In the Lethe Series 2

by teaandchess

Three years have past after the events of In the Lethe, when Castiel made his choice to save a demon and the Winchesters made theirs to save one other. All that Dean, Sam and Castiel have fought for to save friends, lovers and family has started to fall apart. Old enemies begin to stalk those that they love and so it comes down to a choice. It will always come down to a choice.

7. Horizons (When Angels Believe)

Summary: The Winchesters try to formulate a plan to find out what Adam and Eve are up to. Settling into a tense stalemate, Castiel and Meg work to make deals to save Nyx, unaware of the trap that might be springing around them.

---

Part 6: Horizons (When Angels Believe)

Spells to revive monsters from Purgatory were not simple and, as Sam's research found, would take the right amount of time and ingredients to let the spell gain power. It took a week to find what they needed, with Castiel using quick trips out to the city limits to distract the angels no doubt watching them. That he hadn't seen a single angel hanging around the bunker didn't mean that he would let his guard down.

If Michael had known Meg was alive, that she was here, then the other Garrisons would be able to find her just as easily.

Determined to protect them all, Castiel made sure that wards were burned into the bunker walls for protection from angels and demons alike. Midweek, Dean and Sam made a fast trip they had ever made to Louisiana to recover Benny's bones from where Dean had buried them.

It was really too quiet, both brothers thought, sharing that idea in their minds with uncomfortable clarity. There were no reports from Garth about monsters or demons attacking humans for days now, and not even a sign of angels after that night.

It was likely a sign of how they lived their lives that peace made them more anxious than running for their lives.

Forced to relax during the week by Sam and Castiel, Dean turned to his usual sarcastic humour to deflect how tired he still felt, while Sam retreated into his far too easygoing way of dealing with his brother. Neither could deny that as much as Dean's heart attack had affected them, the tension from the others living in the bunker made it seem like their problems seem happy by comparison.

Kevin kept to himself, still grieving and angry that he had hunters and angels on his side but no one knew how to bring his mother's killer to justice. No one except a demon had seemed to care and he devoted his time instead to deciphering old notes he had kept on the tablets and trying to hide from the visions he was suddenly being gifted with.

"The kid needs a break, time to grieve," Dean said to Sam one night.

"I think if he did… he might break down," was the only answer Sam had for his brother.

Castiel watched them all and knew he should try to let himself be more concerned about both Kevin and the Winchesters. He had time as he worked to find the spell Dean had asked for. But he kept silent, hovering, just inside the shadows and quietly waiting.

He hadn't realized how hard it would be living near Meg and keeping his promise to stay away when at the same time he wanted that companionship they had once had.

They'd spent days ignoring each other, awkwardly passing in the halls and barely speaking more than a few words. The one or two times he had forgotten himself and spoken to her, Meg had answered but she sounded off, as if she wanted to say something more but wouldn't let herself. She was preoccupied and it was so unlike her that when she wasn't looking he would watch her more.

Nyx didn't seem to sense their tension but how she treated Castiel was similar to Meg. Distant and at times even untrusting. She played her games by herself or spent time around Kevin and often the prophet eventually gave in and read to her. At night, if Castiel chose to watch over her, she simply bundled herself up and slept.

It had been a few weeks and Castiel knew he was expecting too much but he couldn't help it. Nyx was confused, he could feel it. He felt stabs of envy when he saw Sam and Dean getting her laughing or smiling. Around them she was happy. Around Meg she still had a bit of fear but more often than not she latched on to her. With him… distance.

Dean had asked him what he could expect after forcing them to separate? After seeing scary things that a child her age could barely understand?

Castiel was aware he'd been naive in hoping maybe things would change quickly. Meg seemed anxious and spent hours in the library, practicing small spells and forcing herself to gather her strength. Always in the shadows, he felt the gradual change in her as she finally regained that power she had once had three years ago.

He could only hope that maybe this time if he moved slowly they could find their way back to at least being comfortable around each other. The one thing he had learned as a human had been that when the situation called for patience, he had to wait. Hundreds of half-starts and messy introductions had made him learn that even if he returned as an angel, it didn't mean he could run into things blindly.

He had been so eager to find his way back to Meg that he had forgotten that.

It was only just as the week passed into the next that he noticed how sometimes Nyx stayed closer to him than before and no longer seemed to pull away when he spoke to her. A few times he had felt her touch his hand to try to hold it but he wasn't sure what she wanted. But then she would be off playing or drawing or bothering Meg.

Castiel was so caught up in being alone that he missed how Meg started to watch him in return.

---

Purgatory…

The white-wash sky was flexing.

That was really the only way Benny could describe it as he stood in the middle of the spring and looked up. His latest victory was under his feet: a werewolf that had attacked him despite his warning that this was his territory and now he stood over it, one foot on the back of its neck. It was drowning in the water and he could feel it pitching and heaving as it struggled to fight for air. Looking back down, he lifted his bone-axe up in the air and swung down like a golfer making a drive. The head popped clean off, sailing through the air and landing in the pile of bodies that he'd been collecting since making this area his home.

Monster golf, Benny thought wryly. What would Dean think about him playing golf using monster heads? He never had much taste for the sport but in Purgatory he had to make his own forms of entertainment.

Grinning, he hefted the werewolf out of the water and tossed it onto the shore.

"You know," he said as he sat down next to the still twitching corpse. "I was never one for games but you wolves? You make things all matter of fun."

He looked up at the sky again.

"You'd think you'd all learn, one way or another."

Benny tugged his cap down over his eyes and leaned back on his elbows. The stench of blood and sweat would eventually bring the others here and he needed to rest for a while. But damn, Benny still grinned to himself, it was still fun. It had been a while since he'd been so amused by something like this.

A flicker of light danced overhead and he lifted his brim to see that the sky was changing. For a moment, it seemed like that it was actually dipping towards him until the sky was bowed and too close to him. The air itself felt electric, more than it ever had in his long years in Purgatory. Beneath him, the ground suddenly rumbled and he scrambled to his feet, eyes darting over the surface as if expecting it to split apart. But whatever had moved the ground hadn't affected the water. There wasn't even a ripple across the quiet surface.

It was the sudden cold trickle down his spine that made the vampire aware that things were happening that he couldn't control. Benny felt a strange tug, like a rope coiled around him had begun to tighten. The pressure started at the base of his feet, travelled up his body and centred in the pit of his stomach, and his body felt as if it was slowly and methodically being squeezed. Baring his fangs, he spun and looked suspiciously around the clearing for a new threat.

The burning numbness going through his fingers and toes felt suspiciously familiar. He hadn't felt this way in years, like he was being drawn through a tiny pin hole with meticulous care, inch by tiny inch.

"What are you doin' up there?" he muttered, crouching down and touching the dirt. It no longer felt real to him and the earth beneath his feet seemed to be buckling up to meet the bending sky. When he looked up, he could only see a dark smoky vortex coming for him, and spiralling flashes of light darted in the air and curling around his body. It felt like every limb was trapped by chains of fire.

Agony sliced through him and in the next heartbeat he was thrown from Purgatory into a dark void.

---

Lebanon, Kansas…

"I am still not certain that this is a good idea," Castiel muttered as Dean struck a match. shrugged and held it over the bowl they'd put at the head of the corpse on the ground.

"You keep saying that, Cas, but we're still doing it. Sam? Ready to give it another go?"

Sam gave Castiel a sympathetic look and began reading the spell Kevin had crafted for them. The angel rolled his eyes as Sam continued the Latin chanting and Dean tossed the match into the bowl and signalled Castiel to lay his hand on one of the rotted limbs. The flames suddenly whooshed upward and licked at the sides of the metal, and Sam finished his last stanza. The fire was boiling the herbs and the small amount of blood they had managed to bargain from a young virgin witch, (Dean hadn't explained how he had done that and Castiel hadn't asked) and the bowl began to glow with unholy orange light. Overturning the bowl, Castiel let the flames go over the decayed body they had laid out, the liquefied contents dripping over the skull. The flames ate at the bones and the bloody herbs, and then with a flash they extinguished.

They all felt the shift of the soul being ripped free from Purgatory when the air seemed to grow hot and Castiel could actually smell the change it made in the park. Something rancid yet earthy overwhelmed the odours of fresh cut grass and rain.

It had taken a few attempts and a little bit of his Grace to force the spell to function, but Castiel knew it was working now. He guessed that because Dean possessed Benny's bones and Eve was out of Purgatory, this seemed easier than before; if Eve had found a way, then she was managing to keep the doorways a bit more open than ever before.

"What are we going to do with a monster again?" he asked, unable to hide his annoyance as he released the finger bone he held. The corpse was rebuilding sinewy muscle and veins were beginning to reappear.

Dean stood on the other side of Benny's body with Sam and he noticed the look Castiel was irritably shooting the reforming corpse.

"Double agent if we're lucky. We need some news, Cas. We can't do this just with ourselves. They'll see us coming miles away." Dean smirked at him. "Come on. I know Benny; he'll be happy to help."

"Maybe," Castiel paused. "I thought the same of Meg when I pulled her free from her afterlife."

Both Winchesters wisely said nothing to that but it did cause Sam to shoot Dean an apprehensive look.

They watched the body quietly, Castiel's power mixing with the black magic to slowly recreate it. Within the clothing they had put the bones into, flesh began to fill out the material until it looked like there was a true human body in there again. The crack of broken bones meeting and coming together, the pop of forming muscles, the low the smell of burning hair and flesh; all of it spoke of resurrection in the strangest way. With a snarl and hiss, light glowed over the body and as it settled, they saw his chest rise and fall slowly when the soul began to take its body back.

Covering his nose, Sam stepped back from the body and tried not to choke at the smell of a reanimated corpse.

When the body shifted on its own and the breathing came out deep and slow, Dean leaned down and smiled as two familiar eyes fluttered opened. Benny blinked up at him in bewilderment, the wild glaze in his eyes searching for something.

"Good morning, starshine," Dean encouraged.

The loud roar of the vampire attacking startled everyone and before Sam or Castiel could react, Benny jerked up and grabbed Dean by the throat. The hunter choked on a cry as he was yanked under the vampire and the thick fingers closed off his windpipe. Despite his fighting instincts, he remembered to go limp in case struggling set Benny off worse; he remembered his own feelings of disorientation and fear at being pulled out of Hell and Purgatory. Letting Benny slam his head into the dirt, he held the hands on his throat and tried to ignore how the ache in his chest worsened from the pressure of Benny's weight on him.

The vampire's fangs bared and he hissed, smelling human blood, a smell he hadn't had in years and suddenly hungered for.

Before he could lower his head, Castiel grabbed him by the back of his coat and hauled him off.

The vampire was still too weak from his revival to fight with the strength of an angel. The feel of Grace threatening him made him ready to fight all the harder until he hazily realized he was too weak to do damage. Cursing colourfully, Benny twisted against the arm wrapped around his throat.

"Benny, come on, man, calm down," Dean croaked out and the vampire shook his head repeatedly. "Calm down!"

The familiar voice cut through Benny's bloodlust and he realized who he was staring down at. Dean pushed up onto his elbows and wiped at his bloody mouth.

"Dean?" Benny glanced to his left and saw Sam standing close by, ready to help Castiel. "Sam? What in Hell is going on?"

Behind him, the hold loosened just enough that he could suck in deep lungfuls of air.

"Calm down," Castiel's low voice ordered in his ear. "We're not going to harm you."

Slowly, fang by fang, Benny's teeth sheathed themselves and he turned his head a little. "Auntie?"

Castiel flinched at the nickname and loosened the grip on his neck completely. "Hello, Benny."

"Thought it was you, angel." The vampire inhaled once and then looked at Castiel over his shoulder. "But why do you smell like a demon?"

Sam hid a grin as Castiel let Benny go and stepped back. When no one was looking, Castiel looked at his hands and wondered how a vampire could still smell Meg on his skin when he was sure the lingering odours of sex and sweat would be long gone by now.

Benny swayed on his feet, head shaking back and forth as he tried to clear his vision, and looked around the small park. Inhaling deeply, he smelt the burnt circle, the herbs and the blood of the ritual. He rocked back and forth on his heels and shook his head again. Everything in his body just seemed to hurt and the numbness leaving his limbs was only making the ache of recently reset bones throb.

It took him several minutes of walking around and staring at the night sky to figure out what had happened and when he did, he growled deeply in his throat in irritation. Fixing the fit of his coat over his broad shoulders, he cracked his neck loudly and focussed on Dean.

"So tell me, why the light show? All this effort for little ol' me?"

"Good to see you too, Benny," Dean said with a wry grin, holding out his hand. But the vampire ignored it and walked slowly around the ritual area again. He walked a little drunkenly, a sway to his step that betrayed his hunger and confusion, while his fingers traced over the closest tree as if to force himself to realize that this was real.

"Not that I mind a wake up call, but what the hell am I doing here?" Benny asked, eyes pinning Dean in his place.

"We need your help."

"Never thought I might be all 'helped out'. Helped you out last time, didn't I? With Sam here. All I wanted was to go back because I didn't fit here anymore. And now? You dragged me away from my home."

"How is Purgatory, Benny?" Dean asked as he watched his friend lean against the tree for support.

Benny's eyes were fixed on his face, jaw tight and eyes narrow and small with anger. "Nice. Carved myself out a sweet piece of territory I was pretty happy guardin'. Until now." He stepped towards the Winchesters. "So I'm goin' to ask you again. Why am I here?"

The fact that his fangs descended in primitive warning made Dean put his hand on his gun holster.

"Eve is back in this world," Castiel said suddenly before Dean or Sam could think up a lie.

Something closed off in Benny's deep set eyes and he stepped back, teeth fixing themselves completely until he seemed human again. He dusted at his sleeves as if it consumed his time and said too casually, "Is she now? How nice."

