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.

19. Glowing (When Angels Touch)

Summary: With Meg's instability gathering momentum, Castiel resorts to his own methods to find answers and the angels finally find the monsters responsible for the attack. Sam focuses on trying to find a way to help his brother, but an offer from Azazel begins to tempt him.

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Part 15: Glowing (When Angels Touch)

The garage shook from its cement foundation to the rotted wood roof overhead, wind buffeting it from all sides and causing the structure to groan and creak loudly. There was a loud boom as the rear door burst open, and a small brunette crashed through. Her body crashed into an open bay, stopped only by the window frame, and she fell into the pile of wood chips and old abandoned junk.

The window overhead shattered from the impact of her body, and pelted inward all around her. Something close by shrieked, shattering the remaining cracked glass windows, and she buried her head in her hands to protect herself.

When the shrieking stopped, the building also stopped shaking. There was a deep pause that hung in the air. For a moment, everything was suddenly waiting for something to happen and had taken simultaneous breaths of anticipation.

Meg never noticed the tension in the air. She was more focussed on surviving what she had started. She exhaled sharply as she picked herself up, shaking wood and straw out of her dark hair, plucking tiny glass shards out of her palms. Despite what she was, despite how used to fighting she was, everything ached. If the scratches and bruises were any clear sign, she was going to have to fight harder if she was going to live. As she moved into the center of the garage, she looked around for anything she could use. The garage was full of machinery, the old mechanic out in the front yard dead from a broken neck after getting in the way, and there was no chance of another human stumbling in.

She patted her hip and felt the familiar warm hilt of the angel sword. Not yet, she thought to herself and then loudly taunted, "Is that it? That was your best hit?"

Stepping through the shattered door, the black-clad Abaddon stretched her arms over her head and breathed a loud, girlish sigh. She rotated her neck, cracking bones and muscle with satisfying crunches, and her sigh turned to a groan of pleasure. A groan that became almost sinister and growling, when her jewel-bright eyes focussed on the other demon crouched near the stalls. Abaddon's red lips twisted into a grin and she began to wiggle her bruised fingers, broken joints resetting, while walking in a semi-circle towards the centre.

Meg wiped at her split lip and then licked the blood from her hand, managing to smile. "You missed me, Abaddon?"

"Oh, little girl, you have no idea. No idea how boring it has been without you." Abaddon leaned back against the tow truck, running her fingers over the pulling chains and hooks that hung from the rafters. She stroked them while eyeing Meg, as if tempted to pull them out and wrap them around the younger demon. "At least you keep life more… interesting. After a while, those Winchesters? The angels? Crowley? Ugh. So predictable."

Meg tracked her movements carefully.

"But you? Meg, you were always fun," Abaddon flirted, flicking her power out with a snap of her fingers. It hit Meg in her chest, forcing her to her knees again. The other demon moved fast, a blur of leather and denim, and her leg came flying up with her pointed toe aiming for the stomach. Meg dodged the blow before springing to her feet and punching her fist into Abaddon's side. The impact sent Abaddon flying into the truck again and Meg backed off, not trusting her to be that easy to hit again.

"So, you and Azazel huh?" she asked, panting for breath as she watched the redhead straighten up from the crunched metal.

"Mmm, well. I'm old school. Knight and all that fun stuff. Old school was how you used to be, remember?" Abaddon pulled a knife and let the sharp edge rest against her chin, tapping repeatedly. "So when you called me to meet you here, I thought for sure it was a death wish. He told me I couldn't kill you but he didn't say anything about having fun."

She headed for Meg, who held her ground until the Knight was a few feet away before she attacked. Her elbow dug into her stomach and she smacked her in the jaw, only to feel Abaddon's own hand slap at her cheek. The impact caused Meg's teeth to cut her inner cheek and she tasted blood as her head was flung to the side. She heard the soft chuffing to Abaddon's breathing to let her know her own hit had struck its mark. As a hand just brushed her hair, she yanked backwards to put distance between them. Abaddon watched her with barely concealed hate before she tilted her head back and laughed.

"Oh, Meg. Really. Hair pulling and slapping?" She lifted a hand to her own bloody mouth. "Though you've got some spunk still in you, huh?

"You think I called you to give in?" Meg arched an eyebrow. "Sorry. You just got on my case enough for me to want you dead."

"Here I was thinking it was because Azazel ordered your daughter's death. He did it just to watch the way it would twist you around. And rumour has it?" Abaddon leaned close to finish in a stage whisper, "It worked."

Meg unzipped her jacket and let her hand rest on the hilt of her angel sword. Abaddon caught the gesture and shook her head with a knowing grin.

"Oh, I get it. You have something he gave you. So sad that not all of us are lucky enough to be an angel's little whore." Lewdly, she ran her tongue over her teeth and the edge of the knife. "Still, he must be good in bed. Knowing your standards."

She swiped her hand through the air suddenly and caught Meg on the shoulder, the knife carving into the protection of her leather jacket until it hit flesh. Meg hissed and dropped to a knee to get the knife out and Abaddon followed her down, grabbing her by the collar of her coat.

"Maybe," Abaddon continued gently as Meg struggled against her, "I should have given the Winchesters' pet a trial run. See what all the fuss was about."

"You're not his type," Meg snapped, trying to get her hand to her sword. "He likes 'em demon and pretty, but not stupid."

The Knight's smirk dropped at the insult. "You betrayed your own kind, Meg. For nothing."

"I'm a demon, remember?"

"Even demons have standards." Her one hand gripped Meg by her chin and she lifted her closer at the same time the knife began to dig deeper on its own, causing Meg to groan. "Don't you remember how it was? Being a demon the way you were all those years? All the blood and the horror and the absolute purity of what we were doing?" Abaddon's grin faded into a dreamy smile as she stroked Meg's lips with her thumb. "Everything we followed, everything we did. You knew how could it could be."

"Yeah, and we lost. Over and over again. Azazel fell to humans the first time. Lucifer is still caged. Crowley and you were fucked over by the Winchesters. Hell lost, Abaddon. We— I knew it was over. I simply found something better to believe in after that lost cause," Meg answered, knowing it was the wrong thing to say when Abaddon's eyes began to glitter.

"Better? Better!" She lifted her knee abruptly so she knocked Meg in the jaw and the impact set Meg's head rocking back on her shoulders. Abaddon let her drop completely away and turned her back on her as she walked a few feet away. "You found something better?"

Meg pushed up on her hands and knees, spitting out a mouthful of blood as the garage continued to spin out of focus around her. Just in her peripheral vision, she saw Abaddon turn towards her again.

"You what? Fell in love?" Abaddon's eyes were now black when Meg didn't deny it. "And not with a human; that would have been to plan. No. You fell in love with an angel. I don't know whether to throw up, torture you for it, or kill him to see your pain."

Rolling her eyes, Meg finally stood up. "Come on, Abaddon. You're telling me that the way you blindly loved the others, like Lucifer, was right?"

"That is honest love. It is who we are. We love our masters," Abaddon snapped. "He created us all to serve him as we were. You and that angel? Thanks to that disgusting display, you've become an abomination after all and that little bastard of yours deserved…"

Before she could finish, Meg rushed her and captured her red hair in a hand, forcing her head back and slamming her other fist repeatedly into her stomach. It sent Abaddon to her knees this time and she screeched as she tried to grapple with the smaller woman. Meg kept out of the reach just barely, fingers tight in Abaddon's hair so she could hit her without losing her.

Abaddon couldn't speak and fight at the same time and it helped Meg focus on doing what she came to do. She had thought she had a chance until that human earlier had interfered in the yard. Finding out that the knight's immortality was still very intact meant she had to keep herself truly focussed and rethink her plan. But battling an older demon with Abaddon's kind of strength wouldn't let her have extra time.

She simply had to move faster.

The angel sword flashed into her hand and she slashed down, just barely missing the Knight's heart as it punctured to the shoulder. Abaddon hissed, knocking Meg backwards with a head-butt to her stomach before her elbow cracked up into the side of her face. Meg chuffed, air knocked out of her, and she fell to the ground, cradling her injured jaw. Abaddon growled and stalked towards her, dropping the angel sword to the ground and grabbing a hunk of Meg's hair to haul her to her knees. Meg grabbed at her hands, feeling the nails gouging into her scalp, and Abaddon hit her again, this time in the temple hard enough that all Meg could see were bursts of colour in her vision.

Letting her fall forward, the older demon booted her hard in the stomach.

"What the hell did you think would happen!" she shouted, fury making her voice into a high-pitched shriek.

She slammed the toe of her boot repeatedly into Meg's stomach, causing her body to jerk up with each blow, and the relentlessness of each blow didn't stop. The backbite of her power snarled around Meg's body to make her feel the pain two-fold and Abaddon's demonic darkness twisted deeper into Meg's nerve endings, wrenching on her just to hear the cry of pain the demon gave when it became almost too much.

"Stupid little idiot!" she snarled, her teeth bared and her red hair spilling into her eyes. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

Meg blindly reached for her angel sword but Abaddon kicked it away. Instinctively Meg covered her face with her hands as she saw the Knight's boot lift again, higher this time. The impact of her next kick against her spine sent the small demon to her face in the dirt floor, Abaddon's power racing up and down her body to make each muscle scream at Meg to make it stop.

"I can't kill you but I can make you suffer before giving you to Azazel. Your precious angel won't be able to recognize you when I'm through." Abaddon put the heel of her boot in the small of Meg's back and began to grind it slowly downwards, as if stubbing out a cigarette. Feeling the bones cracking, Meg dug her toes and fingers in the dirt and tried to pull herself up, only to be kicked back down again.

The urge to call out for Castiel suddenly came to her. If anything else to relieve that agony as Abaddon's power began to burrow itself into her body. The biokinetic charges were slowly changing into a torturous wave, wrapping around her insides and twisting till a fiery burn went through her. She was pinned, being forced to suffer, and she knew that Abaddon was hoping she would call out for Castiel.

Not just to try to kill him but to prove a point.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed where Abaddon was standing. The chains hung down, tow hooks and rusted metal glinting in the dying light, and Meg turned her head towards the angel sword again. Mind reeling quickly over what she could do, Meg's hand outstretched a little. If only she could move the other demon.

But she felt the pressure on her spine increasing, threatening to pop vertebra out, as the boot heel dug deeper and deeper.

"Maybe I should make you scream his name and beg him to save you." Abaddon's disgust was apparent in the way she had reduced her voice to a whisper. "You're a pet to him, Meg, and it is making you weak. A weak and useless little tool."

Meg's hand stretched out until her shoulder screamed in pain and through the pain throbbing up her spine she focussed her own power on the angel sword. "That's where you're wrong," Meg whispered and Abaddon growled, flipping her around underneath her. She straddled the smaller woman and lifted her up, close enough that Meg could smell the reek of blood and sulphur on her breath.

"I'm not wrong about you, am I?" Abaddon almost cooed, dragging a red nail down Meg's cheek.

"You think I need him to save me," Meg hissed as she gave one last telekinetic pull. With a sound like a whip crack, the angel sword flew to her fingers. She just saw Abaddon's eyes widen before she buried it deep into Abaddon's throat.

The Knight chortled, caught on a shriek that wouldn't come as orange sparks went through her, threatening to but not quite finishing her off. Meg was able to get her foot between them and she kicked her off, and at the same her power caught hold of the chains and twisted down. The metal screeched as the chains rubbed together and fell, tangling around Abaddon's arms and throat. As she tried to struggle in the air, the tow hooks buried into her pale skin. Meg spun to her stomach and used her renewing power to force the tow truck to turn on and immediately it began pulling the chains through the crank. As Abaddon struggled to free herself from the steel and iron, the chains began lifting her higher in the air.

Spitting out more blood, Meg stared up at her as she rested wearily on her elbows. The angel sword fell to Meg's feet and Abaddon began to pant, struggling to say anything as her throat started to heal over. When the feeling finally came back to her feet, Meg picked herself up and stood across from Abaddon as the demon fought to free herself. The garbled curses were starting to gain strength and Meg quickly slit an open wound on her arm, pushing on the already bruised skin and veins to pump blood to the surface. Dribbling it out in a quick circle, she avoided Abaddon's kicking feet and made a devil's trap, finishing just as the wound started to close.

"I'd make a 'how's it hanging joke'," Meg said as she pulled her sleeve down again. "But I don't think you'd laugh."

Abaddon's throaty gasps were slowly starting to sound normal. "You think this will hold me?"

"I'm going to make sure this capture sticks," Meg said. "Make sure you're stuck. Unable to get back together."

Abaddon's bloody snarl turned into a smirk. "So you can do what? Kill me?" When Meg stumbled and went to a knee, her tortured insides begging her to stop, Abaddon noticed the gasping she was doing. She threw back her head and laughed. "You don't have that sort of power."

"I don't need to kill you," Meg answered calmly. Reaching into her pocket, she was thankful that her cellphone was unbroken. Holding it up, she began to snap a few pictures from different angles. "Your rule is based on fear, right?"

She held the phone up close to show that it was Abaddon in the photos and finished off her photos. Ignoring the pain, she dialled a number and sent the photos off. "So how scared do you think all those demons will be when they figure I took care of you? Just one of me."

Abaddon began to struggle and Meg smirked.

"Rumours will start. Whispers. Suddenly big bad Abaddon is just another demon."

"You little bitch."

Meg continued as if she hadn't spoken. "Crowley couldn't kill her, Winchesters beat her but never for long. Angels did get her down but she survived." She turned around and picked up her angel sword, dragging metal over her hand to clean it. She looked around the room and spotted an old canister full of oil. Kicking it over, she waited until the black sticky tar was scattered on the floor before she carried it back towards Abaddon. Using the blood on her hand, she began to mark up the canister with a mixture of Enochian and demonic sigils. "But an insignificant black-eyed demon took her down. Exorcised her sorry ass even though it took all night and a lot of torture. Set her in this bottle."

Abaddon's eyes widened as Meg's grin turned vicious.

