I've been on a roll over the past couple of weeks so let's get this show on the road. Lots of volatile behavior going on across the board in this chapter. Never thought I'd make it to 40, but here we are!

As always, thanks for reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting! It means a lot to me. :)

Disclaimer: In no way do I have any rights to Supernatural or any of the characters you are familiar with. I only own Amriel and any OCs that pop up along the way.

Chapter Forty: Volatile

"I let her go! She promised me she would be fine! I'm the reason she's dead!" Amriel sobbed, curling into herself as she backed into the wall of Rowena's hideout, sliding down until she was sitting on the floor.

Charlie had been helping them crack the codex of the Book of the Damned so they could try and remove the Mark, and she helped them lie to Dean about it. She had been so close to cracking it, but the pressure had been getting to her. She had convinced Amriel to let her go off on her own, with the reassurance that she could take care of herself and that she would come back.

"I'm a big girl, Amriel," Charlie's voice rang in her head, "I just need a few hours to myself. I'll be back before you know it."

She hadn't come back yet, and Amriel had been worried.

When Sam had come to the hideout, Cas asked where their redheaded friend was, and Sam had merely shaken his head with a pained look on his face.

"I shouldn't have let her go," Amriel mumbled as she buried her face in her knees, shrinking away when Cas knelt before her, setting his hands on her shoulders to try and get her attention. She shrugged his hands off and felt him move away from her, giving her the space she needed.

"What happened?" she heard Castiel ask Sam, but she didn't want to know.

"Me," Sam answered. "The Stynes, um… they caught up with her, and uh, Dean's gone after them."

The Stynes were an ancient family full of magic practitioners that wanted to reclaim the Book of the Damned, and would stop at nothing to retrieve it. That was why they were in some abandoned hideout with Rowena in the first place.

"So he knows?" Cas asked, and Sam answered that he did, and that he was shutting everything down.

"I promised Dean-"

"Er, hello? Anyone want to tell me what's going on?" Rowena interrupted Sam.

Rowena hadn't been easy to work with whatsoever, constantly nitpicking at the angels and trying to dig at their relationship whenever she could.

"No," both Sam and Cas answered.

Castiel offered to kill Rowena before asking what they were going to do about Dean. Sam told them that they should be able to track him.

"What is this?" Sam mumbled, "An email from Charlie?"

Amriel lifted her head up, staring across the room at Sam, who was opening the email.

"Sam, can't talk now. DL this file!" he read aloud, "The file is called Is this what I think it is?"

"Oh, that little minx," Rowena grinned, looking down at the document Sam had downloaded, "She's cracked the code."

Rowena could read the document Charlie had sent, and she could cure the Mark of Cain. Sam told Cas to go find Dean, and that he would stay with Rowena and make sure they had everything they needed to save his brother.

"Amriel, you go with him, okay?" Sam said from the table he was standing at, and the blonde shook her head. She wasn't in any state to to chase after Dean.

Cas was suddenly standing above her, staring down at her with a sad look on his face, "Come on, Elle. Don't make me carry you."

"You wouldn't dare," she hissed, shooting him a glare and trying to shift away from him.

"I will if you don't get up. Now is not the time to test me," Cas said firmly, leaving no room for argument.

Amriel heaved an annoyed sigh and stood up, making sure she bumped her shoulder into his as she walked past him, making her way to the car and getting in the passenger seat, making sure she slammed the door before crossing her arms over her chest.

She was silent for the first ten minutes of their ride, wanting to make him think about how he had treated her, but she was starting to think about Charlie and needed to focus her anger on something else.

"I'm sick of being ordered around, Castiel," she finally said, her voice full of annoyance. "It isn't fair that you and the Winchesters think you all can tell me what to do."

The blonde refused to look at him, but she could tell that Cas wasn't thrilled with her right now. He let out a puff of air through his nose and answered, "We don't order you around, Elle."

"'Stay here with Dean and Claire,' 'Stay at the bunker and do research for Garth,'" Amriel mimicked, "It's ridiculous."

"Why didn't you say anything before?" Cas asked, and she could feel his gaze on her for a few seconds.

"Because there's no use in fighting with Sam and Dean- they're too stubborn for their own good, and I don't like arguing with you," she mumbled, letting her anger dissipate momentarily before glaring again, "But it still isn't fair! I'm your equal, I shouldn't be left behind or ordered around."

Cas was silent, and Amriel shook her head, unwilling to let the conversation end.

"Do you know what I did while you were taking Metatron to get the Demon Tablet? While Sam and Dean went off to help Charlie?" she asked, finally glancing over at Cas to see him shake his head. "I drove a few towns over and cured children of their terminal cancer."

"I didn't know that. You didn't mention it," he mumbled, "I know that you want to do more. To help more. But there are some things I don't want you involved in, or some things Sam and Dean don't need help with. They order me around sometimes too, but it isn't on purpose."