"Not nice. She's bound to do some real damage," Dean explained.

"Well now. Can't see how I should care. I told you I don't fit." Benny looked up at Castiel. "Send me back, will you?"

Castiel glared at him. "Dean wanted you here."

"I don't do happy reunions all that well anymore." The vampire crossed his feet at the ankles and rested heavily against the tree. "You pulled me out of a place I was resigned to bein' in — hell I was happy there—, and expect me to be happy about that? You've been readin' too many romance stories, boys."

The angel looked at Dean. "Now do you realize what I meant earlier?"

"Yeah, yeah, don't look so damn smug," Dean grumbled. "Besides, this is nothing like Meg's thing."

"Meg?" Benny looked at Castiel. "What? You found another vampire or something?"

"Hardly. Dean knows how I feel about remaining close to monsters," he countered.

"All right, knock it off," Sam said, rolling his eyes. "You're the only one we can ask for help in this. Did you see anything in Purgatory?"

"Saw plenty." Benny stretched his arms. "Monsters invadin' Hell, Mother of All becomin' a veritable Frankenstein, leavin' Purgatory, monsters gatherin'. You ask, I saw it. But you didn't just want a report, did you?"

"We think they are after us."

"Lucky you."

"Among other things. They are going to do some real damage if we don't stop them," Dean said. "That's why I need your help. I know you, Benny, I know you wouldn't be one of those monsters to watch innocent people die."

The vampire looked ready to say something, but changed his mind and shrugged. "So I come in as a double agent, I take it? You boys must be real hard up."

"We need to get a feel for what she and the others could do," Sam interrupted and Benny squinted at them all.

"A feel? You faced her before. What's more to 'feel'?"

Castiel folded his arms over his chest. "She's been divided."

The vampire looked at him as if he'd spoken another language. "Say again?"

"Divided. We were attacked a week ago, by a monster who claimed to be part of her. From what that monster said to me, Eve has been divided. The way that the Leviathan or some other monster would do."

"Leviathan." Benny's eyes gleamed viciously. "They aren't back are they?" His head tilted. "Wouldn't make much sense for them to be here. The ones back in Purgatory had their territory a long ways away and I always heard there was no love lost between them. Eve hated them a long time ago and she holds her grudges."

The humans both knew what he meant and Castiel uncomfortably remembered the hate in Adam's eyes. Whatever Adam and Eve were going to do, it would be devastating.

"So what do you say? Feel like workin' with us again?" Dean asked when it was clear Benny wasn't going to continue and after a while the vampire looked at him.

"No. Kill me now."

Something fell in Dean's face. "Benny, come on."

"I was happy there, Dean. You knew that. Ain't no place for me here and there never will be."

"I need your help here. Then the first chance I get, I'll send you back, I swear. I just need some answers, man, because we're going to be fighting blind and there's a lot at stake. I'd rather have you at my back than any other vamp I know."

That hit Benny in a sensitive place that the vampire wasn't comfortable admitting he had. The fact that someone actually trusted him and didn't see him as a mindless monster had always been the sucker-punch to end all sucker-punches. Benny sucked in a deep breath, letting it whistle between his teeth. "Oh boy, you and the favours, Dean."

He shrugged. "Hell, when do we start?"

---

"I heard the mission bell." A low moan accented the song's intricate guitar work and the man humming along to the song bobbed his head in time to the drumbeat as he cut a little deeper. Another moan, more guttural and agonized, kept harmony with the singer's voice.

"And I was thinking to myself."

"I never took the time to appreciate the classics when I was with her. Now? Well, I like this."

"This could be Heaven or this could be Hell."

The radio was playing loudly in the old barn to block out the sound of screams and moans coming from an old cattle stock. Strapped within its metal frame, splayed with arms bound to the top and legs spread eagled, the demon that had inhabited the farmer's body whimpered for mercy. The torturer came out of the shadows and leaned down so close that he filled the demon's blurry vision. "It is amazing."

A deep cut was slashed into the demon's throat and he began to choke on his own tongue while Adam hummed and sank in his fingers deep into to the gash. He still carried on the tune as he began find the soft spots of nerves and muscle and dug in just to see the demon try to smoke out. But the wards painted on the demon's body made it next to impossible for it to escape its meatsuit.

"How you parasites managed to survive—" He twisted hard and scooped out black blood and muscle, causing the demon to howl in agony. Clamping down his hand over the demon's mouth and turning the bearded face to the side, he shushed the demon so he could continue. "I will never know. What are you, without your masters? Without these humans you steal? Useless, that's what."

Adam settled down close to the demon and behind him the strange beasts that had once been werewolves were still prowling. They could no longer change back into their human forms, forced to stay in their more monstrous confines due to the venom coursing through them. Unable to turn his head away, the demon stared at them and whimpered as one roared and cried in agony as the venom continued to increase its hold on the monster.

The monster holding onto him noticed his interest.

"It is rebuilding them as pure monsters. Pure blood actually kept pure. Not tainted." Adam rolled his shoulders back and reached into his pocket for something. "Which is more than you demons can claim."

He leaned forward and held up a tiny gooey ball that glowed with unearthly light.

"Do you know what is happening to you right now?"

The demon twitched, eyes begging for him to kill it as the venom began to change the soul as much as the body.

"You possess humans so very easily. A simple snatch of control. Even angels need permission of their vessel but you? You invade and you strip them of control." Adam stroked his fingers over an open and infected wound and gently he began to push the glowing ball inside. "You get into their bodies and you shove the souls into a corner."

The demon squirmed as the monster's fingers started to dig deep into the tissue.

"You ride the body and steal it. You leech from them." Adam leaned close and licked a drop of blood from the demon's gaping wound, moaning in pleasure at what he tasted. "The Mother and I? We learned from that so we're going to return the favour. Monsters from deep in purgatory are souls much stronger than yours because of their wildness. The Mother has been incubating them for a very long time and they are eager to be free. Even let me have several to reproduce in this body myself." He sank his fingers in and ripped just to listen to the demon's howl. "You are going to experience it all."

He twisted and as he did the pain awoke the monster's soul he had set within the demon. It fed off the demon's pain, off the strange infection he'd injected, and he chuckled at its screams.

"Every."

The artery sprayed outward in a bloody shower.

"Single."

The monster already assuming control howled and healed itself using the demon's power.

"Moment."

Adam let it go and smirked as he watched the monster soul take over and the weak demon soul be overwhelmed. Leaning forward, he brushed his tongue against the bloody neck to clean it.

"They stab it with their steely knives, But they just can't kill the beast."

"How does it feel?" he asked and the demon still inside the meatsuit whimpered as the monster's twisting of its soul began to reach its agonizing crucible. It wrapped and writhed, one soul feeding off of the other until they were almost one. Then, slowly, the demon submitted to the possession and Adam watched Eve's newest creation be born.

---

The walk back to the bunker from the park took longer than they expected as Benny kept stopping and staring around himself with a look of some wonder, as if he couldn't really believe he was here. The vampire had never expected to be out of Purgatory again. He'd never thought to feel something other than the wildness of his home and the strange stasis it was constantly in.

Keeping pace beside him, Dean noticed when his friend stopped and tilted his head back. Castiel and Sam both watched him warily as he hung back with Benny and he waved them on. Like Benny, he understood what it was to escape such a place.

The vampire stared up at the dawning sky with its slowly fading stars and he sighed deeply, not looking away even when Dean cleared his throat.

"You know, never thought I'd miss the real stars." He waved a hand through the air. "Purgatory just has that haze, you know? You don't miss much; but the stars? Those are things to look for." He ran his tongue over his teeth, clicked it once, and then looked over to Dean. His frown deepened. "Just noticed that you don't look so great, Dean."

"Getting older, that's all." Dean was aware of Sam and Castiel slowing down even more and he rolled his eyes. Neither of them understood why he saw something worth trusting in Benny, and Sam had been acting almost motherly over him for the past week. It was actually good to focus on something else other than his heart.

"You have that hospital smell still clingin' to you." Benny stopped and reached down to his leg where the resetting bone still ached. "What happened?"

"Heart attack," Dean snapped.

The vampire stared at him curiously, seeing the weary lines and almost greyish skin. All he said was a quiet, "Sorry to hear it."

"Yeah, so was I. But I never thought I'd live long enough to get one."

"That's something, I guess." Benny looked at him and then at Sam who kept looking over his shoulder at. "I take it that's why your baby brother is lookin' like a mother hen right now?"

Dean gave him a small smile in answer and he shrugged. "That's why we need your help. There's been a lot happening and with the monsters, we don't know what to expect. You can go places we can't to find information. We want to save as many lives as possible and you're the best I can have helping from that side."

Benny folded his arms over his chest. "You just have to remember one thing, Dean," he said, throaty voice dropping as he passed the hunter. "You can't be disappointed when people fail you because you put such standards on them."

"You're saying I expect too much of you?" Dean demanded.

"No. I'm sayin' you let yourself believe that when people fail they are doin' it to you personally, and not themselves. Can't wait to see what happens if I don't live up to that." Benny bared his fangs a little and it caused his accent to trip around. "Take Sam. No wonder that little brother of yours is so scared of failin' ya that he's hanging around like a lost puppy if you get sick. You'd hold it over his head for a lifetime and then that'll kill him worse than a good old vamp bite."

Without making a sound, Dean grabbed him by the back of his collar and hauled him back as he crushed him up against a tree. Benny hissed but the knife pressed at his throat kept him from attacking in defence. In the distance, Castiel turned around and watched but didn't interfere. Dean could feel his own weakness and let his anger get the better of him to hide it.

"Let's just get one thing clear, Benny. You might be a friend and I'm gonna owe you. But Sam and I are off limits for you to talk about, you got it?"

They stared at each other for a long moment before Benny nodded.

"Crystal clear, Dean." The fangs receded.

"Good. Come on, you need to meet at least one of the reasons why we're on the run. Before she gets bored and runs off."

---

Without Castiel or the Winchesters, parts of the bunker were too quiet now and Meg had little else she could do but wander and read. Nyx was always up at the crack of dawn anyway and had already eaten and gone to bother Kevin, and, needing a break, Meg had let her. The fact that the demon didn't sleep didn't make waiting much easier. If she wasn't walking, she was stuck researching or trying to find some way to occupy her time. If only she could actually leave.

The only thankful part of this was that she hadn't seen Castiel since Dean and Sam had taken him out for the night. They'd all been so damn mysterious for the past week anyway and she didn't know what they were all planning. The only thing she had noticed had been the pile of bones they had carried out very carefully. The fact that she and Castiel had agreed not to really talk to each other had made it hard for her to learn anything else. She suspected he was up to something with the hunters but when weren't they up to something?

Knowing her luck, whatever they had planned would see her killed.

Meg shrugged, eyed the clock on the wall, and decided that maybe it was worth taking a look outside after all. If they had gone, then demons and angels weren't likely hanging around still. She could get some fresh air, leave Nyx with Kevin, and see what the hell two hunters and an angel were doing with a pile of rotted bones.

One hand dangling the empty bottle she had stolen from Kevin hours before, she rounded the corner to the front of the bunker and smacked into a thick chest. The bottle dropped from her hand and a tall, broad-shouldered man smoothly caught it. His deep-set eyes glinted as he fixed himself up straight to stare down at her. Meg stared back and saw the small smirk he flashed her

"Easy there, darlin'. Don't want to be smashin'…." He stopped as he really looked at her.

Meg inhaled, found a scent and a faint quiver in the air that was familiar, at the same time his eyes were on her face and he inhaled as well. There was a low rumble like a bear from his chest and then she saw vampire fangs begin to show as her own eyes went black in reaction. They launched for each other, his elbow catching her side, and she slammed her knee into his stomach. Surprised by the strength in her tiny body, he couldn't get a grip on her wriggling and Meg threw him up against the wall, the knife she always kept on her now slashing out towards his throat.

"Meg! Meg, no!" Dean shouted suddenly and Sam caught her arm at the elbow. "He's a friend."

"He's a vampire!" she snapped and he hissed at her, not intimidated by the knife. Sam tried to pull her off until her elbow clocked him in the jaw and she felt another arm wrap around her waist and drag her off.

"He's a friend," Castiel said in her ear, other hand around her wrist. He squeezed until she was forced to drop the knife and she grunted at the pain his grip caused. Once Sam had the knife, he loosened his hand just a little and the arm around her waist kept pulling her back until she was no longer close to Benny.

"He's a…"

"Vampire." Dean passed her and made sure he was between them. "We got that, yeah."

Meg's expression was incredulous as she stared at him.

"You are all working with monsters now?" she demanded and tried to squirm free but Castiel held her still, murmuring for her to calm down. "You complained about working with me!"

"He's got a better track record than you do," Dean said with a mocking smirk.

"Oh that is such a—" As if realizing who was holding her, she stopped and turned in Castiel's arms, shoving at his chest. "Let me go!" He released her and put his hands in the air passively. Meg glowered at him and then turned to face Benny. "A vampire."

Benny sneered at her.

"If it is worth anything, I didn't think hunters and an angel would be hangin' around a demon now."

They glared at each other, but it was Benny who looked away first. Dean watched them both for any sign they were going to relaunch at each other's throats, waiting until Meg's fists unclenched before he moved around her and clapped his hand on Benny's arm. "Come on. I'll show you in."

Benny let the hunter lead him, aware of Meg staring him down as they headed down the hallway. "So whose pet project is she?"

"She is gonna chop into your thick neck if you act like she's not here," Meg snapped and Dean got between them again as Benny stopped and faced her.

"She's with Cas," he explained and thought he heard her teeth grind together.

"No, she's not," she said, her voice low and dangerous. "And she is going to leave."

