A/N: This chapter has content from the episodes Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester and It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester. The song is Halloween by Siouxsie and the Banshees.


Chapter 24: The Bitter and the Sweet


The night is still

And the frost it bites my face

I wear my silence like a mask

And murmur like a ghost

"Trick or Treat," "Trick or Treat"

The bitter and the sweet

The carefree days

Are distant now

I wear my memories like a shroud

I try to speak but words collapse

Echoing "Trick or Treat," "Trick or Treat"

The bitter and the sweet

I wander through your sadness

Gazing at you with scorpion eyes

Halloween, Halloween

A sweet reminder

In the ice-blue nursery

Of a childish murder

Of hidden luster

And she cries "Trick or Treat," "Trick or Treat"

The bitter and the sweet

I wander through your sadness

Gazing at you with scorpion eyes

Halloween, Halloween

Ty was just finishing up cleaning up after herself when Bobby and Dean returned. She quickly chucked the summoning materials into the dumpster before heading over to meet them. She was already preparing a lie about how she'd gone for a walk because she couldn't sleep when she saw Dean helping Bobby out of the car. Bobby snapped at him for coddling him, but he was unsteady enough on his feet when he tried to stand that he ended up leaning on Dean's shoulder to steady himself anyway. Frowning, Ty hurried over.

"What happened?" she demanded, eyes narrowed suspiciously as she glanced sharply from one man to the other.

"What do you think?" Bobby snapped, "This idjit did something stupid and against my better judgement I went along with it. Now I've got a pain in my head to go with you pains in the ass."

Ty's eyes flicked over to Dean, silently demanding a better explanation. Dean sighed, letting Bobby shove him away before he stomped over to the motel room. Turning back to Ty, he figured he had no choice but to tell her.

"We summoned Castiel."

Ty's jaw dropped, "You did what?"

"Look, can you be mad at me later? We need to talk about what happened. Where's Sam?" Dean asked, heading after Bobby towards their room.

Ty almost sprang forward to grab his arm and force him to stop and tell her more before she realized what a hypocrite she was being. Instead, she just grimaced at herself and followed after him. She'd listen to what Dean had to say and maybe he'd cut her some slack about her own dangerous secret summoning.

Later on the following day, back at Bobby's, Ty figured she didn't need to worry about coming clean since neither Winchester brother seemed about to let her get a word in edgewise. They'd been arguing since Dean had told them what happened with Castiel. She'd tried to mediate at first, but had quickly given up. So, instead, she took solace in Bobby's company and in assisting him with some research since Alex and the Harvelles had already cleared out before they'd returned. Ty worried that Alex had split because he needed some time away from her after the thing with his dad. She didn't blame him if that was the case, but she really wanted to text him, to at least make sure he was alright. She resisted the urge and instead focused on the stack of books sitting next to her on the floor by Bobby's overflowing desk. One problem at a time.

"Well, then tell me what else it could be." Sam finally challenged, fed up with trying to reason with his pig-headed brother.

"Look, all I know is he's no freakin' angel." Dean grumbled stubbornly.

"Okay, look, Dean. Why do you think this Castiel would lie to you about it?" Sam demanded.

"Maybe he's some kind of demon. Demons lie."

Bobby glanced up from his stack of books at the arguing brothers. He considered interrupting the bickering, but figured they had to tire themselves out eventually, like the six-year-olds they kept acting like. He passed another book to Ty to look through since her ancient Greek was a little better than his. He wasn't sure why, but that comment Castiel had made about saving Dean from perdition had stuck in his mind and after how long he'd been doing this, he knew a clue when he heard one.

"A demon who's immune to salt rounds and devil's traps... and Ruby's knife?" Sam reminded him.

Dean shook his head. He knew that Castiel being some kind of demon didn't make sense, but the idea that they were dealing with an angel made even less sense to him, "Don't you think that if angels were real, that some hunter somewhere would have seen one... at some point... ever?"

"Yeah. You just did, Dean." Ty said pointedly, raising her eyebrows challengingly as she looked up at him. She hadn't forgotten Dean calling her on a technicality before, saying she hadn't actually seen the angel, "Besides, he said this was the first time they'd been around in a couple centuries."

