2

With Satine finally in a calmer state of rest, the boys and the angel could decide what to do with her.

"Well, who else am I going to call?" Dean yelled at his brother. Neither of them had any idea where to start with this.

"I don't know Dean, but we've got to think of something. Who knows how much longer she'll last like that. Maybe Cas figured something out."

"I'll try dad's journal, see if there's anyone mentioned that can help us." Dean said sitting on his bed with a fat, leather bound journal, flipping through its pages.

"Cas, you got anything?" Sam asked quietly, looking over Satine again for any clues as to what to do.

"Well, it could be a large number of things. The only way I could lessen the number is by figuring out what demon was in her."

"She didn't say?"

"No, she just said, 'her'. Satine perceived the demon as female, but that won't get us far."

"Okay, do you have any other leads that could tell us anything?"

"I'd have to search her mind, but I don't know the effects it would have, being that she's already in this state."

"How bad could it be if you were to search her mind?"

"It could bring her to her death if I'm not careful." Castiel sighed.

"Then just be careful. The faster we learn what's causing this, the better." Castiel thought about it for a moment before nodding in agreement. He sat on the edge of the couch beside Satine then gently put his hands on either temple and closed his eyes. Every few seconds Satine's lips or eyelids would twitch as Castiel went deeper and deeper into the crevice that Nora had carved into her mind. He was exploring a profound scar that was going to take a long time to heal if it ever would.

"Dad's got nothing." Dean huffed as he wandered out of the bedroom.

"Shh." Sam hush him and motioned to Castiel with his head. Dean took one look then went silent and stood beside Sam. After about five minutes, Castiel released the girl's face and fell off the couch.

"Well?" Dean inquired.

"This is bad." Castiel mumbled.

"Huh? What's bad?" Sam stood up from the table where he'd been searching the web for anything useful.

"We have to get her out of here." Castiel got up from the floor and walked towards Dean.

"What is it, Cas?"

"The demon, whoever it was, left an extensive abrasion in her head. When it was exercised, it held on by clawing at her insides."

"But it's gone, right?"

"The demon is gone, yes, but it has left her mind wide open. Every demon within a fifty mile radius can smell that wound and they'll be looking for her."

"I've got an idea." Sam and Castiel both looked at Dean. "Bobbie's house was burnt down, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, that panic room was made of iron. It wouldn't have been touched. We'd just have to dig through some of the rubble to get to the door."

"Good idea. I'll get the bags." Sam said then rushed off to the bedroom.

"Cas, it's going to be a five hour drive, but if demons are going to be on her like you say, we need to be able to get right in. I don't know how blocked that room is going to be."

"Right." And with that, Castiel was gone. He had a tendency to just poof around, not good with goodbyes might have been his reason, but now they were in a hurry. Sam came out of the room a few minutes later with his and his brother's small bags of clothes.

The 1967 Impala was loaded up with the bags and laptop, then it was time to move Satine. Dean was the stronger of the two so he was the one to carry her outside and into the back seat of the car where she was laid down. They then took off for Bobbie's old house.

They were lucky so far that Satine hadn't awoken yet. It was almost three in the morning when they had to pull over for gas. They'd been on the road for two and a half hours now and Dean had to switch with Sam. He could barely keep his eyes open anymore.

Sam was just coming back from the bathroom when Castiel popped back without a sound. Normally he couldn't track the boys with the charms they wore to keep them undetectable, but Satine's wound was like a calling card for anything supernatural. He found them with no issue whatsoever.

"So?" Dean yawned over the hood of the car.

"We can get it, but you'll have to be careful. I don't trust that some of the wood still there is stable."

"That's good enough for me." Dean sunk down into the passenger seat and put his head back, ready for a nap, while Sam took his place in the driver's seat. Castiel sat behind Dean with Satine angled awkwardly across the other two seats beside him.

"Hey, Cas? While you're back there, see if you can get the blood off her face." Sam tossed him a damp washcloth that he'd just wet in the bathroom. Castiel fumbled with the cloth before carefully dabbing it on her forehead. The cloth pushed around some of the dried blood and absorbed the rest. By the time he'd gotten most of her face done, the cloth was soiled to the point where it was just unusable, and that was just her face. Under her clothing was another unread story that was best left covered until they found a safe place to get her washed up, but that was something they didn't currently have at their disposal.

The angel just couldn't help but marvel at the pain this human had endured for who knows how long with the demon inside her, and now she was going to continue to suffer even with the demon long expelled from her body. He could still hear her screams and it made him just want to leave her with the boys who could handle it from here and just go back to heaven, where he'd just take a break for a while, but there was another part of him that felt bound to her. This part wanted to see that she'd overcome this ordeal.

When he searched her mind, he felt parts of her soul. It felt strong and bright, not unlike Sam or Dean's, who'd both been to hell and back, fighting demons for most of their lives, but no matter the strength of a soul, it could still be driven to crumbling madness given the proper circumstances.

The distant rumble of thunder brought the three a shiver of anxiety. If it was loud enough, Satine might awake and her torture would continue until they either found a cure or knocked her out again, so Sam drove as fast as he safely could to Bobbie's. Once they were there, she'd at least be safe in the one sense.

