Sam wandered around the mansion for some time with his brother, discovering hallways that seemed to have no end and countless rooms.

Dean of course had to show Sam the indoor pool and the built-in movie theater where some of Crowley's human servants were watching the latest action movie. The older brother then decided that he was hungry and Sam rolled his eyes as Dean unsuccessfully tried to sneak into the kitchen and steal some of the gourmet food.

The irritated chef turned around and slapped Dean's hand with his spatula. Not good. Dean was going to be pissed. The chef had gotten between him and food.

"Crowley will tell you when he's ready and call you for dinner," the chef said in a strict tone of voice, although part of the tough-guy act was obviously fake, because the man flinched as Dean took a step near him.

"You really going to tell a demon what to do? I don't care if you're Crowley's; I'll rip your hand off if you ever touch me again." Dean's tone was dark and ice cold. His soul was beginning to show signs of the light sparks Sam had seen ever-present in the other demons. Sam was realizing how Dean was much quicker to anger now over such pointless, insignificant events. Different things set off his brother now that never would have before. It must be all that pent-up demon rage or something. Going to Hell would do that to a person, Sam guessed. Dean hadn't shown any signs of these major mood swings directed at Sam, though, and that was what was most important. Sam reached out and grabbed his brother's shoulder. Dean didn't pull away.

"Come on Dean, let's go," Sam whispered. He felt that new power within him. If Dean refused to leave the chef alone, Sam now had the strength to attempt to pull Dean out of the room.

The chef was looking at Sam now. "What's wrong with you? How can you be so calm around him? How can you even get so close to him without him snapping at you?"

"He's my brother." Sam said simply and automatically. He didn't get what was so hard to understand about that.

The chef continued to stare at Sam's hand on Dean's shoulder like he couldn't comprehend how the two of them could possibly ever work together, let alone get along.

"Yeah, he's your family. Whatever, I get that. But you're friends with him too. How in the world can you be friends with a demon?"

Sam doubted he could explain to this man how him and Dean had always been pretty much co-dependent. How he adjusted so well to Dean becoming a demon without even really realizing it. Dean was always going to be his brother, and Sam was going to accept him and tolerate him any way he came.

"It's more than being brothers," Sam decided to tell the man. "We've always just connected and understood each other. We don't even have to think about how to act around each other." Demon or not, they would always be Sam and Dean.

The chef still looked baffled and glanced a wary eye at Dean, who didn't look too happy.

"You done interrogating my brother?" he asked in a warning tone.

"I... I wasn't..." The chef stuttered and Sam figured they'd had enough. Time to leave this guy alone to his eternal life of cooking meals.

Sam grabbed Dean's sleeve to pull him away from the chef only for his brother to shrug him off and storm away. Sam sighed and followed Dean slowly into the main room where they had waited for Crowley earlier. Dean walked over to one of the nice couches and laid down gracelessly, boots and all. A maid gasped and looked around worriedly. She walked over with the intent to clean off the dirt from Dean's boots but one look from those black eyes sent her scurrying.

"I thought you'd be all over these girls, not scaring them away," Sam stated as he reached the couch. He watched as Dean's soul seemed to calm down and stopped moving about so restlessly.

"Shut up bitch, and let me sleep," Dean grumbled as an answer.

Sam watched his brother get comfortable when it dawned on him just how much Dean slept since he came back. There was no way demons needed that much sleep. Fake-Ruby always seemed to be up and at it and yet Dean was trying to sneak in naps whenever he could. Sam figured that he should ask Dean about it soon; it wouldn't hurt to try and get an answer. Plus, Dean even seemed more open to answering questions as a demon, probably because he didn't care how he would be perceived.

While Dean was out, Sam decided to try something. Being able to see demons' souls was pretty cool, but it got kind of irritating always seeing Dean's. It was nice to know that he could, but he figured there must be a way to kind of switch it off in his mind so he wouldn't see the demonic soul all the time.

Sam tried for a couple minutes but he knew he was overthinking it. He remembered Dean telling him the other day that he needed to really relax, to just think about what he wanted and it would happen. Closing his eyes, Sam concentrated like Dean told him to, and he felt the power inside him shift a bit. It frightened him and Sam opened his eyes, only to see that it had worked. Dean looked normal again. Hopefully turning this power on and off would become less difficult over time.

