Blood and Feathers
It had been a few days since the Winchesters had last heard from Castiel. Dean walked the floor beer in his hand. He was worried sick for his angelic friend. He would never admit it out loud. He had called the angel several times now, left him voice mails, and texts. He had lost track of how many times he has prayed to Cas hoping he would return to them. He sat down on the couch.
They were staying at Bobby's place since Cas vanished. This was Dean's safe zone staying at his surrogate father's place.
"Dean," Sam started as he walked into the room.
"If you ask me again if I'm okay," Dean said. He looked up at his younger brother annoyance in his face.
Sam shook his head. "No. Because I know you're not okay." He sat beside him beer in his own hand. "But we can't just sit around waiting for Cas to come back. We should get out there and find Alacastor, or a case or something."
Dean nodded. "I know Sam." He gripped his beer bottle tightly.
Sam patted his arm. "I know you miss Cas. I miss Cas too okay Dean. But we can't just sit around and drink."
Dean went to speak again when suddenly there was a whoosh of air. Dean looked up to see Cas standing there. "Cas?" He breathed. He almost dropped the beer. He jumped up from the couch and ran up to his friend.
Castiel looked rough, his coat hung off his shoulders, his tie was undone, and he had speaks of blood on him. "Dean?" He practically cried. He held out his hands that were coated in blood.
"What happened buddy?" Dean asked. He took his hands and checked to make sure Castiel wasn't bleeding.
Sam joined them. He looked the angel up and down. "You look awful."
Castiel looked from one brother to the other. He focused on Dean while he talked. "I'm not exactly sure what happened."
Dean pointed to the couch and took Castiel over to it to sit. "Talk Cas."
Castiel shook his head. "I left because…" He looked over at Sam. "I was worried I would hurt you guys. I thought tracking down Alacastor alone was my best choice. So I followed a lead on the humans that worked with him. I found the human female and tracked her for a couple of days. I went to confront her but… I don't know what happened." He looked down at his hands and frowned. "I couldn't stop myself… I attacked her." He looked up at Dean. "I asked her if she knew were Alacastor was after that I just attacked the woman." He balled up his fists.
"Well from what you told us she was a bitch so no real loss there." Dean said. He placed his hand on Castiel's shoulder.
Castiel shook his head. "She did what she did because of that demon. Killing her was not my intention."
Dean squeezed his shoulder. "It's okay Cas."
Sam shook his head. "It's not your fault Cas. Alacastor is controlling you."
"We got to stop him." Dean said.
"So what did you learn from her?" Sam asked
Castiel shook his head. "Unfortunately not much, Alacastor hired them to hunt down different… monsters they had been at it for about a year. Then when they got… me apparently he told them he didn't need them anymore. He paid them and they went their own ways. She hasn't seen him since. Then… I lost control and killed her." He looked down at his hands again and shook his head. He weaved he's grace through them cleaning up the blood. He looked over at the Winchesters and suddenly got up from the couch. "No I'm a danger to all of you."
Dean reached out to him and Castiel moved away from his touch. "Cas buddy it's going to be okay."
The angel looked at the two of them his blue eyes wide and wild. He feared for he's friends' safety he didn't want to risk hurting them. "No… I can't." He started to back away from them.
Dean began to worry that Cas was going to run from them again. He reached out and grabbed the angel. "Stay put!" He commanded. "We can help you just got to let us."
Castiel looked at Dean's hand on his arm then back up at Dean. "Dean I'm scared."
Those words shot through the eldest Winchester like a bullet tearing through flesh. Cas was scared. "Cas." Dean said softly giving his arm a reassuring squeeze.
"How about we put you in the panic room?" Sam suggested. He got up from his position on the couch. "We can even lock you in there if it makes you feel better."
"No!" Dean growled. The thought of his best friend being locked away like a caged animal did not sit well with him.
"Just until we can break this spell." Sam said
Castiel nodded. "Okay. I'll do it."
Dean frowned and looked at his brother then back to Castiel. "You're not a monster you don't need to be locked up."
The angel frowned. "Dean I killed an innocent human,"
"She was a bitch." Dean interjected
"I attacked Sam." He looked down at the floor. "I could hurt you next I almost did back at that motel."
"But you didn't." Dean frowned. Dean had an idea as to way Cas didn't hurt him. He had done some research on his own about it.