"I'm not giving you the luxury of going back to the Pit. Or anywhere else. It's old school but I'm sure you'll give me a hard time. That's the problem with ruling through fear, Abbadon, no one will want to interfere to save you. Crowley definitely won't."

The psychological threat worked and Abaddon's usually triumphantly mad grin was gone. "So what are you going to do? Rule Hell?"

"Oh no." Meg raised up on her tip-toes so she was close to the other demon. "Just shake it up a little bit."

---

Castiel twitched the curtain out of the way and peered out, squinting at the neon vacancy sign as if it was the cause of his problems. Resting his hand on the glass pane, he forced himself to look as calm and unaffected as possible. The way he used to be, years ago, when he had been needed like this. Since Sam and Castiel had resumed stalking Azazel, they were on nearly constant look out for trouble. Warning the hunters had been easy; lying about who was coming after them was harder. The demons were slowly starting to come back out. The monsters were likely regroup. Eve was likely to get some sort of revenge.

But the only thing Sam could think of was his brother.

How could Sam live with himself if Dean had to die to keep Azazel and Michael from following through on whatever plan it was he had? That was the question Sam asked repeatedly, even in his sleep now, and at first Castiel had no answers that could help. He gave up trying when he realized Sam didn't want an answer.

Castiel's own thoughts were stuck on Meg and where she was, what she was doing. Why she had left them all behind and then kept herself so hidden. What was she doing out there?

The sound of coughing behind him distracted him from thinking too much about that frustrating demon.

Kevin had downed painkillers, after Castiel's healing touch could not bring him any comfort, and collapsed onto a bed to listen to the low drone of the television. The misery of his own blindness had been ongoing for the four days since Amarillo, and he didn't say much about how badly it was affecting him. Only that he had to try to remember what the tablets had said and the way he kept to himself meant that he wanted to be left alone to think it through.

Castiel wondered what Azazel and Michael had said to have him so willing to give in but Sam wouldn't let him ask.

Sam's care of the prophet bordered on the near obsessive. He was so determined for someone to live through this that it felt like all his focus was on the younger man and Castiel did nothing to stop it. He could only pay so much attention now. With his own ear to the ground and the constant feeding of Angel Radio to his brain, he almost felt overloaded by what the angels reported to him. It did keep him busy and he needed that.

With time on his hands, he would think about everything that had happened and he didn't want that now.

"You looking for Meg?" Sam asked suddenly from where he was reading.

"I've not heard from her since Amarillo. Tonight was the first night she sent me a text." Castiel let the curtain fall back to place and sighed, sinking into a chair across from Sam. He checked his phone for the hundredth time, saw that it was blank, and put it on the table. He noticed Sam's frown. "Have you found anything regarding Eve?"

Sam waved his hands in the air and looked up from his laptop. "I only have one thought and it is not a good one."

"Feel free."

"What's the chances of you creating an eclipse?" Sam smiled weakly. "Maybe we could toss her back through a doorway."

Castiel stared at him without changing expression.

"Just a theory."

"We tie her blood to Purgatory. Suck her back in, this time in reverse." Kevin piped up suddenly, his slur deepened by the drugs. "I mean, she got out the first time using demons. Maybe you can send her back using something similar. Not a good idea but better than nothing."

"Maybe." Castiel leaned his elbows on the table and rubbed at his eyes again. "Then there's the problem with Dean."

"Azazel and Michael," Sam corrected. "Maybe we can save him."

"They want in the Lethe. With all those souls, with Hell, and because Michael has access to Heaven, he'd be strong," Kevin said and then he sighed. "You guys talk about it. I need sleep."

Sam leaned back and looked at Castiel. "What do you think?"

"I'm not sure how he would absorb souls from the Lethe."

"Same way you did from Purgatory."

Castiel shook his head, openly troubled by the memory. Sam could tell in the way his eyes darted all over the room that that still was a touchy subject for the angel. "That was different."

"How?"

"There was no god there waiting for me. I could take what I wanted. You know what happened with the Lethe. It wasn't ruled by angels or demons or monsters. It was a god older than any we ever knew. But Azazel or Michael may be mad enough to try, especially if she still sleeps."

"Didn't she, well, 'sleep', maybe because of Nyx?" Castiel winced and looked away. Sam continued on, "Because, Cas, she's…."

"It's late," Castiel said abruptly to stop him. "I need to look for Meg."

Reaching out, Sam grabbed him by the wrist. "Cas, you need to talk about this."

The sound of a car pulling up made them look out the window, Sam pushing the curtain out of the way. The Cougar rattled as its engine was killed and Meg stepped out, using her hip to check the door shut. She looked around and both of them watched as she hefted a bag onto her shoulder as she walked to the Impala. Sam tapped on the window to get her attention and she walked to the window, peering in at them. Castiel stared back, noticing the way she was favouring her arm when she reached for the door. She stumbled her way in and gave them a gruff 'hey', dropping the bag at Castiel's feet before sitting down on the end of the second bed.

"Don't mind me," she said as she poked at an open wound on her neck. "Just a demon who had a rough night."

Castiel and Sam shared a look and the hunter closed his laptop. "You look like you had one." He gestured at her battered face with its ugly bruises and the swollen lower lip jutting out from below a bloody nose.

"Just regular fun times for me," she said, propping a leg up onto the bed and unzipping her boot. A muffled tremor from the bag made them look though she didn't. Meg waved her hand at it. "Gift for Cas."

He leaned over to open the drawstrings. Whatever he saw made him zip it closed again with an annoyed frown. "I told you not to."

"Yeah?" She toed off one boot then worked on the other, revealing a grossly swollen ankle. "Missed that memo."

Still glaring at her, Castiel scooped up the bag. "I'll be back."

"From where?" Sam asked, confused.

"From storing this where it needs to go." Castiel waved his hand at Meg. "Stay here."

She gave him a mocking salute and he was gone. At Sam's insistent staring, she rolled her eyes. "Abaddon. I took a piece of her she needs."

"Like what?"

"Ever see trapped demon essence?" Meg asked.

"No."

"Never will then," she said, causing him to stammer for something witty to snap back at her. With a pop in the air, Castiel reappeared. "Care to share where you put her? Stored with the other weapons of Heaven? "

"I think you gave me that canister so that it couldn't be found." He gave her a reproaching look and sat down again, putting an obvious amount of distance between them. "So why should I tell you?"

"Touchy," Meg said. "Almost make me think you're mad at me for taking care of that problem when you all couldn't."

"Yes, and most of us aren't stupid enough to go against a Knight of Hell on our own when we aren't strong enough," Castiel snapped. Meg slapped her boot on the ground, her eyes almost glinting with angry. He stared back, not looking away from her until Meg gave a disgusted sigh and turned back to pulling off her socks.

Sensing the tension, Sam cleared his throat. "Kevin? You want to grab a bite?"

"Huh?" The prophet rolled over to his stomach and his hands shakily wandered over the bedside table to grip it. "Yeah… yeah sure."

"Seeing-eye moose?" Meg asked and Kevin sighed as he reached out to put his hand on Sam's shoulder.

"Something like that."

They were gone as quietly as Sam could manage and the minute the door closed Meg stood up and removed her torn shirt. Castiel watched her toss her clothing to the bed, seeing the scratches and the bruises. Unlike days before, he kept his distance and only left his chair to lock the door.

"You going to say anything?" Meg asked his turned back.

"What's there to say?" He sat down on the bed to watch her and folded his hands over his belly. "You did exactly what you said you would do."

"And I did it to keep her off our backs," she said smugly. "Did a damn good job."

He didn't smile. "You could have died."

"Yeah?" Meg winced as her bloody shoulder was torn by her own movement. "Didn't though."

He looked away as she wriggled out of her jeans next. "You said I didn't need to protect you from any of them."

"You really want to fight about this?" Meg snapped. "You knew what I was going to do. Live with it."

"I don't like it," he said.

"I wasn't asking you to." Her eyes wandered over him as she unclipped her bra. "Come on, Cas. I let you play guardian angel over the last remaining Winchester and the prophet. You telling me it wasn't fun?"

His head turned finally. "I spent most of my time worrying over you. So no. It wasn't whatever you consider fun."

The sharp edge to his voice made Meg give him a hard look, trying to see what his expressionless face was hiding. Castiel simply watched her until she scoffed and tossed her remaining clothing at his feet before she limped to the bathroom. Closing his eyes, he took in deep breaths to calm himself and listened as she began to run the shower. The pipes creaked and groaned, but over it he could hear her talking to herself, mostly cursing her own stupidity for ever getting involved.

Typical, he thought, for Meg to want her own way.

When his temper finally cooled, Castiel leaned forward to pick up her discarded clothing from the edge of the bed and assessed the damage. Deep gouges, burn marks, and spots that smelt of blood and sulphur. What had happened he could only guess, but he knew the blood wasn't just Abaddon's.

The nagging thought that he was lucky that she was still alive was so sudden and so infuriating that he angrily slapped the shirt into the trash. He could have not seen her again, could have been left all alone with what he had to do, because of her pride in wanting to take down a Knight of Hell by herself. Concern quickly changing to hurt and anger, he stalked to the bathroom door. One hand lifted, ready to bang it off its hinges, but he stopped himself, fingers flexing until his palm was flat to the door. He knew Meg and he knew if he stormed in that it would be the wrong move.

Damn her, he thought as he laid his fingers on the door and pressed a little, but Castiel didn't force it open like he planned. Resting his forehead on the frame next, he inhaled deeply and then slowly turned around. He was ready to wait for her to come out before he tried to reason with her again. He just doubted Meg would see his side of it.

Opening his eyes, Castiel jumped as through the window he saw a woman in a Biggerson's uniform staring at him. At first they only stared at each other, before she reached out and drew a sigil with the condensation on the window. Castiel stared back and read the sigil as he came closer, recognizing that she was an angel. It took longer to see who she was; even though every angel knew each other, knowledge burned into them from the first steps they took, it had been years since he had seen Ambriel.

Behind him, the bathroom door creaked open and he heard the hiss of steam being released, smelled the soap on Meg's skin as she stepped beside him, towelling her long hair and still only covered by another towel. He glanced at her, seeing the fresh bruises and scratches on her wet skin, and his fingers twitched, ready to touch her. But Meg stepped away as she eyed the other angel and he lost his nerve, hand dropping to his side.

"Friend of yours?" she asked, not noticing how he was staring at her now.

"Ambriel. She's belongs to a special Garrison. She's a Power."

"And they're what? The Navy Seals of you guys? Bet that's exciting," Meg commented, already bored as she walked to the window and closed the curtains so the angel couldn't look in. Her audacity at first stunned Castiel but also caused a faint smile he couldn't hide. "What does she want?"

"Likely to report on what the angels have found."

Meg frowned in concentration as she squirmed her damp body into a clean pair of jeans and a shirt. "To you? You taking charge of Heaven or something?"

"You're not the only one who has been busy," he said. "You left me behind. I had more to do than just worry about you."

Meg glared up at him as she fit a sweater on and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "Whatever."

The dismissive way she did it was deliberate but, despite how irritated he was, he stayed by the window. Castiel waited for her to finish dressing before he finally zapped himself out, forcing her to go on foot on her own. He frowned again when he noticed that the angels had already found Kevin and Sam. The two men were both seated on the Impala hood, Kevin's blind head turning this way and that to listen, and not only Ambriel but three other angels plus Camael stood close by.

"Brother," Camael said first, smiling at him. "You're well?"

"Yes." He heard the motel door slam shut, heard Meg's muttered cursing, but kept his attention mostly on Camael and Ambriel. He didn't bother with being pleasant. "You've heard something?"

"We did as you asked. We tracked and we waited." When Ambriel spoke, her voice was lilting and soft but he knew it hid a steel in her that all specialist Angels from that order would have. Like Ephraim, she would live only for her purpose. "We found the monsters Michael had kept with him but he wasn't near them. He's left them behind to do whatever it is he is doing."

"Where would they go?" Sam asked and she looked up at him then at Camael. The other angel nodded and she spoke slower this time, obviously thinking the humans were too slow to catch up.

"South. One of us was near the prophet Chuck's house before he was murdered." Eyes like amber focussed on Castiel again. "You'll remember, brother, that there is always a guard near a prophet. To protect them."

Her eyes darted to Kevin and Castiel realized she was inferring he had failed the young man. He didn't need the reminder. Out of the corner of his eye, Castiel saw Meg sitting on the hood of her car, clearly wanting to say something. He waved his hand at his side to stop her. As much as she liked to irritate him, he had long since figured out that she did it out of habit; if she sensed a threat she was oddly possessive over him and thought that the right to irritate him was hers alone. Remembering hat obvious affection made his anger with her dim a little.

"Ambriel." Camael's voice sounded harsh. "We are not here to place blame."

She made a face. "Yes, sir, of course. We found the other vampires. We put them out of their infernal misery."

"Where did you find the last monster?" Meg asked. The other angel visibly twitched, looking at Meg with something bordering on hate, and Castiel put himself between them.

"She's with me."

"Oh, we are all very aware of that, Castiel. All of Heaven knows that the demon is with you still." Ambriel folded her arms over her chest. "You should hear the gossip."

"What, you guys have your own version of US Weekly or something, and we're feature couple of the week?" Meg hopped down from the hood and stepped around Castiel. Ambriel's eyes went over the smaller woman, uncertain about what to think as the demon openly looked her up and down.

"Something like that. Why is she here?" she asked Castiel. "We serve you, Castiel. Not a demon. She belongs in a devil's trap."

Castiel's expression didn't change. "Even if it weren't for Azazel and Michael, you are doing this for justice. For the death of my daughter, which Camael agreed was something should never have happened."

"I don't follow," Ambriel admitted nervously. Castiel looked at Meg.

"Without her, we would have never had the opportunity to stop Lucifer before. Meg was Nyx's mother, and I believe she was part of the reason any of you are out of the Lethe now." He stepped close to the younger angel, staring at her in an intimidating way that had her eyes going to the pavement. "So you will show her some respect."