Dean was aware of being pushed back and Meg was blocked from leaving. "No, you're not," Castiel ordered and when she glared at him he met it with his own stoic stare. Catching the way they were looking at each other, Benny cleared his throat.

"So if she's not with the Auntie angel, then...?"

"She's with us. We have a-" Sam paused as he passed them. "I don't know what to call it."

"A deal?"

"Right."

"Sounds shady to me. All things considering you are makin' deals with demons." Benny gestured at Meg as she walked ahead of them. The demon shoved by Castiel, looking annoyed as they came into the main room where stacks of books littered the table. "Wait, she is what you are protecting?"

"Among other things." Dean turned to Meg. "So how much research did Kevin get done?"

"Do I look like a babysitter to you? I've been keeping busy since I can't leave this dump." She waved her hand at the stairs. "Nyx was upstairs with him."

"You're leaving her alone now?" Sam asked.

"Trust me, she's not leaving Kevin anytime soon. She's safe," Meg muttered.

"I'll find him," Dean said and though Sam took a seat he gave his brother a stern look.

"You should be resting."

"All the rest in the world isn't going to solve this. I'll see who is upstairs," Dean snapped, grumbling as he went up the stairs that he didn't need a babysitter. Meg watched him go and then glanced over at Castiel. Ignoring her, the angel leaned back against a shelf and crossed his arms over his chest as he looked up at the ceiling.

"So. This is wonderful awkward," the vampire said. He held out his hand to Meg. "Might as well be polite if we have to be in each other's company. Benny."

"Meg." She took his dirty hand gingerly and dropped it just as fast. Still eyeing him warily, she picked up a stack of books off a chair and then set it down closer to Sam. "So why's he here?"

"The monsters are loose and we need someone from Purgatory to help us."

"Right." Meg smirked at Sam. "Wouldn't your daddy be rollin' in his grave over this?"

His expression dropped a little, as if it was something he'd considered himself, before he turned away from her.

Benny took a seat on the table and watched Meg as she flipped through a book. As if trying to see what she was about, he leaned back and regarded her with just a tiny smile showing on his lips. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed how Castiel was careful to keep distance between himself and the demon but Benny could feel how his attention was on them both. Something told him that if they'd fought, Castiel wouldn't be on his side to protect him.

Interesting, the vampire thought and his smile widened a little more.

"So maybe it is just because I've been brought back recently and I'm all matter of confused… but what demon gets all tangled up with hunters and an angel?" he asked. "Smacks of the weird."

"Yeah well." Meg tossed a book down and rolled her eyes at Benny. "Didn't have much choice at the time."

Castiel shifted uncomfortably behind her.

"I still don't get it. Why are you here?" Benny pressed.

She shook her head. "Like I'd tell a vamp. It's not that interesting of a story."

"Oh, now I don't know, little lady. Any demon who can get the drop on me would get my attention." Benny smiled, flashing his teeth flirtatiously, and she actually grinned back.

Sam watched the interaction curiously and looked over at Castiel to see the angel, again, staring up at the ceiling. Something in the ceiling struts was consuming his attention and Sam realized he was trying hard not to eavesdrop. Biting back a grin, Sam looked down to the books Meg had dragged out and tried not to let his amusement show too much as Castiel continued to look at the ceiling.

The loud stomping of Dean coming down the stairs made them all look up, only to see a blur of blue and black go shooting by the table. Benny blinked, confused by the sight of a small child who latched around Meg's leg. The demon barely flinched, just reached down and stroked the girl's dark hair absently.

"Nyx, what're you doin'?" she asked and she picked up the stack of books and moved around her. The girl pouted and followed her.

"Dean cheats."

'"Sure he does," Meg agreed as she put the stack down close to the shelf. "What were you playing?"

Dean was already grumbling as he headed for the map room. "Hide and seek. She was the one playing. I was just walking and found her in my room hiding under my desk. She said Kevin was down here."

Meg crouched down and brushed the dust off of Nyx. "Hide better next time, kay? So no one finds you but me."

The smile she got back was disappointed. "Okay."

Benny was staring at Nyx so hard that the little girl looked back at him. Her eyes widened and she shrank back a bit into Meg for comfort. "Monster."

Castiel and Sam glanced at each other, sharing the look that wondered how she knew Benny was a vampire. Meg barely flinched, just looked up at Benny and gave the vampire a once over. When Nyx looked at her, she shrugged.

"Dean says he's good," Meg said, rolling her eyes as if to say 'if you believe that.'

"Good monster," Nyx didn't sound impressed. "Big monster." She nervously wrapped her hand around Meg's sleeve.

"He's a big teddy bear with bad teeth, Nyx."

Benny looked offended. "I've had some better calls about my looks."

"I'm a demon, vamp, what did you expect?" Meg drawled sarcastically and watched her daughter's face. Nyx took in the byplay and realized that Meg wasn't scared, so she smiled at Benny when she didn't have to be either.

"Nyx, this is Benny. Benny, Nyx," Sam introduced them and Nyx beamed up at the vampire.

His pointed look at Nyx wasn't missed. "And she is…"

"Mine," Meg said abruptly. She stood up, ignoring the way Castiel watched her. Benny's eyes darted between them both. He noticed the way Castiel's attention was solely on the duo at the table, the way Meg pointedly ignored the angel, and then he looked at Nyx as Meg picked her up and set her on the table, warning her to sit still. The vampire could see the signs on the surface and the way Nyx stared so adoringly at Meg as Castiel stared so fiercely at them both.

It wasn't hard to figure out who her parents could be with eyes and hair like that, though he doubted the body had much to do with what the girl really was.

"Ah. I understand." Benny couldn't figure out what she was just by judging her smell, the way he could with Meg or Castiel, and it left a niggling doubt in his mind that it would be worth watching her. To see what she was in the future.

"Understand what?" Castiel demanded as if Benny's voice had snapped him out of his perusal of Meg and Nyx. The vampire moved so he could lean up beside him while the demon and the child continued to move through the library away from them.

"The demon and you were obviously together in a truly biblical way. "

Castiel glared at him.

"Unless that girl just magically appeared?" Benny asked, pointing at Nyx. "She looks like your vessel, least physically."

"She is my child as well. Parthenogenesis in a demon is very rare lately," Castiel said, falling for the trap. Benny sensed the sore spot and, with nothing better to do until Dean came back, decided to twist the knife a little deeper.

"But the mother isn't yours?" The angel's silence made him shrug. "Surprising. She's a gorgeous tiny thing, your demon."

Carrying another stack, Meg moved around them with Nyx still right on her heels. "I'm not his."

"Even better," Benny muttered to antagonize Cas when the angel and demon looked at each other. He read more between them in just that look than if they had spoken. Whether they knew it or not, though the tension between them was thick there were tiny clues about their body language that let him know everything.

The angel finally looked at him, his eyes narrowed in speculation, and Benny smiled at him broadly. "What? I'm not allowed to admire her?"

"It's not my business." Castiel turned to watch Meg stack the books, Nyx hanging around just within her shadow. Noticing the way he stared after them with a mixture of loneliness and hunger, Benny smirked and leaned closer still.

"Well, I'm just thinkin', Cas. You look at the demon the way that you do, you're sayin' you want it to be your… business." His eyes slowly roamed over Meg. "Mmhmm."

Still sitting, forgotten, at the table, Sam watched the byplay with interest. "I thought monsters didn't like demons."

"Fair to think but I wasn't fond of angels either. I get over my shock fast. Life's too short." Benny was very aware of Castiel's eyes darting between him and Meg but the demon was oblivious to their attention as she answered Nyx's chattering. "But me? I can appreciate one like her just fine when we're on the same side."

He made sure to drawl it out just to see the way Castiel twitched with annoyance. The angel shot him one last glower and then moved to help with the books.

"You're doing that deliberately," Sam muttered and the vampire gave him an innocent look.

"Not gonna lie to you, Sam, it does tickle me to get under the angel's nerves a little. He's adorable when he's all flustered-like," Benny said dryly. "They were together?"

"At some point but that ended. Things aren't likely to change back right now though." Sam jerked his head to where Nyx was trying to show Meg a drawing she'd made on a dusty book cover. "She's theirs and, man, is Meg protective over her. Cas too."

"I figured. God must be rollin' in his grave over that one, not to mention the Devil himself."

Sam snorted. "Rollin' in the Cage, actually."

"Whatever." Benny shrugged a large shoulder. "How long do you think it would take for the angel to try choppin' my head off," he grinned at Sam, "if I keep makin' eyes at his missus?"

"Call Meg his 'missus' and she'll be the one to cut off your head." Sam glanced at him. "Knowing Meg, there'd be other pieces of you that would go missing first."

"Damn." The vampire winced as he thought it over. "Ouch."

"Yep." Sam lifted his eyebrows a little. "I'd just steer clear if I were you. When those two explode, it gets messy."

"Be a sight to see," Benny muttered, eyes roaming over Meg thoughtfully. "Seems like they exploded recently too."

Sam frowned at him. "What?"

"Nothing." He stretched out long unused muscles. "Let's go find where your big brother went. I'm in a mind for a drink and some rest."

Castiel caught Sam's eye as the younger man went to follow Benny and he subtly shook his head as if to warn him not to get too friendly. Sam simply smirked, pointed at Meg, and sliced his finger across his throat. The angel's grimace let him know he understood and he tried not to laugh as he left the room.

---

Kevin was in front of the massive map table, murmuring into the phone and placing markers on the North American map at the same time. His face was gaunt, worn and a bit grey, and his eyes were bloodshot when he glanced up at their arrival. The moment his eyes landed on Benny, he gave the Winchesters a bewildered look but didn't stop speaking into the phone.

Dean looked behind Sam.

"Cas coming?"

"I think he wants to stay with Meg and Nyx for a while."

Dean whistled. "Great. We got Monsters Inc. style problems and he wants to play Daddy."

Benny shrugged. "Can't say I blame him. Blood is blood."

The Winchesters both looked at him. "You're taking his side?" Dean asked.

"There ain't no side as to how I look at it," Benny mentioned. "I can't say I'm interested in whatever your little group has going on. Either you want my help or you can get to sending me back to Purgatory?"

Dean looked down. "I like the kid, and I've gotten to not hate Meg as much, but we've got big problems, Ben…"

"My help or drama. One or the other, don't have time for both."

Dean looked away and focussed instead on Kevin, but both Sam and Benny knew he was giving up the argument for now.

"Look, Garth, I get it but-but- but… hey! No! Garth! Slow down, man!" Kevin was snapping into the phone and his other hand was flying over a notepad, jotting down chicken scratch notes. "Garth, they don't even- okay, calm down. I'm sure they would have told you- yeah, Dean can be like that."

"Me? What did I do? I was in the hospital."

The younger man gestured for Dean to shut up. "Garth? Garth! Focus. I get what you are saying. Yeah- yeah I mean it wasn't something I thought would come up again. I'm sorry! Look, I—. Okay. Okay, okay! I get it! Thanks for the warning. Keep an eye out for us, okay?"

Kevin hung up the old rotary phone the Winchesters kept for a landline and glanced at them both. With a dramatic eye-roll, he looked pointedly at Benny next. Turning his attention to the map, Dean gestured between the two.

"Benny, Kevin Tran. Kevin Tran, Benny. Vampire meet prophet."

"I'm the vampire," Benny said as he shook Kevin's hand. The strength in his grip made Kevin wince and he flexed his fingers when they were released.

"Yeah, I got that. So we're working with vampires now?" he asked Dean and the hunter shrugged.

"We've worked with stranger things."

Sam looked at the expansive map the prophet had spent time on, with its clusters of dots and post-its everywhere. He'd been working slowly, as if getting it very precise was key, and the map was filled with the results of that work. Sam had started noticing that about Kevin lately: he'd started to become even more obsessive about things being perfect and in order. Whatever visions he had been experiencing had made him slightly more controlling than normal. Both Winchesters had decided this new development was just a 'prophet thing'.

But Kevin ignored the map and set down the notepad he'd been scratching on. "Where's Castiel?"

"Off taking care of the wife and kid," Dean muttered and leaned down. "What do we have?"

"Well, Garth asked if you guys could check out a supposed ghost influx three towns over and then a werewolf problem in Montana."

"Wouldn't hurt," Dean started. A hunt could distract them for a little bit.

"That wasn't his issue," Kevin said when he noticed how easily Dean was getting distracted by the prospect of a hunt.

"Garth sounded pretty upset," Sam interrupted. "What's wrong?"

"Well, a few of his hunters in Nebraska caught a group of demons that were searching around the Midwest." He pointed to the map. "Seems the demons let it slip that there was a Cambion wandering around."

"No, there isn't."

"That's what I said." Kevin traced his fingers over the curling edge of the map. "Then he said 'Did you know that supposedly a demon gave birth to a child? And that kid has an angel for a dad? Man! This kid is already three years old!'" Ending his impression of the other man, he plucked at a ripped map corner. "So who didn't tell Garth? I mean, Garth of all people?"

Both brothers looked sheepish.

"It's been a pretty closely guarded secret I take it?" Benny asked and smirked at their matching guilty expressions. "Boy, I feel all kinds of special for knowin'."

"The only ones who knew were me, Castiel, the Winchesters, an—and my mom." Kevin looked down at a marker set over Arkansas. "To everyone else, well, Nyx was believed to be dead until a few weeks ago. Same with Meg," Kevin explained. "There is now an APB out about Nyx. Rumours spread fast and hunters love a challenge."

