Hey hey. What's up, beautiful?

Part 3! Hope you enjoy it! Sorry that I haven't responded to all the reviews from Part 2- been a crazy week. I'll get to them, I promise! Love you people! Special thanks to Jenmm31. Y'all, she's the best- AND she just wrote a new Kate story that will absolutely destroy you in a fantastic way. Go check it out.

A/N- in this story, Natalie is 17. This is part 3 of a 3 part story, the last two chapters explain what's going on. Please see profile page for disclaimer.

Part 3

"I couldn't agree more."

"Cas! Holy Hell, how many times have I told you- don't freaking sneak up on me like that."

"My apologies," Castiel said, taking a step away from Dean. He looked at Natalie, his confused blue eyes narrowing as he observed Sam behind her, working on her back as she winced. "Did you get hurt?" he asked the girl.

Natalie shook her head with a grimace. "Nope. Just got new ink." She gently turned away from Sam to show Castiel her exposed back.

He nodded his approval. "Well, that will make things a lot simpler."

"Really?" she said eagerly, hoping that all the pain she'd just endured wasn't in vain.

"No. But I understand that humans need pointless reassurance sometimes."

She resumed her grumpy face. "Gee, thanks, Cas."

"You are welcome."

Dean tried to hide his smirk, but was unsuccessful. "Yeah, yeah, everyone's happy as a clam now. So how are we gonna take this bastard down?"

Cas bit his lip and pulled out a chair next to the table. Sam finished up rubbing the lotion into Natalie's tattoo, and dropped a quick kiss on the top of her head to let her know he was done. She turned and mouthed 'thank you' at him with a smile, before giving Cas her full attention as she pulled the back of her shirt down.

"Cullum is very…prone to dramatics," Cas began. "He enjoys the thrill of the chase almost as much as the reaping of the goods. Which is why-"

"Why he's targeting Natalie in the first place," Dean finished. "Yeah, we know. How does that help us?"

"I'm getting to that," Cas said, with a bit of a side eye at Dean. All these years, and Dean still couldn't let him get through a single sentence without interrupting. "It occurs to me that we have a unique opportunity here."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"I'm sure you're very aware of the situation just across the border into Missouri?" Cas asked, eying each of them in turn. Dean nodded. Natalie turned her head in surprise towards her father.

"What's going on in Missouri? Why didn't you tell us?" she asked hotly. Not liking her tone, Dean gave his daughter The Eye, making her wither again instantly.

"I found out about it this afternoon. I was doing research on it to see if it was the real deal when I got the call that a 'certain someone' now has a criminal record."

"Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh'," Dean finished firmly, effectively putting her in her place, before turning back to Cas. He still wasn't going to let her off the hook so easily for getting her ass arrested, but at the moment, he had bigger fish to fry. "So it's what I think it is?"

"Apparently," Cas answered.

"And that is?" Sam prompted.

"A nest. Vampires. Probably somewhere between five to eight of 'em," Dean answered matter of factly. "Blood-drained vics in a five mile area, all discovered with bite marks. Police got no leads. As if the perps- and I quote- 'vanished into this air'." Dean snorted his derision. "Can't get much clearer than that."

Sam held up his hand. "Hold up, guys. Don't you think that's a little suspicious?"

"You think it's something other than a sparkly blood sucking freak?" Dean said sarcastically.

Sam rolled his eyes. "No, I'm just saying that vampires are usually more discreet than to just leave bodies lying around. Their numbers are pretty decimated already on a global level- why would they draw attention to hunters by leaving obvious traces of their vampirism?"

Dean shrugged. "Beats me. All I know is, people are dying, and we gotta stop them."

"And that's the opportunity that I'm talking about," Cas said in a slightly louder voice to focus the Winchesters' attentions back to himself. "Cullum showed us that he is more than capable of jumping bodies in order to confuse Natalie into attacking me."

"Right…"

"What if we were to hunt down the nest? It gives Cullum the perfect opportunity to use the same tactic that almost worked earlier." At that statement, Cas glanced at Natalie again impassively, but the meaning was still clear. Her face flushed in embarrassment and she looked down, not caring for the reminder of her misdeeds.

"Et tu, Brute?" she muttered under her breath. Castiel heard her and, as usual, looked confused.

"Even though your Latin is showing improvement, it will not be needed here, Natalie," he said, puzzled about her comment. She just sighed heavily and turned to Dean.

"Do you think it could work?" she asked her father, before looking at her uncle. The boys looked at each other, weighing their options.

"We would be hunting them anyways-" Sam began.

"Would completely make sense- wouldn't seem like a trap at first-" Dean agreed.