The angel glanced at Meg who was trying not to look smug. "This… this is not how it is done."

Castiel's eyes were like ice. "If the rest of the angels want to help bring Michael and Azazel to heel, then this is how it will be done."

Ambriel growled and disappeared abruptly, Camael and the others following her with a flutter in the air. Meg looked up at Castiel with a wry smile. "I can fight my own battles against your kind, you know that right?"

"I know." He walked around her to the car and looked at Sam instead. "It doesn't mean I can't help."

She rolled her eyes upward. "Well, not to nitpick but letting her finish would have been helpful."

He stopped and gave her an annoyed frown. "Thank you for pointing that out."

"No problem," Meg said with a grin. She moved to follow him and the sound of fluttering behind her made them stop to find Ambriel there again, this time with an angel in the form of a young school girl. Meg raised both eyebrows.

"There goes that fantasy I had."

Ambriel ignored that. "It was Mariel that saw the vampires. But what she saw… has left her ill. She is still recovering."

Castiel gave her a confused look but focussed on the small angel.

"In the house, I saw several of the monsters that disappeared," Mariel said in an almost robotic voice. "One had gone nearly insane but before I could stop him, he was gone. His brothers attacked me and bit me. There were more than five, as Castiel said there were. There were others guarding the perimeter. They all began to follow the monster."

"Where'd they go?" Sam asked. Castiel checked her neck and saw the skin healing over. She wasn't ill and Mariel seemed to be healing fine. The infection of Eve wasn't causing damage in angels at least.

"South. They moved fast but the others saw them dispersing on the highway," Ambriel said for her sister. "The one was headed to Lafayette. Swampland areas. Likely rebuilding a nest if we know vampires. He was one of the infected and would be infecting others."

Castiel nodded and looked at Sam. The hunter uncrossed his legs and stood up. "Have you seen my brother?"

"We lost two of our own brothers tracking him," Ambriel began and Castiel stared at her.

"That didn't answer Sam's question," Meg pointed out. "Or are you just scared to admit he frightens you?"

The angel launched herself at Meg before any could stop her, reaching for her throat and Meg felt her fingers just touch her hair when Castiel grabbed the angel by the back of her jacket and launched her through the air. She fell to her knees and stared at him in shock.

"Enough!" Castiel said, not raising his voice.

Ambriel bristled. "You are defending a demon who dares to insult the Garrison, Castiel!"

"He doesn't need to either," Meg hissed.

"Cool it!" Sam snapped. "We need information, Meg. You're not helping and you…Amber whatever. Meg's been helping us for a lot longer than you."

The angel sniffed. "You'd let an unclean demon help you."

Castiel pushed Meg away. "What else is there, Ambriel?"

"We've sent scouts after Eve, keeping their distance but she is back in the Hundred Mile again. Michael we keep away from. He's insane. They are both too dangerous." She squared her shoulders and so did Mariel. "What would you have me tell the Garrison to do?"

Castiel looked at Sam who cleared his throat. "Follow my brother."

When Ambriel saw Castiel's nod, she disappeared with her sister. The moment she was gone the tension seemed to evaporate from the cold air and Castiel slowly relaxed his stiff posture. Noticing it, Sam sighed and wiped tiredly at his face.

"Come on, Kevin. Let's get you sleeping."

"I don't want to sleep anymore," Kevin whispered. "I dream too much."

"Come on," Sam insisted, helping him down and leading him back, a bag of hamburgers squished in his other hand. Meg eyed them and then looked back up at Castiel as she sat down on the hood of her car again.

"Has she always been like that?" Meg asked. He leaned on against her car and shrugged.

"She used to be worse but she has a very good sense of humour," he said agreeably. Meg arched both eyebrows at that, causing him to say defensively, "She does."

"Hate to see you guys when you aren't feeling funny."

"You would," Castiel said. "Not that you were very friendly."

Meg pointed at herself. "Me demon. You angel. I realize it's hard for you to get that, but it makes a difference," she said after thumping him in the chest with her finger. "Any reason why I should be all aflutter that another angel is in my life? Really, that's just funny, Castiel."

Castiel glared at her and Meg shrugged.

"At least I thought it was funny."

"I know you have a sense of humour," he said. "Though I don't always understand it."

"Jokes are a bit advanced for you, yeah."

"Stop making fun of me," he threatened though he lacked any actual heat behind the words and her grin widened.

"Stop making it so easy." She looked around, tapping her fingers on the metal. Meg's dark eyes went over his face. "We should leave soon then."

Castiel watched the way she moved so carefully and knew that he should get her to slow down. But all he did was fall into step beside her was they followed Kevin and Sam.

"Maybe," he said, trying to appear calmer than he felt.

"Vampires though?" Meg shook her head. "Almost too easy to find them. Just a few can't be too hard."

He swallowed and reluctantly looked over at her, knowing what she wanted. What he wanted, though he would always say an angel was above something so petty as revenge. Castiel knew he wanted it with the same viciousness that Meg felt and it was why he nodded and agreed with her.

---

Missouri…

"It does no use fighting," the yellow-eyed demon said as he circled the man kneeling in the circle. Every time he tried to run, Azazel would simply snatch him by his neck and pull him back. After four attempts, the man was lucky to be alive with the way the demon would strangle him into submission.

Shaking, the man nodded and stayed on his knees, eyes on the floor to avoid that hellish gaze. Humming to himself in an off-tune way, Azazel walked around the human, keeping just outside the painted circle divided into a pentagram of sigils. The runic lines were etched all over the walls, wards in Enochian and in demonic text, all set to keep prying eyes out. It would be like Crowley or Abaddon to show up now, he thought to himself, and bring with them any number of angels and demons just as curious.

It made him long for the old days when all of this was just being planned, when everything hadn't fallen apart. Azazel was conceited enough to belief that he may be the only one able to fix it.

As he passed his reflection, he gave his new body an almost preening look.

"Well, you are still a pretty boy, Dean." He slapped his own face hard and this time let the human within feel it. He'd taken to tormenting Dean, alongside Michael, whenever things became too mundane. "Though your heart is still a bit worse for wear."

He rubbed at his chest. Like Michael, he had felt something strange invading, tearing into Dean's soul with more power than he could ever possibly hold, and then leaving. Whatever it had left behind something else, an emotion that just sat inside him as if there was a heavy weight within his heart.

It almost felt like hope and Azazel hadn't felt anything like that before.

It was bad enough he was stuck with an angel tied to him but a human's emotions were far worse than any angel's faith.

Inside his head, he felt Michael stir again. It still surprised Azazel. Since they had killed that strange prophet, the angel had been sulking, only coming out to attack Dean or Castiel. Azazel almost thought that the angel was regretting what they had done.

"Are we ready?"

"Moment is about right." He looked up at the rising moon critically. "What could it hurt?"

His angel sword slid to his hand and he tapped it impatiently against his thigh. Michael's restlessness began to increase the more Azazel refused to move forward, but the demon liked to savour the fear that was starting to make his victim tremble. The frustration from the past weeks had made him feel a bit more vicious, a bit more likely to savour another's pain. It was just so easy to let his own sense of hate distort his sense.

Standing behind the human man, he slit his throat and let him drop to the ground in a crumpled heap, the gash in his throat pumping blood. One eye on the body, Azazel reached into his pocket and fished out the crumbled sheet of paper. Both he words, written in Kevin Tran's shaky hand writing, and the memories from Dean about Purgatory's ritual, had combined to give Azazel some sense of what to do. Michael's own help had been more instructive; he wanted back to the Lethe just as badly as Azazel. Their reasoning was divided; the only compulsion they shared was to exact revenge on all those who had hurt them.

Inside, he felt Dean's soul move around in the dark corner it still occupied. It was the first time Dean seemed to be paying attention, not holding out hope that his little brother would save him, but Azazel ignored him. The blood was turning cold after all.

"Lethaeum ad limen. Tibi dico," he began as he drew a line through the first sigil with his foot and immediately he felt something strange crackle up him, before settling low within the pit of his stomach. The building he was in shook at its foundations and he began to breathe harder in excitement at how quick this was happening. He quickly drew another line through a second sigil.

"Lethaeum ad limen. Qui cum exiit dæmonium a sanguine." Reaching into his leather coat, Azazel poured the vial of Meg's blood into the pool of the human's blood. Her blood's smell was strange, like an ocean after a storm, and he inhaled curiously before shaking his head and repeating the words again. In reaction, the strange crackling continued and he felt as if his fingertips were turning numb.

Tilting his head, he looked down at his shadowy reflection in the pool of blood and thought he saw something flicker. He had to blink his yellow-eyes several times to clear his head and he began to sway on his feet as all of his energy slowly began to drain away.

"Arte Dei. Lethaeum ad limen, tibi dico." Beneath his feet, he thought he felt something rumble again. His fingers were turning ice cold now, the sensation bizarre when he could only shakily remember the Lethe and the thoughts of its comfort that were left over inside his soul. Within, Michael was just as confused. Where was the comfort of that place?

"Iter tuum. Videam, quæso!" He staggered over the next set of words as something clutched hold of his stolen heart and squeezed with what felt like a fist. "T…t….Tibi…"

He collapsed to his knees in the blood and felt something cold pass over his head. The draft caressed his face and then with a slap he felt doused by ice, his lungs impossibly suffocated under pressure. There was no water but Azazel knew that he was drowning where he stood and he put his hands to his face, clawing at his skin to try to bring reality into this hallucination.

Turn away from this, you freak. This place isn't for you.

Neither Michael or Azazel recognized the voice but the demon laughed, even as the power faded from his finger tips. He hadn't finished the spell but he had felt the possibility of it working. He had cracked a doorway open, even if it had been just for a fraction of time.

It meant it could be done.

---

As the lonely stretches of highway passed by, unseen to him except for Sam's comment about what road sign they were passing, Kevin fell into a strange waking sleep. His head dropped to his chest and then reared back as he tried to focus on what he was hearing. There was no extra awareness to his senses, no feeling that he could compensate for his destroyed vision. He was in the darkness and the only thing he had to keep him from being afraid was that Sam and Castiel constantly spoke to him. The blindness was terrifying; here he needed to depend on others again, after months of learning to be on his own when he needed it. Before the blindness he had been touched by God and given visions of what to do.

Somehow, those visions had been wrong. It was supposed to end in Chuck's house, he was sure of it; God should have taken care of the monsters and the twisted creature that had once been a favoured son. Instead, Chuck had let himself be killed with a serenity that bordered on sacrificial. Kevin hadn't been able to look away as the last of his shaky visions had fallen apart and regretted it. Now he was blind and the only visions he had were of Nyx's terrified face and Dean's own surrender.

To cover how he felt, Kevin was stuck in his self-proclaimed 'blind prophet trope'. Castiel hadn't seen the humour in that, nor had Sam, since both knew he wasn't having any more visions. The sarcasm getting him nowhere, he decided to fake sleep so he could think.

What had he told Azazel?

It was all a blur from the headaches and pain. That short time in the van, Michael had allowed him to suffer, knowing that the pain would weaken him badly. All he had left in that time spent trying to finger-read the tablets were moments he had been in so much pain that Meg had actually been a blessing when she had rescued him. Now there, Kevin thought, was the real problem. Without his eyes, he had to cling to his memories of the tablets and he figured that was his only value to Sam right now.

"You okay?" Sam asked from up front as he kept the car coasting along.

"Yeah, fine." Kevin punched the jacket he was using as a pillow. "Just tired."

The Impala made for a soft, steady drone under his ear and he found himself falling asleep to its hum. At least he was safe here, Kevin thought to himself and he finally stopped fighting his exhaustion.

Immediately he was back in Chuck's house. He still couldn't see, but he could… feel the difference. The warm air of the Impala was gone, he could hear the sound of tapping on the laptop, and he smell the alcohol and smell of burnt bacon. The last smells he remembered before going blind.

Turning around in a circle, he held his hands out. "Where am I?"

Someone grabbed his shoulders and steadied him. "You did okay, Kevin. I just need you a little longer, then you can rest. I need you to see the end for them. I said it was hard to have faith, but I need you to have it."

His face was held, fingers covered where his eyes should be, and he began to scream at the pressure on his empty eye-sockets. The pain brought memory of the white hot flashes he had seen when he had watched Chuck die, had seen Nyx's true form. The lights crashed together and melded into prophecy like a wave overwhelming him. Vision after vision overloaded his mind and for a moment it was as if he had eyes again. It all was happening too fast, bringing with them pain and suffering. He wanted to die.

Then his visions twisted to play out before him, revealing a red haired woman dressed in black and someone glowing too bright to be seen beside her. He could just make out a shoreline, a sunset that was never-ending over waves that crested high over the sandy beach. There was something familiar about it. But before he could get a glimpse of where he really was, booming voices began to shriek at him to get out.

"Kevin? Kevin!" Sam's voice was loud inside the car and he reached over the seat and smacked the prophet on the arm. Kevin woke, gasping for breath, and felt rough calloused hands on his face, holding him still. The warmth of Grace clearing his head helped Kevin gulp in a few breaths that actually calmed his racing heart.

"You were dreaming." Castiel's voice almost seemed raspier now, so close that Kevin heard his whisper as if he was shouting at him. "What were you dreaming about?"

"Nothing." He reached up to rub at his eyes and remembered they weren't there. Instead, he tugged at the gauze covering his eyes until the material relieved the itch there. "I'm okay."

"Are you sure?" Sam asked.

"Yes, damn it!" Kevin sat up and shoved Castiel away, fumbling to fix his seatbelt. "Where's Meg?"

"Driving her own way so we're not followed. I didn't like it." The angel was still too close, his presence now oppressive, and Kevin pressed against the door to avoid him.

"Kevin, I need you to remember what happened," Sam said and Kevin heard the thump thump of his fingers on the steering wheel. It meant Sam wanted to press for details and didn't know how to do it calmly. "What did you do for Azazel?"

"It… it was a spell." Tiredly, he leaned back and wished he could see Sam. "The spell to get into Purgatory was easy to remember. I saw all your notes, remember? Then the paths, the visions, all of it kind of just happened."

