Chapter 12
Castiels POV ( continued from ch 10)
"I see."
The situation was grim indeed.
"He's consorting with..."
"more Bloodsucking scum, not that surprising really," Balthazar quipped back .
"Yes," I replied evenly, looking down upon the entourage that were now leaving Crowley's current residence.
"We must proceed with caution."
"An idea! We need a distraction, and by a distraction- I mean you." He grinned. "I've heard that you are very good at playing a crazy homeless man, Dean mentioned a particular fondness for bees. perhaps you can go do that now, while I sneak in the back door and do what I do best." He smirked, reaching out and taking my tie between thumb and forefinger and sliding them down . A tingling sensation overcame me as my clothes re-materialized, or rather dematerialized. If I had been susceptible to temperature changes , I would have been very cold.
"He's not going to buy this…" I said with no small amount of exasperation.
Balthazar pulled a face, "no, I wouldn't either", He promptly summoned some bees. I didn't have a flashback, as one does who might partake regularly of mind altering substances because I remembered everything with complete clarity. My so-called crazy episode was simply another state of being at the time. I didn't mind the bees, after all- I had spent quite some time with the intriguing creatures. I perhaps understood them better than people.
However I still cringed when I remembered my own inability to control the chaos that had been tumbling through my mind and spirit. It had been a time of the simplest regrets, which were nothing more than a series of slightly awkward social faux pas. Relative peace compared to the nightmarish regrets I now beheld over my conduct during my saner moments. Why is it that a fool can be forgiven so easily? I suppose that a fool was never trusted with much in the first place. I most certainly can play the fool once again.
"Now that's the trick! I think it's time to give the smug midget his sweet treat." Balthazar zapped me once more. I was instantly transported, and my confusion flared into immediate displeasure. I was surrounded, and naked, and naturally feeling completely exposed, all the while the former king of hell leered at me.
"Why Castiel, what an unexpected surprise. How kind of you... to buzz on by?"
"I am not sure why I'm here?" I act confused looking around me in the pretense of awakening from a daze. Yet really I was memorizing the faces of the vampires who were now staring at me, hunger evident in their blood red eyes.
One in particular had a bizarre open mouthed grin frozen upon his pale features, his red eyes disturbingly alight. He was silent for a moment, then squealed so unexpectedly that I flinched. His glee tapered into an unnerving whispery-snigger. "Who is this delicious looking morsel?"
Crowley tensed as he suddenly remembering his vile guests. "This is someone who should be dead, or down in purgatory, dear Aro. It seemed there has been a jail break"
"He smells... sweet."
"Don't let this fermented honey trap fool you. This buzzy little bee, or rather, Angel has been very, very busy."Crowley enunciated the words slowly his voice dropping to a deep thoughtful timbre.
Aro licked his lips, "Angel." He mused. That strange high voice tremulous with excitement.
I got the sense immediately that this particular vampire was eyeing me with more than simply culinary purposes in mind. It made my skin crawl.
"I think I have made a mistake," I take a step back but there were demons behind me, my precarious situation was fast becoming claustrophobic ...and the bees were beginning to tickle in... uncomfortable places.
I had no choice, I had to keep him busy, I owed Balthazar that.
"The clouds sing above this place, perhaps it is you they sing about" I say as I turn to the vampire and tilt my head. "You like to drink from the living, but the living are all dead."
Aro smile stiffened. "Not all of them, not yet."
"The bees were all dying too. Funny how the simplest thing can cause the decline of a whole species. Vampires drink humans, but humans are going extinct- soon your food source will be gone, therefore soon…you will be gone."
"Castiel, crazy, crazy Castiel," Crowley stepped forward, a snide grin curling purposefully on his lips. "Yet the purpose behind your words are most certainly sane. You are digging my old friend? You're still playing second fiddle to the Winchesters ballsy brass band aren't you? You were once a God! Oh look how the mighty have fallen."
"And you were once a king." I replied.
"There you are!" His grin turned feral. "We have a moment of lucidity, or perhaps you are sane and just playing ludicrous games with us. You know what happens to liars Castiel"
This charade was beginning to tire me. " So You are playing with Vampires Crowley, last time you did that they were on the slab so to speak."
"Tough times make for pointy bedfellows," he snapped back he drew a long silvery sword, an angel blade. I feel ice crawl through my veins. " Did you do this?" He gestured outward. My eyes follow the blade. I know what he means by this- 'This' was the undeniable title that described the mess left behind after closing the gates of Hell.
"No"
"Perhaps I will rephrase myself…did your retarded chimp friends do this?"
I smiled, "No."
The Demonic king shoved his hands in his pockets, "How about this then- I don't believe you for a second. Now try to see this from my point of view- you cheated me out of a kingdom. Hell is gone, purgatory is still Leviathan infested. As you can imagine I am pretty thoroughly pissed off. Then I look around me. Low and behold I realize something-why don't WE..." He gestured to his new friends, " take Earth as our own? It's beginning to look more and more like hell everyday." Crowley leveled a knowing look at me. "I'm sure you had something to do with this, what I lack is the proof, perhaps torturing you may loosen that lying tongue. It will create a much needed bright spot in my day, no offense Aro."
Aro clapped his hands softly and jiggled on his toes, "None taken."
