Castiel wasn't one to stop the Winchesters from pursuing a case. He as much as them agreed with helping people. Getting rid of those who caused nothing but pain and brought bloodshed amongst humanity.

But this time he needed to stop them.

Even if that meant bringing the wrath of both brothers upon him.

-Cas.

-Yes Sam?- His voice came out oblivious as he stared at anything but Sam himself. He could almostfeelthe bubbling anger deep within the youngest Winchester's core.

-Why does my laptop looks like lightning struck upon it?

No answer.

The door slammed open.

-Castiel I swear to God that if you have anything to do with my Baby's busted tires I will end you!- Dean's voice echoed across the room as the man seemed to be panting with the rage of a thousand hellhounds.

The use of his full name told Castiel that Dean was without a doubt pissed.

Still he held his ground as he looked up.

-I don't understand what that has to do with me. I don't like computers and I most certainly don't like cars. Why would I go near them?

Lying was a sin.

But if said sin prevented the Winchesters from finding out aboutthatside of angels no human should know then so be it.

Even Zachariah and Lucifer would choose death over revealing such thing.

And Castiel wasn't about to be the first one to let that secret out.

-Don't give me that crap! You have been trying to sabotage this case even before we left the bunker!- Snaps Dean hotly. Cas at least has the decency look guilty. And guilty should he be.

-We have had enough of whatever this is Cas. First you blew up our FBI facade, then you made the cops arrest us after insulting one of the officers, you messed with my researchtwice,got us into a bar fight, almost made Dean crash and nowthis.

-I just think there is no case here to dwell into. Humans get tired all the time and it's not like they get hurt or sick. Just tired.

Those words got both Sam and Dean to raise their eyebrows. For one side he was right but even if there were no deaths the fact that most of this town held people who seemed to lose their energy and strength for hours every week was enough to raise red flags.

The fact that Castiel was doing all this gave them the feeling that the angel knew more than he was letting on.

No.

If the brothers didn't knew better they would say that Castielknewwhat they were dealing with and refused to help them.

-Cas. Is there something we should know?

Castiel didn't speak.

He just turned around and for once in his life walked out of the door.

-Dick.- Scowled Dean as the door closed. The bastard knew what was happening and refused to help. Castiel had never done such a thing which just made him worry even more.

Sam's phone began ringing.

-Bobby? Did you find anything?- They had asked Bobby for help. After all there were no clues at all to what was happening. No traces. No witnesses. It was a perfectly clean job.

Almost too clean.

Dean watched Sam's face go from relaxed to frowning to skeptical to excited to confused to understanding before that nerdy excitement took over again as he ended the call.

-So? What do we got?

-Remember how these past years angels hadn't been that much into low profile?- Asks Sam almost vibrating with a strange excitement. Dean almost felt scared to ask.

-Is this angel crap?

Because only angel crap could give Sammy that look. Only angel crap would put Cas on such dickhead mood.

-Bobby said that after giving it thought and researching up a little itisan angel the one doing this.- Dean sometimes wondered how would Sam look as a mad scientist.- Dean. They arefeeding.

That caught his attention.

-Feeding? What do you mean feeding? Haven't you heard Cas' "Angels don't need sustenance" crap?

-No. I mean. They feed on human's soul energy. Like, they suck up their energy through touch. Leaving the person wasted for a couple hours but without causing any harm or side effects. Not their life force. Not their souls. Their energy. Remember that angel that said human souls feed heaven? I think this is what he meant. They are like batteries and we are the chargers.

-Like when Cas touched Bobby's soul.- Says Dean remembering how wasted the man looked afterwards. How wastedCaslooked.

Which meant angelsdid have a weak point.

All creatures were vulnerable when eating and apparently even angels.

It was a disturbing thought though.

-Dean I think Cas was right. I mean, if this is an angel feeding I don't think-

-Even if no one is getting harmed it's just a matter of time before someone has an accident due exhaustion.- Cuts off Dean. He wasn't about to let an angel go around feeding off of people either, that was a disturbing thought. Was this why Cas was trying to ruin the case? Did he knew who it was or did he just not care?

-I know but Dean, maybe we don't have to kill it. Maybe we should step out of this case.

-Sammy. Mention me a feathery bastard who we haven't had to kill aside from Cas.

-...