"What paths?"

"It makes sense to me," he rambled on. "I saw ways in. The spell to get into the Lethe wouldn't be that different than getting into Purgatory. Only…"

The silence hung in the air between them as they waited for him to finish.

"Purgatory was just like a big game reserve for God, a storage facility for monsters gone wrong. Lethe was run by someone else. Guarded by someone else. It isn't even on the same level and we didn't know much about it."

Castiel was shifting beside him. "But I was able to pull Meg free."

"Because Sheol decided she wasn't ready to be there yet. That she could be used. She let you take her back, Cas, remember?" Kevin shook his head. "What I remember being told is that Sheol fell asleep, so to speak. Closed the doors to the Lethe."

"So what is Azazel doing with Meg's blood?"

"It could have a link there. With the right words, the right ingredients, the right amount of power, there's no reason both Michael and Azazel together couldn't make a doorway. They just might not like stepping through."

Sam exhaled. "Taking Dean with them."

"Yeah."

Castiel was moving again, restless now that Kevin had explained the possibility. "We need to stop them."

"Then why are we headed South?" Sam asked.

"Because the monsters that escaped can give us a way to find them. The other monsters the angels have found would have known… if they hadn't been killed. Michael would leave a trail, I know it, and the monsters with him. It might be in this thing's memory and I can use that," Castiel explained patiently, but Kevin heard the odd note in his voice.

"You also want to get a piece of it."

The angel's silence was telling and Sam stuttered out, "Look, Cas…"

"My daughter was killed." The sudden way Castiel snapped that out made Kevin jump. He could just imagine the angel's stoic face now. "I've not had time to bury her, even in memory. They left me with nothing of Nyx. You better than anyone understands what I have to do, Sam."

"Yeah… yeah I do," Sam whispered.

Kevin turned his face into the cool glass window and scratched at the gauze again. "I wish I'd driven with Meg."

---

Castiel wished the same thing at the next stop when she didn't show up again. Sam had needed to get some sleep and was passed out in the Impala's front seat, asking for an hour or two. It left the angel and the prophet to make an awkward couple in the late night restaurant. Kevin was a sullen wreck, sitting in uncomfortable silence as he fumbled with eating a salad, and Castiel kept his hands folded as he watched him. He wasn't sure how to make any sort of conversation with the prophet; mentally he relayed things Dean might say and came up short. Nothing appropriate came to mind.

"I should have gone with Meg," the angel muttered and Kevin's head lifted.

"If that spell works, Cas, you can't leave her alone. They'll want her more than ever." His fork slipped on the plate, screeching loudly. The sound meant nothing to Castiel but he saw the way Kevin winced. "Shit!"

He banged the fork down hard in his frustration.

Castiel only stared him, sympathizing with his hopelessness. "I'm sorry. If I could heal you…"

Kevin waved his hand, and began to hand-feed himself the lettuce instead. "I know, Cas. I just- how else do you cope with losing your eyes, you know?"

They were both quiet as he ate and then Castiel leaned forward a little, lowering his voice.

"What did you see? Neither of them were angels, I know. I'm trying to understand." His curiosity getting the better of him, Castiel flicked the plastic tablecloth and waited. Kevin chewed thoughtfully for a minute and if he had had eyes, the angel knew he wouldn't be looking away from him.

"Is there anything you can't look into? Because you're an angel?"

"I have to assume there would be. Things I can't understand maybe," Castiel confessed.

"Like God?"

"Maybe. I've never met him to know."

"There's your answer," Kevin said cryptically and went back to eating, his bound head drawing a sympathetic look from the waitress as she poured Castiel more coffee. She started to talk to him but noticed he was staring at the door and not at her.

The angel was hoping for Meg to breeze in as she always did, if anything to relieve the tension. A small movement and a hacking cough caught his attention and he finally noticed a trio of travellers, dusted with snow and ice, sitting in a corner booth behind him. One man was trying to get his young toddler to eat but she was sleepily pushing the fork away, still too young to talk.

"I think she's sick," her father muttered, his southern accent thick with exhaustion. Castiel leaned over the back of the booth, trying to be discreet. The girl's brown eyes met his, causing him to smile as he read her mind.

"She's just tired. Were you travelling all day?" he asked. Both men looked at him, confused by the suddenness of his appearance and by the way the little girl seemed to relax when she heard his voice.

"Yeah, maybe," the other man said, ruffling her hair. "You okay, pumpkin?"

Castiel noticed her nod and slump down into her father's arms. After settling her down cozily, her father looked at Castiel curiously. "I think you're right. You've got kids?" he asked curiously.

"I had a daughter." Castiel gave a weak smile and both men looked at each other in understanding.

"I'm sorry," one muttered, eyes on the little girl again. "We lost her twin in a car accident. Drunk driver hit us. It… it was hard those first few weeks."

Castiel felt the sting of grief just as sharp as before but the open camaraderie of the two men helped ease it.

"You have any pictures?" the man's partner asked. He fumbled in his pocket and showed Castiel a photo of a smiling toddler boy. "This was our last one of Simon."

Castiel thought of the photographs tucked inside of his coat, the pictures of a happy child that he'd been given. He shook his head, knowing what it could cost to his sense of calm if he showed that weakness. Both men frowned.

"Was it pretty recent?" the first man asked and Castiel nodded. "I'm telling you, the best thing to do is not be alone. Even if it feels right." Sheepishly he grinned at his partner. "You can lose people that way."

The first man rolled his eyes affectionately. "Yeah, but you didn't."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Castiel whispered, remembering the human words Dean had insisted meant something to people like this. They nodded and before he could say anything more he noticed the door opening. Meg and Sam were coming in together, the tall hunter yawning and then choking on it when Meg squirmed by him, shoving him out of her way. Castiel watched her closely, trying to see any injury. The men behind his table looked at the way he was staring and then nudged each other.

"He'll be fine," one muttered to the other.

Not wanting to be rude, Castiel thanked them and turned back to his table. Sam and Meg fought over who was sitting where and Castiel reached out to pull Meg down, forcing Sam to sit in the tiny corner Kevin has left him.

"Where were you?" he asked, ignoring the others as they argued about who was taking up more space.

"Took the long route, kept an eye out, sent some text messages to Crowley."

"Why?"

She smirked. "Well, a happy Crowley is an unsuspecting Crowley." Meg stretched an arm out and snagged Kevin's coffee cup, pouring several spoonfuls of sugar in. He fumbled looking for it and she smirked.

"Meg, come on," Sam said.

"That was Meg?" Kevin asked. "I figured. Had demon written all over it."

"You can tell that?" she joked. Surprisingly, he smiled, as if her treating him as if he was normal was a relief. Meg sucked down a few deep gulps and then leaned back in the seat. "We're on the Louisiana line now, boys. Sam, how the hell did you and Dean do this so much?"

Sam gave her a confused look.

"Always seemed like you guys were 'poof' there."

"We were just good at cutting time out," he explained.

"Or your asses were made of steel because mine is killing me," Meg said with a squirm. Castiel glanced down and she noticed him staring. "Eyes on mine, Cas, you'll make Sam blush staring like that."

Her attempted flippancy seemed forced and though Sam looked away, Castiel watched her. There was a set to her face that seemed more false and shaky than before.

"You're worn out," he muttered, going to touch her face.

"Stop it," Meg whispered, pulling back. "I'm doing all right."

"You didn't rest after your fight with Abaddon."

"I said I'm fine!" she snapped and when she went to stand he caught her by the wrist, the movement catching Sam's eye. Ignoring her tugs, he flipped her wrist over and saw that several of the marks Abaddon had left hadn't healed. Both demon and angel noticed Sam watching and Castiel took advantage of Meg's distraction to touch her side, fingers stealing into her jacket.

"I'm going with Meg in her car. So she can rest."

"I'm not letting you drive."

"You don't have a choice." He dangled her keys that he had slipped out of her pocket. Meg hissed and grappled with him for them as he held them away.

"Give 'em back!"

"No. I can drive and you can rest." He held her back as if she were a kitten swiping him and not a demon of her power. The sight was bizarrely amusing and Sam started chuckling as he watched Meg try to climb onto Castiel to get her keys back. They slipped over the plastic cushions and he leaned away from her even when her knee banged his groin. The angel simply waited her out, ignoring her hushed cursing, until Meg sat back with a huff.

"I could just zap myself out and hitchhike."

"Do it and I'll follow you. You need rest," he insisted. Sam rolled his eyes.

"Meg, just let him take care of you."

"I don't need —," she started, eyes black.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry about your reputation. I'll still think you're a badass demon but we need you on our side and not half-asleep," he interrupted before she could protest. Castiel smiled at him for helping and felt Meg's hand on his thigh under the table. She squeezed hard in warning, nails pinching the thin material of his trousers and he eyed her.

"It's just a few more hours till we hit Lafayette," he said. "It won't be that long."

"Better not be," Meg grumbled. "A nanny angel gets old fast for a girl like me."

Castiel elected not to answer that and one look at Sam's relieved nod told him that had been the right move.

---

Maine…

The canopy of trees and brush had formed the only cover she had, the only protection against any animals or humans that would be coming through this way. Nursing deep wounds and even more deeply injured psyche, Eve made a pitiful sight compared to what she had once been. She was vulnerable and this time she was afraid with every instinct left that told her there was nothing she could do. Her vessel was falling apart and she had lost control of healing it.

Even just putting out a pitiful amount of power to try to heal the damage ended up with the aftereffects warping the world around her. Trees died, plants shrivelled up, and the heat in the air grew stifling. But the state she was in stayed the same and combined with her pain was frustration and fear.

The wounds in her chest and neck were refusing to heal properly. With the destroyed muscles in her neck, she had to keep her head at a permanent slant facing downward, twisted in a jutting angle. Eve could feel the way her skin tried to heal itself but each failed attempt simply made the pain worse. It was hard to control the slathering drool falling from her lips or the jerking her nerves made her body do.

The fire and the half-done spells and angel sword swords had made her vessel stop responding to her healing powers. She was so hungry, Eve realized as she dug her hands into the dirt and t. As hungry as she was, the rumbling in her stomach would never stop until she healed.

The longer she went without substance, the weaker she became and the less likely it was that she would ever heal.

It was why she almost buried herself in the ground to try to heal. She couldn't call her children to her now, so there were no alphas to heal her with their blood, no dragons to protect her. She was weak and she was alone.

Eve had never been so terrified in her long existence.

She knew the angels were watching just as intently as the demons. Her body would be a prize at this point, to either side, though were no fertile eggs left within her body, no children about to come to her. All she had left were her infectious gifts from her own venom, her own blood, and that was the only protection that kept her from being attacked.

Keening in her throat, she covered herself in more mud and earth, like an animal set to hibernate. Broken limbs were forced to reset and Eve knew she would fall apart sooner or later.

How had it all gone so wrong so fast?

Azazel.

Hate had always strengthened her. She had never hated until she had been brought back. She had fallen into step to God's demands with the way things were meant to be. But the Winchesters, the angel, Crowley; they had taught her to hate. Azazel had simply created more reason for her to want to destroy all of creation.

One infection at a time.

Eve dug her fingers into the mud, slathering it onto her wounds as she listened to something moving through the brush. It smelled like a demon, all sulphur and cheap cologne, and her incisors dropped hungrily. The angel that had been watching her was gone and she knew she could take the demon's power to sustain herself for a little longer.

She was so hungry.

---

The waves were crashing on the shore and Meg turned to watch the way they crested and rolled against the rocky outcrops. Miles of unblemished beach, blue-green water, sunset sky; anyone else would see it as beautiful but Meg felt the vague strangeness beneath the beauty. This place was so familiar. She knew it. She'd missed it at first, feared it, and then forgotten it.

Or so she thought.

"You always come back to where you started. Did you miss its warmth? Its peace?" A voice was sly and husky in her ear, hands slipping around her throat. Meg closed her eyes at the familiar tones, the rise and fall of an unplaceable accent.

"Why don't you come to me and we can go back?"

Meg ignored the voice and stared.

"She's not coming back to you, Meg. I made sure of that."

"Get out of my head," she whispered, breaking free of the hold on her throat. Something else grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her step by reluctant step towards the waves until her toes met the water. Then the cold hands were gone, replaced with a warm, unseeable embrace that Meg nearly fell into.

"Was it worth it in the end, little dove?" a soft female voice asked and Meg closed her eyes.

"I don't know," she admitted and the tingling sensation in her feet slowly crawled up her body.

"Meg."

The hand on her wrist stroked her skin. "Sometimes you can't tell until it is all over."

"Meg."

"You could have made the other choice, you know that." The female voice was wistful. "And then you would have just come to the Lethe again. Never felt this pain again. All of it. Over."

Meg opened her eyes and whatever was around her seemed to sense her thoughts.

"Poor little dove. So stuck between what she was, what she became, and what she is."

"Meg."

"Run back to your angel, Meg."

"Meg, wake up."

She jerked awake when she heard the Cougar's engine being shut off. "Wha-sa?" she said, blinking rapidly to clear her eyes.

"We had to stop at a bar." Castiel was staring at her. "I thought you said you didn't need sleep."

"It was either that or deal with your attempts at demon therapy." She gave the angel a lecherous grin that didn't seem as teasing as usual. "Back seat is free again if you want to do more than perch on my shoulder."

He didn't look away. "I wanted you, you wanted me. We both felt grief we never expected to feel. Don't make it seem so one-sided."

"Hardly ever has been, has it?" Meg mumbled, hating that he wasn't letting her deflect. She pushed her hair away from her face. "Where are we?"

"Sam phoned. He wanted to stop for something to eat. Kevin's needing to rest; Sam said he's been sick." He squinted at the road signs. "We're actually very close to Lafayette."

"So we do another diner run?"

"Sam has a point. We can see if there's been any news. An infected monster would be causing problems."

"Give the Winchester a medal for smart thinking for once," she muttered under her breath.