"I don't want to be treated like that, though. I didn't like the way you spoke to me earlier," Amriel told him, wanting to make sure he understood. "You've never spoken to me like that before. It was demeaning and rude."

"Elle, I'm sorry. I'm stressed out, we're all stressed out, but that doesn't mean I can take it out on you…" he trailed off and was quiet for a moment or two, "Are you okay? I know you blame yourself for Charlie-"

"Don't," she cut him off. "I'm partly responsible for her death, so don't try and make me feel better. If I had made her stay with us…"

Amriel choked up and buried her face in her hands, not wanting to cry again, "She was just trying to help us save Dean."

"We have to get to Dean now, because if we don't, Charlie's death will have been for nothing," he told her before saying, "She'll be given a hunter's funeral, she won't be forgotten."

The angels arrived at the Styne house in Louisiana only to find a bloodbath. Dean had been there, but he was long gone, and had left over a dozen bodies in his wake. They called Sam and told him what they found- that his brother had brutally killed these people and disappeared. Sam had wanted to come meet them, but Cas told him not to bother. The GPS they had followed to Louisiana showed that he was heading back to the bunker.

It was a long drive, but as they pulled up to the bunker Cas told Amriel that he wanted to go in alone.

"Didn't we just talk about this?" she groaned, but noticed the look on his face that seemed serious.

"He's volatile, and I have no idea what's going to happen in there. I- I can't put you in danger, so please don't fight me on this," Cas pleaded, shooting a glance her way before returning his focus to the road. "Let me handle this alone."

"If he's so volatile, wouldn't it be better if I was there for backup?" Amriel tried, even though she knew she probably wasn't going to get anywhere.

"You have to realize that if Dean gets the upper hand on either one of us, he won't hesitate to use it against the other."

Amriel nodded, knowing that if he was backed into a corner, Dean would probably do something drastic. She agreed with him there, so she decided to let him go alone.

"I'll give you 20 minutes before I come in, okay? That should be enough time to subdue him, and I'll help you lock him down," she finally conceded as they pulled up outside of the bunker.

"That's all I'll need," Cas said as he parked the car, turning it off and unbuckling his seatbelt. "I'll see you shortly."

Amriel forced a smile as he kissed her cheek and watched him get out of the car and head into the bunker.

Time passed slowly, Amriel watched the hands of the clock in the car tick in what felt like slow motion as she waited for Cas to text her and let her know she could come inside. At the 15 minute mark, she was about ready to go in and handle things herself, but the door suddenly opened.

Amriel got out of the car and saw Dean leaving the bunker, covered in blood with a deep scowl on his face and an angel blade in his hand.

"Dean?" she asked cautiously, "Where are you going? Where's Cas?"

"He's coughing up blood after I beat the shit out of him," Dean growled as the angel moved to stand in front of him. "Get out of my way."

"No. Why did you do that to him? Castiel is your friend! Why are you acting like this?" Amriel noticed his entire body was tense and his jaw was clenched, his energy giving off complete annoyance.

"You and Cas and Sam all lied to me, and because you lied, Charlie is dead. She died because you were careless, and I took care of the people that killed her without a second thought," Dean yelled at her, and the angel flinched, but didn't move from his path.

They were at a stand off, each waiting for the other to make the first move. Amriel didn't want to hurt Dean, but if she had to in order to protect herself, she would.

Dean lunged for the angel, grabbing a fistful of her blonde hair and turning her around, slamming her down head first into the hood of the Lincoln. His other hand locked around her wrists, holding them tightly to her back as he lifted her head and threw it down into the hood again and again, making her vision go fuzzy.

"You think that I won't kill you because Cas loves you? That I won't kill you because we're friends?" Dean hissed in her ear as he released his grip on her hair and pulled the angel blade from his waistband. "Newsflash, Blondie. I don't care about you."

He trailed the blade along her neck and collarbone, keeping the pressure just hard enough to let a little bit of her grace shine through, and he laughed.

"It's a good thing you picked a pretty vessel," he finally said, dropping the blade. "I'd hate to kill such a beautiful thing."

He released her and let her collapse against the car, panting for breath, tasting blood in her mouth as she closed her eyes and spit it out.

When Amriel realized that Dean was gone, she groaned and tried to pick herself up, her head aching as she gathered her bearings.

Once she could walk without feeling too dizzy, Amriel ran for the bunker, slamming the door behind her and skipping stairs as she descended, calling for Cas as she went.

She found him sprawled out on the floor, staring up at the ceiling and taking shallow breaths. His face was bloodied just like hers, maybe even more so.

"Cas… Are you okay?" she asked, kneeling beside him and helping him sit up so she could look him over, not realizing that he was doing the same to her.