Dean shot her a glare and threw his hands up in exasperation, "I'm trying to come up with a theory here. Okay? Work with me."

"Dean, we have a theory." Sam answered.

"Yeah, one with a little less fairy dust on it, please." Dean snapped.

"Okay, look. I'm not saying we know for sure. I'm just saying that I think we…"

"Okay, okay. That's the point." Dean interrupted, "We don't know for sure, so I'm not gonna believe that this thing is a freaking angel of the Lord because it says so!"

Dropping his book back onto the stack, Bobby decided his life wasn't long enough to keep waiting on these two idiots to stop prattling, "You two chuckleheads want to keep arguing religion or do you want to come take a look at this?"

Sam and Dean both walked over to Bobby's desk, glancing down at the books he had assembled.

"I got stacks of lore: Biblical, pre-Biblical, some of it's in damn cuneiform. It all says an angel can save a soul from the pit."

"same here." Ty agreed.

"What else?" Dean asked immediately.

"What else, what?" Bobby asked back.

"What else could do it?" Dean insisted. There had to be something, somewhere.

Bobby stared back at Dean, "Airlift your ass out of the hot box? As far as I can tell, nothing."

Dean shook his head again in denial, turning away again. Sam put a hand on his brother's shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"Dean, this is good news." Sam insisted.

"How?" Dean grumbled, shrugging Sam's hand off.

"Because for once, this isn't just another round of demon crap." Sam said, "I mean, maybe this Castiel is actually one of the good guys, you know? Maybe this is how we save you from Lilith."

Realizing Sam was just too stubborn to let this go, Dean decided he had to explain why this was so hard for him to believe, "Okay. Say it's true. Say there are angels. Then what? There's a God?"

"At this point, Vegas money's on yeah." Bobby supplied.

"I don't know, guys."

"Okay, look. I know you're not all choir boy about this stuff, but this is becoming less and less about faith and more and more about proof." Sam said.

"Proof?" Dean asked skeptically.

"Yes." Sam nodded.

"Proof that there's a God out there that actually gives a crap about me personally? I'm sorry, but I'm not buying it."

"Why not?" Sam asked.

Ty set her book down, listening intently for Dean's answer, curious herself what he would say.

"Because why me? If there is a God out there, why would he give a crap about me?"

"Dean…" Sam began again.

"I mean, I've saved some people, okay?" Dean interrupted, "I figured that made up for the stealing and the ditching chicks. But why do I deserve to get saved? I'm just a regular guy."

Ty frowned. Dean was anything but a regular guy as far as she was concerned. Sure he could be an arrogant ass, a shameless flirt, and occasionally made her want to murder him herself, but he also risked his life nearly every other day trying to save people. If he didn't deserve to be saved, then she didn't know who did. She opened her mouth to say something to that effect, but Sam was already speaking.

"Apparently, you're a regular guy that's important to the man upstairs."

"Well, that creeps me out. I mean, I don't like getting singled out at birthday parties, much less by...God." Dean admitted, looking frankly disturbed just thinking about it.

"Okay, well, too bad, Dean, because I think he wants you to strap on your party hat."

Dean just stared back at Sam for a moment before he spun around and headed towards the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" Sam asked in confusion.

"Liquor cabinet." Ty predicted shortly before Dean called back his answer.

"I need a drink."

The next few days were mercifully quiet, although Ty still felt anxious knowing that sooner or later she'd have to fess up about her meeting with Melchiresa. While Dean had gotten some of the same information out of Castiel, there were still some things that Melchiresa had added that the others needed to know. But, like a coward, she found it was so much easier to just keep her mouth shut and let Bobby and the boys enjoy a little downtime rather than adding anything to their worries. Still, with each day that passed she heard the demon's words echoing in her mind: Lilith was ramping things up and would break half the Seals by the New Year. October was already drawing to a close. They were running out of time.

Ty had just about convinced herself that she needed to pull her big girl pants on and get it over with, when Sam strolled into the kitchen with his laptop.

"Pretty sure I've found us a case." he declared. He glanced around the room that was empty except for Ty, "Where's Dean?"