The door that Crowley had emerged from before opened, and the demon stepped out, raising an eyebrow at Dean sprawled out on the couch.

"I suggest you wake your pig brother," he addressed Sam. "It's time for dinner and we need to discuss."

The days went by slowly for Sam, mostly because he was having a hard time progressing with his powers. He still hadn't been able to grab onto a demonic soul, and Crowley was becoming impatient, stating that he was wasting his time.

Of course that got Dean riled up, and the two began arguing daily over how to teach Sam his powers. Crowley demanded that Sam should try different tactics but Dean severely warned against it. Of course Sam was going to go with his brother's word.

For being in a demon's mansion, things really weren't too bad. Sure, Sam had to drink the demon blood drink every day, but he was getting used to it and the effects he felt from it. Dean demanded that Sam explain how he was feeling every day in case he had to lower the dosage he was mixing with the water. His brother made it evident that too much at one time would lead to addiction and nothing but problems.

Dean refused to sleep on the couch, and Sam wasn't about to shove his giant body onto it, so they had to share the bed. Dean of course had to make sick jokes about it, but the bed was so large that they had way more than enough room. Who knew that Sam was going to go from killing demons to sharing a bed with one and staying in another's mansion?

Other than sleeping, they didn't spend a lot of time in their room; instead, they often explored the mansion. Dean usually went swimming in the indoor pool in the evening. It was getting late today and Sam decided to take another shower just because he could.

After the longest shower of his life, Sam was surprised to hear Dean's voice from the room.

"Hey Sammy, I'm going to find out some information from the widow, then I'll head to the coffee shop down the street. I'll get your girly latte for you on my way back and I'll pick up some cold medicine for you. Stay in bed, I don't care if it's just a cold for now. You need your rest if you want to join this hunt. I'll see you in a couple hours."

That was Dean's voice, but it wasn't him... it wasn't the Dean who was in the next room. It was a voice recording that Sam saved on his phone... one of the many he kept and still listened to now and then, even though Dean was back.

Sam was suddenly furious. What gave Dean the right to snoop through his phone? And why was he even playing the messages on speaker phone? He changed quickly and stormed out of the bathroom. Dean was sitting on his side of the bed, Sam's phone in his hand, and didn't even look up. The automated voice started talking, telling Dean to press 7 to save or 9 to delete. Dean pressed a button and the voice confirmed that the message had been deleted.

"Dean! What the hell are you doing with my phone?" Sam marched over and snatched the phone from Dean. His brother didn't put up a fight, but he looked up at Sam with black eyes that looked darker than usual.

"My god, relax. Bobby called your phone while I was sleeping. I couldn't get to it in time so I listened to his voicemail. He was just checking up on you. Then your phone informed me that you had fifty-four saved messages. Of course I'm going to snoop then, wanting to know who they are from. Every single one, all fifty-four of them are from me."

There was an uncomfortable pause and then Dean decided to continue.

"Those messages are nearly two years old, Sam. They delete automatically after fourteen days, which means you keep saving them."

"Yeah, I am, what's it to you?"

"You're still saving them to this day. Why would you do that, Sam?" Dean's expression was unreadable.

"Why would you delete them?" Sam shot back. "I started saving them when I knew you were going to Hell, Dean. I wanted to keep every memory I could of you and now you're erasing them!"

"And I'm back now, and you're still saving them? What the hell, Sam?" Dean sounded angry and somewhat hurt. It was the most emotion Sam had seen on his brother since coming back as a demon.

His anger dying down a bit, Sam spoke up softly. "I didn't want to forget who you used to be."

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say and Dean stood up, furious. "I thought we were getting somewhere! I'm different goddammit but I'm still me! I'm never going to be how I was before, so just move on! I've tried to deal with all your idiotic insecurities about me but if you still can't fully accept what I am now then you better tell me, because this isn't going to work." Dean huffed out his last sentence before walking out of the room, slamming the door in his wake.

Sam sighed as he plopped down onto the bed. He should go after Dean, but he'd probably end up getting punched in the face. What just happened was exactly what Sam was having a hard time with. Dean reacted to things so differently; his attitude was so careless sometimes that Sam desperately craved the brother he had before Hell took him away.

