A lead. Finally a lead on Castiel's whereabouts. Dean tried to suppress the mixture of joy, angst and anxiety slowly filling his stomach, focusing instead on the road in front of him. Bobby had sounded strangely flat as he'd shared the news, telling Dean not to get his hopes up. This was no longer his friend. This was a mutated angel, plagued with delusions of being God. And awkward silence had fallen then. Dean hadn't known what to say. Bobby was right. But still, he couldn't abandon all hope. Sure, Cas had screwed up royally and betrayed them – he still wanted to punch his lights out for what he'd done to Sam – but before this whole mess Cas had helped them so many times. Without question. Without thinking about the consequences to himself. Cas had gripped him tight and raised him from perdition.
Sam and Tyler had shared a fleeting glance when he'd told them the news but didn't object to pursuing this lead. In fact, they'd been quiet the entire time. He looked over to Sam, who rested his head against the window. He looked…rested. Dean checked his mirror and snuck a glance at Tyler who was busy with her phone. The swiftness with which she texted surprised him. He thought about breaking the silence, but it was a comfortable silence. It was Tyler who broke the silence as she said: "Bobby already arrived. He asks how many minutes till we get there." So it was Bobby she'd been texting with. Strange. Bobby always said he hated texting. "Two, maybe three," Dean replied. Sam sat up, his posture suddenly tense.
"Dean, are you sure about this?" he asked, sharing his concern for the first time. Dean frowned. "When we have a lead, we follow it, Sam." Sam sighed. "But this isn't a regular hunt. Are you certain you can gank him if necessary? Can anyone gank him for that matter?" Dean sucked in a heap of air, trying to keep calm. Sam was just pointing out the obvious. Castiel might try and harm them – or worse. "I need to do this, Sammy. I need to know." To know if Cas is still in there, Sam added silently. He looked at the rear view mirror and caught Tyler's eye. She looked away quickly, almost as if she was guilty, but that was insane. What could she be guilty of? She turned to her phone again, her fingers speeding over the keyboard.
"How did you get Bobby to text?" he asked. Alarmed, she put down her phone. "We always text. Apparently, he liked me better when I didn't talk." Sam grinned. That sounded like Bobby alright. They drove up to their destination and saw their old friend pacing back and forth near his car. The brothers got out quickly and greeted him. When Tyler got out, Sam thought he saw her and Bobby share an unidentifiable look. But he shrugged it off as Bobby engulfed her in a hug. "How are y'all idgits doing?" he asked. "Better when we get this over with," Sam replied before cringing as he saw his brother grind his teeth. Bad choice of words.
Dean avoided all eye contact as he asked: "So, have you spotted him already?" The old man shook his head. "I just want to…warn you guys." Again a quick glance at Tyler. "He may not be Cas anymore." Dean sighed. " Bobby, I know, okay? He's a mutated angel-" "That's not what I meant." Both brothers frowned. But before they could ask him what he meant by that, they heard the familiar sound of wings rustling. They turned around to face Castiel.
No! What? What kind of madness is this? In front of them stood a creature – something no longer human. It didn't even look like Cas anymore. The limbs were strangely elongated and looked as if there were an extra few joints. The skin of its chest stretched over its ribs, and looked about to be torn apart every time it took a breath. The eyes were black and bulging and the creature's skin color looked like dried parchment. As the creature spoke, Sam drew in his breath sharply. Even the voice was unrecognizable. "Hello Winchesters," it crackled. This wasn't Cas. He wasn't sure this had ever been Cas. Tyler took all of it in from a distance. It was clear to her – from the guys' reactions – that this wasn't what they'd expected.
Dean hands slowly formed into fists as anger surged through him. "He may not be Cas anymore." This was Bobby had meant. The bastards, those filthy bastards, had ditched Cas and taken hold of another vessel. Or so he hoped, because if what those Leviathans were wearing really was Cas…he didn't want to think about that. "Where is Cas?" he heard himself ask. The creature smiled – as least that was what he presumed that facial expression was. "Oh, he's…preoccupied." Something snapped in him and he flew at the creature, wanting only to claw and tear and kill. But before he could even grab a hold, he was already flying backwards hard. "DEAN!" he heard from three throats before he landed on something solid and everything went black.