"They're just pulling in now," Castiel commented as headlights flashed across the windshield.

Meg lazily stretched, exposing now healed skin along the strip of flesh above her jeans, and heard his soft intake of breath. When she glanced over, he was watching her closely. "Keep your tongue in your mouth. You've seen it all before."

"I was merely checking," he snapped as she unbuckled herself. "You were badly hurt.

Rolling her eyes, Meg watched him look out the window as the Impala pulled up. The moment he reached for the door, Meg leaned over and planted a hard kiss on his startled mouth. The demon lingered on the familiar flavour of his mouth, and she heard his startled murmur when she nipped his lower lip. His eyes were wide when she pulled back, tongue flicking out to wet his lips. Meg rubbed her thumb over the curve of his mouth and smirked.

"Aren't you just the cutest?" she asked mischievously before crawling over him and out of the car. He was already starting to plan his speech on how angels, on the whole, were not "cute". Even though he suspected she meant it sarcastically.

Sam and Kevin were waiting for them by the Impala, the prophet yawning as he scratched at the gauze. "He slept the whole ride over and is still tired. I think he shouldn't come in but he's insisting," Sam explained and Kevin's head quirked towards them.

"All the people who lost their eyes and can't be healed by angels, raise your hands." He raised his own and his mouth quirked. "No one else's hands are up, are they?"

Meg grinned in appreciation and after tucking a holstered gun into his coat, Sam took his arm. "Come on."

The small bar had a faint algae undertone to its odours of Cajun cooking. Heavy in spices and surprisingly humid, the air was warm and inviting, enough that even Meg relaxed a little. Castiel looked around, wrinkling his nose at the heavy smells, but Sam ignored it all. He guided Kevin over to a table with the angel and demon and helped him figure out where things were before he took a look for himself. Except for an older man paying at the counter, it was empty.

As the door banged shut behind the last customer, a young woman came over to the table, giving them all a friendly smile. She obviously noticed Kevin but was too polite to stare.

"Evening."

Meg looked around. "When's your rush hour?"

"You're in it," the woman said with a wink as she wiped down the table and left to get water. Meg looked around and arched an eyebrow at Sam.

"I feel like humming some CCR all of a sudden, you know what I mean?"

He opened his mouth to say something, stalled by the waitress coming back. Kevin's head turned and he helped him find his water glass before turning to the woman. She was toying with a bracelet as she looked at Kevin, and he noticed that someone had drawn a happy face on her hand.

Catching him looking, she smiled and focussed on Castiel and Meg instead.

"I'm Elizabeth. You can take a look at the menu." She gestured to the chalkboard. "And holler when you want something."

Sam gave her an appreciative grin. "I'm sure we will," he said, voice doing an unassuming drop that had her turning the force of her smile onto him this time. Under the table, Meg kicked him hard and he gave her an innocent look once the waitress left. "What?"

"Eyes on the prize already?"

"What? I was being polite."

"Your voice did seem to hint at flirtation," Castiel said knowingly.

That delighted Meg. "See? Clarence agrees with me."

"He sleeps with you, he has to agree with you, right?" Sam snarked back. Kevin groaned.

"Come on. What are you all, in high school? Sam, you were trying to flirt. I heard it."

"Blind Prophet settles it. So park the Winchester charm, 'kay?" Meg ordered and Sam resumed glaring at her, even as he gestured at Elizabeth. She smiled pleasantly, not seeming to notice the way Meg's smirking look was including her. The demon kicked Sam again when he openly grinned at the woman and he cleared his face of the smile.

"What'll it be?" she asked.

"Actually, Elizabeth. We're looking for…" He stumbled for a lie. "We've got some friends in trouble down this way, said there was some weird things happening. You heard of anything strange?"

She pushed her braid over a shoulder and tucked her pencil behind her ear. "Nothing really. I've only moved back here a few weeks myself but this is a quiet place. The locals were in earlier for coffee and eggs, said there was some ruckus down near a campsite. Talking about monsters and vampires but who believes that, right?"

Watching her closely, Castiel knew she did believe it.

"Anything else?" Meg asked. Elizabeth shot them all a suspicious once-over and Castiel tried for a smile that was more strained than friendly. Meg nudged him to stop it and the awkward expression left his face immediately. "We just want to make sure to avoid it." She nodded at Kevin. "He went blind recently; weak as a kitten and all that."

"Ah huh," Elizabeth said, eyes darting over Sam again. "Let me ask the kitchen staff. Only the dishwasher and cook back there now. I'll be back."

Kevin's head turned toward Meg. "Did you just use me as an excuse?"

"What was I supposed to do? 'Hi, can you tell me where the vampires around here are? We want to kill a few.' " Meg rolled her eyes. "Real subtle. It's a wonder you guys get any information."

"She has a point," Castiel conceded.

"Stop siding with Meg, Cas," Kevin said.

"Well, I think…" Sam started and then stopped as Elizabeth came into sight again, following a well-muscled man carrying a pot of strong smelling gumbo. At his open mouth stare, Meg and Castiel turned to see, leaving Kevin to tap his fingers on the table in frustration.

"Hey. What is it? What's going on?"

"That's… that's Benny."

"Who's askin', Lizzie?" Benny was talking to the waitress as he set the pot on the front stove and began to stir. Castiel could hear them clearly and he swallowed, eyes darting to Meg.

"Some people from up north. One's kinda cute actually."

"Haven't been up north in weeks." Benny was stirring and looking at Elizabeth, not seeing the group in the corner. "And what'd I tell you about the cute ones?"

"We're related, but that doesn't mean you get to pull the great-grandfather routine on me," Elizabeth said. "You realize how hard it is to find good men who…"

"Benny." Sam's voice made him stop stirring and Elizabeth whipped around, turning bright red with embarrassment.

"Oh, this is Roy…"

"Nice try but I know this is Benny."

The vampire reached out and squeezed Elizabeth's shoulder. "It's all right, Lizzie. This is Dean Winchester's little brother."

"Little? Little where?" Her eyes went slowly up Sam but unlike before he wasn't flattered. Meg and Castiel approached, leaving Kevin behind, and Benny's eyes widened.

"Little lady, Auntie. Haven't seen you both in ages. I've been hoping to see you again," he said and Sam noticed how relieved he sounded.

"Benny," Castiel said. Like Meg, he thought he knew why Benny was hiding here and not with a nest. His hand was already in his coat, grasping his angel sword. The vampire caught the gesture but only wiped his hands on a cloth and leaned against the counter.

"You know what we're doing here?" Sam asked

"I think I know why you're here. Why wouldn't I?" Benny said. His friendly tone made it seem like he was inviting them to dinner, as if they all weren't looking at him with ill-disguised animosity. "Don't worry about Elizabeth here, she knows it all."

She gave them a weak smile, hands tightly clenched in her apron.

"You're hanging around humans again?" Sam demanded. "God, how good it must be to earn trust so easily."

"She knows who I am, what I am. I came to her in need and she was willing to take a chance. After all that happened, she's forgiven me more than a lot of people would," Benny said, eyes going over her. "More than I deserve. "

Meg's eyes darted from angel to man to vampire. "What did you do?"

"What do you know?" Castiel interrupted and Benny set down his ladle.

"Enough." The vampire reached for the salt next. "I was polite, and all you three can do is get ready to kill me. You had better work on your conversation starters. For example, you could have told me what happened to Kevin there."

He nodded at the prophet who was sitting, attentively listening. "It's pretty obvious," Kevin snapped. "Maybe we can play "I spy" if you're that stupid about it."

Meg bit back a smirk as Benny raised his eyebrows. But Castiel's confusion and Sam's obvious frustration was making it harder on her not to break into a bitter laugh. She had her suspicions and like Castiel her hand was on the only weapon she carried.

"Cas, Meg, leave me and Benny alone for a second. Kevin can stay." Sam's face was tight with anger, voice no brokering no argument. Castiel looked at him skeptically and then back at Benny.

"I think I should stay."

"Cas, please!" Sam snapped and the angel sighed, turning to Meg. The demon looked ready to argue but Castiel took her by the arm and led her out. Behind them, Kevin turned his head left and right, concentrating on something only he knew. Benny leaned back against the stove, arms crossed over his chest.

"I just saved your life. For the moment."

"I got the feelin', yeah. But they didn't have to leave." Benny was watching them through the front window until they disappeared to the patio. Reluctantly, he looked at the hunter staring at him. "Why're they wanting my head?

"Dean's been possessed by a demon and an angel," Sam said, charging ahead and hoping to make some impact on the vampire.

But Benny only nodded. "Yeah. I know."

"I know it's just -" Sam stopped. "What do you mean, 'you know'?"

"I was there. Don't you remember?" Benny rubbed at his bearded jaw. "Though I think I looked a bit more infected. All pus faced and veined up."

"You…" Sam's eyes did an odd twitch. Then he remembered the vampire that had struck down Dean but hadn't actually touched anyone. The one who had… He reached into his coat and flipped open his pistol holster. "You knew, you watched it all happen."

"Benny, what's going on?" The slim brunette removed the flour-stained apron around her waist and slapped it onto the counter. "I thought you said they'd know."

"I had only Dean's number, not Sam's or Castiel's. Dean wanted it that way if something happened. I had to keep low." Benny's eyes lazily went over the young man. "And you know I'm not infected now."

Sam pulled his gun and both vampire and human froze. "She knows what you've done?"

"What've I done?" Benny hadn't moved yet.

"You stood by and watched what happened to Dean." Sam ignored Elizabeth, who was backing towards Benny again. "He was your friend!"

"Still is," the vampire answered soothingly. "Calm down, Sam."

"You didn't help us. You let them… you…"

"Calm down," Benny repeated.

"You let them hurt her, you let them take Kevin!" Blind with anger, Sam lifted his gun higher. "I'm trying to think, after all Dean trusted you with, why I shouldn't shoot you right now! It won't kill you but it's a start"

Benny held his hands out wide to the side, thick forearms turned and his palms showing. "Take it easy, Sam."

"You helped them kill Nyx! A helpless little girl!" Sam shouted. "How are you any better than those monsters?"

"Wait." Benny stared, obviously shocked. "You tellin' me that the girl is really dead?"

Sam hesitated, hand lowering a little. "You- you didn't know that."

"No. That's not right, Sam." Benny's jaw clenched. "I wasn't gonna let it happen. I saw what happened to Dean and Kevin, I did what I could to fight what I was to help you but Eve's infection was stronger than me! It was like I was in a cage."

With his finger itching on the trigger, Sam nearly shot him where he stood. "Damn it, Benny, we trusted you!"

"Still can. Otherwise can't be right," Benny repeated, as if the hunter hadn't spoken and wasn't brandishing a gun so wildly. Elizabeth nervously reached out to stop him but Benny brushed her aside as he continued to mutter to himself, banging his shoulder into the kitchen door. Sam started after him but the waitress stood between them, her hand gently pushing back on his chest.

"It's okay."

"No… no it's not. He's a killer!" he insisted and her grip tightened just a little, so he was forced to look her. She gave him a wistful smile and Sam was aware of something dropping in his stomach at that smile. She knew exactly what Benny was but the sympathetic look in her eyes was too kind to be someone frightened by that.

"No, he's not." She smiled up at him and Sam lowered his gun a bit. "I know him. He wouldn't hurt a little girl anymore than he'd hurt Dean or you."

"You know nothing about vampires."

Her smile turned down just a little. "But I know him. He couldn't do anything like that." The grip on his arm squeezed comfortingly. "It's okay, Sam."

Fidgeting, he dropped his gun down and almost slumped. Sitting at the table, Kevin's head turned as he tried to find where everyone was. "What's happening, Sam?"

Finally tearing his eyes away from Elizabeth, Sam looked away to see Benny coming out of the kitchen. He wasn't armed, and it simply looked like he had gone to change out of his messy apron. Using his foot, he propped the door open behind him.

"I'm going to prove to you, Sam, that you can trust me," he said, still holding out his hands as if to demonstrate his own innocence to the Winchester. Sam started for him but he didn't back away any further. "Your brother trusted me, you should too."

As he came closer, Sam began to squeeze the trigger.

---

"So what happens if Benny knows the rest of the monsters we were looking for?" Meg asked. Castiel watched as she walked in front of him.

"It changes nothing. He'll help us."

"Then it'll be over too fast. That's the problem with vengeance, Cas. Feels so good and then you have nothing left from it," Meg said.

"You sound disappointed," he pointed out.

"Guess I am." She led him around the yard and tilted her head back to eye the stars. Castiel still just followed her as she paced around the bar's junky yard. "Gets you thinking."

He moved with her into the back, always keeping an ear out for Sam if he needed help. "About what?"

"What we have to do. If we're unlucky, we're offed in some sort of big battle that will mean nothing to how many billion in this world."

Castiel rolled his eyes as he followed Meg into the overgrown patio. "You don't seem very hopeful," he commented as he watched her sit on a creaky old swing. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised."

The demon ignored that but a quirk to her eyebrow let him know he'd pay for it later. "Whatever Sam will do to Benny won't mean anything, even if we find those things that killed Nyx. If we're lucky we survive and have to find something to go towards. But then what? There's nothing to keep us all together. Sam will still hunt, even if we don't save Dean. Eventually, you'll go back to Heaven and I'll end up having to stay one step ahead of everyone like I used to. So really, what do we have left?"

Meg frowned down at her hands as she let the iron cast chair swivel around. The rotted arbour, twined with vines creeping up from the bayou, cast a long shadow over her. Despite himself, Castiel thought she actually looked beautiful in that sort of gloomy light and he sighed as he realized what she was saying. He grasped the swing's iron chain to keep it from moving away from him and held her still.

"I wouldn't leave the Winchesters to do this alone. I wouldn't leave you either. After everything that's happened, Meg." He gave her a chastising look. "I assumed I wouldn't have to convince you."

"I'm a demon, Cas. I'm realistic. This ends, I give us a week or so tops before we get pulled in all directions. Me to Hell, you to Heaven. The way it should have been if we'd never-" She gave a gasp as he gripped her arm tightly.