"It would kill two birds with one stone."

"Yeah- we wipe out the vamps and this asshole in one go."

"You think it can work?"

"Only one way to find out."

*SPN SPN SPN*

Two days later, the quartet pulled up as far as they could outside the forest where they had tracked the vest of vampires just over the Missouri border. Dean shut Baby's headlights off, rolled to a stop, and then switched the engine off. He turned around to the backseat, getting both the angel's and his daughter's attention.

"Alright. Give me the plan, one more time."

"Dean, I do not see the point-"

"We split up," Natalie immediately interrupted Castiel, who sat back with a huff upon being shut up yet again- a common occurrence on these road trips. "Me and Cas, you and Uncle Sam."

"We take the east, you take the west," Sam added, turning himself around to see them as well.

Natalie nodded. "Once we find the nest, we close in. We attack in sync." She held up her wrist with the digital watch on it to acknowledge that she was indeed wearing it in order to mark the time. "Once we attack, Cas, you stay back, keeping your head down."

"I still do not like this part of the plan," he growled impatiently. "I can be of more use to you in combat rather than just playing it safe on the side."

"Cas, look. You need to make sure you're out of the line of fire. I'd say you should leave altogether, but Cullum won't make a move if you're not there," Sam explained again with all the patience in the world.

Castiel pursed his lips and shook his head again, looking out the window, but Natalie plowed on. "Cas, just keep an eye out in case things go south, okay? We've got this. Weaken them with dead man's blood if you need to, but machetes at the ready for everyone."

"Yeah, and when this reaper dick bag starts jumpin', Cas, you get the hell out of dodge, got it?" Dean said, giving the angel The Eye. Castiel met his gaze like a pouting child.

"Yes, Dean, I 'got it'," he said back. There was no mistaking the note of anger and frustration in his voice. Natalie reached over and rubbed his clenched fist soothingly. He didn't respond, but he didn't shoo her away either. Dean continued the diatribe, ignoring the temperamental angel.

"We take out all the vamps, and if we're lucky, we'll have Cullum trapped in one when we kill it."

"And then we finish up with angel blades. And we got him."

"There are still several factors and loose ends here, Dean."

"Until someone comes up with a better plan, Cas, this is happening. Got it?" Dean growled, his worn-out patience clearly coming to the surface. "We're fine. The three of us are the best damn hunters on the planet, and we've got the best angel there is watching our backs. This is gonna go off without a hitch. Just watch," he said in his confident, don't-mess-with-me voice. Before anyone could counteract him, Dean threw open the driver's side door and got out. Sam followed suit. But before Cas could open the door, Natalie latched onto the fist she had been stroking, trying to soothe him. He turned back to her, a questioning look in his eyes as to why she stopped him.

"Cas, look," Natalie said gently. "I know exactly how you're feeling. When I've gotten…removed from a case before, I get so angry and frustrated. I feel helpless."

He nodded. "That is exactly how I'm feeling."

"But then there's also the feelings of worry and panic, too. Because there's always that feeling of 'what if they need me as back up? Is this the time they don't come home because I wasn't there?'"

"I…I didn't realize that you had experienced this as well."

"All the time, dude. Pretty much anytime Dad and Uncle Sam go on a hunt without me."

"But you know that they're incredible at what they do. You know that they will always come back to you."

"I HOPE they'll always come back. Knowing, well- there's just no way to know. I know that Dad and Uncle Sam haven't failed yet, and I'm hoping that they never will."

"I doubt they would feel the same way about your sentimentality regarding their careers, but I see your point. I just get very concerned when it comes to you."

"Why?"

"Because…because of something I can't name," Castiel said, clearly struggling to convey his meaning. "Something that pulls me to you- the thing that has always pulled me to you." She could see the compassion under the confusion in his clear blue eyes. "You're special, Natalie. I've never experienced what it is like with a child from birth to adulthood. I never knew it was so complicated…or so incredible."

Natalie blushed, unaccustomed to the blunt emotions that Cas was displaying. "Aw, come on. I'm not that special. I just happened to be the lucky rug rat that got to grow up with a best friend for an angel."

"I'm your best friend?"

"Outside of Dad and Uncle Sam, yup."

"I am honored."

"You should be," she said in a teasing tone. She leaned over and kissed his cheek before squeezing his finally unclenched hand. "Come on. Let's go kill these dickwads."

