Peril of the Protector

"Cas!" Dean screamed, jumping to his feet. Gabriel and Balthazar ran after their brother, not looking back as they disappeared from sight. Dean called out to them, running after the angles as fast as he could.

…Hannah struggled to her feet, but collapsed as her wound began to take its toll. Sam caught her, cradling her in his arms gently. She tried to get up again, but Sam held her down, keeping her still.

"But…the l…little ones," Hannah moaned, reaching out in the direction Cas, Gabe and Balthazar had run. Sam shook his head.

"Dean's got them. Let's get back home and get the rest of the Calvary. Six heads are better than two and an injured angel," he explained. Hannah looked resistant at first, but gave a nod of agreement. Sam helped her up, book falling from his pocket. Sam frowned, picking it up. Sam fingered through the pages, stopping when he found several more pages filled out. Sam flipped to the latest chapter currently glimmering to life.

'Family Means Blood: Peril of the Protector.'

Continued now…

Dean ran through the streets, calling out for the runaway angels. He searched for any clue that would give away where they are. There was nothing. Every turn he took left him at another dead end. Sighing, Dean stopped in his tracks. He took in his surroundings, finding that he was in some dead part of town. He leaned up against an old abandoned building, catching his breath and looking though his phone. He had six messages from Sammy, Bobby, Kevin, and Charlie each. Damn it. Dean quickly looked through the worried messages in hope to see that the angels had returned home, but there was no such luck.

It was silent around the hunter, but he could just make out a very soft noise coming from somewhere around him. Something from the alley next to Dean was sniffling softly. The hunter instinctively lifted his gun, heart hammering in his chest. He looked into the alley that was only lit by the light of a single lamp. Three figures were huddled around the light, shivering in each other's hold. Dean lowered his gun as realization hit him and he ran towards the figures, enveloping them into a tight hug. The angels now in his arms sobbed loudly, clutching at Dean's jacket for dear life. Dean shushed them, rubbing his hand up and down on their backs in attempt to comfort them. Dean's fingers ran through their feathers, freezing when he felt how cold they were. Dean leaned against the lamp post and pulled his jacket off, wrapping it around the three in his arms. He looked at their faces, seeing how utterly lost they were. Dean's heart tugged, wishing the angels hadn't seen what they had. Sure, they had seen the deaths of their siblings before, but this was before they became toddlers and had put so much trust towards their older brother. Lucifer had abandoned that trust however. He had given it up for power and had abandoned his family again in the process. When the angels were somewhat calmed down a little they sat silently in the dim light just snuggling with their hunter. There was a soft ring from his pocket suddenly and Dean pulled out his phone, glancing at the screen to see Sam was calling. He lifted the phone to his ear and was shocked to hear his brother's frantic voice on the other end.

"Dean, run! Grab the angels and get out of the alley now!" Sam screamed frantically. Dean frowned. What was Sammy getting at and how the hell did he know they were in an alley? Dean hadn't had a chance to message him his location. "The book! It's happening and…Dean, just get out of there –" Something rattled from the other end of the alley and Dean's heart stopped in his chest.

"Dwean, what –" Four demons stepped out from the shadows, lunging themselves at the four. The hunter's eyes widened in terror and his phone clattered to the ground. Dean threw himself on top of the angels as the demons attacked, letting the black eyed sons of a bitches beat at him in attempt to get to the small angels. Dean could hear his brother and the others shouting on the other end of his phone, yelling that they were on their way. The older hunter doubted anybody would get there in time however.

"Dwean!" Castiel sobbed beneath Dean's crushing body. Dean held himself tighter around the angels, protecting them from the never ending hits. He wasn't going to let them go. Not ever. He wasn't like Lucifer. He wasn't going to abandon them. "Dwean!" Cas called more urgently. Dean hushed the screaming angel in his hold as best he could, whispering that everything was going to be fine when he knew for a fact things weren't going to be. His vision was starting to blur, and memories of the last time his vision blackened while protecting his angels came forth. No, not again. He held on tighter, feeling hands yanking at his body in attempt to pull him off the angels.

"NO!" Gabe screamed as a hand reached under Dean and grabbed the angel's wing that had only just healed. Dean thrashed at the threatening hand and pushed the angels closer to himself. They were crying harder now, screaming so loud that Dean couldn't hear anything else. A demon reached for Gabriel again and Balthazar bit the demon hard. The black eyed bitch yelped and pulled a blade from her coat. Dean shouted, turning his body so he was once again completely covering the angels. Blood splattered from his back as the demon stabbed him. Dean could hear the muffled screams from Sammy and the others as they listened to the scuffle currently going on from Dean's phone, but they were only whispers compared to the sobs leaving the angels' mouths. Hold on. Don't let them go. Dean struggled to protect the angels, but now the demons were hitting him with full force. His grip began to slip.

