Castiel spent an entire day standing in the circle that imprisoned him, waiting for it to burn out. He sent up psychic cries for help for hours. Finally, he gave it up. It became apparent to him that there was no help to be had. He didn't know what had become of his brethren, but for all intents and purposes, he was the very last of his kind left in the world.

Despite knowing this, he also knew that there was no way he could take on Lilith and her cohort alone.

When the flames finally ran out of fuel and released him, Castiel went immediately for help. He was a stranger in a strange land, a soldier behind enemy lines. His allies were gone and his mission was in jeopardy. With nowhere else to turn, he could think of only one person in the whole world who might be able to help him.

Kaydie Smith, lacking the patience to keep faking a coma, sat instead in a jail cell. It had been two weeks since she called her family and told them they needed to come get her out of the mess she was in. Unfortunately, her family was neck-deep in problems of their own. They were busy regrouping, repairing and taking stock of the damage done by their long lost cousin Alice.

In her cell, Kaydie stewed in the knowledge that her grandmother was dead. She never thought she would have time to mourn the woman once she was gone. She was supposed to take her place, after all. She was supposed to be leading her family through these dark times. Instead of stepping up to take the mantle that was her birthright, accept the responsibility she had been prepared for her entire life, she was stuck behind bars, cut off from the people she was supposed to be taking care of. More than once, she seriously considered a jailbreak, but practicality forced her to dismiss the idea. If she escaped, she would be hunted. If she waited for her family, they could make the whole thing go away. There were enough Smiths in law enforcement who could clear her a way out of the mess she'd landed herself in. Hundreds of miles from home, she had choice but to wait for someone to come get her.

It turned out, Kaydie had plenty of time to mourn. Enough time for her grief to coalesce and clarify, sharpening into burning determination. Kaydie had a duty to her family, but they were getting along well enough without her for the moment. Once they freed her, they would have to keep fending for themselves for a while. Just long enough for Kaydie to go on a hunt.

Long enough for Kaydie to find and kill the monster that somehow managed to hurt their family so badly.

Kaydie lay on the hard mattress in her cell and closed her eyes, breathing deeply as she bathed in her rage. Behind her eyes, blazing hatred painted a red picture. She saw Alice Smith's face and imagined with intense pleasure the horrible way she would kill her when the time finally came. For the first time her life, Kaydie felt and understood true patience. She let her desire to make her nemesis pay flare and fester, let it settle under her skin like a parasite. She lived with it without feeling the urgent need to rush to satisfy the savage inclinations it fed her. All in good time; nothing in this world or the next would stop her from taking her vengeance. Today, tomorrow, next week, next month, in years... it made no difference.

"Smith."

Kaydie's eyes flew open and she bolted upright.

"Castiel!" she gasped. Her shock at seeing him disappeared quickly, replaced with questions.

"I need your help," Castiel told her, answering her unspoken questions. "I am in grave danger of failing my mission. The mission you were also tasked with. I need you to come with me."

"Mission? What, watching Dean Winchester?" Kaydie demanded, backing away as he tried to put a hand on her shoulder. "I could give a damn about that mission."

"But your orders-"

"Greta's dead," Kaydie informed him. "My family is scattered. I've been waiting for them to come get me out of this place-"

"I will free you," Castiel interrupted her, holding his hand out again. Kaydie dodged him again, and he eyed her with confusion. "Why do you keep doing that? Take my hand, Smith."

"I'm not coming with you," she said insistently. "I could give a rat's ass about Winchester."

"You... you are abandoning your mission?" Castiel asked, dumbfounded. It had never occurred to him that such a thing was even possible. He supposed Kaydie was only human, after all. Even so, it had been his impression that she was as devoted to her cause as he was to his.

"What mission?" Kaydie demanded. "You wanna tell me what's so damn special about Dean Winchester? Why do I have to waste my life chasing him around?"

"Fate has ordained-"

"Fate," Kaydie scoffed. "Wow, you sound like my grandmother. Look at all the good believing in that crap did her. Me? I'm not playing this game anymore. I'm in charge now. I call the shots. And I'm done marching blindly to the beat of orders that come from god only knows where."