"Stop."

"But…" He shot her a warning glare that actually chilled her. "Fine."

"Do you not want to stay with me?"

"Well. When you think about it-"

"I don't," he muttered and knelt down in front of her so he could see her face.

"If it hadn't been you pulling me out of the Lethe, you would have forgotten me." She gave him a grin. "Except for a dirty fantasy or two, I'm sure."

"I'm pretty certain you are unforgettable," he said dryly. "You won't let yourself be forgotten."

Meg smiled at first and then she looked away.

"How hard could it be to convince you?" the angel muttered and the demon sighed.

"Castiel."

"Meg." Castiel stretched his fingers over hers and watched the slight contortion in her trueface as the demon reacted to the Grace. "Please."

Meg's fingers touched his but before he could continue, her eyes flicked over his head, her brow furrowing. Castiel saw the way her eyes took on a troubled look, her head tilting. But the look for once wasn't directed at him. He could sense Benny and Sam approaching.

Some inherent jealousy for her attention made him murmur for her to look at him but she jerked her hand out of his and leaned away. Frustrated that he'd been interrupted when he was sure he was getting somewhere, Castiel stood up and rotated slowly on his heel, already braced for a fight.

As if they were once again friends, Sam and Benny were standing across from the angel and demon, where the light from the bar highlighted them. The vampire had his hands out to the side, looking as unthreatening as possible. He knew that the angel had heard every word of their earlier argument, just by the way Castiel's eyes lit on him with fury.

"Easy, Castiel. I have things to explain."

Meg moved, jostling in front of Castiel, and the angel noticed her eyes weren't on Benny. Her breathing was shallow and her hands were flexing close to where she hid her angel sword. Looking at her, Castiel nearly thought she was going to attack them until he realized she wasn't moving any further. Then that he felt the something strange. It was like there was a hand pushing against him and wanting his attention. He glanced at the demon's profile and saw her lips parted in surprise, and she didn't look away from Sam.

"If Sam's not killed me yet, you know I'm not the bad guy here," the vampire continued and he gave Castiel a half-smile. "Why do you think I was happy to see you?"

He shuffled a little, hands still out to the side, and Castiel couldn't find the words to answer him as the feeling continued to push harder and harder on him. The air was almost vibrating with it now and he glanced at Meg to see her looking just as confused.

"Come on," Benny said softly but he wasn't talking to Castiel anymore.

Coming out from Sam's shadow, the little girl who'd been hiding behind him looked tiny between the two large men. Her wide blue eyes on Meg and Castiel, Nyx reached up and held Benny's hand as she stared at them. She nervously looked at Sam next and he crouched down beside her.

"They're happy to see you, Nyxie. Just like I was," he whispered and she reached out to grasp his hand, wrapping her fingers around his thumb.

"I hid. Just like Mommy told me to when there were bad monsters," she whispered secretively and Sam gave her a smile before he stood up again and looked at her parents. Neither of them had spoken or moved yet.

"I told Dean I wouldn't let him down," Benny explained. "Knowing how he cared about this little girl, I like to think I kept my word."

"Nyx," Castiel whispered, the short syllable clipped and disbelieving, and she seemed to lean towards them a little though she was still looking up at Benny for encouragement.

"How…" Meg hadn't moved again, rock hard with tension. "Benny, we saw the blood, saw the…"

"We got time for that." The vampire bent over at the waist so he was on eye level with Nyx. "You asked me when I'd find them but they found us first. You're a lucky girl. Go on."

In a blur of movement, Nyx launched herself across the distance and up into Meg's arms with a leap, her arms hold around her mother's neck and her small legs struggling to wrap around her waist. Sure that this was a trick, Meg was still too shocked to move and held her almost limply.

"I was scared and I hid," Nyx mumbled against Meg's neck and the demon staggered backwards into Castiel. Suddenly she aware of the actual life and energy she could feel surging through the little girl. "Sorry, Mommy."

For the first time in months, Meg forgot her usual reserve and held her back as tightly as she was being held. "You scared me."

Nyx pulled back a little and looked in her eyes. "You're never scared."

"First time for everything," Meg muttered, aware of Sam and Benny pulling back to leave her and Castiel alone with Nyx. Her free hand pushed the cap off of Nyx's dark head and stroked her hair, noticing that the ends were slightly singed and uneven. "Did they hurt you?"

Nyx looked to the side and finally Castiel reached around to touch his daughter, fingers smoothing down her side while his Grace coursed between them. Nothing nipped back, but actually crowded against his power to give his fingers a pleasant, almost numbing sensation when he touched her. It was a surreal feeling that suffused him.

This couldn't be true.

Then he felt how warm she was, felt the faint throb of her heart beneath her coat, and the way she breathed.

She was alive.

"They cut me." Nyx lifted her hand and they saw the gouges on her palm and wrist that were still healing into pink scar tissue. "But it doesn't hurt. Benny took care of me."

Castiel couldn't stop touching her, resisting the urge to grip her harder as he stroked her hair, and he felt Meg's fingers brush his. She was swaying a little unsteadily and he looked away from Nyx long enough to see the look on Meg's face. The demon was staring at their daughter with the same expression he knew he wore.

Over two weeks of grief hadn't been enough to extinguish that tiny flicker of hope in either of them that they hadn't lost her.

Nyx hugged her mother tightly, and Meg rested her chin against the small neck, eyes shutting as she turned towards Castiel. The angel swallowed and let his hands fall to his side, shock making it hard for him to do more than just stare. Meg's eyes opened finally, black again as she seemed to read him, and he stared back at her, not sure how to ask for what he wanted.

"Go to your dad, Nyx. He needs you," Meg muttered against her daughter's cheek. Nyx turned in her embrace and met Castiel's eyes before her small hands stole into his coat collar so she could grip him next. She was in his arms before he even had a chance to invite her, her fingers tight in his dark hair as she buried her face into his neck. Her small body was warm and alive and Castiel let his arms wrap around her. He didn't care that this wasn't what any other angel would do or that in past years he would have hidden his relief.

She was alive.

"Nyx," he breathed, stopping himself as she began to mumble against his neck. She promised that she had been good, that she had wanted to wait because he said he would be back. "It's okay. I- I missed you."

She was too young to know what they had thought and he had no heart to frighten her.

"Was scared," Nyx whispered against his ear. "They hurt Kevin and Dean. Sam too."

"I know." He pressed his cheek against the top of her head, eyes on Meg. The demon was looking at the hand Nyx had shown them, tracing the tiny bit of healing scar tissue with her finger. Her eyes went back to Castiel, as if she was suddenly sure this was unreal and he caught her hand in his, pressing hard with physical strength and his Grace. Enough to make her cringe though she didn't remove her hand until he let her go.

"She's okay."

"I'm okay, Daddy." Nyx reached out and held his face between her hands, staring him seriously in the eyes. "I was good. Promise."

She didn't seem to notice what she called him had more of an effect than her promise, but the way Castiel had to close his eyes to steady himself gave it away to Meg. Nyx only saw the way both her parents were with her. She reached out to touch Meg's hand on Castiel's shoulder and with her other arm held onto him, and they both felt the energy within her seem to come together in a happy little burst.

Refusing to let her go, Castiel let her hug around his neck again and slid his hands tighter around her small body while Nyx held Meg's hand. Castiel felt Meg's other hand on the small of Nyx's back, a ghost of a touch. Their eyes met again and he allowed himself a small smile, seeing the same smile on her lips as she touched both angel and child.

---

From beside the Impala and invisible to their eyes, Death watched the scene for a moment, and then looked over at the man beside him. "I thought you said you didn't like the thought of a happy ending?"

"Me?" Chuck was glowing as brightly as Death's dark aura cast a deep shadow. He shrugged a shoulder up and sheepishly grinned. "I had nothing to do with this. This was all Dean's doing. Funny how that works; a human hunter managed to create a plan that inadvertently spared an innocent life. It's almost like he had help, huh?"

"Of course." Death gave him an unimpressed look.

"And Nyx. Little girl is smart and is much more than I planned." Chuck almost sounded proud and Death eyed him.

"She must take after what she was created to be."

"I bet she does." Chuck plucked at the buttons on his white shirt, eyes still on Castiel and his small family. "Time to end it soon anyway."

"You're done playing with lives?" Death asked in interest.

"Oh no. Just changing how I do it." Chuck smiled. "I think I owe it to them all."

---

"So this is going to take a lot of explaining," Sam said as he sat across the table from Castiel and Meg, his eyes on Nyx. The little girl had climbed onto his shoulders earlier to 'check his head', declared him okay, and then just as quickly climbed down to go to Kevin. The prophet had held her for a long time, and the moment she had touched his eyes, Nyx had known something was wrong.

"Sorry," she had whispered. The prophet's arms had wrapped around her and Sam thought he had heard him begging the little girl for forgiveness but with a gentleness beyond her years Nyx had cuddled into her friend and held him as he sobbed. He had fallen asleep, pained exhaustion and a few sleeping pills making it easy, and Benny had laid him out on a cot in the back to rest.

Meg and Castiel had said nothing since coming back into the bar, but Sam had noticed they watched their daughter possessively, as if expecting her to disappear. Nyx was now nestled in her mother's lap, trying to show her the terrycloth toy Benny had made her. Clarence had died, she had told them all very solemnly. Benny had told her and Benny never lied.

The vampire's apparent soft spot for her was clear because he'd tussled her hair and let her have her own way more than even Dean or Sam.

Meg reached forward for her beer, juggling her grip on Nyx with the bottle. Castiel still watched, now and again reaching out to touch Nyx's arm, but it was clear she was not about to move from her comfortable spot.

The demon's attention, however, was for Benny now.

"Explain. Because I'm telling you, the past two weeks were…" Her eye finally caught Castiel's. "They weren't good."

"I would have called but I only had Dean's number. And trust me when I say calling him is out of the question." Benny glanced at Elizabeth as he finished at the stove. "Had my reasons too. Wasn't always safe, especially since I was supposed to be dead or so infected that my brain was scrambled. I had to hunt the monsters that followed me and keep Nyx and Lizzie safe at the same time. I knew where Lizzie was, she took me in. Gave us a place to hide until I thought it was safe."

He reached out and put a plate of French toast in front of Nyx.

Castiel watched her turn around, temporarily giving up on fascinating Meg with her toy, and quickly begin shovelling the food into her mouth as if she hadn't eaten in days. Benny's great-granddaughter smirked at his expression.

"She's growing and I can't tell you how active that girl is. She'll follow me around all day, asking questions, and I'm tired out." They all looked at her and she blushed at Sam's scrutiny. "What? Company is nice and I usually work alone."

"I like Lizzie," Nyx declared before licking a bit of syrup from her finger. She looked across the table at Sam. "So does Sammy."

Sam shot her a look begging her to be quiet as Benny eyed him. "Ah, ha, Nyx. That's not…"

"She's pretty," Nyx said, beaming at the other woman. She smiled back and Meg looked down at the top of Nyx's head.

"Who don't you like, monster?"

"Didn't like that mean angel. He hurt me," Nyx muttered with obvious irritation. Food forgotten, she tilted her head back up to look at Meg as she turned to cuddle down in her arms. "Missed you."

"Missed you too," Meg muttered. "Still surprised how much."

She smoothed Nyx's hair out of her face and Nyx sighed, sagging gratefully. Benny watched the interaction, still sipping at his drink, before he uncrossed his legs and stood to get more. He ruffled Kevin's hair as he passed to let him know he was there. He refilled his cup and turned around to face them.

"It's still blurry to me what happened…"

---

The vampire swung his heavy fists to get the furniture out of the way. Azazel's orders had rung repeatedly in his ears, penetrating the perpetual grey haze in his vision. The infection had driven him wild, until it took strength to turn him around. The starvation made it worse; he was so hungry!

Fingers digging into the furniture, he heard the other vampires' eager snarls to devour the child they could smell. They'd fight over her blood, Benny knew that. He was just so hungry that he didn't care any longer. He saw her huddled down behind the sofa, wedged in, and another vampire reached out to tear the stuffed animal from her hands. He began tearing it into fluffy piles. Roaring down at her, they both descended and heard an ear-splitting sound like metal being struck. One vampire struck her on the face and her scream muffled into cries, blood weeping from an open cut on her hand.

The blood was what drove them almost wild and Benny reached for her first, shoving the vampire out of the way. The little girl saw him coming and instead of crying, she moved. She surprised him by launching up and putting her hands on his face. Blue eyes met infected red and he stared in surprise, mangled features parting in a snarl that his next meal dared to touch him.

But she didn't scream.

"Good monster. Dean's friend," the little girl whispered and for the first time since Eve had bitten him, Benny felt sensation seep through his skin. It suffused him with warmth and the marks on his neck began to heal over as every nerve ending was set on fire. He let her go and staggered back, crying out in pain before he collapsed to his knees beside her. Sensing an easy kill, the other vampire reached for the little girl and she screamed as she was dragged away from Benny.

Curled up with his head in his hands, Benny whimpered as power suffused his entire body and drained him of the dark power that had been infecting him and changing him into something far worse than a vampire. It burned him inside, scourging the infection in slow flays of power. He was being healed from soul to body and the pain was excruciating. But then it was gone and suddenly he could hear and see without haze. He was himself.

Then he heard her scream.

The vampire holding Nyx down had his fangs just at her cut wrist, ready to clamp down, when his head was yanked back and he was thrown into the wall. Ignoring her blood, Benny stood over her and he wiped his wet and blackened lips. Nyx whimpered, shaking in her fear, and Benny held out his hands.

"I've got you, lil' sprite," he whispered as he pulled her up into his arms. Nyx squirmed a little. "I remember you now. Dean would have me save you. I have you." He caught the vampire's charge by wrapping his arm around his throat. "Close your eyes now, that's a good girl."

Nyx didn't see Benny tear into the vampire with one hand as she fainted in his arms.