"Out messing with the car." Ty explained, "I was just going to go ask him if he wanted to grab some food."

"Well, grab your stuff. We can get something on the road." Sam declared, hurrying back out of the room.

Ty stared after him. He actually seemed kind of excited. Well, maybe an old-fashioned hunt would be good for all of them. Something non-Lilith related. Shrugging to herself, Ty went to go grab her stuff. It was almost Halloween, after all. What better time to track down something supernatural?

A few days later, on the day before Halloween, Sam and Dean were at the victim's house in their fed suits talking to the widow of the man who died after consuming candy laced with razor blades while Ty tried to get her hands on a copy of the autopsy report.

"Now, how many razor blades did they find?" Sam asked Mrs. Wallace.

The woman sighed, looking like she was on the verge of bursting into tears as she answered, "Two on the floor, one in his stomach, and one was stuck in his throat. He swallowed four of them. How is that even possible?"

She noticed Dean looking around the front of the stove and in the oven door, frowning in confusion.

"The candy was never in the oven." she said.

"We just have to be thorough, Mrs. Wallace." Dean answered, continuing his search.

"Did the police find any razors in the rest of the candy?" Sam asked, drawing her attention back to him and away from Dean.

She shook her head, "No, I mean, I don't think so. I just…I can't believe it. You hear urban legends about this stuff, but it actually happens?"

"More than you might imagine." Sam answered dryly.

Dean straightened from where he'd been crouched on the floor searching and held up the hex bag behind the woman's back so Sam could see it. Sam sighed and shifted his gaze back to Mrs. Wallace. This had officially become a witch hunt.

"Mrs. Wallace, did Luke have any enemies?"

"Enemies?" the widow asked with another confused frown.

"Anyone who might have held a grudge against him?"

"What do you mean?"

"Co-workers? Neighbors? Maybe a woman." Sam pressed.

Understanding suddenly flashed across Mrs. Wallace's face and she glared up at Sam, "Are you suggesting an affair?"

"Is it possible?" Sam asked, knowing he'd offended her but also knowing that the most important thing now was tracking down the witch.

"No!" Mrs. Wallace exclaimed, "No, Luke would never…"

"I'm very sorry. We just have to consider all possibilities." Sam interrupted, trying to placate her.

Still angry, Mrs. Wallace glanced from one man to the other, "If someone wanted to kill my husband, don't you think they'd find a better way than a razor in a piece of candy he might eat?"

Sam looked over at Dean, who raised his eyebrows back at him. She did have a point.

Back at their motel room, Sam and Ty were knee-deep in research while Dean went to grab them something to eat. Between the two of them, they were making pretty quick work of the contents of the hex bag and Sam reflected that it was nice having another history and folklore buff around.

Sam was just taking another look at the herbs from the hex bag, confirming his identification when his brother walked back into the room. Dean dropped his keys and a pizza on the table, then unwrapped a piece of candy and tossed it in his mouth. Sam stared at him.

"Really? After that guy choked down all those razor blades?"

Dean shrugged, answering around his mouthful of candy, "It's Halloween, man."

"Yeah, for us every day is Halloween." Sam grumbled.

"And when has a hunt ever put Dean off his appetite?" Ty added.

Dean snapped his fingers, pointing a finger-gun at her to indicate she had a point as he perched on the arm of the couch. Pausing to swallow the candy, he addressed his brother while leaning over to look down at their research, "Don't be a downer, Sammy. Anything interesting?"

"Well, we're on a witch hunt, that's for sure, but this isn't your typical hex bag." Sam said, gesturing at the contents open on the table. In addition to the herb he'd been examining, there was an old silver coin and a small, charred bone.

"Hmm, no?" Dean asked.

Sam picked up the dried herb again, "Goldthread, an herb that's been extinct for two hundred years. Ty ID'd the coin."

"Celtic, and not some new age knock-off." Ty supplied, holding it up, "This is a real artifact. Probably around 600 years old. Should be in a museum."

Dean reached down and picked up the final ingredient. It had been charred practically black. He sniffed at it curiously.

"And…um…that is the charred metacarpal bone of a newborn baby." his brother informed him.