"So Greta's wishes mean nothing to you now that she is gone?" Castiel asked. Her attitude infuriated him. He was filled with disdain for Kaydie, even as he saw that his words gave her pause. Deep down, she must have known that her decision to disobey her superiors was wrong, even as she hid from that fundamental truth. "You defect from your cause the minute your general leaves you alone on the battlefield?"

He bore down on her like a mountain, his presence filling the cell and crushing Kaydie as he got in her face. She shuddered as she realized she could feel his wrath, bleeding into the air like carbon monoxide to surround her completely, invisible, undetectable but for the sickening effect it had on her. She took a deep breath and steeled herself against the harsh intensity of his disapproval.

"You will help me, Kaydie Smith," he informed her, uncompromising blue eyes boring into hers, imposing his will over hers. His voice was flat and toneless as ever, but somehow it managed to convey more menace and authority than Kaydie had encountered over the course of her entire life. His resolve was a wave that washed over her relentlessly, every minute she spent in the spotlight of his scrutiny eroding her resistance. "We will carry out the mission. We will fulfill our orders if it is the last thing we do. Whether our leaders are here to see us complete our tasks is irrelevant."

Kaydie opened her mouth to tell him to stick his mission where the sun didn't shine, but she found that under the pressure of his insistence, she couldn't get the words out. A quick review of her options left her reminded that it could be weeks, maybe months before her family got their shit together and came for her. In the meantime, she was sidelined while Alice's trail grew colder by the minute. She was prepared to wait for revenge as long as it took, but if she didn't have to wait...

"I'll help you one last time," Kaydie conceded. "Get me out of this cell, make sure no one comes looking for me, and I'll help you finish your mission. But after that, I'm out."

No more missions. No more fate. Nothing but the hunt. Kaydie wouldn't rest until she got what she wanted.

Kaydie was a traitor to everything Castiel believed in, but he didn't have the luxury of picking and choosing his allies. Stranded on a planet where she was the only soul he knew, he felt like he was left with no other options.

"Very well, Smith."

Kaydie nodded grimly.

"What exactly is it we're doing? Dean wander somewhere you couldn't follow him again?"

"Not exactly. Dean was taken by Lilith's horde. I am unable to locate him."

"Ok. So, first stop, evidence lock-up," Kaydie said. "I need my gear back. Once we have my tracker back, it'll point us in his direction. Are we assuming you're not gonna be able to back me up once we find him?"

"It is highly likely that I will be unable to enter the building in which they are holding him," Castiel admitted.

"'Cause if you could, you wouldn't be offering to spring me. Tracks. After we grab my stuff, I need you to take me home."

"Why?"

"What, you think I'm charging into a nest of demons by myself?" Kaydie scoffed. "That's suicide. Take me home, I'll round up as many of my cousins as I can. Then we'll go save your stupid mission."

The demon gave them the address of an abandoned hotel in downtown Minnneapolis. The building, once grand, towered over them, dark and desolate. Gargoyles peered down at them from the rooftop, limestone snarls paling in comparison to the menace of the silence that blanketed the street. Dawn was breaking by the time the hunting party reached its doorstep.

"I was hoping to do this under cover of darkness," Allison grumbled as they armed themselves. She handed out hex bags that would incapacitate a demon, while Sam surrendered the colt's bullets to Alice. She turned to Alice, who pulled a coin from her pocket.

"Heads or tails?"

"Tails," Alice guessed.

Allison flipped and the coin landed tails up.

"It's you," she informed her sister.

With a sigh and a grimace, Alice loaded the bullets into the chamber of the fabled gun, wishing wistfully that she was a better shot. Part of her was glad that she would be the one to take the shot at Lilith when the time came. Another part would gladly have pushed the responsibility off on Allison.

"Double tap if you've got the ammo for it," Allison suggested.

"Duh."

"Hey, how about we don't throw those bullets around lightly?" Bobby grumbled. "They don't exactly grow on trees."

"Everyone ready?" Sam asked.