"LET ME GO! DWEAN! DWEAN!" Cas' voice screamed as he was ripped from Dean's hold. Dean's eyes widened and tears spilled down his cheeks as he realized Cas's little hands were no longer wrapped around his neck. He chanced a look up to see several hands yanking at the baby angel, tearing the puffy coat from over his wings and trench coat to pieces. Black feathers flew in all directions and the angel screamed in agony, reaching for Dean's hand as the hunter reached for him. Realizing that Dean was trying to steal back the feathered being a demon kicked Dean in the face and sent him back into the cement. Making their move, the demons reached for Gabriel and Balthazar as they clutched Dean's coat. Dean held onto them as tightly as he could as more demons yanked on them, pulling more clumps of feathers from the angels' wings and shredding their clothes. Cas had stopped screaming now. Fear twisted itself through Dean's heart. Don't let go. Don't let go! There was burst of light and Dean's eyes widened as Balthazar and Gabriel shot a blast of light out at the demons hurting Cas. As soon as the light faded Dean felt something or someone jump onto his chest. He looked down to see Cas clutching at him, breathing heavy and gasping as his sobs choked him.

"Run!" Balthazar shouted before passing out from the amount of grace he had used to stop the demons. Dean struggled to his feet, grimacing at the pain running through his back. When his feet were securely on the grown he ran, holding all three angels close.

"Gabe, how much juice you got left?" Dean panted. He could taste blood in his mouth. Gabriel shook his head, looking just as drained as Balthazar.

"Maybe one more hit, but then that's it," Gabe croaked. A swear left Dean's mouth as he made a turn out of the dark alley. He couldn't let Gabe use the rest of his power yet. If Dean dropped off from the blood loss or something Gabe would need the strength to get his brothers to safety.

"Time to die, Winchester!" the demons behind them screamed. Dean stumbled slightly, falling to the ground. His vision was nothing but spinning objects and black fuzz now. This was it. He was going to die. Dean pleaded to the angels to run, but they only clung tighter to the hunter. Dean knew why. It was the same reason he had held on so tight to them. The same reason he was different than Lucifer. He would never abandon his angels and they would never abandon him. Gabe readied himself to let loose one last burst of grace, but someone else beat him to it. A bright white light blew up around them, tearing the demons to shreds and leaving the angels and Dean alone in the dark street. Dean opened his eyes to see Hannah running towards him and the angels with the rest of the family close behind. Dean finally allowed his grip to loosen on the angels and he rolled onto his stomach, spitting up globs of blood. I did it. I did it. They're safe. They're okay. Sam dropped next to Dean, pushing down on the gushing stab wound in Dean's back in attempt to stop the bleeding. Hannah took Balthazar's unconscious form in her arms and tried to take her brothers away, but the angels only screamed and clutched tighter to Dean. The hunter quickly turned to the angels, wincing at the pressure on his wound and kissed the angels gently. It's going to be alright. I'm okay. Go with you sister. I'm here. I'm here. The words left his lips multiple times, but the Gabe and Cas refused to go away. Dean gave a pleading look up at Hannah and the angel nodded weakly before gently touching the foreheads of her smallest brothers. With a gasp the two collapsed, falling into a deep sleep. Hannah stumbled slightly herself, still too weak from before. Still, she forced her tired limbs to lift the three angels in her arms. Dean watched her rock the angels for a moment before he turned his gaze to his little brother. Sam finished tying a ripped shirt against Dean's wound and Bobby helped him lift Dean up off the ground and pull him towards the Impala. Sam got into the driver's seat after helping Bobby get Dean in the car and Hannah took a seat on the floor of the Impala in the back, still holding her brothers. Dean's consciousness started to zap away more and more to the sound of the engine, but there was one question Dean had to ask.

"How did you find us?" Sammy was silent for a while and Dean wondered if he wanted to know. A long sigh left Sam's lips and Dean was suddenly handed a book. The Winchester stared at the cover, recognizing it from when they were at that Supernatural Convention. It was one of Chuck's. The cover was of Dean and the angels by a lamp post and a dark shadow was hiding in the darkness of the alleyway. He flipped through the pages until he got towards the empty pages. Black ink was slowly starting to appear on it. The hunter's eyes drooped a little as his body began to give up on consciousness due to the blood loss and beating he had just gone through. They had to start buying these books from Chuck more often. Dean's eyes trailed to the three angels and he reached out a hand, fingers brushing over their soft wings before darkness swallowed him.

To be continued…