The mist outside of the foggy little diner where they sat in Cape Lusk, Massachusetts helped set the mood that the four patrons staring moodily out the window felt. They all had cups of coffee in front of them, Sam and Dean were sipping from them moodily, Emily was running her finger endlessly around the ring while she alternated staring out the window and staring down at the cup, and Castiel's remained in front of him, completely untouched. He was looking from each of them critically, thoughtfully, he kept opening his mouth as though he were going to speak, then closing it again. Dean was eating, shoveling bites of a breakfast platter into his mouth between his sips of coffee, Sam had his laptop propped open next to him and ignored the fruit cup he'd ordered, Emily just picked at hers' the few times she remembered it was there. Castiel didn't eat. He just stared.
The case was tough, one of the toughest ones they'd faced in awhile. A new demon was emerging from the pits of hell, apparently he was trying to dethrone the reigning demon king and was threatening to do so by corrupting as many on earth as he could. Bobby had caught the scent of the case first, only moments before Castiel had shown himself, and they were all stumped. They knew very little of the demon himself, only that his name was Ezreil, he had taken human form and shown himself in this small town, where he was unleashing terror. When they had arrived, there had been a short, violent meeting with the demon, who had taken refuge in the form of a young, blandly handsome man. He hadn't wasted time incapacitating the brother's and the angel, then he'd locked his eyes on Emily and had given her a smile that had sent utter chills through her spine. "Well, aren't you interesting, pretty one," he'd crooned at her in a voice that didn't seem to match the body in front of them. He'd cocked his head at her, flicked out his tongue out suggestively, a movement that had immediately renewed the fight in the boys, and then gave a lusty wink, "your mother sends her love."
The sentence had wrecked her immediately and just as Dean broke free and aimed the pistol to the demon, he'd snapped his fingers and disappeared without a trace. "How did he do that?" Castiel's low, growly baritone broke through the stunned silence. No one answered the rhetorical question as they let out a breath in the wake of the demon's presence. Emily's chest had heaved in panic. Her mother. Her mother was in hell. Her mother was in hell.
"I should go," the three men looked up at the sound of her voice, Dean so startled by it that he had choked on the bite of eggs he'd just stuffed into his mouth. Emily stared at him evenly as he coughed and caught his breath. "I should go. As bait. For the kill." Her voice was clipped, short, and she finally picked her coffee up and took a long draw from it.
"Are you insane?" Dean hissed lowly, looking around to make sure no one was listening to them. "No. No. Absolutely not."
She could feel Sam staring at her hard too, though he hadn't protested yet, and when she met his gaze, his eyes were full of concern and something deeper. "I agree with Dean," he finally said, breaking her gaze to look to Cas. "It's too risky, Em, we won't put you in danger like that."
Emily scoffed, this time looking to Cas for help. "You saw how he looked at me, he's intrigued, and more then that, he's distracted by me. It's the only plan that makes sense. If I can draw him out, it'd be an easy kill." She tried to keep her voice light, neutral, casual even, her face unreadable. "He'll sense if you're with me, it won't work if you're there. I can do this."
Cas was the only one without an ounce of concern in his face, but when she met his gaze, she could see that he knew. He knew she was lying, he knew that she was using them. He didn't falter, and so she stared back evenly, resisting the urge to bite her lip and give herself away. "She is right," he finally conceded to Dean's utter amazement. "She can draw him out, quite easily I would imagine. But I don't know that it's wise that she do. I do not believe you're ready to face Ezreil on your own."
"Damn right!" Dean pounded his fist on the table, sending coffee from all of their cups sloshing over the edge, Sam rolling his eyes at the theatrics as he lifted his laptop so it avoided the hot liquid. "There's no way you can take him on on your own Emily, you saw how he had ZERO problems kicking our asses before. You don't have the training."
"But I have the protection," Emily argued, her face feeling hot at the insult. "He can't harm me, if you hadn't noticed that I was the only one who he didn't throw into a wall." It was Dean's turn to bristle and he blushed himself that time. "At least let me try!"
"No." Dean repeated stubbornly, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back to fix her with a hard, warning glare not to push him. Emily looked to Sam and then to Cas, but got nothing. Sam still looked troubled, Cas? The suspicion wasn't hard to miss. He'd clearly seen what she planned and was trying very hard not to tell her not to in front of the boys. She sighed, but didn't push it, the wheels already turning in her head as Dean paid their bill and they all left the diner. Cas held back, and caught Emily's elbow right before she exited the door, the boys already gone ahead of her.
"Don't do it," he warned, his voice low and gravelly. "I see you plotting. You can't get her back, Emily."
Emily pretended to be shocked by what he was implying but it was useless. Of course he knew, of course he could see. "I know, Cas." She said gently, unconvincingly. "Did you know? Did you know what happened to her?"
Castiel hesitated, but his face was honest when he finally replied, "Yes, I did. I see that I won't talk you out of anything, you are correct that you will have no problems drawing him out, but I do not think it's a good idea. I don't think you understand that you won't be able to bring her back. Where she is...we have no control of that."
Emily couldn't even respond before Castiel gently pushed her through the door and when she had turned to argue with him, he was gone. Sighing, Emily joined the guys in the car, telling them shortly about his disappearing act, and they'd headed back through the town towards the motel.