"You lied to him right?" Dean demanded

"No. Don't be stupid." Kevin gave him a look. "Garth is a lot of things but a blind killer isn't one of them and we all know that. There's enough lies going around." He glared at them and even Dean had to turn his head away. "I told him about Nyx. I told him she is a little girl who has no real clue what she is. Garth isn't like the others, guys. He doesn't want to have a little girl killed just because hunters are scared. He said he'd keep the hunters off our backs for as long as he could. Nyx is scared enough about monsters and angels; no point in terrifying her with humans now."

"How much do they know?"

"Only rumours right now but you know some of the hunters. Big scores like those tend to attract attention. Something stranger than anything they've ever seen before would get them out there hungry for a kill."

"Great." Dean yanked out a chair and sat down heavily. Sam watched him with some concern but he ignored his brother's frown. "So not only do we have Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory after us, but now we have to contend with our own hunters."

"You… you wouldn't give them Nyx, would you?" Kevin sounded troubled and Dean's face suddenly wiped clean of any exhaustion. For a moment, the hunter and the soldier was there as one man. It was an intimidating combination, and the prophet actually backed up a step.

"Never ask me that again, you hear me?"

Kevin nervously looked at Sam but he too had lost that open, friendly look he usually wore around him.

Benny frowned and wondered why they would be defending a small girl so fiercely.

"Do we tell Cas?"

"The hunters are our business," Dean said curtly. "I'll tell him."

"Okay so, moving on." Sam tapped the map. "What do we have?"

"Garth's figures and my research. There's been actual clusters of monsters starting to crop up but in atypical spots. Just sightings really. They haven't been attacking except for those two hospitals in Kansas. The people that they attack claim they don't remember anything. Just being bitten. Garth didn't say if anyone has from the bites."

"But they are up to something." Dean sighed and wiped wearily at his face. "Just a matter of what."

"No one up north has reported about Eve or Adam. It is as if they aren't bothering with humans at all. Vampires, werewolves, shifters and skinwalkers, all of them are around but everything is quiet."

"Which is worse, I agree," Sam said. Benny leaned forward to look at the state of Louisiana.

"So that's what you need me for?"

"We can't trick our way past these things. Pretty obvious we aren't monsters."

"That and you both smell a bit different now." Benny bent towards Sam. "It ain't a big thing but I can smell that you've …. done something."

"Yeah, just stop. Stop sniffing me," Sam said uncomfortably and the vampire shrugged. Dean eyed his brother and shook his head. It was enough that Benny knew about Meg and Nyx; letting him know what they had done to their souls wouldn't help.

"Give me a day, some blood, and I'll be perky and ready to roll. I know of a few places that could let you know what is going on. I bet you hunters know squat about them," Benny offered and he drew a line over the map. "We can get to this nice little spot in Amarillo. Hole in the wall but it'll have news. If it is still there anyway; it ain't exactly the sort of place you call ahead and reserve a spot."

"What kind of place?" Sam asked suspiciously.

"A bar. Safe place for vampires who are either out of a nest or just makin' a trip." Benny shrugged. "Sounds cliché but it'll have information."

"You on the level?"

"Where else would I be?" Benny asked dryly. Dean stared at the map, not liking what he saw with the clusters that Garth had reported. There were a lot of sightings near Amarillo.

"All right. We get going in a day." He pointed at Benny. "You are on your best behaviour."

Benny simply showed his teeth. "Point me to a meal then so I don't feel tempted to take a nibble."

Neither Sam or Kevin could hide their shudder at the sight of his fangs.

---

Next day…

From his place on the steps leading to the archives, Castiel watched Nyx with the cardboard box Dean had given her after unpacking groceries. She had abandoned her colouring and the children's books Sam had bought her in favour of destroying the box. Sitting in the middle of the room, she hummed to herself as she ripped it up. Peculiar as it was, she seemed to be delighting in the destruction she caused. Occasionally she would pop a piece of apple into her mouth and then chew while she tore up the cardboard even more, pausing now and then to draw faces on the cardboard.

Castiel had been watching her for nearly twenty minutes and it hadn't stopped being interesting. There was something very human about Nyx now, yet he was waiting for any sign that her power would appear and completely destroy the box. But she just dug her tiny fingers into the cardboard and continued to rip.

"Must be the Meg genes in her wanting to destroy that box," Dean said suddenly and Castiel looked up to see him standing on a step beside him.

"Must be."

"I think everyone is going stir crazy." It had been a day and in such close confines everyone had taken to avoiding each other, as much as they had for the past week. "But at least she's taking it out on the box."

The angel shrugged. "It seems to keep her occupied."

Castiel looked back at Nyx. She continued to hum loudly, tossing her dark hair over her shoulder when it got in her way, and gleefully ripped apart one of the flaps. He had started watching her more carefully lately, trying to see if there was about to be some burst of power, some flame or kindle of what she was. But there was nothing overt. Just a faint hum of there being something a little strange, a little ready to transform into something greater, but no actual push.

He almost thought that she could turn her humanity on and off. Nyx just seemed like a special human, like Sam had once been, and not the product of an angel and demon.

"You're going with Benny, aren't you?" Castiel asked, forcing himself to focus on Dean. The hunter shrugged and took a long sip of his water. He winced and made a face at the bottle.

"I swear this clean living thing will be what kills me. Not the years of drinking, women, or red meat. Water and vegetables. Gross." He sat down with a thump on Castiel's step. "The way I figure it? For once we try to know everything before we have to fight. We get this information out the only way we can. Get back here and decide what to do." He lifted the bottle to his mouth. "If we get anything out of it that is."

"I agree. After what I felt from Adam?" Castiel sighed. "It did not feel right."

Dean took another sip. "What about the angels?"

"There's been nothing. It is as if they gave up on us."

"Or Michael gave up. What did Meg have to say about it? She seemed shook up and God knows I'm not going to ask her."

"Meg and I-" Castiel sighed and looked at his feet. "We haven't really spoken since then."

"At all?"

"At all." The angel's eyes lifted to stare at the opposing wall.

Dean looked over at Nyx. "Come to think of it, if it wasn't for her hanging around Nyx, you wouldn't know she was here." He frowned. "That's not like her. Was it because of the angels?"

"Whatever Michael threatened her with bothered her but I don't think that that was it. Something happened between us."

"What? You decided to have hate sex to get it out of your systems?" Dean joked. When he saw Castiel rub nervously at the back of his neck with a sheepish look on his face, he blinked and then promptly gave him a smirk. "I'm impressed. I had you guys pegged at doin' that in a few months at least— if ever."

"It was not planned," the angel said. "Trust me. I would have rather not done what we did."

"Was it good at least?" Castiel glared at him and Dean shrugged. "Come on, man, I know you weren't a monk as a human but as an angel you went back into that born-again virgin routine nicely."

"It wasn't what it should have been."

"You're telling me in all that time as a human you didn't once learn how to just let emotions hit you? Angry sex can be fun."

"It wasn't fun. Not in the end." Castiel was clearly uncomfortable talking about it, Dean could tell by the way he twitched and kept his eyes on the wall. "I think I expected more from both of us. But she was too angry and I…"

He looked at his feet, so obviously embarrassed that Dean decided to take it easy on him. "All right. Just remember, that because it happened doesn't make you a bad person, Cas. Or angel in this case."

"I hurt her." He waved his hand at Dean's open confusion. "Not physically but… but I should have known better."

It was on the tip of Dean's tongue to ask what exactly he meant by hurting Meg but he quickly remembered what that could mean, considering both demon and angel, and he looked back at Nyx. "Maybe we should get off the sex talk for a while. Still kinda freaks me out, you and Meg doing anything horizontal because of what you are." He breathed out sharply and changed the subject. "All right. Another hour and we're going to go to that bar Benny mentioned. You in?"

"No."

"Because you know with an angel," he stuttered to a stop. "Wait, what do you mean 'no'?"

"I mean I want to stay here," Castiel said and Dean blinked.

"But I might need you."

"I made a mistake with Meg earlier." He looked at the side. "I need to fix this."

"And you think hanging around her twenty-four seven is going to fix it? Cas, maybe you just need to leave them alone for a few weeks more."

Something stiffened in Castiel and he turned slowly towards the hunter. "Dean, I spent three years waiting. Leaving them now for long is no longer something I can think about. This is none of your business."

His eyes were so stony and cold that Dean had to force himself not to look away. "Okay but can you at least be ready if we need you?"

Castiel looked away. "Fine," he said and he could feel Dean getting ready to say something more though he'd been warned.

"Ow!"

The sudden, high-pitched cry caught their attention only to see Nyx staring at her finger. She'd dropped the box she'd been destroying and was sniffling, trying to bend her finger a little and making little sounds of pain. Castiel straightened up to see what was wrong while Dean leaned forward, setting his water down.

"What's up, Nyx?"

She got up, kicking the destroyed remnants of the box to the side, and sniffed as she came towards them. "Got hurt," she mumbled as she held out her small hand to show them the cut. Both hunter and angel knew she had stung herself with the cardboard cut, just judging by the way she spoke so clipped.

"Ouch," Dean agreed as he held her hand and inspected the cut for her. It was surprisingly deep for a cardboard cut but she had been really tearing into the box. "It doesn't look too bad."

"Hurts bad," Nyx complained, not liking his answer. Dean glanced over his shoulder at her father and made a slight nod in her direction that the angel quickly understood. Castiel held out his hand to Nyx and she stared at him warily. When she made no move to put her hand in Castiel's, he put it back down and looked away from her.

Despite noticing the tension, Dean only patted her head. "Come on, let's get you a band-aid and something to put on it. It is going to hurt for a while," he said, carefully manipulating her the way he would have done to Sam as a child. He even made a show of standing up and stretching before gesturing at her cut. "Come on. We might have to put some iodine on that if he can't heal you." He clicked his tongue a few times. "It's going to sting bad."

When her eyes went wide and pleading, he had to try hard not to give in and tell her he was joking. Giving Castiel another not-so-subtle nod, he started off for the common room.

Nyx licked her lower lip nervously and finally turned to face Castiel. Dean kept walking away, talking loudly as he did it, and Nyx slipped closer to Castiel. She touched Castiel's knee with her other hand to get his attention. He looked down at her and kept his hands tightly clenched on his thighs as she showed him the cut on her finger.

"Hurts," she repeated wretchedly and he looked at the cut.

She stared up at him and Castiel hesitated, wanting it to be her choice. "Nyx?"

"Please," she whispered. "It bit me."

Murmuring for her to let him see, he smiled and held out his hand flat so she could rest her palm in his. Surprised how worried he himself was over such a tiny cut, he gently ran his thumb over the edge of her finger and heard her murmur a please again. Castiel slipped his other hand over hers so her tiny hand was completely encased by his own. A faint glimmer from his fingers travelled over her skin and he saw her wince a little as his Grace healed her. The cut had been tiny but like any child the pain had startled her at first. He held her hand gently and watched the way her eyes remained on the glow as he let it linger. It was worth it to see how open and trusting her face was when she realized he'd taken her pain away.

"Better?" he asked.

She nodded, still looking at her hand between his, and he felt her fingers wiggle a little on his palm. "Doesn't hurt!"

Her eyes almost shone as she actually smiled at him and he let a little more of his Grace curl around her to make her happy. She kept her hand in his other one and he ran his thumb over the healed cut again. Reaching out, he fixed her sweater's collar, feeling the satiny way her hair curled around his fingers, and he had a tiny flashback to the tiny baby she'd once been.

He felt her squeeze his hand. "I'm small."

Castiel stared at her and realized that she'd caught that bit of memory from him. "You're built the way God meant for you to be," he offered.

She shook her head and her fingers twisted within his until their fingers were locked. "Nope. I'm me because of me."

Wondering if she meant something else, Castiel let it drop and instead watched the absent way she kept holding his hand. She was looking around the bunker as if it consumed her attention and he tugged a little to draw her eyes back to him.

"Nyx, do you like it here?" he asked. He wasn't in any rush to lose the contact between them. For the first time she was letting him touch her and Castiel wanted it to linger.

Childishly, she shrugged. "Smells old."

"Where would you like to be?" he asked a bit more carefully and watched her think it over as she chewed on her lower lip and stared at her shoes.

"Safe place. Want to be safe," she said, looking up at him suddenly. Their matching blue eyes connected in a glance and held. Castiel felt a flicker of memory, the way he would if he had been reading the mind of another angel, but he wasn't sure if it was her memory or his. Only it wasn't a rigid dream or memory; it was just sensation and emotion. All he felt was warmth and protection and how much she wanted that.

Lifting his hand, he touched her cheek and tried to hide how relieved he was that she let him do that. "I'll try to keep you safe."

Nyx continued to bite into her lower lip and she eventually looked away from him again.

"I've got some iodine and Band-Aids!" Dean was shouting from the other room, as if threatening to come back, and Castiel watched Nyx's eyes widen. She clearly expected him to give her up and he managed not to smile as he nodded.

"Go hide. I've had iodine on wounds before; it stings."

Though she looked a little confused by his precise way of speaking, she nodded, smiled widely, and went racing off to the spare rooms. Castiel watched her go, unable to stop the small smile from touching the corner of his own lips. Dean grumbled loudly as he passed where Castiel was sitting, called out her name and threatened her with iodine, and when Sam looked up at him pointedly from where he was on the phone, he actually looked embarrassed. His brother rolled his eyes and looked back down, muttering that Dean needed a hobby.

Castiel let himself smile when he heard Nyx's delighted giggle as Dean cursed how fast she could move.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Meg standing at the overhead railing, arms braced before her with a mug dangling from her fingers. She was watching Nyx race through the library, rocking back and forth on her heel as one foot stayed braced up on the rail. Slowly, she glanced back at the stairwell and noticed Castiel staring at her. She held the look for a moment, until something in her seemed to close up a little, before she turned away to walk down the opposite stairs.