"He almost killed me," Cas told her as he reached out and moved her hair away from the gashes in her forehead, trailing down to the wound on her neck, staring at her grace just barely visible beneath the healing skin. "He did this to you?"

"I wasn't going to let him leave. Dean saw me as an obstacle, nothing more," Amriel frowned, feeling tears welling up in her eyes, "The only reason he didn't kill me is because my vessel is attractive. He's out of control."

"I know, Elle. I didn't realize it was this bad," he sighed. "He killed a kid in cold blood. We have to stop him."

The door of the bunker opened and Amriel tensed, reaching for her blade in the waistband of her shorts with one hand, the other motioning for Cas to be quiet. He was in worse shape than she was, so she got up from the floor and moved towards the stairs as quietly as she could without alerting whoever had come in.

"Cas? Amriel?" Sam's voice rang out, and the blonde felt relief run through her.

"We're here," she answered, coming face to face with him once he reached the bottom of the stairs.

Sam's eyes widened in shock, taking in the angel's normally blonde hair, matted with blood, and the bruises, gashes, and cuts on her face and neck, and he cringed.

"What happened? Where's Cas?" he asked, looking around in confusion.

"Your brother happened," Amriel said, leading Sam to where Cas was still seated on the ground where she had left him. "He nearly killed Castiel, and then he threatened to kill me."

She looked down at the angel she loved so much, angry and upset that he was so battered and defeated, his face still swollen from however many hits Dean had inflicted. Amriel reached out her hand, her eyes asking if he was ready to stand, and when he nodded and slipped his hand into hers, she pulled him up and held him close to her.

"He told me that we shouldn't follow him," Cas said, a determined look on his face. "We have to do something."

They had tried everything they could think of to find Dean before turning to Rowena to follow up on her end of their bargain and help remove the Mark. Sam got a call from a hunter named Rudy, saying that he had found Dean. So he took off, leaving Cas and Amriel to deal with the spell.

Crowley had been brought in to retrieve the ingredients Rowena would need for the spell the codex called for, which included forbiden fruit, the Golden Calf, and something that Rowena loved. Rowena claimed that she didn't love anything, but Cas looked into her mind and found that it was a boy named Oskar.

With that information, Crowley disappeared and returned within an hour so, and the angels and demon watched the witch as she performed her spell.

Amriel flinched when she saw Rowena stab Oskar with a pen, burying her face in Cas' shoulder and squeezing his hand, feeling a little better when he squeezed back.

A bright light illuminated the bowl containing the spell's ingredients, followed by a blast wave that knocked all four of them off of their feet. A bolt of red lightning left the bowl and blew through the roof.

The chains that had been keeping Rowena under control fell off, and she threw out her hands, shouting a spell at the three, managing to immobilize Castiel and Crowley.

"How are you able to do this? You're not powerful enough!" Crowley shouted from his position on the floor.

"To what?" the witch asked innocently. "Control the legs of a bored king and a withered angel? Easy peasy! Though the blonde is much stronger than either of you, bravo, dear!"

Amriel had the wind knocked out of her, but she managed to stand up and try to approach Rowena.

"I wouldn't try anything, sweetheart. You haven't wronged me the way these two have," Rowena warned as Crowley said that she wasn't powerful enough.

The redheaded witch continued with another spell, telling her son that he had never seen what a real witch could do with real magic. She pointed at Cas and then to Crowley before walking out of the room.

Amriel looked down at Cas, who was now getting off of the floor, bleeding from his eyes, and she felt her heart stop.

He wasn't looking at her, though. His sights were set on Crowley, and she watched his angel blade slip into his hand from the sleeve of his coat.

"Castiel," Crowley tried, "Don't. Do not. Don't! Amriel, do something, please!"

Amriel suddenly kicked into gear, launching forward and grabbing the back of Castiel's trench coat, pulling him as hard as she could as he tried to stab Crowley.

"Get out of here, I'll handle him," she yelled at the demon, who shot her what looked like a grateful expression before he disappeared.

Turning her attention back to Cas, she kept one hand holding onto his coat, using the other to disarm him, tucking the blade in the waistband of her shorts with her own.

"Cas, I need you to look at me," she said as she turned him to face her, planting both of her hands on either side of his face, "You're going to be okay. I'm gonna take care of you."

She could see that he was dazed, unaware of his surroundings, his breath coming in short pants that were hot against her skin.

"I know you probably don't know what I'm saying, but I love you and I'm doing this because I love you," Amriel said quietly, focusing her energy to put him to sleep, catching him as he collapsed into her.

"What am I going to do with you?" she mused, running her fingers through his hair as she felt his breathing even out.

Amriel couldn't stay in this warehouse- she had to get moving, but wasn't sure where to take the unconscious angel. Making a decision, she hoisted him up over her shoulder and left the building, making her way through the woods to try and find somewhere for them to hide out for a little bit.