Dean had a point, of course. There was no going back to the man he was before. And Sam really should focus on the fact that Dean was still here and had even come back to help save his little brother. Keeping the voicemails and continuing to listen to them were keeping him stuck in the past.

Sam waited half an hour before he went out to look for Dean. Surprisingly, he wasn't in the pool, but it wasn't a shocker when Sam found him in the mini movie theater.

Dean was sitting with his feet kicked up on the seat in front of him and his hand in a bag of popcorn. He was watching the Titanic sink while laughing almost hysterically. When Sam called out his name however, Dean's smile dropped and he turned his head slowly, scowling at Sam.

Sam sat down next to him, and while Dean didn't look at him, he didn't move away either.

"I'm sorry. And I get your point. But just remember I'm still human, and I'm going to feel things that you don't understand anymore."

"Alright." Dean replied stiffly.

"Seriously, Dean. I might have my moments, but in all honesty I'm just so glad that you're here."

Dean didn't say anything for a while, his eyes glued to the screen. "You've always been a whiny little girl, I shouldn't have been so surprised." He offered Sam some popcorn and the younger brother figured that was as good of an apology as any.

The next morning, Sam woke up to find a note on the nightstand next to his side of the bed.

Sammy,

Went down to meet with Crowley to try and figure out Lilith's whereabouts.
There's a glass full of your demon blood kool-aid in the fridge. Drink it, bitch.
When you wake up come down and meet us in that room where I got mud
all over Crowley's couch, or stay here and do whatever it is you do, I don't care.

Dean

Sam was shocked that Dean took the time to write a note, and even so, to write such a detailed note. He had even asked Sam to join them if he wanted to. In his strange ways, Dean was being considerate- something Sam thought he had lost completely in Hell.

He'd go down and join Dean eventually. But first, Sam grabbed his cell phone and opened his voicemail.

"Sammy, I've got no leads here. Let me know what you found out after you're done. Oh and on your way back, bring me some pie, bitch. And not cherry like last time. Apple, Sam. It shouldn't be that hard to remember. If it starts storming, call me and tell me where you are, I'll pick you up. Either way, I'm still getting that pie."

Sam chuckled. Even a few months ago when he realized the truth about Dean, he still couldn't get the pie flavor right. But listening to the message made him feel better. That Dean would never be back, but he was not entirely gone either. Sam saw glimpses of the old Dean in demon Dean. He still called Sam nicknames, and listening to that message made Sam realize that demon Dean wasn't that much more annoying than old Dean.

And even though he would never worry so openly about Sam, he still did. Sam knew this for a fact. He could see it in his brother's stance, and the protective look he got on his face when Crowley got too close to his little brother for Dean's liking. Dean knew Sam had been upset last night and had gone out of his way to leave a note because of that, showing Sam without meaning to that he cared.

There was no use holding onto the past, especially when Dean was right here with him. It was time to get rid of these memories. He'd make new ones with his brother. Sam pressed a button on his phone, and deleted all his old voicemails from Dean.

Heading down the hallway that led to Crowley and Dean, Sam started wondering what the chef would make for breakfast, until he heard Crowley's angry voice shouting from the end of the hall.

"Do you have any idea how much time you're wasting by doing that? No wonder the fool can't even grasp onto a demonic soul! He's not getting enough!"

"I know what I'm doing, Crowley. And he's doing fine."

"Fine? You call this fine?"

"I'm not going to have him go overboard. He's gotta keep the blood intake under control so he doesn't accidentally kill Lilith."

"But you insist on giving it to him as if it's some kind of juice mixture? Bleed and put it into a flask!" Crowley wasn't disguising the anger in his voice by any means.

"I'm not going to have him drink straight up blood if I can help it. He's human, this is strange enough for him, might as well make it as normal as possible."

"Why do you care so much about what he's feeling, goddammit?"

There was a pause. "He's my brother."

"Bloody hell! You're getting attached to him again, are you? Did Hell not knock sense into you? You're a demon. You do what you need to survive, that's it. You don't go making buddies with anyone, let alone humans! Chances are the kid's going to die when he sends Lilith back to..."

Sam heard the sound of a loud thud, as if someone got shoved into the wall. It was so strong that the walls shook around Sam. "He's not going to die! I won't let him!"