*SPN SPN SPN*

Natalie's heart pounded as she checked her watch. They had split ways ten minutes ago from the boys, making sure that Cullum would have gotten plenty of time to catch wind that Natalie and Cas were together, going into combat- just how he liked it. If she was being honest with herself, Natalie would have taken the time to reassure Castiel even further about their plan. The increasingly worried look on his face was doing nothing for her own nerves. She tried not to think about the loose ends and all that could- and probably would- go wrong here. There were a million factors that could easily derail this entire thing. But she had to go with her gut, and with what Dean said. Talking about it further wouldn't help. The fact that Cullum would be drawn to reaping all these vampires AND possibly Castiel was their biggest power play. It was the best bet she had for saving her friend.

Keeping a close eye on her watch, she gripped the machete tightly in one hand and the syringe in the other. She could hear the vamps inside the old hunting cabin they had tracked them to. From the sounds alone, she guessed that Dean was right- somewhere between five to eight of them. She prayed for five and not eight.

The second her watch told her "Go", without a second thought, she kicked in the backdoor. As she and Cas burst into the room, she saw the front door splinter and Dean and Sam come charging through as well. And the chaos began.

Clearly, the vamps knew they were coming, or were at least alert enough to immediately fight back. All six of them turned and roared in rage at the hunters. The one by the back door immediately turned towards Natalie, and out came the fangs. Natalie had just enough presence of mind to make sure Cas had behaved himself and gotten to the side before engaging the monster.

The vampire was about a foot taller than her, but years of learning to spar with Sam and Dean had prepared her completely for this. He took a lightning fast and powerful swing at her, but she ducked, anticipating it. She aimed a low sidekick at the inside of his knee, and he groaned in pain as she connected, his leg buckling. He immediately came back up, grabbing her by the left side and sending her soaring across the room. She got a glimpse of a whirling purple shirt that seemed to be locked in a battle with someone tall before she crashed into the dining room table. Her right shoulder took the brunt of the impact, but it wasn't awful. She twisted herself away from the table and onto the floor only to slip on something and almost lose her footing again. A quick look down made her stomach turn briefly. There was a gathering pool of blood from a severed head at her feet.

Swallowing down the bile and trying to ignore the short black curly hair of the dead orb, she looked up quickly to find the large vampire charging her again. However, a grunt behind her snatched her focus. A female vampire had her incredibly strong hands wrapped around Dean's throat, and was closing in on his neck to bite him. With inhuman speed, Natalie spun around and drove her syringe into the female's back as hard as she could, pushing in the plunger and leaving it there. A feral scream of pain let her know the blood was doing its job. She also heard Dean take a gasping inhale- that was enough for her to know he was out of danger and back in the game.

She whipped her attention back to the huge vampire lunging at her just in time to avoid his next tackle. She dove to her right in a somersault and sprang to her feet like a cat. That was when she saw Cullum, standing in the front door frame, waving that infuriating wave at her.

"He's here!" she screamed, alerting them all. Out of her periphery, she saw Sam slice through a vamp's neck before looking at the door to see the reaper for himself. Just as Natalie thought he would, Cullum instantly disappeared. The vamp that had been charging her suddenly stopped in his tracks. His eyes glazed over. He fluttered his fingers in a horribly recognizable gesture. Cullum's creepy smile spread across the vamp's face. Natalie whipped out the angel blade and attacked the vampire, slashing across his chest. Praying that it had at least wounded Cullum, she took a step back, waiting to see if the vessel would start smoking or burning. Something crunchy broke underneath her boot. She took a quick look down to find something small, looking like ivory. Her brow wrinkled, and as the vampire/Cullum in front of her writhed in pain, she reached down and picked it up. A curious sound caught her ears, but she was too absorbed in what she was holding to pay much attention past that. It was small. It was pointy. It was a tooth.

What the hell? Vampires didn't lose teeth.

She looked back up to the gigantic vampire- only now, to her extreme shock, it wasn't the huge guy. "What the fuck?" she barely got out before the vampiress in the purple shirt lunged at her, knocking her to the ground. As she struggled, wrestling with the supernaturally strong creature, her brain whirled into action. Where had the tall one gone? Hadn't this one just been fighting Sam? Why the hell was there a tooth on the ground? The one with the black curly hair was supposed to be dead- why was it fighting Dean? And what was this slimy stuff on- and in one horrific moment, all the pieces snapped into place.

"SHIFTERS!" she screamed. "THEY'RE SHIFTERS! NOT VAMPS!"

"DAMMIT!" she heard Dean holler back. They were all instantly thinking the same thing. Silver was the only way to take out a shifter- and the only silver they all had on them were the weapons that could kill Castiel. The vampire-shifters HAD known they were coming. It had been a set up. They had been played- and walked right into the trap.

She saw both Sam and Dean's angel blades drop into their hands at the same time as she saw a beige trench coat furiously join the melee. "No! Cas!" she cried out.