It was just before five when they arrived and the rain was just starting to taper off. Both Sam and Dean looked at the pile of rubble without fondness in their hearts. This was the home of Bobby, their second father. He'd watched over them like he would his own sons, and they missed him like one would miss their father.

"We have to hurry. I can feel something coming." Castiel said from the backseat. Sam pulled the car up close to the foundation and Dean pulled Satine out of the back, cradling her in his arms as he carefully stepped down a path the Castiel had cleared down to what was the basement. That's where the door was to Bobbie's panic room sat. He unlocked its iron door and put Satine down on the twin bed that sat against the far wall in the circular room beside a single wooden chair. A demons trap was painted in white on the floor along with many other sigils on the walls that went up about thirteen feet to a fan with another demons trap just above it made out of bent iron. Bobbie had prepped the room for just about any demonic occasion he could think of. It was too bad that most of what he knew about demons were in the books that now laid as ash around them.

Once they had two candles lit and the bags and anything they might need in the room with Satine, Sam decided they needed some sleep. Both Dean and Sam had been working a case that morning and it had been almost forty eight hours since either of them had actually slept. The panic room itself wasn't big enough for all three of them to sleep in, two would have fit comfortably if they only slept on the floor, but the bed took up a bulky amount of space.

"I'll sleep in the car. Just for a while." Sam said rubbing his eyes.

"I get driver's seat. I'll keep an eye out for anything."

"Dean, you gotta stay down here with her. We shouldn't leave her alone, not yet."

"Cas can do it."

"I-" Castiel started.

"Come on Cas. You don't sleep and when she wakes up, ask her what you need to know."

"But I-"

"You're not afraid of her, are you?"

"No, it's just... fine, I'll do it." he sighed.

"Oh Cas, if she wakes up with the pain again," which they all knew she would, "Just have her take more of the pills. The more she sleeps, the more time we have." The brother's went back to their car as the first streaks of morning light painted the horizon.

In the panic room, Castiel took a seat and just waited with her, not sure if he wanted her to wake. Sure he had questions ready for her, but to have her in pain again felt like putting her through too much. His people skills weren't very well developed and he wasn't sure how to express how sorry he was for her. He knew that a possession like the one she just been relieved of was compressing and cruel. He wished it was Sam or Dean that would be in the room with her when she awoke. They could properly comfort her, something he didn't think he was capable of. But then again, he felt like he could protect her better than they could for the time being, while she was at her most vulnerable.

It was a misty damp smell that woke me, unlike the room I'd fallen asleep in that smelled of pizza and beer. I opened my eyes to a dark room. Odd symbols drawn all over the walls. The ceiling was a vent with a fan, closed with a gate above it. The first thing that came to mind was a torture dungeon when I saw the chain cuffs hanging beside a thick iron door. It felt like a horror movie, the smell, the darkness, just everything about it and I was starting to go into panic mode.

"You're awake." the deep voice said. I sat up and looked past the foot of the skimpy bed at the man in the trench coat.

"Where am I?" I demanded. "This isn't some torture interrogation room is it?" He push his eyebrows together in confusion then shook his head. "Then where the hell am I?!"

"Safe." he breathed.

"Where's safe?"

"It doesn't matter. Now, I need you to tell me anything you know about the demon."

"Why here?"

He rolled his eyes before answering, "That demon did this to you and it's drawing any other demon right to us. They can smell that you're wounded. Now, what do you know about the demon?"

"What do I know? Listen, the thing just road around inside me for a few months. I didn't get to ask questions."

"A name?"

"Nora." Just at the mention of her name my head started to pound again and I grunted, grabbing my head.

"Sam says to take more of these." Castiel took the orange bottle from his pocket and handed it to me. I looked around the room before opening the bottle. I'd just awoken in a strange room made of iron with an angel beside me. I wasn't sure if I wanted to black out again, in fear that I'd actually wake up in hell or something next time, but the throbbing was starting to get worse and worse in my ears. I took the pills and laid down again.

"How is this place safer?" I asked.

"Demons can't come in here. The sigils and traps will keep anything like them out."

"But you're in here."

"They don't work on angels." Everything around me was going from a horror movie to a dream. None of it felt real, but nothing had since Nora had found her way to me.

"You said I was wounded, will that make it easier for Nora to get back in?" I didn't trust that she wouldn't find a way. That was one thing I'd learned about her. She was persistent to get what she wanted, and she was ruthless and brutal to anyone who got in her way. I'd been something she wanted. She'd expressed her favoritism towards me on several occasions, my standing in society, my ability to blend in, and like she'd said, my will to fight. I knew she would come back for me. "Don't sugarcoat it for me. I need to know what to expect."

"Yes, she will have the advantage over you alone." I looked up at the ceiling and nodded, feeling like this fight was becoming more and more like a worthless struggle. Nora was a strong force and I found it hard to believe that Sam or Dean would be able to fight her. "Don't be scared." the angel said. I turned over to look at him now standing beside me, holding out a folded up napkin.

"Why not?" I trembled, not even realizing that I'd been crying.

"You are not alone." With just those words, I could feel his mind. "Sleep. I'll watch over you. You're safe, Satine." He said and turned back towards the chair.

"Castiel," He stopped moving then slightly turned his face towards me. "Thank you." He gave a small nod then went back to his chair. I wiped my eyes before the calmness of the drugs took me over, again.