I feel my vessels skin prickle with dread, "Earth does not belong to you," I growled, slowly dropping into a fighting crouch as the demons circled me.
Anger blazed out of him, "You took everything from me!" He bellowed face glowing red- then quickly Crowley snapped back into his stalwart facade, a far more dangerous state of being in my opinion.
"I have found it!" I could feel Balthazar's smugness oozing over the frequency that connected us. Instantly I left, teleporting myself straight back to the cabin feeling irrationally irritated. Even as I turned the handle of the front door I had a sense of foreboding. The reason for that feeling became all too clear when I stepped inside. That's when I found the most unexpected sight. Bella in Dean's arms.
Even as they sprang apart, repelling like opposing forces, I could sense the thickness between them. Bella bit her lip nervously and it wounded me more than I expected.
Then the rage took over, I pulled Dean outside by the collar of his shirt. I expect him to fight me, but he doesn't. I pushed him against the exterior of the cabin with a sharp shove, Pinning him there under an un-opposable hand. His eyes widened and I see the fear, I taste it. We have been here before, Him and I. He is at my mercy, and about to suffer my wrath, like that night in the alley so long ago.
"What do you think you are doing?" I whispered harshly, leaning into the personal space that he so jealously guarded.
"You're over-reacting, nothing even happened," he spluttered.
His refusal only fanned the flames of my anger. I struck him on the jaw and there was a snap beneath my fist. His dazed eyes met mine, he would have fallen if I wasn't holding him up. A stream of blood dripped down the side of his lip. I desire more than anything to see him lying in a crumpled heap at my feet. A flare of rage snapped through me, "I know you Dean, something always happens" I growled. His eyes are wide and conflicted. Unashamedly I probe their depths, he wanted to resist me, but he can't. In doing this, I know Dean like I know myself- every little crevice of his mind. What I find lurking deep inside Dean Winchester perturbed me. My fingers instantly loosened their grip on his shirt.
"Well, well boys, thought I might pop by for a howdy-do, is it a bad time?"
I abruptly stepped away. My anger fading to an afterthought, other more pressing matters suddenly taking hold. Meg's mouth twitched, her dark eyes sparkling as if she had eyed something delicious. Though... I sense in her a feeling of trepidation which lurked beneath her barbed surface, that... fear of rejection which fueled her rage and evil proclivities.
"Interesting position I find you in, I hope I didn't interrupt anything."
"As a matter of fact you did," I replied.
"Just a little disagreement," Dean muttered quickly with an uncharacteristic blush. I gave him a stern look which he squirmed beneath. "We will continue this later", I promise. Deans never looked this terrified in all the time I've known him as he did right now .
"Oh don't let me interfere with your kiss and makeup session," replied Meg, her mouth twisting, no doubt relishing her twisted imaginings.
"There will be no more kissing." I grated out angrily. I realize too late- just how bad that sounded.
Meg raised her eyebrow suggestively "So you say lover boy." She sighed, an almost wistful sound, but perhaps that was just a product of my limited imagination. "Such a shame, you were so proficient at it too." Meg's performance was cut short as a heavy thud threw her forward. A pained expression crept over her doll-like face. When she fell to her hands and knees I saw the reason for her pain. An arrow protruded cruelly from her back. As I strode over, she looked up, giving me a half smile/ half grimace. "Little help here Clarence… it's in one of those hard to reach spots", she choked out. Her eyes still managed a mischievous twinkle despite her discomfort.
I yanked the arrow out harder than was necessary, causing her to cry out. She didn't fool me, her kind reveled in pain. I fixed an angry glare upon Daryl Dixon who continued his approach, loading another projectile into his weapon. There was no time for this…
STOP!
The blast of energy surged from the confines of my meaty prison, not since my first day back on earth after drawing Dean back from the bowels of hell had I spoken this way. They were all knocked backwards, the trees groaned, leaves tumbled down drifting like colored snow over the stunned silence I had enforced.
Daryl was the first to scramble to his feet. Stubborn resistance ensuring he bowed to no man, nor Angel. I caught Sam's desperate gaze, 'he knows' he mouthed, the non-whisper louder than a shout within my mind, and all the while the accusing glare from Daryl bored into me. This was all too familiar.
"You, and your friends…did this!" Daryl screamed. His voice catching and breaking apart, his face contorted with rage, eyes narrowed, he began to pace and scraped a hand through his raggedy brown hair.
"I'm sorry."
The look he gave me, should have shamed me. It was the look of every child who had lost a parent, or the look of a betrayed lover, or a beaten woman, or a man whose best friend had just shoved a knife in his gut. My resolve crumbled and I suddenly realized I was completely and utterly useless, and the blame of it all rested with me. It always will. A fallen Angel is exactly that- fallen... broken and beyond repair.
With an instinctual rush of self loathing, I left them. My best friends, the girl I had been infatuated with, the man I had recruited, a Demon and my Brother.
I needed to think and I couldn't do it here.
An: Not very happy with this chapter- got a little stuck (creatively), the next ones better (I think) and will be posted soon. Sorry about the lack of updates all. Thanks everyone for the follows and sticking with me even though I have been less than reliable... you are wonderful, as always it's nice to hear from you so feel free to message, review.