She found an abandoned shack a few miles away and decided to stop there. She set Cas down on the floor and brushed his hair out of his eyes, frowning as he started to wake- the effects of her power wearing off sooner than she had hoped.

"Where- where are we?" Cas asked, blinking a few times and looking around, "You need to get out of here, I could hurt you!"

"I'm not going anywhere, Castiel," she said firmly. "You won't hurt me, I won't let you."

He seemed weary, but let it go and asked what had happened.

"Did- Did I kill Crowley? I remember killing him, but I also remember him leaving?"

Amriel could hear the confusion in his voice and she shook her head, telling him that Crowley had gotten away.

"I'm going to go see if I can find a main road, figure out where we are," she told him. "Will you be okay here alone for a little bit?"

Cas looked up at her, and she could tell he was still in a fog, but she needed to get them someplace safe- safer than this rickety shack.

"I- I'll be fine," he finally said, and Amriel nodded, kneeling down and pressing a kiss to his forehead, ignoring the sheen of perspiration.

"Good. If you need me, all you have to do is call or pray, and I'll be back as soon as possible, I promise," she said, sending him a smile as she got up. "Lock the door behind me, and don't open it for anyone."

Amriel left the shack and immediately headed out into the woods, listening for the sounds of cars or anything that would lead her to getting a ride in the direction of the bunker. They'd be safe there. She could secure Cas so he couldn't hurt anyone, and they could figure out how to remove the spell Rowena had cast on him.

After finding a road a little over a mile away, Amriel made her way back to the shack and was shocked to find the bodies of a man and two kids on the ground. She covered her mouth to stifle any noise from coming out as she looked around for Cas only to find that he wasn't there.

She left the shack and headed back out into the forest, calling out for Castiel in hopes of finding him before he could get too far. She heard sirens in the distance and frowned, knowing that wasn't a good sign.

"Cas! Castiel!" she yelled, "Where are you, Cas?"

A rustling to her left caught her attention and she quickly turned and headed in that direction, relief flooding through her when she saw Cas leaning against a tree.

"There you are. What happened while I was gone?" Amriel asked as she walked up to him, noticing that his hands were covered in blood.

"I- I don't know. They came into the shack, told me to leave, and the next thing I knew they were dead. I can't control it," he mumbled, staring at the ground as he spoke.

"Do you want me to put you to sleep again? I found a road a mile from here, I could carry you," she suggested, glancing over her shoulder in the direction the road was. When she turned back to face Cas, his eyes were trained on her, and she didn't like the look in them whatsoever.

"Amriel, you have to run," he said lowly, his voice almost a growl. "I need you to run. I don't want to hurt you."

She shook her head and reached out to render him unconscious, but he grabbed her arm and spun her around, his other arm locking around her neck in a chokehold.

"I told you to run," Cas breathed into her ear, squeezing her neck and cutting off her air supply. "Why didn't you run?"

"C-Cas," she sputtered, her free hand grasping at his arm, trying to loosen his grip, black spots filling her vision, "Please, stop!"

Amriel fell limp against his chest, and Cas let out an angry yell before setting her down on the leaf-covered ground. He knelt beside her unconscious body, wiping stray tears from his face as he stared at the blonde.

"I have to end this- I need help, otherwise I might actually kill her," Castiel sighed, lowering his head and folding his hands together in front of him as he began to pray.

He knew it would be some time before anyone showed up, so he called Dean to let him know that he and Amriel were okay and to tell Sam that Rowena had escaped with the Book of the Damned and the codex. In turn, Dean told him that the Mark was gone, and asked Cas about the Darkness.

"Why would I talk about the Darkness?" Cas asked, wondering how they even knew about it.

"Because it's free," Sam told him, and Cas frowned in confusion.

Sam said that Dean had seen her after the Mark had been removed, and Dean asked if he could tell them anything about the Darkness, who had been a woman. Cas was going to answer, but heard a noise in the woods behind him.

"Sam, Dean," he said quickly, "Goodbye. It may be some time before you and I see one another again."

He hung up the phone quickly, stuffing the device in his coat pocket and turning to acknowledge the two angels standing behind him with their blades drawn.

"Brothers," Cas nodded to them, "I need your help."

The angel on the left looked down at Amriel, who was still unconscious on the ground, and he motioned for the other angel to grab her.

"We will deal with whatever your problem is once we are back at our base. Come, Castiel."

Cas watched the other angel pick Amriel up and hoist her over his shoulder, and he felt anger rising up inside of him, his hands forming fists and clenching at his sides.

"She doesn't need to be involved in this," he finally said. "Please, just… leave her here."

The angel not carrying Amriel laughed, shaking his head as he said, "Amriel is just as accountable as you are, so she will be joining us. Now, let's get going."