so it won't let him.

Castiel mumbles prayers to all existing deities as wild fear seizes him. His numb and trembling fingers close tightly around the makeshift weapon in his hand while his wide open blue eyes scan the area for a possible approaching enemy.

A new, distant sound catches Castiel's attention. It gets near and the young warrior, with a dry mouth and quickly thudding heart, realizes that it's clattering of a horse's hooves. He takes a few steps back, ready to attempt to flee, when a dark horse appears out of the shadows. It carries a rider clad in black armor. A long, scarlet cloak dangles over the saddle, brushing the earth's surface. The rider's right hand rests on the hilt of the massive full-blade attached to his belt.

The figure, whose face is hidden behind a tall helmet with horns, stops on higher ground, staring at Castiel. The horse bobs its head up and down and snorts. Fumes and sparks leak out of its nostrils. Castiel barely wastes a second before he turns around and sprints away at top speed.

The rider kicks the horse in its sides and the animal rears, letting out a deafening neigh. Castiel keeps running between the trees, jumping over small bushes and panting heavily. He is fast, but he knows that he cannot outrun a horse. The young man turns his head to look at his chaser only to find out that the creature has caught up with him. Castiel turns right and instantly stumbles on the root of an old, dead tree. He cries out and falls to the ground. His makeshift sword falls out of his hold and rolls down a slope towards some berry bushes.

Castiel rolls over and finds himself facing the terrifying creature of darkness. The rider dismounts the horse and walks towards the fallen man, who flounders and tries to crawl away from him.

"Get away from me!" Castiel yells at the creature and miraculously manages to jump to his feet, only to resume the cat-and-mouse game.

Small twigs and branches snap under his feet as he runs through the forest. He does not know how long he will be able to run, but he will not yield easily, that's for sure. Castiel's feverish mind tries to find a solution to his situation when something hisses through the air and wraps around his ankles. It's bollas – a throwing weapon made of weights on the ends of interconnected cords for entangling legs. He shouts out and thuds painfully to the ground. Castiel may be fast, but the creature is much faster and he does not give the young warrior enough time to free himself. He lowers himself and presses his knee against Castiel's back, pinning him to the ground. It's an overwhelming force, preventing Castiel from turning over. He could hardly even breathe under the crushing weight, let alone move.

The black rider grabs Castiel's arms, twisting them painfully, and ties them with a rope. Castiel pants and writhes under him in futile efforts to break free.

"Let me go, you bastard! What do you think you're doing?" he yells desperately and tries to kick the attacker with his still tied feet. He does not stop cursing and snarling until the rider gags him with a silk handkerchief. After he does so, he flips his prey onto his back.

Castiel's eyes are wide and frightened, his breath labored. He lies on the ground immobilized, all tied up and at the mercy of his rival. The rider stares at him for a few seconds before grabbing Castiel's arms, hauling him up. The young warrior understands the creature's plan to drag him away and struggles with his fading strength.

The rider, tired from his victim's vain efforts, picks him up like a small child and throws him across his shoulder. Castiel's breath hitches and the thoughts of further attempts of escaping leave him when a hand covered in a steel gauntlet snakes around his waist, holding him firmly against the shoulder.

Even his muffled and weak protests die out when the rider throws him across the saddle and mounts the horse. In another second, Castiel finds himself blindfolded.

The riding lasts for a long time. The young warrior cannot figure out exactly how many hours have passed, but he presumes no less than three. He shivers unwillingly when the horse stops. They are at the creature's lair, he assumes. His heart beats frantically like a small, vulnerable caged bird against his kidnapper's shoulder when he carries Castiel inside a dark and fathomless cave…

He is thrown on something soft and warm. Strong hands grab his ankles and… remove the bollas. Castiel stops breathing for a moment. All his instincts and senses sharpen and he tries to guess where his kidnapper stands. A hand touches his mouth, the fingers slightly brushing over his bottom lip before they pull the gag out.

"What do you want from me?" Castiel shouts as soon as he is able to talk.

"Shhh…" is the rider's only reply.

Castiel can hear a shuffling to his right and he turns his head towards the noise. He feels something cold against his wrists – a steel blade. It cuts the rope there, freeing the young man's wrists, but before Castiel comes to and pushes his kidnapper away, his hands are tied up above his head.