-Exactly.

~~~~

Castiel didn't came back until night. Dean and Sam were eating some take out when the angel materialised out of thin air. Standing in the corner with that vibe of a serial killer just Cas could pull off.

He was eyeing the new laptop on the table.

-Touch that laptop and that will be the last thing you do.- Warned Dean from his position on the sad excuse of a couch the motel room had. Cas tilted his head to the side as he gave him one of his famous glares. It was weird though.

To know of what did the feathery bastard feed on.

How many times have Cas come back from leaving a poor bastard wasted somewhere? Okay that didn't came out right but still... How did that even work? He had seen how a soul gets touched by an angel and it didn't look pleasant at all. It looked hella painful and disturbing.

It made him suddenly wonder if God just put humans here to feed the angels.

"God's personal farm."

That was an hilarious thought in a twisted way.

-Cas why don't you sit? Don't stand there like you are planning our murder.- Calls Dean patting the empty spot on his side. Sam gives him a flat look from the bed while Castiel warily seems to ponder if Dean was about to stab him before deciding Dean wouldn't actually kill him.

He still sat as far from Dean as the couch allowed. For once giving Dean his personal space. He sat as stiff as a statue staring straight out of the window.

Sam and Dean had talked about this case for a while, about what it meant, they had done even more research.

And the angel was really doing no harm as far as their investigation told. No side effects at all which was the main reason for their doubts to be starting to bloom.

For one side it was wrong. Ithadto be stopped before people began to get hurt for real due exhaustion.

But on the other hand killing it when it wasn't doing harm felt wrong. Maybe it was because deep down it felt like they were acting against Cas too. There was no spilled blood, no pain, no deaths. All the victims said the same.

Aside from feeling like they had ran a marathon for endless hours there was nothing else.

There was no reason to kill the angel.

But it also had to be stopped.

This has been going on for four months.

This town was small.

If this kept up it was just a matter of time before things went South.

So Sam and Dean against their better judgement had chose to ask Castiel directly about it, no matter how much the angel seemed to be doing the impossible for them to not find out.

-So Cas.- Began Dean casually as he gave the person in question a side glance. Castiel didn't look back at him but he tilted his head slightly as if to let him know he was listening.- Bobby called us and he told us what this creature could be.

Dean could swear the angel just grew even more stiff if that was possible.

-What is it then?- The angel's question was followed by him turning to look at Dean and nope, it wasn't his imagination. Castiel was honestly tense and wielding an odd expression on him.

-It's an angel. But I believe you already knew that didn't you? That's why you didn't want us to come.

Ah.

He knew what that face was.

The angel was uncomfortable.

The guy who had no sense of personal space or boundaries was uncomfortable because someone found out what angels feed on, and if that wasn't ironic he didn't knew what it was.

There was also a hint of panic that he couldn't help but frown at in mild confusion.

-Look man we aren't criticizing here but you gotta make it stop. Hasn't it been more than enough for this town to be subjected to that for four months?

-I don't know what you are talking about.- Blurted out Castiel at Sam's words as he got up. He didn't want to be here. He didn't want to hear their words. He knew the Winchesters wouldn't understand. He knew it was wrong to latch onto a town for so long but...

He couldn't stop it.

After doing so with Bobby it had felt like a dam crumbling down.

He knew it was wrong but it just felt so...

It felt like he was home.

It felt too soothing to let it go.

And now the Winchesters were attempting to hunt down the monster.Him.And that just made him feel worse.

He was being hunted by his friends.

That should be enough to tell him he was doing something wrong.

And still he didn't care.

Sam and Dean watched Castiel disappear with something akind to disappointment.

-That went amazing Dean now what?

-Now we hunt down an angel.

~~~~~

It had taken a while but Sam and Dean had figured out a patron and since it was clear Castiel wouldn't help neither of them bothered to tell the angel.

Tonight a blind woman was the target once again after a week since her last "exhausted" episode.

It was hard to come up with a plan on how to get the bastard considering the few things that could work on them but at the end they settled with the angel blades Cas had given to them and hiding a camera in the room.

If their suspicious were right the woman wouldn't wake up even if there was to explode a bomb at her side and the angel wouldn't kill her.

Hopefully.

-We should had tried to talk to Cas again you know?- Told Sam as he sat right on the other room. The woman was blind so it had been easier than expected to hide from her.

-Well he didn't seem to be in the mood for a talk not before not a second time.- Says Dean staring at the laptop, part of him still felt uneasy about this. Castiel had refused to help and there were no victims.

It felt wrong to be hunting down this angel.

It was funny though because in the past he wouldn't had hesitated at all to tear this bastard apart.

-Dean look.- Sam's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

The image was glitching but there was a shadow approaching the bed and there was something about the way it walked that seemed oddly familiar.

Both brothers waited while holding their breath.

The angel sat at the edge of the bed giving its back to the door and touched the woman's forehead before leaning forward. Just mere inches apart from her face.