"Ugh." Dean said in disgust, tossing the bone back down and wiping his hand off on his pants, "Gross."

"Also, really old." Ty added, picking it back up. She turned it around in her fingers, looking at it with interest, "At least a hundred years and burned in something that got a lot hotter than your average funeral pyre."

Dean frowned at her, "Oh, right, like that makes it better? Witches, man, they're so friggin' skeevy."

Standing up, he moved over to the chair next to the couch and made himself comfortable. Ty and his brother might not be bothered by barbequed baby bones, but he'd take a hard pass.

"Yeah, well it takes a pretty powerful one to put a bag like this together. More juice than we've ever dealt with, that's for sure. What about you? Find anything on the victim?" Sam asked.

Dean leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees, "This Luke Wallace? He was so vanilla that he made vanilla seem spicy. I can't find any reason why somebody would want this guy dead."

Sam heaved a frustrated sigh, clearly disappointed over the lack of leads they'd turned up so far. Ty didn't blame him. Any witch with this type of mojo was a serious problem that they needed to deal with sooner rather than later or there were going to be more bodies in no time.

Just like Ty had feared, that night they picked up some chatter on the police radio about another strange, freak accident at a high school party. The victim in this case was still alive, but in critical condition after having her face nearly burned off while bobbing for apples. Sam headed to the hospital to try and speak with the victim while Dean and Ty went to the crime scene.

As they entered the basement of the small suburban home, the crime scene investigation team was just wrapping up their crime scene documentation and an officer was doing an interview with one of the few party-goers still on scene, a pretty young blonde in a cheerleader costume holding a gray blanket around her shoulders.

Ty started to head over to join the officer in his questioning, but Dean held up a hand to stop her, "I got this one."

Ty glanced at him skeptically, "Two words: jail bait."

Dean turned to her, eyes wide, "That's not…I would never…I just have more experience with…"

Ty rolled her eyes, "Whatever. I'll check for hex bags."

Dean watched her walk away and bend over to check the cushions of a couch. He allowed himself a moment to check out her ass in the tight slacks she was wearing as part of her own FBI outfit, smirking to himself, before he returned his focus to the job.

"It's just so weird." The blonde teenager was saying, "The water in the tub…it wasn't hot. I had just been in there myself."

"Your friend didn't happen to know a man named Luke Wallace?" Dean asked as he approached, holding up his fake badge so both the girl and the officer could see it, "Agent Seger, FBI."

The officer nodded in acknowledgement and moved off, letting Dean take over the questioning.

"Who's Luke Wallace?" the girl asked.

"He died yesterday." Dean said vaguely, watching for her reaction.

She gave a small shrug, "I don't know who that is."

Dean noticed Ty straightening and glanced past the girl at her. She caught his eye and held up a hex bag she'd found buried inside the couch. Dean nodded, then turned his attention back to the teenager. This was definitely the witch's work so there had to be something to connect the two scenes.

Later that night, back at the motel room with Sam, they were still trying to figure out what that connection could be.

"Okay, you're right." Dean agreed, looking up from the computer, "Both these vics are squeaky clean. There's no reason for a wicked bitch payback."

Sam sat up on his bed, setting the book he'd been reading down on his lap, "Maybe 'cause it's not about that."

"If you've got some insight, Sam, we're dying to hear it." Ty prodded when Sam didn't immediately continue.

"Maybe," Sam explained, "this witch isn't working a grudge. Maybe they're working a spell. Check this out."

He picked up the book in his lap again and began to read aloud to the other hunters.

"Three blood sacrifices over three days, the last before midnight on the final day of the final harvest. Celtic Calendar, the final day of the final harvest is October 31st."

He passed the book over to Ty who was sitting on the edge of the other bed. She got up and moved over to share it with Dean. He glanced at the book, then back at Sam, "Halloween."

"Exactly." Sam nodded.

"What exactly are the sacrifices for?" Ty asked, recalling one of her first hunts with the boys when gypsy witches were sacrificing children to help the Yellow-Eyed Demon open a portal to Hell.

Sam's sober expression wasn't exactly encouraging as he answered, "Uh, if I'm right, this witch is summoning a demon, and not just any demon…Samhain."