---

Next day…

The Impala rumbled down the narrow strip of road as Dean searched for the building. The town seemed pretty dead and he didn't want to chance being noticed by pulling over for extra directions. He'd insisted on going with Benny, ignoring Sam's obvious anger at being left behind in favour of the vampire. Dean had pointed out that if any hunters came knocking at the bunker, Sam would be the best one to defuse them. Meg would likely just kill them.

"Almost get the feeling you don't want me there," Sam said angrily and Dean glared at him as he slammed the trunk down.

"I can get there fast. We'll be right back and Cas will be up on the Angel Radio to help us out."

"You should be resting." Sam followed him around the car. "Doctors said…"

"Doctors don't have our worries, Sam. I can't just sit still and eat Jell-O and act like someone with a normal life. We need to make sure we're not running into a shit storm," Dean said.

"You get hurt, you'll have no one to blame but yourself," Sam countered and Dean grinned.

"That's why I don't plan on getting hurt. Have some faith, Sam, seriously."

Benny cleared his throat, distracting the other man from his thoughts, and tossed the empty blood packet into a trash bag at his feet. Dean sniffed in disgust and the vampire glanced at him.

"What?"

"You had to do that? You fed before we left. I can smell it on you right now." Dean made a face. "Blood leaves a smell, you know that."

"Looks better if they think I've just gorged. Then they won't ask me to feed on you for proof. They can smell blood as good as I can and might ask questions," Benny explained, slowly as if to an idiot. "Vampires, remember? Turn left up here."

Resisting the urge to mimic the vampire like a child, Dean swerved over behind what looked like an old rustic bar. Benny ran his fingers over his cheek thoughtfully and waited as Dean manoeuvred his car between two old pick-ups.

"So you're doin' this to save a demon's kid?"

"Not exactly. These monsters will breathe down our necks too because of us handling Eve the way we did. The demons and angels are her parents' problems."

"Ah huh. About that?" Benny tilted his head and looked up at the neon sign. "Auntie's gotten a bit more forceful since I saw him last. Something happen?"

"Knocked up a demon, lost them, fell from Heaven, got his Grace back, laid war to Hell to get some souls back and tried to reorganize Heaven," Dean rattled off. "He's had a lot happen."

The vampire whistled. "So my staying out of his way is a good thing?"

"I don't even think you registered to Cas, really. He's got a lot to worry about besides us." Dean parked the car and looked at him. "Sorry to burst your bubble."

"Nah, I just wondered." He nodded at the bar and effectively dismissed the angel from the conversation. "Looks just like how I left it."

They exited the car in unison and Dean made sure to stick close to the vampire as he noticed what looked like several slender men and women exiting the bar. They looked like a group of college students out for a night in the country but there was something in the way they moved with a sense of ownership and arrogance that made Dean glance again. He felt a hard nudge in his side.

"Nouveau vampire," Benny explained, keeping his voice low. "Can smell it from here."

"What?" Dean frowned and looked at them as they passed. One bared her fangs at him and the others laughed too loudly. Nothing like the vampires he tended to come up again.

"Younglings, barely a week old. Change themselves and each other because it seems 'nifty.'"

"Yeah, don't say nifty."

"People don't say nifty anymore?" Benny sounded put out as Dean let him open the door to the bar.

"No, thank God."

"That's a shame." Benny took a deep inhale and gestured for Dean to stick close. "Smells like blood to me. Mm."

He opened the foyer door next and nearly collided with a petite blonde woman standing guard in front of an old wood door. She glared at him and Dean suspiciously. Her eyes went back to Benny and she showed her fangs to him. When he did the same, she nodded and gestured only at Dean.

"No unattached humans. Bar is on neutral ground. For all we know he is a hunter on a score," she warned. Dean blinked, realizing that she was a type of bouncer. With how small she was, he never would have expected that.

"He's my boy," Benny said and Dean gave him a look that begged him to shut up. The tiny female vampire eyed Dean appraisingly.

"Well, he is pretty. You're going to make him?"

"Soon as the hepatitis shot takes effect," Dean joked weakly to cover how uncomfortable her look was making him. Benny nudged him hard again to shut up. The bouncer gave him another strange look before turning her attention to Benny.

"We do require a blood sample if you are going to participate in any of the other sharing activities," the vampire said, reassuming her bored pose. "The last thing we need is some poison or infection. Infected blood is disgusting."

"'Course it is, little sister. I'll let you know first thing but I often don't share my meals or any I make. Unless I'm asked real nice," Benny drawled with a wink that made the vampire grin back at him. Leaning forward, he tilted his head towards her and Dean could only stare in surprise as she leaned forward as well, just a hairsbreadth from touching Benny's mouth. "If you don't mind, I'm lookin' for some local information. I'm not attached to a nest, like."

His hand was on her neck, thumbing her collarbone, and she smiled.

"You'll have to talk to Tommy then. He's got all the word. I'll put in a word and I'll see you later," she murmured, pushing up against him seductively. Benny smiled and let her neck go.

"Thanks, ma'am." He kissed the back of her hand and then pushed Dean ahead of him.

Dean couldn't help but be a little impressed. "You operate fast."

"She's young. Doesn't take much to thrall the younger ones a bit." Benny shrugged. "Not like I'd say no either."

Unable to help it, Dean smirked. "What, you're up for a good staking?"

"Don't say that again," Benny said without looking at him and the hunter winced at his own bad joke.

"Gotcha."

They headed down the dark stairwell, barely able to see despite the low glow of floor lights. Benny thumped him on the chest to warn him not to go too far without him and Dean waited for him to get the door open before he joined him at the bottom of the staircase. At the low throb of swanky blues and country mixed together, the hunter stopped just inside the door and turned around. Even as a human he could smell the heavy aroma of blood, sex, and incense.

"Did you…" Dean paused, lowering his voice. "Did you bring me to a vampire sex club?"

The vampire grinned. "I recall you saying one time that you were open-minded."

"Blood orgies tend to be on the side of things I don't get involved in on a daily basis," he snapped and Benny tilted his head, shoving open the door.

"So don't. Just try not to attack if you see two vampires biting on a man, got me?" He waited for Dean to pass through and displayed his fangs just as a warning to everyone in the room. "'Member? You're supposed to be someone wantin' this life and is just about to be turned, so you need to look all starry-eyed and eager."

"Sure thing," Dean grumbled sarcastically.

"Mmhmm, well." The vampire grinned as he glanced over his shoulder. "I am rather certain you can get the dopey look in just about two seconds."

Dean turned and his eyes widened automatically as he saw three women sprawled in a leather booth in the corner of the bar. Two were biting into the neck of the third as they straddled her tiny body and if it wasn't for her half-dead gaze at the ceiling, it might have been the sexiest thing he'd seen in weeks.

"That's the look I was needin'. Time to play your part, Dean. Keep your mouth shut and your ears open."

Dean barely remembered to close his mouth as he followed Benny into a brighter area of the room. The bar was close to empty except for a few people - vampires Dean corrected himself - and because of the heat in the room, he was dying for a drink already. But it seemed less likely to happen than before. Benny had insisted on him being completely sober for this though Dean wondered if the vampire wasn't a little drunk himself now after devouring three blood packs in the Impala. He turned a circle, taking in the rough-hewn decor and the shaded booths, and had the uncomfortable feeling that every vampire there was watching him like he was his next meal.

Benny elbowed him hard in the side. "Over here. Keep your mouth shut."

A thin, almost oily seeming vampire was seated at a main table, looking twitchy but he stared at them and gestured abruptly. Following the order, Benny drew up a chair across from him and Dean followed suit. Benny gave him a pointed look that stopped him and he stayed standing beside him. He had to play the part, Dean reminded himself.

"So you're the vamp lookin' for news?" the thinner vampire asked. "You put out a loud enough beacon, asking my girl to get me. I've been working."

"Needin' all the info I can get," Benny said. "No names, just information."

"Who's he?" The vampire looked pointedly at Dean.

"He's with me."

"Really?" He looked Dean over closely. "He doesn't have the marks he should have."

Benny flashed his fangs and winked. "That's because I don't leave them on his neck." Dean glared at Benny and, judging by the smirk, he could have sworn that his friend was enjoying this. Benny's fangs retreated and he leaned across the table. "I've been looking for a new nest to devote myself to and it seems like this isn't about to happen. Everyone is holed up tight."

"That's because we've been told not to. You haven't heard?" The vampire blinked. "Our Alpha transferred the message to all of us."

"Bloodlust got to me a few days ago. Missed it," Benny said smoothly.

"The Mother of All has returned. He received the message in his dreams and spoke to her. Her sources are in the South, tracking her enemies so that this time, she is not stopped," the vampire said and his voice took on the dreamy quality of the fanatically devoted.

"Any idea where he is? Might want to see him myself."

"The Alpha isn't up to visitors." He twitched a little.

"How many vamps are in the area then?" Benny asked and the vampire shrugged.

"If you're looking for a new nest, then you're gonna have a hard time, friend. These are about to be our days. No more hiding in shadows. Once she finds what she wants." His grin was loopy and strange on his narrow face. "But all who oppose her will be converted. It is wise to fall in line to her. Even some of the other species are already on the move to avoid her if they don't plan on bowing to her."

"Thought all monsters would be loyal to the Mother," Benny commented and the vampire shrugged.

"You always get some that choose to rebel. It is not just monsters." The blood-drunk look was suddenly so clear on him that Dean frowned himself. "Any touched by her words are blessed."

"I bet."

"There's been movement north of here. Something the Mother wants is in Kansas." His eyes darted up to the bar. "Excuse me, need another drink."

Benny stared at him and then up at Dean. The hunter crouched down so he didn't have to raise his voice.

"You think he's being a bit too free with his information?" Dean muttered and the vampire nodded.

"Way too free." Benny exhaled sharply through his nose and stood up. "I think they recognized you. They worked the trap fast. But we got part of what we needed."

Dean nodded and followed him out of the bar, having to press up against the bar as they passed the vampires. They all turned to look at him, one or two baring their fangs as if in invitation to him, but Benny simply kept him moving forward with a large hand between his shoulder blades. Breaking out into a run wouldn't be smart but they made sure to move as fast and quietly as possible.

No one followed them as they made it outside and Dean had just heaved a sigh of relief when the vampire who had stopped them before cleared her throat. She stood under the shade of the overhang and took a few steps out towards them, each swing of her hips threatening.

"I thought I recognized Dean Winchester." Her teeth glinted sharp in the neon light and her blonde hair spilled over her breasts as she tossed her head. "And we all know that he would never become a vampire's meal willingly."

"You caught me. Aren't you smart? Want a medal?" he asked.

"Just your blood. There's someone who would reward us for it." She snapped her fingers and two other vampires materialized out from the shadows of the building. Benny and Dean pressed back to back and Dean fingered the knife he kept tucked in between his jeans and shirt. The bouncer's eyes darted to Benny. "And you, brother. You'd let him bring you here? You can't be that foolish to betray your own kind."

"Kill them, Sharon." Their informant stepped out from behind her and both of them noticed the strange grey tint to his face, and he still swayed as if blood-drunk. "The mother wants the Winchester's blood but the vampire we can behead safely."

"I have some issue with that." Benny eyed a vampire starting towards him.

"That's really not your say. Kill him."

Dean spun and dodged a running vampire, slamming his fist into its neck. Benny met the other head on, his greater weight throwing the male into the brick wall. They fought in near silence, the alleyway too closed in to do much more than throw each other around. Benny sliced open the throat of another vampire using the edge of a dumpster. It shrieked as he used his strength and weight to slam the vampire's head down again and again until the head popped off into the dumpster.

Dean slid his arm around his vampire's throat and heard a snap of bone and the monster growled and struggled to fight him off. Pressing hard on the windpipe, Dean reached into his belt and yanked out his knife. It was hard to ignore the blood pouring over his hands as he had to slice down multiple times until his attack's head rolled off. Disgusted by the blood, he made a face and looked over to call to Benny.

The female vampire attacked, her tiny weight colliding with Benny's. He went flying through the air, stopped only by the dumpster, and sprang back at her, pinning her against the wall as his teeth sank into her neck deeply. She howled in pain and thrashed against him, trying hard to get him to let her go. Benny's hands gripped her and lifted her up so his teeth could bury deeper.

Dean held his knife out as the one other vampire remaining tried to slip by.

"Yeah, stay right there," he warned and the vampire nervously backed down. Benny's struggle with the other vampire was ending and Dean had to swallow down the bile in his throat at the sight of what Benny was doing. He bled her out until she sagged weakly against him. Sensing her weakness, Benny let her go and she went to her knees. He spat out a mouthful of her blood and stared down into her anguished eyes.

"Get lost," he ordered. She whimpered and crawled back towards the bar. Benny watched her and faced Dean. Wiping at his bloody eye, Dean shrugged and they both looked at the vampire they had blocked in closer to the Impala. He went to run by Benny but the bigger vampire had him by the throat, shoving him against the side of the building before he could get very far.

"Let's try this again, if I may?" Benny asked. "What has been goin' on?"

The vampire hissed at him and, reaching over Benny's shoulder, Dean let the tip of his knife rest on his hollow cheek. "See this? I'm good at finding places that will make you wish I would kill you. So what is going on?"

The informant lost his blood-drunk look immediately. "It's a… an… all points bulletin. Sorta."

Handing Benny the knife, Dean flipped his phone open and texted a number. He heard a beep in return.

"The Mother is ordering the demons to be converted. Any demon that gets in her way. Some sort of revenge," the vampire confessed, terrified by the knife Benny was slowly digging into his cheek. "T-there's some hepped up monster, supposedly, who wants to find a specific female demon. Rumour has it, the demon created life with an angel."

"What did you say?" Dean whispered but the vampire was ignoring him and starting to ramble.