"No, Cas!" the purple shirted shifter said, mocking her. Natalie recognized the taunting style. Her green eyes burned with fury as she faced the creature.

"Cullum, you bastard," she spat at the monster.

"Now now, dearest, there's no need for language like that. I told you, I like my wins- interesting," the possessed shifter whispered. "And this promises to be incredibly interesting." Suddenly, Natalie saw the change in the woman's eyes, and knew that Cullum had jumped ship again. The vampire-shifter, back in her own mind, suddenly flew at Natalie again, and in her unfocused moment, caught her smack in the face with her fist. Natalie groaned as the punch landed, and felt her lip split open. She spat the blood out of the side of her mouth as she picked herself up.

"Ah!" suddenly screamed the shifter fighting Dean. "So you've discovered…"

"…my dirty…." Suddenly said the monster trying to take down Sam, as Cullum jumped again.

"…little…" hissed the shifter in the purple shirt facing Natalie, Cullum's insane look on her face.

"…secret," finished up the shifter hovering dangerously close to Castiel. Natalie had desperately tried to keep up with Cullum's movements through the shifters, but he was moving too fast and too randomly. The shifter covering Cas turned and looked at the Winchesters, bloodlust in his eyes.

"Let's see what you make of this."

With a horrific splashing sound, all the shifters changed form at once. Natalie threw her arm up in front of her face to protect her eyes from the flying bits of skin and blood. When she lowered her arm, she gasped. There were five Castiels standing in the room.

"Son of a BITCH," Natalie and Dean hissed in tandem. All three Winchesters spun around as all the Castiels had the same identical look of confusion on their faces, making it impossible to discern which one was the real Cas.

What do I do? What do I do now? Natalie's brain screamed at her as her eyes darted between all the Castiels, desperately looking for anything that would give it away. She knew if she yelled for Cas to get clear, all five of them would run- the other four shifters playing their part. How the hell was she going to get out of this without killing the real Castiel?

"Which one, which one," sang one of the Castiels in Cullum's mocking, sing-song style. Natalie froze, taking stock of where the voice was going. Before any of them could attack him, Cullum jumped again.

"How can you tell…"

"How will you know…"

"And what if you choose wrong?"

Silence. And that was all she needed.

Natalie suddenly dove at the one Castiel who hadn't spoken, tackling him around the waist and sending them both flying to the floor. He had been incredibly surprised when she attacked- so surprised that he hadn't actually done anything to defend himself. Why would he? He had known Natalie since she was a baby. There must be a reason why she was doing this.

Natalie, however, was going strictly with her heart and her gut. As Dean and Sam began attacking the other four and the battle resumed, she desperately grabbed Cas's face in her hands. "Is it really you?" she shouted, terrified she had made a mistake. "What did you used to do to me when I was a baby?"

"Make you fly," he said, breathing heavily from the wind being knocked out of him. Natalie almost collapsed on his chest in relief, but she had work to do. She scrambled to her feet, yanking Castiel up with surprising strength. She backed him against the wall of the cabin, watching as Sam and Dean worked in tandem, taking the other shifters out in a matter of moments. She let herself have a total of five seconds to appreciate the speed and preciseness of the brothers at work. It never ceased to amaze her.

Once the bodies had all dropped, suddenly Cullum appeared at the end of the cabin, opposite them, no worse for the wear. His black suit didn't even look wrinkled. He just looked extremely irritated.

"Well, well. Seems you guessed correctly," he said snidely at Natalie. "That shifter you took down a couple days ago had a family, and was only too willing to help take out the famous Winchester clan. Of course, he had no idea that he'd be paying the ultimate price. None of them did. I don't care about them- more souls for me." A sudden furious look crossed his face. "But now, I'm done playing. I want what's mine. And I want it NOW!" A sudden flash of bright light caused Natalie's pupils to contract wildly. With a holler of pain, she threw her arm up to shield herself from the brightness. Sam and Dean were thrown back against the wall. She could hear their bodies making contact with the cabin and falling to the floor. When she could finally see again, there were once again two Castiels standing in front of her.

"Come on. I've already won this once today," she tried to say in a bored tone, but she was secretly terrified. There was no way she was going to get lucky twice. Sam and Dean had both been knocked out by Cullum's flash. She could see them breathing, but they were unconscious. She would get no help from either of them. Neither Castiel moved- they just stared at her, giving no indication, no hints, nothing. Suddenly, an insane idea burst into her mind. She prayed that this was divine intervention, because if it wasn't, she didn't even want to think about the consequences of what she was about to do.