Ty stared at him, "You can't be serious."

Dean glanced between them, "Am I supposed to be impressed?"

"Dean, Samhain is the damn origin of Halloween." Sam informed him, "The Celts believed that October 31st was the one night of the year when the veil was the thinnest between the living and the dead, and it was Samhain's night. I mean, masks were put on to hide from him, sweets left on doorsteps to appease him, faces carved into pumpkins to worship him. He was exorcized centuries ago."

Dean nodded slowly, "So even though Samhain took a trip downstairs, the tradition stuck."

"Exactly, only now instead of demons and blood orgies, Halloween is all about kids, candy, and costumes." Sam confirmed.

"And you think some witch is trying to bring Samhain back?" Ty asked, steering the conversation back to their current dilemma.

"Why?" Dean added, "To take back the night?"

"Dean, this is serious." Sam chastised.

"I am serious."

"We're talking heavyweight witchcraft." Sam continued, hoping to impress the seriousness of the situation on his brother who was most definitely not getting it just yet, "This ritual can only be performed every 600 years."

"And the 600 year marker rolls around…?" Dean trailed off for Sam to fill in the blank.

"Tomorrow night." Sam supplied.

"Naturally." Dean said. He glanced back at the book Ty still held tilted towards him. There was a depiction of a demon standing over a heap of bodies, holding a head in his hand, "Sure looks like a lot of death and destruction for one demon."

"Samhain's no regular demon." Ty answered.

"And he likes company." Sam added, "Once he's raised, Samhain can do some raising of his own."

"Raising what, exactly?" Dean asked.

Sam shrugged, "Dark, evil crap and lots of it. I mean, they follow him around like the friggin' Pied Piper."

"So we're talking ghosts." Dean predicted.

"Yeah." Sam confirmed.

"Zombies." Dean continued.

"Mm-hmm."

"Leprechauns?" Dean asked.

Ty slapped the book closed and smacked him in the shoulder with it, "Moron."

"What?" Dean protested, "Those little dudes are scary. Small hands."

"Look," Sam said seriously before the pair could start another round of bickering, "it just starts with ghosts and ghouls. This sucker keeps on going, by night's end we're talking every awful thing we've ever seen. Everything we fight, all in one place."

Dean sobered, "It's gonna be a slaughterhouse."

The trio was silent for a moment as they thought about how bad that could be. Finally, Ty glanced from one brother to the other and said, "Great, well, we've gotta figure out who this witch is…like now."

Both boys nodded in agreement and they went back to their research with grim determination.

Unfortunately, the next day dawned and they were no closer to identifying their wicked witch. Frustrated and antsy after a fruitless all-nighter, Dean finally declared that he was going to head back to the first victim's house again to see if they missed anything. He re-interviewed the widow, but came up with nothing so he resolved himself to watch the house for a while to see if he noticed anything unusual. It was boring as hell, but at least he'd be out of the motel.

About an hour later, even more bored and with a growing pile of candy wrappers on the seat next to him, Dean was almost startled by his phone ringing. He quickly pulled it from his pocket, glancing quickly at the caller ID before he answered, "Hey."

"How's it going?" Ty asked.

"Oh, awesome." Dean answered sarcastically, "I talked with Mrs. Razor Blade again and I've been sitting out in front of her house for hours and I've got a big, steamy pile of nothing."

"Well, someone planted those hex bags, someone with access to both houses. There has to be some connection."

"Tell me something I don't know." Dean grumbled, "Man, I hope we find 'em soon 'cause I'm starting to cramp like a…"

He stopped abruptly as he spotted the girl from the party that he'd spoken to, Tracy, walking up to the Wallace house.

"Son of a bitch." he swore.

"Dean, you can choose not to keep eating the candy." Ty pointed out, rolling her eyes to herself.

"No, I mean, son of a bitch." Dean said as he watched Mrs. Wallace greet the girl at the door with a clear air of familiarity and Tracy greeting the infant in Mrs. Wallace's arms, "Jail bait's here and it's pretty obvious she's a regular. I think maybe we've found our witch."

"Finally." Ty said, partly relieved but also excited now that the hunt was really starting to kick into gear, "Get back here. I'll tell Sam."