"Whatever is going on is big. Gonna be big. No one knows why though. He told us that Hell was already invaded and any monsters she creates are attached to demon souls by the Mother. She's been planning this for years. But that's all I heard."

"You certainly know a lot," Benny muttered.

"I'm an informant, it's my job!" the vampire cried out.

"Why this demon?"

"Any of our kind can find this one, I heard. Should be easy; they know where to find a scent. There's been talk that this big guy, Adam, is goin' to create some havoc. He's been spreading the rumours, getting those loyal to the Mother to search. Few in town are already headed out to the last area they were rumoured to be. Outside Lawrence. Just looking for that trail they left behind."

Dean and Benny looked at one another and the vampire whimpered as Dean's knife dragged on his cheek when he backed up.

There was a loud whoosh sound that had Dean spinning around only to see nothing. But Benny shouted as he was shoved out of the way when a blur came by him, grabbed the vampire, and pinned him up to the wall. Castiel had materialized out of nowhere and his hand gripped the monster's throat. The shadows of wings seemed to appear at his back but it was his face, a mask of calculated fury, that made the vampire cry out.

"How long ago?" the angel growled.

"Jesus, Cas!" Dean said and Benny turned, nervously looking at the end of the alley. But with his attention solely on the vampire, Castiel wasn't about to be deterred.

"How long ago did they leave for Kansas?"

"Few hours ago." The vampire stared up at Castiel. "You… who're you?"

Without hesitating, Castiel slammed his palm down onto the monster's head and burned him within his own body. He ignored the way he screeched and sagged down into just a pile of limp flesh now, and in disgust he dropped the vampire to the ground. Dean and Benny both shielded their eyes against the brilliant light and when they dropped their hands away, Castiel was agitatedly pacing outside the bar.

"You just killed our only source out here!" Benny snapped at him.

"I'm trying to save lives, not indulge in conversation," Castiel countered. "Especially with a vampire."

"How long were you here for? I'd only just texted you." Dean had to lean on the car, eyes half-shutting. He was still feeling worn out and the fight had winded him a little.

"Long enough." Castiel looked at the dead bodies with a disgusted scowl. "Was it what you expected?"

"Was hoping for a bit more." Benny rubbed the blood off his hands on his coat. "So what do we do? Monsters are moving out."

"Monsters, angels, demons, hunters. One set are ready to kill me and Sam, and all of the others want the kid apparently." Dean shook his head. "This day gets better and better."

"Get back to the bunker. I'll meet you there," Castiel ordered and he started walking away from them.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to try to see if I can take care of one problem at least." With that, Castiel was gone and leaving them alone again. Benny looked at Dean and with a tremulous chuckle Dean grinned at him.

"You get used to him doing that."

"Sure you do."

---

Knowing Dean would go back as fast as he could, Castiel took himself to the one place he knew he was not truly welcome right now. It didn't matter that he had helped restore the angels to Heaven or that he had reclaimed his Grace with a vow to bring them back to normalcy in Heaven. Or how hard he had tried to bring them all back together as a family once again.

There were still some parts of Heaven he was kept out of. Where he could feel the threat of other angels wanting to do him harm.

Then there were certain Heavens he knew would have exactly who he was looking for. He was only looking for someone in charge anyway, not for the numerous Garrisons or Intelligence sects left over from the old Host of Angels.

An angel with a sense of justice and guidance.

It was Camael who met him at within what was a small child's Heaven, deep in the heart of where Heaven was devoted to martyrs. After Metatron's rule, the angels who had returned had made Heaven as lush and beautiful as before, only this time without the rigid structure of the Archangels. Now the souls could find their loved ones without the angels pushing them back to their 'right' Heaven and it made travelling between the Heavens all the easier. The child's Heaven was a lush rainforest in the evening, and ordinarily Castiel would have enjoyed it. But all he could feel was tension as he approached the other angel tending to this Heaven.

Camael was in the form of a young teenage boy, his hair falling to his shoulders and his glowing dark skin ethereal even in Heaven. He smiled at him from where he was planting a tree in the rich soil and did not seem to be surprised to see him.

"Brother."

Castiel reminded himself not to be fooled by a soft voice and welcoming smile. Or by the youthful appearance; Camael was as old as Castiel.

"Camael."

Of all the angels, Camael had been the one to take control of a large legion. He had been a formidable warrior for centuries but in the Fall he had strangely kept himself separate from the wars of Angels and Men. He had waited patiently and not attacked Castiel like the others had nor followed him blindly like a cult devotee. He was strictly devoted to following God's Word and because of that devotion and incorruptibility Castiel had felt content in leaving Heaven in his care.

"You heard, I take it?"

"About your demon being alive and your child with her? Of course." Camael brushed off his hands and stood up. "The seraph Michael told us. Though I did doubt him. He has never been the same since his Grace was reborn from the Lethe."

"I- I think it may be worse than you know."

The other angel's dark eyes flickered over Castiel's face. "Tell me."

Castiel held out his hand and Camael clasped it. The shock of transfer didn't show but Camael let his hand go abruptly within seconds. What Castiel had shown him clearly disturbed him enough that his boyish features seemed to age in that moment.

"So you think Michael is corrupted." Camael regarded the soil and shook his head.

"I know it. He attacked them."

"In Heaven's interests."

"It is not right for Heaven to seek the death of a child. He did not want her for Heaven. He wanted her dead. I'm sure of it," Castiel whispered and Camael arched an eyebrow at him.

"You were a soldier before all this, Castiel. You yourself would have killed a Cambion or Nephilim for the Cause."

"That was before I understood what it was to have the freedom of choice… to be a father."

Camael stepped back and whistled, clicking his tongue several times as if he was going to reprimand Castiel. "In the old days, I could have you tortured for such blasphemy. All it would take is a word for the others who are watching to come here."

Castiel pointedly looked around and he knew his brother was not lying. Anytime he entered Heaven, he knew he risked everything. "Would you try it?"

There was a distinct challenge in his voice but the older seraph only smiled. "No. As foolish and stubborn as you are, you are one of our finest warriors. There must be something you are seeing in all of this that is beyond the angels' understanding. God chose you to be a father to a demon's child and the others can't help but wonder why. Yet I no longer doubt His Will." Camael watched his brother curiously. "You adapted well to human life and were one of the few to come away better for it, Castiel. I'm surprised you chose to regain your Grace."

At Castiel's silence, the other angel shrugged. "Though we do such a strange things for love and hope."

"What will it take," Castiel paused and took in a breath, "for you to keep the angels away from us?"

Camael blinked thoughtfully and watched him pace a little ways away. "You want time with them? You have been having it. I called them away days ago when Michael did not return. A Garrison without their captain, even one as a strange as Michael, should not be left alone. What do you really want, Castiel?"

"I want to be able to walk with them and not fear an angel is about to try to kidnap my daughter or…."

"Try to kill your demon?"

"Yes."

"You would have to resume your place in Heaven for that kind of control and you refused. You don't want that role."

They both remembered the angels pleading with Castiel, though they had hated and loved him equally, and the way he had refused. It wasn't that there was a duty attached to that role he couldn't perform; that had never been the problem. It had been because Castiel had seen himself unworthy of it.

But for the first time in years, Camael could see the possibility of his brother resuming what he had once been.

"I am asking you now. I have been willing to fight with all of you, to protect and help you, but I will not return to Heaven now." Castiel turned towards him. "I am asking that we be left alone for as long as you can give us."

Camael frowned. "Heaven's interests will not be in your daughter for some years yet. As Naomi said before, it is God's Will we protect Life. We just forgot it along the way and we were punished for that."

"I want your word."

"We will make a deal, as humans and demons do. If you can find what has corrupted our brother, you have the protection of Heaven. I it is true then he is responsible for part of his Garrison dying, then our problems are greater than we know. I will keep my garrison here and be certain the others do not leave either." Camael saw the distrust glinting in Castiel's eyes and he waved a hand. "I want peace, Castiel. As does Anya and every other Angel who suffered. Even Metatron, that damned traitor, wants peace as well."

He looked at the Heaven that surrounded them. "So many dead, so many corrupt. Is that what free will does?"

No, Castiel thought, that is what arrogance does.

With just a sharp nod, he left Heaven and Camael sighed, snapping his fingers. A cherub appeared at his side instantly.

"Camael?"

"Except for those with duties on Earth, all angels return here. I want none who can be corrupted by whatever force Castiel is claiming took Michael."

The cherub looked confused. "What about the Cupids?"

"Let them stay. The Grigori can report later. But this is a direct order from the highest choir." He watched the cherub disappear and sighed as he took a seat on the ground to wait.

Heaven suddenly swelled as instantly angels of all choirs and Garrisons returned. Camael felt the change in the air, the sharp smell of ozone and Grace, and he smiled. At the very least, his family could stop wandering and he could see what had become of them all.

An instinct inside warned him that if he left them to follow Michael then there would be only death and destruction.

---

Dean broke the speed limit to get back to the bunker, and counted himself lucky that they weren't pulled over for it. The Impala was built to be pushed so hard and fast, and the miles sped by without him taking a single break. He barely had the car parked before he was out the door and into the bunker with Benny close on his heels. A call ahead to Sam had warned the others to be ready though Dean had told Sam to keep it quiet as to what they were doing. Something told him that if Meg found out early then she'd high-tail it out of there and Castiel would have a hell of a time finding her again.

Kevin met them at the door, struggling into his coat. "What the hell? I was just going to sleep when Sam dragged me out of bed."

"Got bigger worries than you getting your beauty sleep. How do you feel about visiting Garth and running intel for us?" Dean asked as he pushed by him and into the bunker. Benny sighed and remained just inside the door, catching a bag Dean tossed to him that Sam had stacked in the corner. If anything, his brother knew that when Dean called to say they would be on the move that it would happen fast.

"Ugh. Garth again? But I just got here!" Kevin groaned and rolled his eyes. "I'd really like to not…."

"Not giving you an option. You're doing it. Get the bags in the car with Benny. And no bitching or I swear to God I'm going to make you hitchhike." Dean stalked into the common room and came face to face with Meg so quickly that he had to jump back to avoid colliding with her. Meg looked him up and down and Dean returned the glare. Her dark hair was pulled away from her face, revealing her haggard and annoyed expression. "You heard?"

"You're lucky I'm an expert in getting a three year old ready fast." She leaned against the kitchen table. "What is going on?"

"Turns out monsters just aren't looking for us. They are looking for you." He glanced around. "And Nyx. Where is she?"

"Hiding."

He frowned. "This a new thing of hers?"

She shrugged. "Figured it was a good trick for her to learn this time around. She's good at it. Nyxie? Time to go."

At her call Dean heard the scuffle of a bag behind him but turned only to see that it was Sam. His brother looked amused but out of nowhere Nyx came running up and took Sam's large hand, dwarfed by him.

"Car ride?" she asked excitedly and Sam nodded.

"Sure thing."

Nyx let go of Sam to stand beside Meg and she pressed against her leg. "I brought my book."

"Good girl," Meg patted her head, "but Dean has to tell us what is going on first."

"Well…"

"I've been able to divert the angels," Castiel's voice called out as he walked down the overhead catwalk. Meg and Dean both looked up at him, Sam noticing how startled they looked by his sudden arrival.

"How?"

"They are my family, after all." He jogged down the steps and stood beside Sam.

"Did you think about asking them to help out?"

"I think keeping my requests to a minimum is a wise choice," he said. Meg made a sound and the angel stared at her next. "What?"

"We can trust them?" she asked and her eyes narrowed at him.

"I would trust them over any in Hell right now," Castiel said and ignored the way she rolled her eyes. "They are tired of War. Whatever is inside Michael is no longer just Michael. We all saw it. He is corrupted and Heaven won't risk losing more angels because of that."

Meg thought back on the yellow flicker of eyes and the way he had nearly beat an angel to a pulp, and looked down at Nyx. "So what do we do? Monsters on our backsides and now just demons to worry about."

"Leave a trail. Wide open for a bit to get them out of the city and then we mask it as best as we can. We'll take Kevin to Garth so he can help him and then we can regroup at Rufus'," Dean explained.

"Like I'm scared of monsters," Meg grumbled.

"You might not be but Nyx is," Dean snapped and the little girl looked up at her name. "This bunker can take a lot but we can't hide here forever. Whatever that thing was in Lawrence was enough to take down Castiel. You want to face it?"

Meg folded her arms over her chest and turned her attention to the opposing wall instead. Unused to seeing her look that way, as if she was giving up and it was killing her to admit defeat, Castiel watched her face curiously.

"If we can leave them in the dust, Kevin can warn the other hunters," Dean said, distracting the angel.

"All of us can't fit into the Impala, Dean," Sam pointed out.

"I can fly us to…," Castiel began.

"We can't risk that either. I know you're telling me that angels won't attack but I can't trust that right now, Cas. Especially if that Michael is looking for you and Meg." Dean was steadily assuming control and with no other choice they were letting him. "Demons will be on the lookout too so Meg can't just start teleporting like crazy. So what do we do? Any car we have is out of order after the fire. And I'm not buying a crap SUV again."

Meg shrugged. "If Cas can get me to Heber Springs fast, we can find my car. It was impounded, wasn't it?"

Sam nodded. "When I called to have them ship Linda's -." He stopped himself. "It was in the impound."

"There we go." Meg grinned and the viciousness behind it was aimed at Dean. "An actual good car for once."

"I'll pretend you just didn't compare a Cougar with an Impala," Dean growled defensively.

"Cougar eats an Impala," Meg drawled sarcastically but they all noticed her heart didn't seem to be into insulting him this time.

"Fine. So we split up. Cas flies under the radar, Meg doesn't teleport and we all get out of here as quiet as possible."

