CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
Balthazar arrived at the house as if he'd flown there, stood on the pristine marble doorstep that looked out of place in this small middle of nowhere Hicksville town, ringing the doorbell like a madman. It didn't take long for the door to be answered and Balthazar felt his stomach plummet when it wasn't Castiel.
"Where's your brother?" the tall Englishman demanded.
Anna frowned. "Castiel? – isn't he at the house?"
"If he was at the house I wouldn't be here demanding to know where he was, would I. – He did a vanishing act."
"What? – Why?"
Balthazar shrugged. "How the hell should I know, he left Dean a piece of paper with the word sorry on it but no explanation. – I thought he might have come home."
Anna looked guilty as sin, as if she knew something. Shaking her head she mumbled a "No."
Balthazar watched her for a long moment. "Do you know something?"
Anna shook her head again.
"Any idea where he'd go then?"
Another head shake. Balthazar was growing very impatient, was this girl completely incapable of caring? "Nothing? – You're not being very helpful!" he snapped.
"S-sorry, I…." her throat closed up around the words. "I don't know where he could be. We're not exactly on speaking terms."
"Why?"
"What?"
"Why aren't you on speaking terms?"
"It's personal." Anna answered in a small voice.
"Damn personal, your brothers missing and I need to find him before he does something really stupid."
That seemed to shock Anna out of her self-centered ponderings. "He wouldn't?"
"You don't know your brother."
Anna swallowed hard. She known Castiel had had problems that he'd been distraught after what had happened in England. He'd turned back to drink and drugs in order to block it out. He'd even confided in her in hopes of escaping the nightmare that was a guilty conscious. And what has she done? – Gone and blabbed it to her boyfriend who was now using it to blackmail him. This was all her fault. If anything happened to her brother it would be on her head.
She stood wracking her brain over and over as to where he might go. Where did Castiel used to go when he was with those unsavory types? The ones that had gotten him into drugs in the first place. She brushed her fingers frantically through her hair.
It was a motel, right? Rundown old hell hole just out of town. What was it called? Chica…something. Her mind was clawing for the name, so much it was almost painful. "What was it." she said to herself.
"What?"
"He used to go to this motel with his old 'friends' but I…. it's gone."
Balthazar clenched his jaw painfully. He wouldn't be surprised if he survived this hellish search for Castiel only to need visit his even more hellish dentist. "You must have something…. A letter? – what's it sound like?" he asked desperately.
"Chica… choka… I don't know."
Balthazar though he could see tears in her eyes. Maybe she wasn't the heartless bitch Castiel had thought her. She obviously cares enough to panic.
The pair stood in the early evening sunlight on the brink of giving up hope when like a message from god himself the hotel name hit Anna like a ten ton brick.
"Chitaqua!" she yelled.
Balthazar spun on his heel and fled to his sports car, calling a thanks over his shoulder and promising to let her know where or not Castiel was there.
SUPERNATURAL – FREE WILL HOUSE
Castiel laid spread across the end of the bed, blissfully unaware of everything. His entire world revolved around the ceiling tiles he was trying to count. Of course his concentration would waver every now and then when a pair of hazel green eyes floated into his mind, causing his vision to blur. But with a forceful shake of his head and another pill, the image would flee and he'd be back to the ceiling.
He was so out of it that he wasn't even aware of the knocking on the motel room door, and even less aware when it was kicked open. The first thing he did become aware of was the hands pulling him harshly off the bed and half dragging, half carrying him to the bathroom.
The ice cold water killed his buzz immediately. He yelled every profanity he could think of, and a few that probably weren't even words. When he was finally released from the ice cold water and the fog lifted from his mind, he found himself standing eye to eye with his best friend.
"Balthazar." Castiel groaned. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"I was about to ask you the same fucking question. – But going by the glazed look in your eyes and the pills scattered around the room, I can figure it out myself. – What the HELL do you think you're doing!" the Englishman shouted, shaking the shorter man. "Do you want to end up dead again!"
Castiel shook off Balthazar's large hands and pushed past him. "Yes, actually. – It's only right."
"Cass." Balthazar sighed at his friends retreating back.
Castiel froze at the name, before swinging around and fixing Balthazar with a steely glare. "Don't. Call. Me. That."
Balthazar sighed as Castiel returned to his previous path of distruction. Stooping to snatch up a few pills. He needed to stop Castiel, need to find out what had happened, why he'd run. "He worried."
Castiel's hand was shaking as he lifted the pill to his mouth and paused. Balthazar sigh with relief only to groan when the shorter man threw it in.
"Castiel. – Just stop this will you, talk to me. – What's all this about? – Is it Dean?"
Castiel remained silent as he dropped down onto the bed. "just leave me alone Balthazar."
"Like hell. – I want to know what's going on. Why you ran?"
Glassy blue eyes turned on bright concerned ones. "It's none of your business." He sounded empty, even to his own ears.
"It is my business if I've got to clear up your shit… again!"
"No one asked you too."
"No, it's what come with being a friend."
Castiel turned away from his 'friend' and stared at the far wall. "It's my mess Balthazar; it's my mistakes, my past. – you shouldn't have gotten involved. – Not then and not now."
"Then?" Balthazar's heart skipped. "This is about… that? – Castiel that was five years ago. Its finished, its over. It's time to move on. You made a mistake."
"A mistake?" Castiel frowned, staring at his friend like he was a stranger and not the man who'd gotten him through the worst time in his life.
He scoffed. "A mistake? – I killed someone Balthazar. That is NOT a mistake, that's murder."
A/N: Thanks for all the reads, reviews and Faves.
I know you all love my cliffhangers ;) ROFL