All four hunters nodded and they took the first step toward the old hotel together. Then they froze in unison as gunshots rang out, followed by shouting from a few floors up.

"What the..."

"Infighting?" Allison suggested.

"Demons shooting each other?" Sam scoffed. "Doesn't add up."

"You tell any other hunters what we're doing?" Alice asked.

"Not a soul," Bobby said, watching the windows for any hint of what was happening inside.

Ahead of them, the commotion continued in the hotel. With a crash, a man flew from five stories up and landed hard on the sidewalk feet from the hunters. They jumped back, waiting for a long moment to see if the man moved. He never did.

"Looks like a hunter to me," Bobby observed.

Alice had an idea and darted forward, pulling the stiff's sleeve up.

"What are you-"

"I'll be damned," Alice said, interrupting her sister's unfinished question. She lifted the man's arm up for the others to see.

"Torxing marks?" Sam asked, brow furrowing in confusion.

"Smiths," Alice guessed. "They must be after Lilith too."

"So now what?" Allison asked.

"We have to go in there," Sam said resolutely. "Dean's in there somewhere. We can't just sit this one out."

"And if the Smiths decide we're bogeys?" Allison demanded.

"Screw that, what if they get to Lilith before we do?" Alice said, panic rising in her at the thought of losing her best shot at staying out of hell. She dashed for the door, the others hot on her heels.

"Of course that's all she's worried about," Bobby growled at her back.

Alice didn't have time to snap back at him. The lobby was deserted. She grabbed Allison and veered left.

"We're splitting! Go find Dean!" she called back to Sam and Bobby.

"That wasn't the plan!" Sam hissed back at her.

"New plan! Don't get shot by the Smiths!" Alice called back as she and Allison disappeared into the stairwell.

There, they discovered the first grisly fatality of the Smiths' incursion.

"Ugh!" Allison gagged as they dodged around a corpse and the stinking, tar-like puddle in which it lay.

"What the hell is that?" Alice demanded, glancing back in disgust and helpless curiosity as they made their way cautiously up the stairs.

"Heavy duty witchcraft," Allison supplied grimly.

"How can you tell?"

"I saw a hex bag back there. The kind of ingredients it would take to do something like that to a demon..." Allison shuddered, deeply disturbed and unable to keep it off her face.

"Smiths for you," Alice said grimly. "I definitely take after the bad side of the family."

"Alice, you can't-"

"Oh come on!" Alice groaned, taking the lead as they reached the second floor. "Now's not the time for another damn therapy session!"

"You want less therapy sessions? Lose the self loathing!" Allison shot back.

Alice rolled her eyes as they made their way through the hall past boarded up doors. She didn't have a self-loathing bone in her body. She was just brutally honest with herself. Allison couldn't seem to wrap her head around the idea that she was at peace with herself, even as she criticized her own actions. Constructive criticism was the only real way to grow, after all. Hell, she was probably healthier than the majority of people in the world, the ones who didn't take the time to examine themselves and form a harsh, objective opinion of their own actions.

Well, mostly healthier, anyway.

They turned a corner and found three more bodies. One was a Smith, the others demons.

"What the..."

The demons were covered in scratches. Unable to help herself, Allison stooped down to examine the bodies. The scratches were actually runes, some of which Allison recognized. These demons had been bound into their hosts, rendered completely powerless, then killed with regular bullets. The creativity of the spell was bone-chilling.

"Allison! We have to keep moving!" Alice hissed.

"I'm coming!"

Unable to help herself, she drew her knife and cut off a scrap of the dead demons shirt. She gingerly used it to grab the hex bag on the floor next to him, wrapping it carefully and tucking it into her pocket. Maybe she could reverse engineer the spell if she knew the ingredients.

"Is that really smart?" Alice demanded, waving her sister into another stairwell.

"I didn't touch it," Allison said.

"Can you focus?"

"I'm focused!"

Floor after floor, they found more bodies, and floor after floor, they failed to catch up with the Smiths.

On the top floor, they realized that somehow, they had managed to miss all the action.

"Where the hell did they go?!" Alice demanded, kicking the wall in frustration.