"Nyx comes with me," Meg insisted. "Knowing you guys you would get her swilling beer before she's five and I'd rather not have a drunk kid."

Below her, Nyx huffed as if she understood that. Dean nodded and nudged Sam to follow him to finish packing up their weapons and shutting the bunker down.

Meg watched them go and turned to see Castiel staring at her. "What?"

"I thought we agreed on space."

"I think this sort of trumps that for us. We're not kids, Castiel, or human. We have Nyx to worry about," she muttered, brushing by him.

She headed off to the outside with Nyx following her and Castiel sighed, wondering how awkward this trip could be if Meg still maintained her distance as easily as she had been doing it for the past week. The only consolation was how easy it was becoming to talk to Nyx. He had asked for time and he wasn't about to forget that he was being given it, even if it hadn't been what he expected.

---

It was when they were outside that Meg realized that Nyx was not eager to do this.

The long wait for Dean and Benny to come back after ordering them all to get ready to leave had made her impatient; even after all these years she hated waiting to get things moving. Now Castiel was keeping her waiting. It was enough to make her want to go on her own.

Determined not to go completely unarmed, she finished strapping a new knife to her ankle and fixed her pantleg down over it. Hearing a thumping sound on metal, she glanced up to see Nyx watching her very seriously from where she sat on the Impala's hood.

"What's wrong, monster?" she asked as she straightened up.

"Don't want to leave." Nyx turned her head and looked up at the sky.

"Well, we can have a trip. I'll take you to a beach if you're a good girl," Meg offered and Nyx's focus swung back to her.

"Promise?"

"Promise." Meg checked her other knife holster on her belt and fixed the blade. "Nice vacation, right?"

She stopped talking when she realized that Nyx was looking behind her, chewing on her lower lip. She picked up her unicorn and hugged it tight, clearly shy. Seeing her tension, Meg straightened up slowly and dusted her hands off on her jeans before turning around to face Castiel. He stared at her for a moment and then gestured behind him.

"I'm finished."

"I'm ready to go when you are." She brushed by him and grabbed her jacket from the bag she'd packed. "I take it someone is babysitting ?"

"Dean is going to leave Kevin up in Sioux Falls. Garth is waiting for him there. With any luck, dividing us all up will put them off. Outside Lebanon is when they will start using hex bags and deterrents. It is a good plan. They won't know who to follow."

Meg smirked a little. "I thought you would have to babysit us all. You know? Fly from one car to the other to make sure we all play nice."

Castiel turned his head to watch her shoulder on her jacket. "I thought that, considering what happened, some distance between us is the best choice. But if they are tracking us, then I would like to stay with you."

Meg looked calm and pulled her hair free of her collar. "Fine."

When she started to move away, Castiel held her arm to keep her still. "That's it?"

"Yeah." She arched a brow and looked pointedly down at his hand. "I thought we were done?"

He let her go reluctantly, still confused by her agreeing with him, and turned to look at Nyx. Swinging her legs against the Impala's side, she was staring up at him and looked perplexed. Smiling a little, he crouched down in front of her. "Are you scared?"

She nodded. "Bad angels."

"No bad angels will find you with me. I'll protect you," he offered, trying to forget his awkwardness with Meg in favour of Nyx and her trusting eyes. "I fly fast."

"Wings?" She pointed over his shoulder and he blinked in surprise. "The other angel had wings. I saw them!"

"We don't try to show those." At her disappointed sigh, he reached out and tentatively patted her knee. "It scares people."

"Not scared," she said stubbornly and he tilted his head, smiling again.

"No, I don't think you are."

"Nyx?" Meg called out from behind Castiel and the little girl jumped down from the Impala's hood to race over to her. Her hand slipped automatically into Meg's and Castiel sighed as he stood across from the demon and Sam. Dean and Benny came up beside them as well.

"You take care of yourself and don't do anything to attract attention. Get the Cougar and we'll meet you at Rufus', got it?"

"I understand."

"Be careful," Sam said seriously. The brothers gave Castiel awkward smiles and Meg rolled her eyes and groaned.

"Oh my god, you boys are drama queens. What do you want? Goodbye hugs and kisses?"

"Shut up, Meg," Dean muttered, embarrassed, and Nyx made a small sound. They all looked down at her to see her staring at Dean.

"Bad words," she said loudly and Sam bit back a grin.

"Guess you have to watch the language, huh?"

Castiel looked at Dean with a slight smirk and the hunter actually looked even more embarrassed by it. "We'll see you in a day or so."

"Be careful," Castiel said before turning towards Meg. He waited for her to lift Nyx up before he reached out and touched her forehead.

When they were gone, Dean shook his head. "You guys get the feeling I just sent Cas to his death?"

Both Benny and Sam snorted and tried not to laugh.

---

The Cougar still ran smoothly even after a few weeks off and Meg had stroked the steering wheel the way she might have a beloved pet. It had rumbled to life after Castiel did something—she wasn't sure what—to fix the engine while she jimmied open the padlock that kept the impound gates closed. Ignoring Castiel's offer to prove he could drive, Meg set Nyx in the car seat left in the back, waited for him to slide into the seat beside her and they were gone, shooting down the highway. It was easy then for Castiel to finish up several hexbags with the supplies Dean had given him and once he sat back and told her it was done, Meg relaxed.

Somewhat.

With the window rolled down and the crisp fall air stinging her skin, she actually enjoyed the illusion of freedom for a while. It was going to be a long drive to Montana but now that she no longer needed sleep, she didn't mind it as much.

The only reason why she even stopped every few hours was to shake out the numbness in her legs and to let Nyx stretch. Castiel sat in near silence the entire way up the familiar back roads she knew, reading his journal and occasionally writing something. His silence wore heavily on Meg's nerves but, as she reminded herself, she had asked for it. Even when they stopped for her for Nyx to use the restroom or get food, he didn't say much to her. He simply stayed close by and watched them both with a peculiar interest.

Meg had never been more unnerved by something so simple as him watching her like that.

It hadn't mattered at the time but as the hours clicked by she actually needed some form of conversation to keep herself awake and out of mind-dulling boredom. Once Nyx drifted off again, warmly wrapped up in a blanket and happily full with diner food, the demon turned on the radio to let the low hum of music fill the car.

Even that didn't help. It was far too quiet.

Castiel hadn't looked away from his book since their last stop but when she sighed for the twentieth time in five minutes, he cleared his throat.

"I can leave you for a while." He still didn't look up and Meg sighed, glancing over at him. He turned another page. "You have the hexbags, after all."

"No point in that." She let the Cougar decelerate a bit before she resumed the steady cruise down the road. "Nyx wakes up to find you gone, she'll ask questions."

"So you want me to stay for her?"

Meg shrugged and finally Castiel stopped reading to look at her. She struggled to ignore him and for the hundredth time gave herself an internal slap. The past week had been a bizarre sort of torture that she hadn't expected. It had been easier three years ago, before things had gone to hell and she was just the demon to his angel. Then it had been easy to screw 'em, leave 'em, but now it was something unfamiliar. She'd fucked him when she should have kept it to just screaming her head off and fighting him. He hadn't fought her, had pulled her in even, so she knew he had wanted her as well, but that didn't helped ease the tension or get rid of that feeling that they'd both made a massive mistake.

Meg was pretty sure that even after a long shower she had taken afterwards, that she had smelled him on her skin for days.

Instead of hating him, she hated herself for it. She'd actually felt weak for giving in and wanting something more than just hate and anger.

"This will just be too awkward in a few minutes," she muttered under her breath.

"We should have a conversation then," Castiel said, his voice almost too loud in the small space. "We need to find something to talk about."

Meg thought it over. "What was it like being human?"

He shifted uncomfortably. "We discussed this before. I was hoping we could discuss something trivial. I managed to learn small talk, you know."

The attempt to be funny fell a little flat though she gave him a tiny smile for it.

"Maybe it is better if we don't try then," he said, misinterpreting her smile for mockery. "The last time…"

"I-." Meg shook her head. "That was something that shouldn't have happened. Wrong moment, wrong time. It was stupid." Her admission made her wince when she saw the surprised look it earned her. "I'm just curious though."

He stared at her. "Curious? About me?"

"Not everyday an angel becomes a human."

He was quiet for a long time and she wondered if he was going to ignore her attempt at conversation.

"I was scared," Castiel admitted and Meg's eyes darted to him. "When I turned human. Suddenly I could feel pain, hunger and thirst. I would go days before I remembered I needed to drink or eat and I would be so weak." He shifted a little. "I was scared but I adapted."

"I bet the emotions scared you."

" Biological urges, the ones that come with being human, those frightened me. Suddenly wanting sex again, needing food and water, and actually sleeping. To need to do things instead of ignore them was strange." He rested his head back on the seat. "But all of those emotions I had experienced before. I'd felt sadness, friendship, hate, fear…. love."

They glanced at each other and Meg looked away first to focus on the road.

"Meg…"

"So why back to the Angels?" she interrupted. "I thought you were a secret human wannabe."

He took the leading question. "Because I wanted to finally help my family. My actions did bring about some of it and they needed help."

Realizing what he hadn't said, Meg looked away. "So?"

"So I hope I've done the right thing." He made a face. "We waged our wars in Heaven and Hell to bring back balance. We survived. But I'm still not welcome there, not really."

Meg drew a line on the centre of steering wheel. "That sucks for you."

"And for Nyx. If I could truly find my way in Heaven I could help protect her but here we are," his soft voice hardened, "as defenceless as before. I do not expect my request in Heaven to hold forever."

Meg said nothing but she felt his hopelessness as acutely as her own. Sooner or later, they could be up against Hell and the monsters, and she did not trust even the humans in this.

Unless there was a deal they could make.

Castiel was quiet again for a while before he turned in the passenger seat a little. "What about you? When you were in Heber Springs?"

Sensing he was trying to make peace with her, Meg forced herself to relax. "Day to day boredom. No skills in anything remotely legal. A boring life."

"Except for Nyx."

"Yeah."

He turned to look at the little girl sleeping in her car seat. Bundled up and sound asleep, she looked so at peace he smiled and relaxed a little. "I would have given anything to see you all before now."

"At what risk?" Meg muttered and he leaned back over to stare at her again.

"It is because I knew how vulnerable Nyx was that I did what I did. Though I think there might have been more to this. If Death could be found to explain…" He snapped his jaw shut and looked away.

"Death?"

Castiel sighed. "I spoke to Death, you know that. He was the one who warned me and I think it was him that knew you were about to be brought back. It was why I made it to you the night of the fire but not in time to stop you from being hurt."

"Why is Death interested in Nyx?"

"He never explained it to me." He sat back and sideways. "He was interested in you as well."

She laughed, a piercing sound that made Nyx murmur sleepily. "That's rich. Someone like Death interested in a lowly demon like me? Pretty sure I'm useless to someone like him."

But when she noticed Castiel not even smirking, she looked over and saw him studying her. She had to keep one eye on the traffic but she turned her head a few times when he didn't stop. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I think you are much more than that. I've thought that for a long time but you never seemed to believe it."

"Just a soldier in an army of one, Castiel."

"So was I but I've learned we all can be more than we believe."

Meg stared at the steering wheel and clenched it so tight that her knuckles turned white. "Thanks. I think."

"I meant it." He settled back down and stared at her still. "Meg?"

"Yeah?"

"I would like to say something without the risk of you tossing me out of the car."

"Well." She passed another car and then looked at him. "I can't really cut a sigil anyway with both hands on the wheel."

"I missed talking to you," he said abruptly and she sucked in a breath, not sure how to respond. He smiled, a little sadly, and looked out the window. "I can talk to Dean and Sam still but there is always that knowledge that we are too different, that I never was truly human. Even if it was just to hear you argue with me, even hate me… it's better than silence."

She was silent for so long that eventually he looked over, expecting her to be pulling over and tell him to walk the rest of the way. He knew her, knew she loathed anything that smacked of too much emotion but she was quiet.

"I don't hate you. Not really." It was said so quietly that he almost didn't believe she had said it. "Make more sense to me if I did and just took Nyx and ran. I wanted to but I don't hate you, Castiel."

He held his breath.

"But with what happened? Not sure how we can pull back from that. Hard to trust you not to leave again or find a way of hiding us that leads to a repeat. Not like we have time to mull it over anyway. Monsters ready to kill us, demons on our tail." She glimpsed a truck that appeared in her rear-view mirror. "Maybe if things had been different it would be easier."

She glanced at him and actually sighed. Staring back, he read her face as best as he could. When she visibly twitched at the way his hand came out to rest close to her leg, he pulled it back in understanding.

"I should have stopped," he offered. Meg didn't pretend to misunderstand.

"Didn't offer you a choice, did I? We're both guilty. We can chalk it up to bad decisions we make when we're angry." When she looked again, he was still staring at her.

"I think it was the wrong time," he agreed hesitantly, leaving a world of implications in what he didn't say.

Meg leaned over and turned on the radio a little louder, bringing the conversation to an end before it really began. Leaning his head back, Castiel sighed and stared out the window and wondered how long it could be before things backfired again between them.

---

Meg wasn't surprised well into the next day that they were still being followed. They had pulled over for a rest at a highway park and so Nyx could burn off her restless energy. Experiencing for the first time at how a small child could be when cooped up, Castiel could only watch with bemusement at how Nyx chased blackbirds in the small green-space and laughed at the way they flew away. There were other children around but she ignored them to play by herself.

Sitting on the bench, Castiel watched her run and felt exhausted just by how much energy she seemed to have.