"Hey!" she hollered, just as she had at the shifter in the woods.

"I know," said the Castiel on the right.

"What?" said the Castiel on the left.

Without a second thought, without a moment to let herself question, she drove her angel blade into the chest of the Castiel on the right. His eyes sparked and snapped as the angel blade did its work. Suddenly, the features of the face shifted- and it was Cullum. Upon seeing that, Natalie ferociously gave the blade a sharp twist, glaring savagely into Cullum's eyes, right before they lit up, burned, and went out forever.

Cullum's body dropped to the floor. Breathing hard, but insanely grateful, she reached into his pocket and retrieved her Bull's-eye knife.

"I'm taking this back," she said triumphantly, slipping the blade back into her boot. The real Castiel reached out and latched onto her arm.

"How did you know that would work? What was the 'hey' about?" he asked in a rush, examining her to make sure she was okay. She didn't let him though- she rushed over to Dean and started gently patting his face to revive him.

"You don't know about Dad's and my little ritual. Cullum heard it the night we took out the shifter. I figured he'd be arrogant enough to try to give the answer that saved Dad. He had no way of knowing that YOU didn't know."

"That was incredibly clever."

"Damn straight."

It took about three minutes to bring Sam and Dean around, but they finally came to. Gathering all their gear, they headed back, just a little worse for the wear, but still in tact.

"Team Free Will for the win," Dean said confidently. "Told you it would work."

"Yeah, except the part where it almost didn't," Sam said.

"Shut up," Dean muttered back. Natalie linked her elbow with Castiel as they walked back towards Baby.

"Well, how about that? We got rid of the asshole who was tormenting you and took out a whole nest of…" She stopped to think for a moment. "What the hell do you call those things?"

Sam shrugged. "I don't think they've actually got a name, Bug. They were just shifters who were imitating vampires."

"Aw, come on Sammy, we can do better than that," Dean said, his eyes lighting up. "C'mon everyone, say it with me…shift-pire." He stopped at looked excitedly at the group. Sam was giving him the bitch face, Natalie was looking at him like she was trying to be supportive, but failing, and Cas just looked confused, as usual. Dean shook his head.

"No imagination," he grumbled.

"Well, hopefully the next time I meet a…shift-pire…"Natalie said, trying to use the word to make Dean happy, but feeling stupid about it, "I can do it without adding to my criminal record."

"Yeah, about that," Sam said suddenly, his stern voice going full throttle. "You're not out of the woods on that one, young lady."

Natalie stopped in her tracks, shocked at what Sam was implying. "Wait- what do you mean?"

At that, Dean turned around and looked at her with The Eye. "Just wait till I get you back to the bunker, little girl."

*SPN SPN SPN*

She was through probably two hundred rounds before Castiel came down to see her.

"How are the salt rounds coming?" he asked, his eyes gazing around the room in the bunker designated for this very purpose.

"Good. Probably get another fifty in before I turn in tonight," she answered, tapping the funnel to make sure all the salt had rolled down into the shell.

"I still don't understand how Dean hasn't figure out that you actually enjoy this yet."

"Don't tell him. I would much rather do this than extra chores, any day."

"Is it just the salt rounds?"

"Nope. After this comes the silver rounds. And I believe I have to keep making them until- and I quote- 'all the silver in the world runs out'."

"Is this for you going to jail?"

"No. This is my punishment for not telling him about Cullum in the first place."

"Considering he was debating about selling your internal organs to the highest bidder, I'd say you got off light."

"I think he took into consideration that I almost got the fourth member of Team Free Will killed because of my stupidity, and he knows that I still feel like shit about it," she mumbled, dropping the small disc onto the mound of salt in the casing.

"There is no reason to feel that way, Natalie," Cas said in, what was for him, a consoling voice. "You did everything you could to save me, and you DID save me."

"Yeah, well if I had just told them in the first place…"

"Then Cullum would have found another way to come after me, and I might not have been so lucky. Yes, you do need to tell Sam and Dean about things like this, but I know you tried to make amends, and you did."

Natalie grinned at Cas. It was so like him to try to make her feel better about being an idiot human being. "Well, thank you. Ain't nobody gonna take my bestie. Not on my watch."

"Speaking of that," Castiel said hesitantly, avoiding her gaze. "Did you mean what you said earlier?"

"What?"

"That I was your best friend, outside of Sam and Dean?"

"Of course I meant it, Cas. I love you."

Castiel looked at the girl who had changed his life in so many ways, and, although he didn't know it in that moment, would change it radically again before it was all said and done. He felt an uncharacteristic smile cross his face.

"I love you, too."

"Damn straight you do."