"Back down?" Allison suggested.

"We would have seen them on the stairs."

"They took the elevator."

Both sisters whipped around, raising their guns and barely stopping themselves from firing on Bobby as he emerged from a room.

"Fuck, Singer!" Alice cursed.

"The elevator works in this dump?" Allison asked in disbelief.

"How do you think I beat you up here?" Bobby asked, wincing as he wiped a line of blood from his forehead.

"What happened?" Allison asked. "Where's Sam?"

"Me and him split up on the third floor when we realized this place has a basement," Bobby explained. "I headed straight to the top, figured I'd work my way down and meet you two in the middle."

"And?!"

"And, I found Lilith," Bobby said.

"What?!"

"Yeah, thought I was done for," Bobby went on. "She tossed me against the wall like I was a rag doll, got ready to finish me off... the Smiths saved my bacon. Busted in tossing hex bags around like confetti. Took Lilith and her lap dogs out of commission. I think I got hit with one too, but I just blacked out."

"Did... did they kill her?" Alice asked, heart sinking as dread weighed it down like a stone.

"I don't think so," Bobby said. "They left all the other dead demons behind. My guess is they took her with them."

"What? Why would they do that?" Allison asked, confused.

"Beats the hell out of me."

"Sam," Alice remembered. "Is he still in the basement?"

"He never checked in after we split up," Bobby said grimly, checking his phone to find that he hadn't missed any calls while he was out.

"That can't be good," Alice said. "We should hurry."

She made a beeline to the elevator, Allison and Bobby hot on her heels.

"Let me guess, you want me to back Sam up stag while you two chase after Lilith and the Smiths," Bobby said with narrowed eyes.

"You really think you've got my number, huh?" Alice said, shooting him a dirty look.

"I believe what I'm shown, Smith," Bobby told her.

"Don't call me-"

"Holy hell, knock it off!" Allison yelled, getting between Alice and Bobby as the tension in the elevator grew. "You two can work this out after we get the job done! Singer, we're with you, ok? We care about Sam too!"

"Speak for yourself," Alice frowned.

"Don't let her tough act fool you," Allison told Bobby. "She cares more than she lets on."

"Allison, seriously, do NOT speak for me!" Alice growled angrily.

Allison didn't have time to keep arguing with her sister or defending her to Bobby. With a ding, the elevator delivered them to the hotel's subfloor. They stepped out into what had once been the laundry room, sprawling out ahead of them. Overhead, the florescent ceiling panels flickered and buzzed, threatening to plunge them into darkness at any minute.

"Holy cap, it's freezing down here!" Allison breathed.

The hunters advanced with their weapons drawn. Shouts drew their attention to a door ahead to their left that stood ajar. They hurried over, bursting into the room and freezing when they saw the scene inside.

Sam and a man they didn't recognize, presumably a Smith, wrestled with a demon. The clash was brutal, the demon covered in the same scratches as the other dead demons they had come across. Sam and the man both wielded knives, struggling valiantly to to land a blow to the demon. Allison couldn't believe how strong the thing still was, in spite of the spell that imprisoned it in its host and greatly diminished its abilities. At least, that was what the spell was supposed to do. With a shudder, Allison realized the demon Sam was fighting must be so strong that even such a powerful spell was able to do little more than slow it down.

In the center of the room, a woman hurried to free a man from the chair he was tied into. Bruised, bloodied and barely conscious, the man could do little more than choke on his own blood while she worked. Alice's stomach dropped when she realized who it was.

"Dean?"

The woman stopped what she was doing and looked up, animosity taking over her expression when her eyes met Alice's.

"You!" Kaydie hissed. Alice recognized her just as Kaydie raised her gun, taking aim.

"Alice! No!"

Alice blinked and in that time, Allison shoved her way in front of her little sister. A single gunshot rang out, the sound world-shattering in the confined space, reverberating off the concrete walls and echoing through the hotel basement. Allison stumbled back while cold spread through Alice. She didn't have time to feel anything as she caught her sister and dragged her from the room.

"Bobby! Help!"

