Dean was distracted by Castiel's sudden re-angefying. That was his excuse for not realising what they'd missed earlier. It wasn't until they were in the midst of an epic battle with the very violent spirit of a murdered arms dealer that he remembered the chick in the cells. He'd thought she was human, and now would be kicking himself if he wasn't already having the hell kicked out of him, because really, how many times had it been a real human lately?

Sam had led them through the back rooms of the building, checking each room carefully for an altar of the black arts. In the second room, they found a panicking prophet of the Lord, looking for Becky. Dean made a mental note to kick his arse later for not checking that the person he sold their life to wasn't a murderous arms dealer with demonic connections. And also for not telling him about Cas. He restrained himself because of the unnerving shrieking that was emanating from the room next door, and settled for pointing Chuck in the right direction. He figured the spies could use some help, anyway. Spies... that was kind of awesome.

They ran next door, and there in the corner, stood an altar with a blood spell on it. In front of it, the ghost held a man dressed as Dean by the heart, its hand inside his chest, and was squeezing. The man's eyes were black, and it was begging. Dean hadn't seen a demon in that much pain since Alastair.

They couldn't exorcise the demon first, because that would kill the vessel. The spirit had to go first, and that meant a counter-spell. Dean looked at Sam. Sam inclined his head toward the altar. I'll do it. Sam started inching his way around the wall to the altar.

Dean looked at Cas, for the first time since Cas's mojo had made its reappearance, and Dean had realised he would probably be leaving. Cas was all business, and Dean was glad of it. I'll distract it, you exorcise the demon when it's free, he indicated. Cas nodded.

Dean fired a salt round into the spirit's head. It reacted.

The spirit's hand was free, and Cas was flicking the demon back to hell in less than a second. The spirit threw Dean with incredible strength, and as he flew across the room, he saw a slight wind ruffle the angel's coat and felt power rippling from him. In the back of his mind, as he hit the wall, he thought Cas is going to leave. All the air was forced from his lungs, but he did what he always does, and got up, pretending it didn't hurt. The ghost stood over him, and he stabbed at it with the iron bar. It flickered and disappeared for a second, reappearing a few feet to the left.

The floor began to shake slightly, and that was when Dean remembered the chick in the cells. The ghost had been protecting her. It kind of seemed like she was in charge. Crap!

"Cas," he yelled, as the spirit came at him again, "The room we came from!"

Castiel disappeared.

XXXXXXX

Chuck would not kill Sarah. He was fighting with his whole soul, refusing to pull the trigger. The demon was fighting back, talking to him, trying to force his finger to move. He couldn't move the gun. It was pointing straight between Sarah's eyes, and he couldn't move it. It was all he could do to stop his finger, and he didn't think he could do that much longer.

Really, Chuck, you think you can beat me? You're not even a proper spy. Not like Sarah and Casey. They just let you tag along because of the flashes. Sarah doesn't love you, Chuck. She's too good for you. Remember Bryce? She actually did love him. She would have gone with him, too. She only stayed with you out of obligation. She thinks you're pathetic. Do it, Chuck. Pull the trigger.

Chuck's finger twitched, but he stopped it. She does love me, he thought, and I love her. We're happy. The gun did not fire, but Chuck felt a panicky feeling rise in his chest. He wasn't a killer. He would not pull the trigger. But what if the demon did?

This is silly, Chuck. Why fight it? You're a freak who works in a BuyMore. You're not a real spy. Sarah's never going to forgive you for holding a gun on her. If you don't do this, we're going to find your family and kill them all. Say good-bye to Ellie, Chuck. Say good-bye to Daddy, and Awesome, and Morgan...

And then it all happened at once. The door opened, and Casey's voice told him calmly to lower the gun. Sarah threw something from a hipflask all over his face. It didn't hurt him, but he could feel the demon writhing inside him, and could see smoke rising from his skin. He took the opportunity to throw the gun as far across the room as he could, while the demon was distracted.

The demon didn't like that. It grabbed Sarah by the throat, and held her against the wall. It was scarily strong, but Sarah was nothing if not a fighter. When her knee met his groin, he felt a little proud, through the haze of pain.

Then Casey was behind him, twisting his arm, but the demon tossed him off. It lost its grip on Sarah's throat, though, and Sarah began to choke out words. It sounded like Latin, and it was doing something to the demon, weakening its grip on Chuck.

Chuck took advantage of that to throw all his remaining weapons across the room. In hindsight, he thought that maybe he shouldn't have thrown the smoke bomb, but the thought didn't occur to him at the time.

The smoke obscured his vision. Two figures loomed beside him. Chuck coughed. He could feel the demon regaining his grip, and realised that Sarah had been reading an exorcism, and could not longer see the words. Crap. Exorcisms- what do they always say in movies? The power of Christ compels you! Leave! The power of Christ compels you!

The door opened again, and Chuck heard through his internal battle and the thumps of Casey and Sarah hitting him, a voice say: "Becky? Are you in here? Did you light a fire so the Winchesters would save you again?"

It distracted Chuck from his repetition, and the demon flung off Casey and Sarah, turning toward the voice. Chuck's body began to stalk across the room toward it.

The building began to shake, and a high pitched noise shattered the windows.

The newcomer, an indistinct shadow through the smoke was shouting something about arch-angels, and Chuck was pretty sure his ears were bleeding. Sarah and Casey were both lying on the floor with their hands over their ears.

As the demon walked Chuck's body across the room, the sound got louder, shriller. He put his hands up to his ears – the demon seemed weaker, and couldn't fight him. And then he stopped. Trench Coat stood in his way. And he had a sword.

As it turned out, Trench Coat didn't even need the sword. All he did was wave his hand and the darkness flowed out of him, disappearing through the floor. The noise stopped. Through the clearing smoke, for a second it looked like Trench Coat had wings.

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