By the time Dean walked back into their motel room, Sam and Ty had already dug deep into Tracy Davis.

"So, our apple-bobbing cheerleader?" Sam asked as Dean walked in.

"The Wallaces' babysitter. Told me she never even heard of Luke Wallace." Dean replied.

"Huh, interesting look for a centuries-old witch." Sam remarked, glancing back at the file he had open on his laptop with the girl's picture.

"Yeah, well, if you were a 600-year-old hag and you could pick any costume to come back in, wouldn't you go for a hot cheerleader? I would…" Dean remarked, trailing off into thought as he took a seat on the bed.

Ty looked over at Dean, brow furrowed, "Did you just say you want to be a teenage girl?"

She exchanged a disturbed look with Sam before Dean snapped out of it, taking in the look on both of their faces.

"No!" he protested quickly, "I mean…what I meant was…"

"Anyway," Ty interrupted, gesturing for Sam to share the information they'd uncovered about the girl, "Dean's disturbing fantasies aside…"

"Well, Tracy's not as wholesome as she looks. Did some digging and apparently she got into a violent altercation with one of her teachers, got suspended from school." Sam said, handing Dean his laptop so he could see the file, "I'm thinking maybe we should talk to that teacher."

"And keep an eye on her." Ty added, "I mean, we're running out of time. Why don't you drop me off at the Wallaces' on your way to the school? She's probably still there, right?"

Dean nodded, "Yeah, she was just heading in when I left."

The group wasted no time hitting the road.

After the brothers' discussion with the high school art teacher, Don Harding, they were more certain than ever that Tracy had to be their witch. Don, as he'd insisted they call him, had told them the violent altercation had occurred after he'd confronted Tracy about some detailed gory drawings complete with Celtic symbols that matched the coin they'd found in the hex bag. They also discovered that Tracy had moved to the area about a year previously with no parents to speak of, living alone in her own apartment. So, they left the high school eager to meet up with Ty again to confront the witch before she could finish her ritual. But when Dean called her up to find out if she was still staking out the Wallace household, he found that their typical luck had remained unchanged.

"Dean, I haven't been able to find her anywhere." Ty reported, "I thought when you dropped me off she was just inside the house, but after a while I realized that we missed her. I've been walking around the neighborhood, checking in with her friends and no one knows where she is."

"She's got her own apartment…" Dean began to advise, but Ty cut him off.

"Yeah, got the address from one of the friends. No luck there either."

"Damn it." Dean swore. Noticing Sam's questioning look he elaborated, "Looks like the bitch popped a broomstick. Ty, we'll swing by to get you in a few. Stay put."

With no other leads to follow, the boys picked up Ty and returned to the motel. As they climbed out of the Impala and started back towards their room, a kid dressed like an astronaut approached them. He stopped in their path and held out a bucket of candy expectantly, "Trick or treat."

Dean just stared at the kid, "This is a motel."

"So?" he shot back.

"So, we don't have any candy." Dean answered with a slight sneer, returning attitude for attitude.

"No, we have a ton in the…" Sam began, turning back towards the Impala.

Dean interrupted him quickly, "We did, but it's gone."

Sam shot another incredulous look at his brother. How could he have eaten all that candy? Ty just rolled her eyes, but the young astronaut looked decidedly unimpressed as he glared at Dean.

"Sorry kid, we can't help ya." Dean finally said, since the kid obviously couldn't take a hint.

"I want candy." the trick-or-treater insisted.

Dean leaned down a little and cast an appraising look over the kid's rounded form, "Well, I think you've had enough."

The boy's glare intensified, his eyes narrowing. Dean straightened a little in surprise at the intensity of the anger being directed his way. As the astronaut finally moved along, he shoved Dean as he moved past him. Dean threw his hands up, casting looks at Ty and Sam as if to ask whether they had seen that and if they could believe this kid.

"You are so getting a trick." Ty predicted, "I'd check for any flaming bags of dog poo before leaving the room in the near future."

Sam snickered and resumed moving towards the room. He unlocked the door and strode in, but all humor vanished as he realized there were intruders inside. He immediately drew his gun, moving into a tense, but ready position.