And then it touched her chest which began glowing. It took a moment before a white flow of energy started flowing out of her mouth and into the angel's.

That was the signal for the brothers to get up and run to the room as full of stealth as possible. Dean opened the door and stepped in, Sam following right behind.

But having the angel closer along with the soft glow coming from the woman was enough to identify the shadow.

And man if their skin doesn't crawl. Hands falling limp at their sides.

-You son of a bitch.- Breathed out Dean definitely not expecting this outcome. Of course he should had seen it. Castiel wouldn't had gone great pains to hide another angel's doing but his own.

His voice was enough to get the angel's attention who flinched and whipped his head back at them. Eyes glowing as the glowing from the woman died down.

Castiel looked positively horrified as he quickly stood up.

-Was it you all along? Snacking on all these people?

Castiel didn't answer and he sure as fuck didn't look up. He just stared at the floor with wide eyes.

-Cas?- Called Sam but the angel didn't look up. He looked like he was drowning in shame and guilt.- Look Cas-

Sam was cut off by the angel taking a step away from him when he took a step towards the angel.

The angel was now staring at the angel blade Sam was still holding he noticed.

And the look he was giving it didn't settle well with Sam nor Dean's stomachs.

-I'm not gonna hurt you.- Sam felt the strong need to tell almost feeling horrified at the thought of Castiel thinking he was gonna use the blade against him.

The angel thought didn't seem to believe them and thus disappeared into thin air.

~~~~~

Sam and Dean at the end had chosen to leave the town. A feeling in their guts telling them there was no doubt Castiel wouldn't step in that town for a longlongtime.

In the impala the silence was heavy. Neither of the brothers had been able to sleep and there were no signals of Castiel. He wasn't answering his phone nor Dean's prayers.

Dean was starting to wonder if the angel would just disappear from their lives as sudden as he appeared which did nothing to calm his growing anger. Castiel was an idiot if he thought running from this was the best idea.

-I'm sorry I ruined your computer Sam.

The sudden voice from the backseat got Dean cussing and almost hitting the car at his side.

-Dammit Cas what the hell?

As Dean glanced at the rearview mirror he saw the angel staring down at his lap with a kicked puppy look. Why was he surrounded by grown men with puppy looks? What kind of joke was his life?

-It's fine Cas. I'm not angry anymore.- Assured Sam truthfully.

Silence reigned again.

-Where's my apology for what you did to Baby?- Demanded Dean with a scowl.

-I'm sorry.

More silence filled the car after that, it grew so thick it became difficult to breathe and so Dean spoke again.

-You do know there's billions of people across the globe right?- Dean's voice made Castiel frown.

-Yes?

-Then why focus on one single town?

Castiel didn't answer but even on the rearview mirror Dean caught the uncomfortable look on the angel's face.

-Look man I'm not judging here okay? I'm just trying to understand.

-You are not mad?

-What's the point of being mad? No one was hurt.- Tells Sam matter of fact giving his brother a side look. Warning.

-I'm a bit pissed for what you did to Baby though but... Just help us understand man.

Castiel didn't speak for a while and for a moment the brothers thought he wouldn't. But then he spoke.

-A human soul is like a nuclear bomb. Humans are connected to heaven through their souls. But... the humans with the strongest of faiths have a stronger link and... that town. People there have strong faith... I... It makes me feel closer to heaven.

Having to explain it aloud to two humans was harder than Castiel ever thought.

-It's not really about hunger. It's more about connection I... A human soul can re-charge an angel's grace due being linked to heaven but while doing so it allows us tofeelit. It... I don't think it's something humans would understand.

Silence reigned once again and Castiel was tempted to leave and never come back. Was Dean mad? Disappointed? A brother who drank demon blood and now an angel who feed on human souls.

And Sam. Sam despite all wouldn't like it either. He would see Castiel as an hypocrite for calling him abomination when at the hunter's eyes he was also an abomination.

He was gonna lose his friends wasn't he?

Dean for his side had mixed feelings. He was mad that Cas would do something like that. Disappointed that he didn't tell them. But he also felt his chest grow tight at the sadness in his friend's voice. He knew Castiel missed heaven.

He had never expected he would miss itthatbad.

He shared a look with Sam who in exchange turned to look at Castiel who seemed to be sulking in the backseat like a kicked puppy.

The angel was sulking.

Great.

-It's fine Cas. No one gets hurt right? So just... Don't focus on the same place and just do it when the person is sleeping.- Tells Sam a bit awkwardly.

John Winchester would so hunt his sons' asses down if he was to find out they were giving an angel tips on how to feed off of human souls.

But hey.

The least they could do was make sure no one got hurt.