Alice's voice, but it didn't sound like her voice. She didn't remember telling herself to scream.

Bobby tackled Kaydie before she could take another shot, wrestling her to the ground as they fought over the gun. Another shot went off, hitting the demon Sam was fighting. Alastair dropped like a stone, eyes wide with shock for a moment before they rolled down, searching for the wound that he could feel was killing him. Sam seized the opportunity and sunk his knife deep into the demons neck with an animal snarl. The Smith helping him pounced at the same time, his knife lodging in Alastair's back. Sam kept stabbing while the demon went down, not caring that the son of a bitch was already dead. This kill was too personal. It was payback for his brother, still bound to the chair behind him, still bleeding, still barely breathing. Sam stabbed the empty shell that had once held Alastair until the Smith finally grabbed him, pulling him off the body.

Meanwhile, Kaydie fought against Bobby's hold, rage blinding her. All she could think about was how close Alice was, how close she had come to killing the bitch. In her fit, she forgot that the bullets she was shooting weren't silver.

"Alice! Get her out of here!" Bobby yelled, struggling with Kaydie as she snarled and shrieked. After a minute, she broke free from his grasp, whacking him hard over the head with the butt of her gun. She scrambled to her feet, bursting out into the basement in time to see Alice retreating to the elevator with Allison in tow.

"ALICE!" Kaydie bellowed. Alice didn't look back, sprinted toward escape as fast as she could while dragging Allison alongside her. Kaydie advanced, emptying her clip as she went. Alice stumbled across the threshold of the elevator, desperately punching buttons as Kaydie's bullets hit their marks, the force of each shot forcing her to jerk back with its power. Out of ammunition, Kaydie threw her gun down and drew her knife, charging the elevator with a roar as the doors took their time to slide shut. Alice hit the 'close door' button over and over, breathing a sigh of relief when they finally closed. Outside, she heard Kaydie crash against the doors, banging on them as she screamed, rage driving her past reason.

"Shit. I guess she knows I'm the one who blew up Smith city," Alice said grimly, coughing up a lungful of blood, even as the shifter body began to right itself, forcing bullets out as it healed. They fell to the floor, a ridiculous number of rounds thudding against the elevator carpet. Alice ignored them, adjusting her grip on her sister.

"Come on, Allison, stay with me!" she begged. The ride back up to the first floor was short, but she felt like it took hours. Before she got off, she pushed every button above basement level. The stairs didn't go down to the subfloor. With any luck, this would delay Kaydie long enough for Alice to get her sister to safety.

"Allison? You're gonna be fine. You're ok."

Allison didn't respond and Alice was in too much of a hurry to think to check if she was still alive. She dropped her in the back seat of their car and tore off down the streets toward the nearest hospital. Her mind was treacherously blank, her heart completely empty. She felt like she was dreaming in slow motion. She raced to save her sister's life, emotionless even as she felt tears streaming down her cheeks.

"You hear me Allison? This is nothing, you're gonna be ok."

Alice heard her voice, heard her words, and realized that she couldn't make herself sound convincing. Still, she couldn't stop repeating the same words over and over again, like they would come true if she didn't give up on them.

"You're gonna be fine. Everything's gonna be fine."

"Bobby! Are you ok?!"

Sam rushed to his side, but he brushed him off.

"I'm fine! Get your brother!"

As Bobby struggled to his feet, Sam quickly freed Dean from his restraints. He slumped forward bonelessly and Sam's heart dropped.

"Dean? Dean? Can you hear me? Dean, come on!"

Sam's heart was racing, but he forced himself to calm down and check for a pulse. The relief he felt when he found one almost knocked him off his feet.

"He's alive," Sam said. "Bobby, help me get him up!"

Together, they pulled Dean to his feet, dragging him out of the tiny room in time to see Kaydie and the other Smith getting on the elevator.

"Hey! Hold it!" Sam yelled as they hurried over.

"No time!" Kaydie snapped, slapping the button for the lobby.

"Kay, what the hell?" the man beside her demanded. He stepped forward to hold the door, only to have Kaydie grab him and pull him back as the doors slid shut.