"Dear god... you never stopped caring for the idiot, have you? That whole 'we can use my brother because he will do whatever I say' was just an act, wasn't it?"

"It fooled you, didn't it?" Dean chuckled slightly. "I had to get on your side if I wanted to stop Lilith's plans for Sam."

"So that was your reasoning all along? Protect your brother, save your brother? The idea of saving the entire world and demon-kind alike was just as an afterthought?"

"Exactly."

"Well, I admire your strategy, Dean. You fooled me. Fighting for the same outcome but for different reasons. You were using me as I was using you, very nice. You're going to make a hell of a demon."

"I already am."

"Yes, yes. Since you care about that brother of yours so much, why don't you bring him down here to discuss with us before he practices?"

"Good idea."

Five seconds later Dean was opening the big door to the room and standing in the walkway. His shocked eyes locked with Sam's and his mouth dropped open.

"Sammy?"

Sam stared at his brother with wide eyes. "What the hell was all that?"

"I told you Crowley has a temper. That was me defending your ass."

After hearing that whole conversation, Sam couldn't deny he felt heart-warmed at Dean's words. "Well, thanks for that."

If it were possible for demons to be embarrassed, Dean sure as hell was right now.

"Well come on, we're wasting time. Quit spying and get in here and help us for once."

They talked for a while with Crowley, pointing out that Lilith was still on the run and covering her tracks pretty well. Then they ate a huge breakfast and then it was time for Sam's daily demon soul snatching practice.

Once again Crowley dragged out one of his misbehaving demon workers and tied him to a chair. Sam was supposed to be able to grab onto the demon's soul with his mind and pull it out.

"You better be able to do this. We're not even asking you to send him to Hell yet. Just grab the damn soul and yank it out of the body." Crowley sighed impatiently at Sam's hesitation.

"Leave him alone, Crowley," Dean growled. "He'll be able to do it when he's ready."

"Oh, and what about that possessed woman and her child you insist you have to save, hmm? How long do you have, at most two months? At this rate..."

"Screw the lady!" Dean threw his hands in the air. "If we can't save her then who cares? The important part is getting Lilith and Sam can take as much time as he wants."

The reminder of the possessed pregnant woman that he wanted to save fueled Sam. He stared down the demon and its thrashing soul. He was still learning how to control his powers, but he carefully reached out with them, always keeping the violent soul within his sight. All he had to do was go a little bit further and mentally grasp on...

And it happened again, the force of the demon's angry soul pushed his own powers away. Sam tried once more only for the same thing to happen. It felt like he was being shocked lightly with lightning when the demon struck out like that. How was he supposed to not only grab on but pull the demon out when he couldn't get past its defenses?

Sam heard Crowley sigh loudly and then before Sam could register what was happening, the trapped demon somehow escaped its bonds. He had Dean in a headlock within seconds, snatching the demon-killing knife his brother had been carrying and pressing it to Dean's throat.

"Dean!" Sam called out, watching his brother struggle but clearly this other demon was stronger, older. Sam quickly glanced over to Crowley who took a step forward.

"Don't you move, or your precious demon-boy will be beheaded. And you can't afford that, Crowley. Not with what the almighty Dean Winchester and his brother can do for you," the demon hissed, pressing the blade against Dean's neck and drawing blood. Sam cried out when he saw sparks fly out from his brother's wound, confirming that this weapon was lethal to him.

Crowley continued to just stand there, frozen in place. Worthless freaking demon. It was up to Sam… Sam and his powers.

But what the hell was he supposed to do when he couldn't even grab the demon's soul while he was trapped? Now that the demon was free, Sam stood even less of a chance.

"I want out, Crowley. Free me from here and I'll let your boy go," the demon demanded, shaking Dean as he did so.

It occurred to Sam that the reason why the demons were staying here wasn't because of their own free will. But rather because Crowley had some spell or deal keeping them from leaving.

"You know I can't do that. You know the workings of this place. You'll come back with a hoard of my haters and kill me."

"Then I guess pretty-boy here's going to cease to exist." The sneering ugly demon turned towards Sam. "Any last words, brother?"