Castiel looked at them. "I'll feel safer in the panic room."
The two nodded. They walked down the hall to the panic room. Castiel walked in and waited for the door to be locked.
Dean felt his heart sink when he hear the latches click. He's memory still raw from when Sam was locked in there getting the demon blood out of his system.
"I'm going to call Bobby and tell him Cas is back. Hopefully he found some new research." Sam said and walked off
Dean still stood by the door. Waited until he heard his brother talking to Bobby down the hall. He reached up and unlocked the door and walked into the circular room.
Castiel looked up at him and narrowed his eyes. "Dean I thought we agreed that it's safer if I'm locked away."
Dean shook his head. "You can't hurt me." He said with confidence as he walked into the room.
The angel tilted his head. "What makes you say that?"
He placed his hand on his own shoulder where Castiel had pulled him up from hell. "The profound bond, it's what stopped you isn't it."
The angel frowned. "Yes Dean it is, when I contacted you I amplified our connection."
"Amplified?"
The angel blushed slightly. "You'll be upset but… I can sense or at least feel your feelings. Don't worry the amplification will decrease after some time."
Dean shook his head. "So you felt me not want you to hurt me?"
Castiel tilted his head. "More like a strong command." He held up his hands. "But there is no guarantee it will work every time. I mean I beat Sam before you could stop me."
Dean nodded. "So you're saying that I can break his hold on you."
The angel looked away. "Maybe I'm not real sure myself." He crossed his arms and looked down at the floor. "This is actually a first for me."
"Cas I promise we will figure this out." He patted his arm again and turned away to leave.
"Dean…"
He looked back at his friend. "Yeah Cas."
"Thank you Dean.. for being my friend and I'm sorry this has happened."
Dean nodded. "Still not your fault Cas." And with that Dean left and relocked the door cutting the angel off from them.
Castiel sat on the bed letting out a small sigh. He could still feel Dean. The human was busy trying to think of ways to save him and kill Alacastor. After a few hours the invasion of thoughts finally stopped. He breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad to have his mind to himself. He looked down at the floor thinking. It shouldn't be this hard to find one demon should it. Suddenly his phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and answered. "Hello?"
"Castiel?" The voice on the other side was Crowley
"Crowley what do you want?"
"You know I've tried to be a good sport. I've called you about three times already and you finally answer. Don't you check your voice mail?"
Castiel rolled his eyes. "I uh."
"Yeah, yeah I figure I know what happened anyways. So since you're talking the Winchesters still haven't killed you so I figure you still want to kill Alacastor."
Castiel paused. "Do you know where he is?"
"All in due time feathers. I am outside why don't you come out and we can make a deal."
He let out a small hiss. He didn't exactly care for the demon he was well a demon but. "Crowley I don't know about meeting…"
The demon scoffed. "Alacastor isn't in this state you're fine. He's spell only works if he's in the area."
Castiel felt a surge of regret. He was in the same area as him when he made him kill Ella.
"Listen I can just tell your favorite humans about it if you rather but you know they aren't made out of the same stuff as you and I."
"No!" He surprised himself with his tone. "I'll be there shortly." Using his powers he popped the lock on the door and made his way outside. He made himself invisible to the naked eye as he walked past his friends. He looked down at Sam and Dean and a pang of guilt hit. He had heard Dean's thoughts begging him not to leave not to disappear again and he was leaving.
He walked out of Bobby's house. Crowley was standing outside smirking waiting for him.
"Took you long enough feathers." He said
"What is the deal?"
"Wasting no time huh?" He chocked his head and studied the angel before he spoke again. "The deal is, I help you with Alacastor and I call you in on a favor when I need it."
The angel frowned and looked at the demon. "What do you mean?"
Crowley smiled. "Being King has its perks but sometimes you need extra help. I can't be everywhere at once."
"You want me to be an enforcer?"
"Pretty much, just when I can't do it. I call you, you take care of my problem. You are an angel so killing some little demon isn't much is it?"
Castiel looked around then let out a huff of air. "Fine."
The demon held out his hand and he took it and they shook hands. "Pleasure doing business with you Castiel. Now let's kill Alacastor shall we?"
The angel looked back at the house. He was leaving them again. "Sorry." He said which was barely above a whisper and disappeared with Crowley.