"I said there's no time! That bitch is getting away!" she snarled, her fury all-consuming. Her quest for vengeance left no room in her heart for compassion.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" the man demanded, pulling free from her grasp with a look of disbelief.

"Me? What's wrong with you?!" Kaydie demanded.

Before the man could answer, the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Kaydie burst out, racing into the street. She realized Alice was gone and screamed her frustration to the sky.

Meanwhile, her cousin stayed on the elevator, riding it back down to the basement. When the doors opened, he offered his help to Sam and Bobby.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what's gotten into her," he apologized on Kaydie's behalf.

"Whatever the hell kind of problem she has with Alice, she needs to get herself under control!" Bobby scowled. "Allison and Dean have nothing to do with their drama!"

"Like I said, I'm sorry."

"Dean?"

Sam ignored Bobby and Smith, tapping his brother's cheek lightly in an effort to rouse him. Despite the fact that he was covered in blood, Dean didn't seem to be hurt that badly. Sam had only ever seen this much blood when someone lost a limb or got decapitated. They dragged him to the car, parting with the Smith as they sped off to the hospital, unknowingly following a trail Alice had blazed only moments earlier. Bobby drove while Sam rode in the back with Dean. He examined him more closely, trying to find the source of the bleeding.

"Bobby, I don't think this is his blood," Sam said after a few minutes.

"What?"

"I... I can't find any wounds, any cuts..."

"So what's wrong with him? Why won't he wake up?" Bobby demanded.

Sam shook Dean, tilting his head back and peeling up one of his eyelids. Dean was completely unresponsive.

"I don't know," Sam frowned, worry knawing him. He should have been relieved that Dean didn't seem to be hurt, but this... somehow, his brother's unexplained unconsciousness was worse than any physical wound Sam could have found on him. Far from relief, Sam was filled with dread. His gut instinct told him that there was something seriously wrong with Dean, but what, he couldn't say.

"At least he's with us now," Bobby said, sensing Sam's distress and attempting to console him. "At least he's safe."

Sam chewed his lip, holding Dean's limp form tightly to keep him from sliding across the car as Bobby took a sharp turn.

Dean was with them. That didn't mean Dean was safe.

Unbeknownst to Sam, the reason for Dean's outward health was sitting in the backseat with them. Castiel healed Dean the minute his ward emerged from the cursed hotel the demons had covered in symbols and charms to keep angels at bay. Sam wasn't the only one worried about Dean. Castiel put a finger on Dean's forehead, frowning as he searched for any sign of consciousness. It was there, but it was buried deep and it retreated from Castiel's probing touch.

"Work with me, Winchester," Castiel frowned, diving deeper as he chased the flicker of life that was Dean through the recesses of his mind. "I refuse to fail my mission because you are too afraid to wake up."

Still, Dean stubbornly managed to elude Castiel's search, slipping from his reach every time he got close. Afraid that he was doing more harm than good, Castiel took his hand from Dean's forehead. His frown deepened as he realized he was totally out of his depth.

Someone... anyone... if anyone at all can hear me... please, I need help, he tried one last time.

Silence. Absolute, utter, all-consuming silence.

For the first time in his existence, Castiel felt the slow creep of despair, washing over him like freezing winter rain. Kaydie had made it abundantly clear that she wouldn't come to his aid again and her will was strong enough that Castiel knew there was nothing he could do to sway her decision. He had no idea what to do and nowhere left to turn. Fear gripped him as, for the first time, he was faced with the stark reality that he might not be able to fix this.

For the first time, Castiel realized he might be unable to carry out his orders. His mission was hanging by a thread and there was nothing he could do to salvage it. Like Sam, talking to a brother who couldn't hear him out of sheer, helpless desperation, all Castiel could do was wait and let fate run its course. An agent of change, he was used to directing the flow of destiny. Now, he was caught in its current like all the billions of humans he considered to be so powerless to shape their own lives.

Powerless. That was it. Glumly, Castiel realized that for all his angelic abilities, for all his strength, all his knowledge, he was just as powerless as any human in the face of this crisis.