"What…" Castiel's voice is hoarse. He tugs at the ropes, but they are tied to the stone wall with a disturbing precision.

Something rattles loudly and Castiel jumps a little on his mattress. He knows he has heard the sound many times before, at Blazing Blades. It's the sound of armor clattering to the floor.

He goes rigid when the mattress bends under extra weight. Castiel shakes his head furiously to get rid of the damn blindfold that prevents him from seeing what's happening. Then a steel blade touches his throat and Castiel's breath hitches. He stills and waits for his death. He will not whimper or beg for mercy. He is a warrior and will meet a warrior's death.

"Do it! Go on, kill me! What are you waiting for, you son of a bitch!" he snarls at the creature.

The blade travels down his throat and presses a little harder against the fabric, cutting the material easily. Castiel tries to kick his attacker off with his legs, but the creature catches and stills them. He parts them easily, despite his prey's struggling, and kneels between them. In the next instant, Castiel's hips lift up and his ass is pressed against the creature's groin.

The young man blushes furiously when he feels an obvious erection against his ass and tries to creep away. The only thing he achieves is a hard slap on his hip and a low growl, so Castiel stops his efforts. He tries to lie still, but his legs shake treacherously.

The hands part the torn tunic, revealing what's beneath it. The ruined fabric is quickly thrown aside. Castiel feels the fingers exploring his body. They caress him with a strange tenderness. The fingertips barely touch his skin and Castiel gasps at the feeling. He has never ever felt anything like this before.

"Please…" he says with a trembling voice. "Please stop…"

"Shhh…" Two fingers touch his full lips, silencing him.

Castiel stifles his cry when the fingers on his lips are replaced with a hot mouth and a tongue. It licks his neck, leaving a long wet stripe down to his collarbone. The young warrior whimpers and tugs at the ropes once again. The tongue circles his left nipple, teasing it ruthlessly.

"P-please d-don't…" Castiel stutters and trails off when he feels teeth around his nipple that graze it slightly.

The hands become bolder and they grope and knead the victim's flesh shamelessly. They squeeze his hips and thighs. A small whimper escapes Castiel's mouth when the creature starts rutting against him.

What's happening is wrong, so wrong. The young man's mind knows this… but his body has different thoughts. He can't help the sensations that spread fast throughout his body. Castiel moans loudly when other pair of lips cover his own and a hot tongue slides into his mouth.

For the love of Gods, it burns. It burns, but so deliciously. Castiel arches his back when the lips leave his mouth and trail hot kisses from his neck to his navel. Then the kisses stop and after a few minutes of silence, the fingers start to fumble with the blue-eyed man's trousers.

Castiel's mind may be clouded and hazed, but he still knows what is about to happen and doesn't want it at all.

"N-no… Don't… D-don't do this…" he whispers and tries to crawl up the mattress, but only gets a harder, more painful slap to his hip.

There is an exasperated growl and the hands basically tear his trousers off. And Castiel is left there stark naked and with his hands tied to the wall. There is more shuffling and rustling and the young warrior realizes that it's the creature fumbling with his own trousers. He swallows hard as panic sinks its sharp teeth into his mind.

Castiel is judging what is happening around him by sounds, and from that he thinks the creature's clothes join his own on the floor. Before he has time to react, Castiel's body gets covered by other, heavier one. His legs are wrapped around the other's waist and he lies like a pinned butterfly. He can feel hot and heavy breath on his face.

The creature's hand reaches for the blindfold and slowly removes it from Castiel's eyes. The young man cries out in fear when he sees the familiar, smug look.

"Hello, pretty boy…" Dean smirks and pats Castiel's thigh…

Castiel wakes up with a hoarse shout. Every cell of his body, his pores and hair, are soaked with cold sweat. With shaking hands, he rubs his face and tries to calm his ragged breathing.

"Mother of all Gods…" Castiel whispers and closes his eyes. He startles when a lone wolf howls from the forest, probably searching for its mate.

He falls down on his bed, eyes staring at the ceiling. He would never think that his encounter with the demon would turn into such a nightmare… an erotic nightmare.
"Go away, Dean. Leave me alone," Castiel breathes. His eyes don't stop staring at the ceiling until the dawn. Only after the sun rises is he able to fall into a dreamless sleep.