---

Nyx yawned sleepily and Castiel reached out to brush her hair away from her face, content that she was safe. Benny watched the gesture with a little bit of remorse, thinking of his own past family.

"I could never hurt that little girl. When she touched me she… healed me. Somehow," he explained.

Meg glanced at Castiel. "She hadn't been able to heal me."

"Maybe something in her woke up. She's been getting stronger, we all know that," Sam said, adjusting his long legs. "Maybe it is thanks to what happened. With Chuck and Dean."

"Maybe." Castiel reached out and picked her up out of Meg's arms. Letting her head bury in his neck, he walked to the other side of the bar as he let his Grace lull her into a gentle doze. He listened to them chatter behind him about what to do, Meg and Kevin making an argument for getting to some place even more secluded and Benny not wanting to leave anyone alone.

Nyx turned in his arms, eyes opening and he smiled at her. "You okay?"

She nodded and leaned back to stare at him very seriously though she childishly lisped, "They was sorry."

Castiel knew what she was referring to. Dean would regret it but he wondered why Chuck would have been sorry. "Nyx, why didn't you find me?" he asked. "I told you I'd come back."

She shrugged and toyed with his tie. "Had to stay with Benny. "

Having the feeling she either wasn't going to answer or didn't know the answer, Castiel set her down on the windowsill and stood beside her. "What do you want to do?"

"Go home!" she said enthusiastically. "Want my bed." She leaned close to whisper, "Benny nice but I want my room."

"Okay." He smiled and smoothed his hand down her hair. "We'll go home."

Then her hands tightened on his dark hair. "I miss Dean."

Castiel gave her a worried look. "You know Dean would never hurt you."

She nodded and crawled into his arms again. "Someone hurt him."

"Yes." His hands gripped her tighter and he felt her small fingers twirl in his hair.

"Have-ta save him," Nyx whispered as if they were sharing a secret.

"I know." He let the little girl wind her arms around in his neck and she sighed.

---

The car ride, split between the Impala and the Cougar, was awkward. Benny and Sam were together, while Kevin stayed with Nyx, Castiel, and Meg. Despite wanting to be alone with their daughter, Nyx had insisted Kevin come so she could watch him. The Impala was travelling up another road.

There was no healing his eyes, even with Nyx and Castiel, but he seemed to sleep better in Nyx's company. After he finally fell back asleep, the little girl nestled between Meg and Castiel. They had left Elizabeth after promising to come back, especially since Nyx liked her so much and Benny didn't want her alone too long. A somehow awkward goodbye with Elizabeth was compounded by Sam's almost sheepish way of thanking her after nearly shooting her. The vampire had noticed the shyness and promptly said Sam was as bad as Dean.

Meg simply eye-rolled and kept going with single-minded determination, going well over a hundred so the miles peeled by. Louisiana was a long way from Colorado, and she had no intention of stopping. The bunker was unsafe, they all had agreed on that.

Castiel felt Nyx lift his arm and then snuggle beneath it, muttering that she was tired. Meg glanced down and turned up the music a little. In the back seat, Kevin murmured in his sleep and she wondered about him and what he was dreaming.

"You sure this is a good choice?" Meg asked, looking at him. Castiel stared out the passenger window for a while without answering, one hand rubbing his jaw. "Clarence?"

"The safe-house can work, Meg. With all the wards and spells, only humans can get in and out now." He looked over at her. "Benny said Eve will be close to Maine and we can't run all over searching for her and for Dean."

"Not Dean, Azazel," Meg corrected. "You want to take care of this, the first step is for you to stop thinking of him as Dean."

"What would you have me do?" the angel asked. "Forget my friend is in there?"

"No." Meg's fingers flexed on the steering wheel. "That might be our only hope."

---

The long drive had felt endless. The sun was setting by the time they reached the safe-house and its lonely structure stuck out in between the trees, small and insignificant. From what Sam had told him, Benny had thought it would be some grand building, with massive gates and walls. The simple little building, barely two stories and very old, was not something he had expected.

"So how do you know that whatever is in Dean can't get in here?" he asked as Castiel helped Nyx and Kevin into the house. The little girl was almost bouncing in her excitement to be home.

"Various reasons." Castiel was going to refuse to answer but he stared at the vampire. "You're not hungry, are you?"

Benny shrugged. "I haven't been hungry since your girl touched me." As Meg passed him, he winked. "Not for food anyway."

Castiel glared at him and Benny smirked at the hostility there. He'd missed teasing him.

"Unless you two are back to…?"

"Back to what?" Meg asked as she moved out of the way for Kevin. The prophet clutched Castiel's arm thankfully and the angel was kept from answering as he had to help him find his way to the couch.

"Oh, just wondering what was going on with you and the Auntie. Or if you're just playing the divorced parents again. If that's the case, well then, it is lovely to be around you," Benny said, openly teasing Castiel now as he and the demon followed them. Meg smirked, seeing the angel's agitation as he set Kevin down and told Nyx to be gentle with him.

Knowing exactly what Benny was doing, Sam eye-rolled in response and dropped his gear on the floor. Meg leaned back against the doorframe, enjoying the hostility between him and Benny. The vampire winked at her to let her know he saw exactly how she felt and then resumed his flirtatious grin. Castiel squinted at him suspiciously.

"Yeah, Cas, what exactly is going on with you and Meg?" Sam asked. The angel glared at him next.

"Yeah!" Nyx piped up from the corner, causing all the adults to look at her.

"Nyx, don't help the vampire," Castiel grumbled. She shrugged as if his words went in one ear and out the other.

"Not a hard question, Auntie. I'm just curious," Benny asked as the angel squeezed between him and Meg. Castiel looked over him and then Meg. When he saw her smirk, he realized they were toying with him.

The demon gasped in surprise as Castiel bent his head and kissed her deeply. The sight of it made Sam blush and look away as Castiel pushed the small demon into the frame, parting her lips with a force that made her give a soft little moan in answer. Benny even went a bit red at how passionate the kiss was and looked up at the ceiling in embarrassment.

Castiel let Meg go eventually and she stared dumbly up at him, knees weak from the feel of his mouth on hers. Straightening his tie, Castiel glared at Benny. "Does that answer your question?" he asked.

"Hell, more than answers it," Benny agreed. Sam nervously waved his hand in the air and went back to Kevin.

"Well, I feel a little bit cleaner." Meg gave a contented grin as Castiel walked around her to get the last of the bags from the car, his hand trailing over her waist in a possessive touch before he left.

Benny raised his eyebrows at her and Meg arched an eyebrow before saying, "He likes to be blunt."

"I bet."

---

Settling Kevin and Sam was easy, with Benny sitting on the front porch to whittle away the hours by cleaning weapons. Sam was exhausted, and Kevin had no urge to stay awake with the pain in his head anymore than he had to. The television was turned to the weather when Castiel left them.

Nyx, tired and happy, had latched onto Castiel's leg in the bathroom upstairs as he tried to help her get clean. Her endless questions about whether he had missed her or not at all, when they could next see Lizzie, when they could find Dean, had to be answered. He saw the tired droop to her eyes and wheedled her into helping him. Then she was on his leg again, forcing him to walk stiff-legged to her room.

When she saw her bed, she let him go before running and leaping on the bed with a childish shout of joy. Castiel glanced over his shoulder at Meg to see her watching, running her hand over the doorframe to test all the wards. When he looked back, Nyx was in bed, burrowed under blankets. She watched Castiel with large eyes as he drew sigils through the window with a marker and as he passed Meg he noticed her running her necklace through her fingers.

"I can stay here," he offered Nyx, willing to be on guard for the rest of his life if needed. But the little girl simply snatched up the terrycloth toy Benny had made her.

"Not a baby."

Castiel blinked and heard a muffled chuckle from Meg. "But I…"

"Gonna take care of lil' Clarence and sleep," Nyx said resolutely, holding up the terrycloth towards him. "Benny said gotta be brave."

"He did, did he?" Castiel asked as he crouched by her bed and watched her. For some reason, he felt a bit of jealousy that the vampire had been able to comfort Nyx when at a time Castiel would have died for another chance. "That's good."

Behind him, he heard another chuckle from Meg. "So much for angels not getting jealous."

He glared at her and then felt small hands on his neck, Nyx hugging him again. "Missed you." She pat his face. "Love you."

She said it so seriously that it made the way she flopped back down almost too childish. But he smiled and tucked her in. "I love you too," he muttered, the ache the words caused not unpleasant.

Nyx yawned, rubbing at her face before flipping the blanket over her head. Castiel shook his head fondly and then turned to make sure the room was locked up properly.

Meg backed away into the room and braced over the loft railing to look down. Sam was wrapping Kevin's eyes with new gauze and the pair were talking quietly to one another, the older man apologizing and the prophet asking for pain killers. Then he sat back and turned on the television, the loud white noise eventually sparking into a news program.

She felt Castiel come up beside her, his arms resting on the railing. "They're exhausted."

"Yeah." Meg noticed how Sam kept nearly nodding off on the chair.

"They'll be hard to wake up," Castiel muttered. "Maybe if they get enough sleep, things will be better in the morning. So we'd have to be very quiet."

Meg had been so concentrated on watching the pair of them that it took her a moment to realize he was flirting with her. "Oh, subtle."

He smirked and edged closer to her, one hand sliding around to lock her in against the railing. "I did learn something when I was human," he muttered against her ear.

"How to be a flirt, right?" Meg asked, eyes closing as she leaned back and felt his fingers nimbly sneaking up the back of her shirt.

"Yes." The rasp of stubble against her neck made her shiver as he ran his lips over her ear.

"Good," she muttered and he muttered something back as he pulled her backwards, step by step, and flicked the light off so the room was plunged into darkness. As good as her night vision was, Meg couldn't see with him behind her. He tossed their coats off, and never stopped touching her.

"I do like when you try to take control," she muttered and he wrapped his arm around her waist, yanking her back.

"Try?"

"You're cute when you think you've got one over me, angel. Cute and…" Tilting her head back, she grazed his jaw with her teeth. "Almost… vampirish."

He made a sound and toppled with her on the bed, Meg muffling her laughter in the pillows. Grumbling noisily that she didn't appreciate him, Castiel stared down at her.

"I have you both again." There was an odd relief in his voice and his eyes were bright. "I want…"

"Celebration sex?" Meg asked, looking over her shoulder at him. "I like how you think."

---

Sam frowned up at the loft, about to nudge the sleeping Kevin. He had hear something strange, muffled noises like squeaks and voices. The house was supposed to be locked down, wasn't it?

Slowly he clued in to what could be happening.

"Oh God, why is it always me?" he whispered as he cranked the weather channel up.

---

Meg was aware that the angel draped over her back wasn't about to stop. She hadn't felt this overwhelmed in a while. The time in the car had been passionate but the emotion had been missing its depth; he'd needed to forget like she had. Now it felt different. She was feeling all of his emotions with her own; Grace tinged with love wrapped around her. His body covered hers, his hands clenched with hers on the mattress as his mouth stayed on the back of her neck.

"Quiet," he warned when she groaned.

His hand pressed over her mouth, muffling the loud cry she was about to give and she felt his mouth against her ear, murmuring for her to be quiet. She sank her teeth in sharply to the heel of his hand and jerked her hips hard, so that the jolt made his body thrust hard into hers and she came, eyes squeezing shut as her body throbbed with pleasure. Castiel dropped his head to her shoulder and bit his teeth into the soft flesh, bruising her as he clamped his hand tighter over her mouth, letting her cry out and not be heard as he struggled to keep himself from making too much noise as his orgasm lazily overwhelmed him.

The loud crack of the broken headboard against the wall almost made him chuckle and he felt Meg laughing underneath his hand. Her body slowly relaxed beneath him, and he rested on-top of her with his nose buried in her hair.

"We tried at least, huh?" she asked, heaving for breath when they finally broke apart and she rolled to her back.

"We did." His shoulders, slick with sweat, shrugged. He had a drugged look on his face and he rested his head back down, causing the demon to look at the top of his head in surprise. They were still totally entangled, her legs wrapped tight around him and his entire body pressing her down.

"I'm that good, huh?" she asked.

"Maybe." He shut his eyes and sighed. "I suppose."

"Gee, thanks." Meg gave up on shifting him. "Gearing up for round two?"

He actually snorted against her neck. "I doubt the bed can take it."

"Might be right." Meg stretched her arms out to the side and sighed, feeling him slip down and roll over to the side of the bed, tangled in bed sheets and discarded clothing. With his head pillowed on her stomach, he was looking up at the skylight. Her fingers traced his jaw. "Cas?"

"Mm?"

"You're not so bad yourself."

He looked over at her. "Thank you."

---

The world around him was in a strange technicolor. Too bright of yellows and reds, yet all the rest of the colours were muted. Sam lifted his hand and looked at his sleeve, noticing that his arms were glowing white. A sight he hadn't seen in years.

"No… no no no no no!" he whispered, rubbing at his hands and feeling the incredible heat. He was going to burn. He was going to…

"You're so adorable when desperate, Sammy." His brother's voice oozed something beyond sibling affection, as if there was a film that the yellow-eyed demon managed to coat the rusty vocals with. As Sam turned, he knew he was right when facing the demon.

"Yellow-Eyes."

"Ah, the good old names. I missed you, Sam, you know? You, your brother, your daddy… we all had such fun, back in the day."

"Not how I remember it."

"Fair enough." Azazel walked around him and Sam followed. Their surroundings were, as he slowly realized, the same little town near Amarillo. He kept having to remind himself that it wasn't Dean talking to him. It was a demon.

"Why are you in my dreams?"

"Wanted to see if you were interested in saving your big brother," the demon offered. Sam stopped with a grinding crunch on the gravel. Azazel's back straightened. "I thought so."

"You… you want to make a deal with me?" Sam was starting to quickly lose track of all he had deals with. "Why?"

"You have something I want. Or someone."

It didn't take Sam long to figure it out. "Meg. You want Meg."

"Bingo, sweetheart." Azazel turned around and grinned at him a terrible grin with Dean's features. "What do you want her for? Threesomes with Castiel?"