"Who are you?!" he demanded.

Hearing his brother shouting, Dean rushed in after him, Ty close on his heels. A moment later, all three had their guns pointed at two mysterious figures lurking inside their room. Dean's eyes widened when he recognized the closer of the two men.

"That's Castiel. The angel." he said. Turning his gaze to the dark complexioned man standing by the window, he continued, "Him, I don't know."

Sam lowered his weapon, although Dean still held his aimed at the dark-haired man in the trench coat and Ty, following his lead, kept hers trained on his companion. Regardless, Castiel did not seem to be at all concerned as he turned his gaze to Sam.

"Hello, Sam." he said coolly before glancing behind Dean, "Ty."

Sam almost looked starstruck to finally be seeing an angel face-to-face. He holstered his gun and started sputtering a greeting, as he stepped forward and held a hand out to shake, "Oh my God…er…uh…I didn't mean to…sorry. It's an honor, really. I…I've heard a lot about you."

Dean frowned, staring at Sam like he wanted to bark at him to get away from Castiel, but he held his tongue. If the other hunters were right and this Castiel really was an angel and he really could save him from going to Hell, maybe they needed to trust him. He could feel Ty's eyes on him, looking to him for direction. With a sigh, he finally lowered his gun, too, then turned and closed the door. Meanwhile, Castiel was staring at Sam's hand like he had no idea why the young man was holding it out to him like that. Sam shook it a little and Castiel seemed to finally understand what he was looking for and completed the shake.

"So, you're Castiel." Ty said, approaching cautiously, glancing one more time back at Dean. Since that seance at Pamela's and the account she'd heard of the powers he'd displayed to Bobby and Dean, she'd decided that angels were not at all like she'd thought they'd be. She knew she'd been right that he'd never meant to hurt Dean, but had been trying to communicate with him, but she still didn't see any reason to push it, "And…uh…who's your friend?"

Castiel ignored her question. His serious eyes once again found Dean, "This, the raising of Samhain, have you stopped it?"

"Why?" Dean asked, wondering what interest an angel of the Lord could have in a witch hunt and as well as feeling uncomfortable with Castiel's continued focus on him specifically.

"Dean, have you located the witch?" Castiel demanded.

"Yes, we've located the witch."

"And is the witch dead?"

"No, but…" Sam started to answer.

"We know who it is." Dean finished for him.

Castiel turned and walked over to one the nightstands, picking up a hex bag and showing it to them, "Apparently, the witch knows who you are, too. This was inside the wall of your room. If we hadn't found it, surely one or all of you would be dead. Do you know where the witch is now?"

The hunters exchanged a look between themselves before Dean answered, "We're working on it."

Castiel frowned, "That's unfortunate."

"What do you care?" Dean finally asked outright.

"The raising of Samhain is one of the 66 Seals." Castiel explained.

Ty's eyes widened in surprise. So much for this being a normal, non-Lilith-related hunt.

"So, this is about your buddy Lucifer." Dean said.

The man by the window turned towards them, engaging in the conversation for the first time to say sharply, "Lucifer is no friend of ours."

"It's just an expression." Dean replied. Clearly a sense of humor was not something angels were equipped with.

"Lucifer cannot rise. The breaking of the Seal must be prevented at all costs." Castiel insisted.

"Yeah, that's been kind of our goal." Ty agreed dryly, starting to feel herself getting a bit prickly in response to the angels' attitudes.

Dean sent her a pacifying look before turning back to the others, "Okay, great. Well now that you're here, why don't you tell us where the witch is, we'll gank her, and everybody goes home."

Castiel frowned, "We are not omniscient. This witch is very powerful, she's cloaked even to our methods."

"Okay, well we already know who she is, so if we work together…" Sam started trying to quickly devise a plan.

"Enough of this." the new angel snapped and despite the look Dean had given her, Ty found herself not liking him one bit.

Evidently, Dean was feeling the same way at this point because he turned towards him and shot back, "Okay, who are you and why should I care?"

The angel turned to face Dean fully and despite the fact that Dean stood slightly taller than him, he still appeared to be glaring down at the hunter, his expression clearly communicating that he felt he was vastly superior. Ty resisted the urge to stride over there and kick him right in the shin. That would probably be a quick way to get herself smited on the spot.