Nursing a cup of coffee, Meg stretched as she left the store after paying for the gas. She already longed to move out but the pick-up that had pulled in behind the Cougar was a bad sign and made her wait to decide what to do. She glanced over her shoulder at the demon in the shop. They were a few hours away from Whitefish and closing in, but she had a bad feeling over what was following them. Not monsters, which was a pity because she needed to see what was hunting them. These were demons. She recognized the signs but this one wasn't really following her. They were trying to track Castiel.

He noticed her immediately when she came back, though he never looked away from Nyx and the way she happily playing in the afternoon sun despite the chill in the air. At the hard nudge in his ribs, he looked up to see Meg's pointed stare.

He stiffened instantly with what he saw in her expression and looked in the direction she was staring. "Demons?"

"Gold star."

"I can…."

"No. You can't. I can."

Castiel flinched. "You can get to Whitefish."

"Take Nyx there. We're a short distance and you can take a hex bag with you to block them. I want to get some information. The hard way." She looked at him expectantly. Castiel looked ready to argue with her, she could see it in the way his lips thinned and his eyes narrowed. "I'm trusting you with her."

He looked at the demons again. "I don't like this."

"I know what I'm doing and I don't want her to see this."

"And if you get into trouble?" he countered, trying to keep his voice low.

"You get her all to yourself, won't that be a treat?" she asked jokingly.

"No, it wouldn't." He reached into his coat and pulled out his angel sword. "Take this." Smirking, she took hold of the hilt with him and he held on to it for a moment to force her to look up at him. "You will be careful and you will call on me if there is trouble."

"As ever," she said and he glared at her as if knowing the truth. Meg dragged her eyes way from his and knelt down as Nyx came racing up, her hair in wild waves and her face flushed. She was dragging her unicorn through the dirt but didn't seem to care as she wrapped her arms around it. Meg noticed the demons trying to get a look at them and moved so she blocked the sight of her daughter.

"Nyx, you're gonna go with Castiel, okay?" she asked. Nyx looked up at him suspiciously and Meg, copying her, realized how gigantic Castiel did look from the height of a child.

"Don't wanna."

"Be a good girl and I'll be right behind you." Meg smiled wanly at the rebellious look she was being shot. All firm jaw and narrowed eyes. Definitely Castiel's look even if neither of them had noticed it before. "I'm going to make sure monsters aren't here to eat you."

Nyx's eyes widened and she looked up at Castiel.

"Go on." Meg encouraged and hesitantly Nyx reached out and took Castiel's hand. He held her tiny hand in his and took a deep breath. The slow curt nod he gave Meg spoke volumes and her stomach turned a little nervously at the warning in that look. He wasn't thrilled but he would let her have her choice in this.

It was when they were gone that Meg realized that she had never before let Nyx go as freely as she just had.

---

The cabin made a nice, familiar home away from home for them and Sam set about lighting the rooms up so they could get some warmth and relief from the darkness. With winter coming, the cabin was going to be colder than before and it set under his thick jacket to make him shiver. Ignoring the pain that was throbbing in his head, Sam found a small corner heater and whacked it hard to cause it to sputter to life. Blasted by heat, he leaned down and ignored the sulphurous smell as his chilled skin warmed from the heat.

Dean threw his bags on the table and Benny followed close behind, plopping down on the sofa dramatically.

"I am never doin' that again," the vampire said with a low groan, cracking his neck. "That ride was too long."

"Wasn't that bad," Dean pointed out as he headed for the kitchen. "Could have made you sit in the trunk."

"Your pal Garth nearly chopped off my head," Benny snapped. The memory of it still made him testy.

"You nearly bit him."

"Okay, okay, enough," Sam said, holding a hand to his head. "I have a headache after a day of Dean's music and your griping so let's can it, okay?"

He grabbed his bag and began to dig through it, looking for his aspirin .

"We're gonna need to stock up!" Dean shouted from the kitchen. "We're out of anything good."

Sam's gruff agreement was muffled as he shook out several aspirin and dry-swallowed them.

The front door suddenly opened and Benny opened one eye to see Castiel and Nyx standing in the frame. Wide-eyed, the little girl swallowed and nervously backed up a step into Castiel. He murmured something to her and walked in, gently pushing her forward. Without moving, Benny watched the way she reached up and held onto a bit of Castiel's coat for comfort, but the angel didn't seem to notice her grip.

"Cas!" Dean smiled and wiped his hands off on his jeans. He winked at Nyx and she smiled shakily back, clutching her stuffed unicorn close to her face. "And the world's littlest Abomination. Where's Meg?"

"There was trouble on the road."

"Trouble?"

"She noticed demons following us. Insisted she take care of it."

"And you let her?" Sam asked from the other room. He smiled at Nyx and, taking it as an invitation, she walked over to hand him her unicorn. He picked it up for her and when she pointed at the table he set it down to keep it clean.

"Meg was insistent. I think she thought this would be for the best."

"Yeah?" Dean shifted his shoulders. "I thought you wouldn't let her go."

Castiel sighed. "Please don't. I am already second-guessing what I did. I'm sure she'll call for me if she needs my help."

"Yeah and let's hope she does," Sam muttered so Nyx wouldn't hear. But she was looking around the cabin and paying them no attention.

Scrubbing tiredly at her cheeks, she sneezed at the herbal smell from their last summoning they had done here and wandered over to the walls. Her eyes were wide as she stared at all the sigils sprayed on the walls as if she knew what they meant. When she began to back away, Dean and Sam glanced at each other and the older Winchester cleared his throat.

"Nyx? What do you think?"

"Scary." Sam felt her brush by him as she quickly retreated around him and noticed that she was looking at Castiel as she hid behind Sam. Castiel, just as confused by her fear of the sigils as the rest of them were, shook his head at Sam's curious look and looked out the window, absurdly hoping to see Meg's old Cougar flying up the drive.

---

The foreclosed house near the highway had been perfect, and it had been easy to drag a demon in there. It had been years since she had tortured another demon but, as Meg found out, some things were actually like riding a bike. It was easy to find pressure points, to find the spots that made a demon tick. Sometimes she pushed just to hear them scream but she kept her focus on learning as much as possible.

Which wasn't much.

The demon she had tied up actually did know nothing. For once, she had a dud. While she would have tortured him for fun at one time, now there was no real pleasure in it.

Her own distraction wasn't helping.

Meg's thoughts kept turning to Nyx and Castiel. She had the urge to get back to them quickly because for once she didn't know what else to do. No matter how much she wanted to bury those thoughts and forget them, she wasn't successful. She knew she needed to focus and she knew she was failing. Judging by the young demon begged her with his eyes, she was slipping up. Torture was about giving them hope it would end and not giving into her victim's needs. His body arched a little when Meg absentmindedly cut deeper.

"Kill me," he begged aloud, voice gurgling. "I don't… p—please… kill…"

Meg groaned in annoyance.

If anyone asked, she would claim later her angel sword slipped into his heart by accident, instead of as an act of mercy.

After the last of the demon sparked out, she threw the body in the brush outside and ignored the sound of scavengers already pulling at it. The demon's meatsuit had been a lost cause anyway; brain dead under the weight of a long-term possession. But the demon and the human he'd ridden weren't what troubled her. Just that she had wasted time at all only to find out that he hadn't known a thing, damn him.

Meg took an hour to herself to decide what to do, watching the blood leak out under the brush and the way feral dogs gathered to rip it apart. It was when one sly dog tried to steal a bit of meat from another that she had the idea that just wouldn't go away. Especially when the two dogs tore into one another over the corpse.

It reminded her of someone.

"Might as well," she muttered to herself. "Things can't get any weirder."

Thanks to Castiel, the car was luckily well-stocked with ingredients for spells.

Drawing a trap in the centre of the dilapidated house's front room, she threw the herbs into the bowl and struck the match, listening to its hiss as her power unfolded to increase the power behind the spell while she murmured the summons. Her eyes flicked to black as she felt the gust of wind, the creep of power up her spine, and a sense of forbidding. Something she dismissed; she knew exactly what his game was and she wouldn't underestimate him again.

"Well, well, well. A whore calls and I come running. Rather typical, really." Crowley's nearly pleasant voice made her turn around to face the Crossroads demon in the decaying living room. He took one look at her and immediately moved a step forward, meeting the barrier of the devil's trap she'd tortured the other demon in. Crowley groaned and rolled his eyes up to the ceiling. "Oh, your boyfriend did get you some wonderful tricks again."

"This one is all me. Notice the me not stabbing you part though?" Meg grinned. "We live, we grow."

"Cute." He turned slowly around the circle before focussing back on Meg. "So. You end up being alive these long three years, living that apple pie life of Mommy Dearest until someone turned you back to full demon mode, and now you have the gall to summon your betters."

"Oh, Crowley." She grinned and leaned against a table. "If I wanted to do that, I'd be calling on someone else. Maybe Abaddon."

Crowley only smirked at her.

"You are adorable when you think you've said something clever. What do you want?" His crafty gaze travelled over her. "You're looking tired."

"Been a long day. I'll cut to the chase: what's going on in Hell?"

"Hell?" He rubbed at his beard. "Haven't been there in a few weeks. But I hear tell it is a place of splendour and blood right now." He sniffed.

Meg sliced through the air with her hand and he chortled, feeling the immediate pressure on his ribs. The power behind the blow threatened to split him open from the inside out and Crowley lifted a hand, signalling his surrender. Meg's fingers unclenched and the pressure ended. When he recovered, she raised her eyebrow and waited patiently.

"Your big sister is being run ragged but Hell is slowly pushing back the monsters. All one big distraction and anyone who knows anything is staying out of the way," he said in a rush.

"But the monsters are there," she muttered.

"In the flesh. Well, not really. They've learned a few tricks." Crowley shrugged a shoulder.

"So why aren't the demons after us?" Meg picked up the angel sword from the table. "I'm pretty sure I could slice it out of you so don't tell me too fast."

That he wasn't intimidated by her showed in how he put his hands in his pockets and looked her up and down.

"What is Castiel's guess?" he asked curiously.

Meg's face closed off into a stony mask. One Crowley knew well; he knew a weak spot when he saw one and his dark eyes glinted with delight as he decided to twist the proverbial knife.

"You know, love, I never figured out why you were so hard up for a slice of angel-food cake. You were Alastair's promising student, Azazel's pet… likely would have been a lapdog for Lucifer too. What's Castiel? I admit as a human he was perhaps a little less annoying, without that moral stick up his ass, but as an angel?" Crowley gave a disgusted grunt. "Meg, you are a masochist. Through and through."

"None of this is telling me what I need to know."

"So you're not denying it?"

"Castiel has nothing to do with this." Meg dragged the angel sword on the table and put it down to pick up a regular hunting knife that'd been in her trunk.

"Oh, you're telling me that the angel's broodmare slipped the halter?"

The connotation only made her eyes narrow a little.

"Crowley?" She tapped the knife on her hand and put pressure him internally with a wiggle of her fingers. "Some time today?"

Her sudden burst of patience paid off as Crowley's frustration finally capped off.

"I don't know!" he snapped. "All I know is that Hell right now is Purgatory's bitch thanks to some very angry monsters whose mommy decided to get a slice of vengeance."

"How?"

"Possession. I'm not sure how but the bloody bastards are stealing our bag." He waved his fingers and the pressure on his sides decreased a little. "I've lost twenty good demons just today to this stupidity. And now? Now they're hunting our kind! It is absurd!"

Meg looked out the window and thought about Castiel, wondering if he knew about this. "So that's why you stopped hunting us."

"One reason. Bigger things to worry about than a whore and her bastard." Crowley said it so casually that his words finally penetrated the other demon's calm. Meg slashed through the air and cut open his face with the hunting knife. He howled in pain as the blade dug deep into his cheek and twisted. Satisfied by his screaming, Meg jerked it back out and grinned at the stunned look on his face. Without the support of her power, he fell to the ground and panted for breath.

"I think we're going to have to strike a deal." She knelt across from him. "I'll stay away from you and yours. That'll keep the angels and monsters away from you specifically. You stay away from us as payment. Make it for a month. Then we're back to normal, trying to kill each other mode, 'kay?"

He spat out a gob of congealed blood and ruined cheek tissue before his face started to heal on its own. "What are you going to do?"

"Lot more than you can. I bet this Eve wants your blood badly. Just for kicks. So if you go hiding, I can find you and bring her to you. Or we can play nice for a while. Monsters are after me already, I don't want to deal with Hell as well. You've still got pull, Sam told me." She watched him eye her suspiciously.

"Why?"

"Better the Devil you know." Meg didn't smile, the weight of her decision to bargain with Crowley causing her to lose the typical smirk that had been tugging the corner of her lips.

Crowley met her eyes. "Ordinarily I need a kiss and a contract."

"I don't kiss on the mouth anymore," she said and he grinned, opening his mouth to say something. She snapped her fingers. "Say it and I cut out your tongue."

"Fine. How do I know you'll hold up your end of the bargain."

Meg leaned in and held out her hand. Crowley put his hand immediately into hers and she braced, ready for him to try to pull her in. But all they felt was the snare of their demonic powers curling around each other, sealing the bargain. A temporary one but it would work.

Meg could use the time it gave her.

She pulled free, wiping her hand on her jacket, and stood up. "I'd suggest you be on the lookout. Azazel is on the loose, according to the Winchesters. And he never liked you."

The King of the Crossroads stared at her, unaware of that information but he covered his ignorance with a smile.

"Oh don't worry about me, I know how to lie low." Crowley stood up and Meg drew her toe across the chalk line, still watching him warily. "Just one of many things that we share in common, Meg."

When she didn't answer, he sniffed importantly. "I'll see what big sister has to say but consider my men called off. But I'm warning you. The minute you double cross me, I'll come for you."

"That's pretty inevitable," she said as he moved to leave. Crowley gave her a smirk and disappeared. Meg leaned back and sighed.

Hell, how she missed the Apocalypse some days.