Sam gave him a disgusted look. "No. I won't."

"No?" Azazel watched Sam turn away. "Not even if I convince Michael to leave and as we go, we snap your brother's neck." He knew he had him when Sam froze. "Or I can leave him a drooling, gross mess. Some demons are nice to the bodies they leave, a leftover weakness, but me? I would love to see you cope with your brother being locked in his own mind."

As he walked around the taller man, he saw that Sam had closed his eyes. "What do you need her for?"

"Her blood. I was going to go to Meg again but with that angel still sniffing around her, she's hard to reach." He shrugged one shoulder up. "Boils right down to it, Meg without something to do is like a soldier without an army to follow. She had that little girl but mm, she doesn't have that anymore."

Sam swallowed and looked to the side. But Azazel had seen the look.

"Oh, I see. The little bastard is still alive. I should have known a vampire would betray me." Azazel's eyes seemed to glimmer a brighter and brighter yellow and Sam knew he had struck a nerve. "She had to die!"

He reached for Sam and just as his fingers brushed his chest something went over him. For a second, his eyes were a sad mossy green and Sam caught him by the shoulder.

"Dean?"

"Sammy." It was his brother's voice, not Michael's or Azazel's. Sam felt it just in the touch of his hand. "You tellin' me the truth?"

"Yeah, yeah we have her. Benny saved her. Now we're going to save you."

"You don't need to." Dean was almost ready to fall now. "We agreed if it ever happened again, one of us being taken…"

"I know. But I want to." He clamped his hand on his neck. "We didn't come this far to let them win."

He felt the difference go through Dean immediately and backed off. Michael was taking over, he could tell by the brief glow to his eyes and the sharp smell of an angel. "Really, Sam? Still so hopeful."

"Why are you doing this, Michael?" he asked and the question still only made Michael shrug.

"Because I can. Do you know what it is to be such a good son, and be torn apart for no reason? I led Heaven for centuries. I'm tired, Sam."

"You know what Azazel is really after with the Lethe," Sam pointed out. "You know all those souls, if he can take them…"

"I don't care. I never have. Let the demon have this world. Let him have that monster's mother infect everything. I don't care." Michael stepped so close that through the green of Dean's eyes Sam thought he could see the actual Grace controlling his body. "So give us what we want, and you will give you what you want."

He leaned closer, so he and Sam were nose to nose and Sam couldn't bear the pain he saw inside his brother.

"Say yes, Sam."

"Yes."

---

Benny slapped the tall man several times on the shoulder and when Sam jerked upright, he lifted his hands in the air. "Easy. You were dreamin' loud, Sam."

"Benny." He wiped at his face. "What time is it?"

"Only about five in the morning. Gettin' ready for sleep, myself." He held up a sharp blade. "Had some weapon work to do."

"Yeah." Sam rubbed at his eyes next. "Meg and Cas been up?"

"I know better than to go find out." Benny rolled his eyes up at the overhang. "I get the feelin' any intrusion wouldn't be a wise move."

"Probably right. Stay up."

The vampire nodded and looked at where Kevin was still snoring away. Sam gave the prophet a quick glance, making sure his bandages had remained clean overnight instead of sticky, and then made his way upstairs. The first bedroom to the left was closed and he was reaching up to knock when he heard movement in Nyx's bedroom. There's no way someone can get in, he thought to himself but he left the bedroom door and moved on.

Castiel sat beside Nyx's bed, chin supported by his hands as he watched her sleep. Sam stopped, surprised to see him there at first until he realized that it did make perfect sense. Castiel's grief over Nyx had been intense, even for an angel, and he naturally would never want to leave her. He was only in his plain white shirt now and pants, looking somehow worn out but content.

"She's deep asleep," Castiel whispered when he saw him. "What is it?"

"I need to talk to you." Sam rested his hand on the doorframe. "And Meg."

"About what?"

"Azazel. I dreamt of him."

"Ah." Castiel almost seemed to have expected that. "I'll wake her."

"She's sleeping?" Sam asked as the angel passed him. Castiel looked flustered, stammered a little, and Sam closed his eyes. "Not that I wanted to know but good for you, Cas." The fact that Castiel suddenly seemed mortified made Sam grin. "How's Nyx?"

Castiel looked at his daughter. "Exhausted."

"But happy?"

"Yes." His blue eyes were almost wistful. "Very happy. I still need to thank Benny."

"You scare him, so I did it for you."

"Thank you." Castiel waited for Sam to move down the hall and he stopped at Meg's door. "Sam. You saw Dean, didn't you? What did he say?"

"We should do what we have to."

"We're not going to, are we?" Castiel asked.

Sam smiled. "Not at all," he agreed before heading down the stairs.

Castiel pushed open the bedroom door and headed for the bed. Meg was curled up on her side, the sheet having fallen down around her waist. He noticed the red mark on her neck from his mouth, the slight burn marks where his stubble had rasped on her skin. The sight affected him more than he thought possible.

"Meg," he murmured as he crouched down beside her. One eye opened before she turned her head down onto the pillow.

"Go away." She reached out and shoved his face away and Castiel shook his head. "I was dozing."

"Sam needs to talk to us."

"You talk to him. I'm comfy."

"Meg." Reaching out, he turned her head towards him. "Wake up."

The demon growled and her eyes opened. "You so owe me sleep. I haven't had a comfy bed in weeks and my body pillow went missing."

He smiled. "I went to check on Nyx."

"I know. I watched you for the first hour before I tired out." Her mouth clamped shut suddenly and he realized she was embarrassed. "Nevermind."

"I know. She's still there. Still sleeping." He helped her out of the bed and watched her dress. "Meg, it is about Azazel."

"When isn't it?"

---

Sam was sitting with Benny in the small kitchen, playing with a matchbox, when they came down together. Castiel sat beside the vampire as Meg found another chair. "I… I never thanked you."

"It's all right," Benny said. "She's safe. That's what matters. I didn't do it for gratitude."

"You have it though."

Meg eyed them. "You guys going back to being friendly? Seems creepy," she pointed out, ignoring Castiel's glare. The vampire and him both edged their chairs apart and the demon focussed on Sam. "So go. Spill."

"Azazel dreamwalked with me."

Benny looked confused and Castiel squinted at him. "He found you. How?"

"There might still be fragments between Dean and I. It's connecting us and holding us." Sam rested his elbows on the table. "He offered me a deal. Dean's life." Reluctantly he looked at Meg. "For yours."

He hesitated and Castiel realized what he was about to say. "You said yes," he whispered.

"He was able to read my mind. He knows Nyx is alive. But for him to want Meg, means he must have found some way into the Lethe." Sam sighed. "I needed to give us time."

Castiel looked furious in that cold, tense way of his but Meg was staring at her nails as if they now absorbed her time. "So what do you think we can do?" Benny asked for them. "Because I'm in this to help Dean."

"I had a plan. Drag Eve back into it."

"Eve?" Meg looked up.

"The only creature likely able to take him down is Eve. Or…" He looked up at the ceiling.

Meg caught Castiel's eye and saw he agreed.

"If we can find a way to make them fight, it could work. Eve hated him and he betrayed her. Mother doesn't take kindly to that." Benny shrugged. "There've been worse plans."

"How do we get her there?"

"Dangle angel bait." Meg looked at Castiel. "You did the final number on her. She'd come for you, wouldn't she?" she asked and he nodded. "Let's make it a party then. Get Crowley there too with his usual posse. If everything is going to Lethe, let's get there right."

"How do we get those two out of Dean's body?" Benny asked. "Seems impossible."

"He can change how he feels. Say no to Michael. But it will take an exorcism to get Azazel out. The same thing we saw the Metatron do to Dean. Or we… we…"

"Kill him. An angel blade would do it," Meg said, for once softening her voice. Sam closed his eyes.

"I want to save him. Cas, is there anything the angels could do?"

"Michael frightens them, even Camael. I can't think of any who would fight him willingly."

"Then we improvise. Let Eve do her work on him. And we do for Dean what we have to do," Sam whispered.

"But that doesn't solve the fact that you agreed to deliver Meg to Azazel, to Michael," Castiel accused.

"What was I supposed to do? Have Azazel crush my brother's soul?" Sam snapped. "I did what I thought was right."

Castiel was so agitated that when they looked at him he seemed ready to fly off. "We can't give in to that."

"I get how you feel, Cas, I do. But what if this is the only way? Bait him with a trap."

"I'll do it." Meg said as they began to argue, oddly quiet. All three men looked at her. "What?"

"You're putting yourself in danger."

"I know that, feathers." She looked at Sam. "But Azazel tried to kill Nyx. No one does that and gets away with it. Plus he needs me for whatever reason."

"He needs your blood," Kevin said suddenly from the doorway and they all turned to look at him. He fumbled through the kitchen. "It was the spell I gave him, something I read from the tablets. Footnotes. I memorized them from the last time. He needs a soul touched by Gods from the primal source, a soul touched by the Lethe, by Heaven and Hell. No one qualifies more than Meg."

"Why not his own soul?"

"Because it had to be willing." Kevin sat down. "When you nearly closed the Gates, you sacrificed yourself, remember? Sacrifice is the point of these tablets. " His blind head turned and Meg nearly thought he was staring at her. "You made a willing deal and became a demon, you chose death and entered the Lethe, you chose Castiel and his Grace has touched you. Both God and Sheol touched you at some point. You're a doorway, Meg."

"Great." The demon put her head in her hands. "Just great."

"If he opens the doorways to the Lethe?" Benny asked, still only just catching up.

"He can ingest all the souls there. I think." Kevin tapped the table with his index finger. "If he does, he might get sucked in there. Taking Dean with him. And there will be no pulling him back when the doorway closes. No one comes back from there."

His head turned a little. "Except for Meg."

"How do you know this?" Sam asked.

"Prophet, remember?" Kevin rubbed his finger over a whorl in the wood table. "So what are you going to do?"

"What we have to," Castiel whispered but his eyes never left Meg's face. The demon gave a quirk of a smile back. She stood up and looked at Sam.

"How long?"

"A week's time. In Lebanon, at the bunker."

She nodded and started for the stairs, aware of Castiel on her heels. He crowded her until she turned.

"I won't let him take you."

Meg looked up at him. "We don't get to pick and choose all the time, Cas. This is our chance to maybe get some peace."

"Or lose each other."

"Do I look ready to die?" Meg grinned. "Come on, baby, you know me better than that."

"It could explain why it worries me so much," he whispered as he watched her go up the stairs again.

---

The Crossroads demon in Denver didn't know what hit her when Sam Winchester came into her favourite restaurant with a vampire. She had come, looking for decent wine, and now her meal was ruined. The demon folded her hands in her lap and watched. He didn't arm himself, just walked up with a loose swagger to his step and set his gun on the table. It was pointed at her and the demon understood the threat.

"Madam?" the waiter asked and she finished chewing her linguine before dismissing him.

"They're with me. For now." She reached for her red wine. "Sam Winchester. Sit."

"I'd rather stand."

"And your pet vampire?" she asked, eyes appraising Benny appreciatively. "Maybe he'd like something red himself."

"We're not here on a social visit."

"Who told you I was here?" the demon asked.

"A little demon told me," Sam said pleasantly. "Who are you loyal to?" At her confused twitch of her eyes he leaned down. "You can't tell me all you Crossroads are falling over to Azazel so easily."

She licked her lower lip and leaned close. "Tell me you're here to make a deal, Sam. Your lips are too tempting."

He swallowed and Benny rolled his eyes. "You can tell Crowley we want him."

"Why tell her? I know all," Crowley's voice was sudden and they turned to see him standing in the doorway to the private room. "What do you want, Sam? You already owe me a favour. I'd hate to have to ruin that pretty face."

"You don't think we came here by ourselves."

"I don't see the angel," he said. Before he could move, thin fingers were around his throat and he felt the press of a knife digging deep into his back, just shy of puncturing. He inhaled and looked out at the corner of his eye. "Meg."

"Crowley." She dug the knife deeper. "I was going to have Sammy here go by the old methods but I think this works faster."

He turned his head to her. "You're taking full advantage of my not being able to kill you, aren't you?"

Her dark eyes held his. "Yeah."

" You're going to do us a favour," Sam said. Benny walked around the table and snagged the red wine from the other demon, gulping it down. He shot her a disgusted look and she shrugged.

"A favour? What do I get in return?"

Meg dug deep and he chortled as the knife went past the skin and into muscle, going close to his heart. "I let you live in one piece."

"We had a small deal before," Crowley said, eyes on Sam now.

"I took care of Abaddon. Except you, you I'm willing to be a bit more creative," Meg whispered. "Before you say I'm a whore, which will get you killed, you can say yes to what I want you to do."

"Which is what?"

"Be ready, in Lebanon, in a week. You want your bargain carried through, you have to be ready to help," Sam said.

"What? That's it? You had to threaten me for that little request?" He tried to turn and her fingers tightened on his throat. "Okay! Yes!"

"Good boy." Meg didn't let him go for a moment and Sam cleared his throat. "Fine."

When he was released, Crowley turned towards her, backing towards his Crossroads demon. His back was weeping blood and he looked confused. "You could have just kissed me and made a deal."

"Oh, Crowley. I didn't have to do any of that. I just wanted you to realize how easy it would be for me to kill you," Meg threatened. He glared at her. "And you know what I'll do if you don't show up."

"Besides die?"

"I'll take you down with me. Azazel would love it."

That she saw fear in his fading grin let her know she had hit her mark. He was petrified of Azazel and for some reason that made her uncomfortable. If he was afraid of the old demon, she had reason to be.

But she'd made her choice.

"Better leave soon," Benny threatened suddenly. "I'm feelin peckish."

Both demons were gone with a snap and Sam noticed how Meg sagged a little into the door frame when they did. "You okay?"

"Perky. You got what you need?" she asked and Benny nodded, holding up the Crossroad demon's cellphone he'd taken from the table. She'd sent a text to Azazel.

"Good. Won't this be fun?"