'Or smote?' she wondered to herself before Castiel's answer drew her out of her own thoughts.

"This is Uriel. He's what you might call a…specialist."

Uriel moved closer to them and Dean continued to eye him skeptically, "What kind of specialist? What are you gonna do?"

In what was swiftly becoming typical fashion for the angel, Castiel didn't answer the question directly, but instead said, "You need to leave this town immediately."

"Why?" Dean asked, hoping this time he'd get a straight answer.

And, this time, Castiel gave him one, "Because we're about to destroy it."

Ty exchanged a worried look with Sam, but Dean just looked pissed, "So this is your plan, you're gonna smite the whole friggin' town?"

"We're out of time. This witch has to die, the Seal must be saved."

"There are a thousand people here." Sam protested.

"One thousand two hundred fourteen." Uriel corrected without a hint of emotion.

"And you're willing to kill them all?" Sam asked in disbelief.

"This isn't the first time I've…purified a city." Uriel said grimly.

"I understand this is regrettable." Castiel said, in a poor attempt to placate the hunters.

"Regrettable?" Dean repeated, eyebrows raised.

"We have to hold the line. Too many Seals have broken already." Castiel said.

Dean continued to glare at the angel, "So you screw the pooch on some Seals and this town has to pay the price?"

"It's the lives of one thousand against the lives of six billion. There's a bigger picture here."

"Right, 'cause you're bigger picture kind of guys." Dean growled, still remembering Castiel's response to his criticism of their lack of involvement with the Witnesses.

"Lucifer cannot rise. He does and Hell rises with him. Is that something that you're willing to risk?" Castiel replied.

"We'll stop this witch before she summons anyone. Your Seal won't be broken and no one has to die." Sam insisted.

"We're wasting time with these mud monkeys." Uriel growled, looking just as annoyed with Castiel for spending time trying to explain things to the hunters as he was with their protests.

"Okay, first off, humans are apes." Ty snapped at him.

"Not helping." Dean informed her shortly.

Castiel turned away from them, "I'm sorry, but we have our orders."

"No, you can't do this." Sam said, shaking his head in disbelief, "You're angels, I mean aren't you supposed to…you're supposed to show mercy."

"Says who?" Uriel challenged.

"We have no choice." Castiel said again.

"Of course you have a choice." Ty immediately protested, "You could choose not to do this."

"I mean, come on, what? You've never questioned a crap order, huh? What are you both, just a couple of hammers?" Dean added, knowing instinctively that if he let the angels leave, it would all be over.

"Look, even if you can't understand it, have faith. The plan is just."

"How can you even say that?" Sam demanded.

"Because it comes from heaven." Castiel answered, "That makes it just."

"Oh, it must be nice, to be so sure of yourselves." Dean scoffed.

Castiel's expression hardened, "Tell me something, Dean. When your father gave you an order, didn't you obey?"

Dean gazed coolly back at him for a moment. Finally, he decided he had one last card he'd have to play, "Well, sorry, boys. Looks like the plans have changed."

Uriel sneered at him in contempt, "You think you can stop us?"

Dean strode over to the angel to stand toe-to-toe with him once again, "No, but if you're gonna smite this whole town, then you're gonna have to smite us with it, because we are not leaving. See, you've got me thinking I'm worth something to the man upstairs. So you wanna waste me, go ahead. See how he digs that."

"I will drag you out of here myself." Uriel growled.

"Yeah, but you'll have to kill me and then we're back to the same problem. I mean, come on, you're gonna wipe out a whole town for one little witch? Sounds to me like you're compensating for something." Without waiting for a reply, he turned back to face Castiel, "We can do this. We'll find that witch and we'll stop the summoning."

"Castiel! I will not let these people…" Uriel protested, but Castiel held up a hand to stop him.

"Enough!" He said shortly. He stared at Dean, his eyes assessing the hunter. Dean met his gaze unflinchingly. Finally, the angel seemed to come to a decision and his eyes shifted to take in Ty and Sam, as well, "I suggest you move quickly."