Sam knew he had to think fast. He couldn't pull the demon's soul out yet... but maybe... maybe he could pull out Dean's. Crowley had already made it evident to Sam that the wards that locked demons into their bodies wouldn't stop Sam's powers from pulling the soul out. Plus, Dean's soul was much calmer... even now, when he was panicking.

But Sam needed Dean to cooperate with him and not push his powers away out of fear. He needed to let Dean know what he was going to do.

Luckily Dean stopped struggling enough to face Sam, thinking that his brother was going to share his last words.

Instead, Sam gave Dean a knowing look. Dean cocked his head to the side. Sam nodded. It was as simple as that.

Sam took a deep breath and the demon was expecting him to speak. He reached out with his powers as quick as he could. Sam concentrated on Dean's soul and it was almost as if Dean was trying to reach onto him. The difference in snagging Dean's soul was astounding. Moving his powers right on in, Sam latched onto the calm smoky soul and simply pulled his brother's soul out of his body. Dean didn't put up any fight as his body crumpled lifelessly to the floor and out of the demon's grip.

For a minute, Sam was mesmerized by seeing the cloud of Dean's soul just floating there in front of him. Even the ugly demon froze in amazement. Then Sam felt the soul begin to fight him. Sam didn't have any trouble understanding what Dean was saying to him. Let me go, Sammy.

Sam did, and instead of floating away to the far side of the room to be safe like Sam suspected, Dean hovered behind him. It was actually comforting. Sam thought back to before Dean went to Hell, when his brother had stated "I'll always have your back, you know that, Sammy." It was still true to this day.

The demon seemed to come out of his shock at this point. He stepped over Dean's lifeless body and started approaching Sam with the knife in hand now.

Sam felt Dean's soul crackle from behind him in anger. Feeling safe with his brother behind him, Sam decided to try something new. He held out his hand and with all his power he willed the demon to stop.

It must have worked. The demon stopped dead in its tracks and the knife clattered to the ground.

"What the hell did you do to me?"

Sam ignored the demon and ran over to get the knife. Bad idea. When Sam stopped focusing his powers, the demon wasn't captive anymore and he reached down to grab Sam in a headlock.

Dean rushed, or rather flew over and kind of went through the demon. Whatever that was, it did something to him because the demon fell to the ground and Sam wasted no time in stabbing the demon right in the heart with Ruby's knife.

"That's what you get for messing with my brother," Sam hissed as he pulled out the knife and watched the last few sparks of the demon's life fade away.

Dean's demon cloud wasted no time in floating back over to Sam and stopping in front of him, almost curiously.

"I'm okay, I'm fine," Sam said automatically, not needing words to know what his brother was asking.

Dean must had been satisfied because the lightning in his soul died down dramatically as he floated lazily above Sam.

"Dude, you're like my own personal rain cloud." Sam chuckled.

Part of Dean's soul went through Sam's head, as if Dean was punching him. It made Sam dizzy.

"Alright, enough of this. I'm going to try and see if I can put a demonic soul back into a body. Not that I'll ever need to do this, other than for you." Dean's cloud floated down in front of Sam at the words. This was up to Sam, since the lock on Dean's body prevented him from entering it on his own as well.

"Okay, you ready?" Sam asked and rolled his eyes as Dean attempted some kind of smoke-cloud back flip.

Latching onto Dean's soul was very easy once again, instead of the fighting, it was almost as if Dean was helping him. Sam hesitated when he got Dean's soul near his body. He wasn't sure exactly what to do but he knew a demon entered a body through the mouth so he tried just that. He focused on putting Dean's soul into the body through his slack mouth, and slowly but surely, it was working. After a minute, Sam lost his control of Dean's soul just as his brother opened his eyes.

That was when Crowley began to clap slowly.

"Congrats boys, what a splendid job you did there. You even exceeded my expectations."

Dean jumped up, as if he hadn't been disembodied a few seconds ago. "What the hell, Crowley? What did you do, plan this?"

Crowley looked amused and Sam really wanted to punch him for it. "Not at first, no. But once you practically informed me how much you care for your brother, a thought occurred to me. He must obviously care for you too, to be traveling around with a demon. If there was any way to get him to finally do something, it would be if you were in danger."

"You loosened that demon's bonds, didn't you?" Sam asked. He was beginning to feel just as outraged as Dean must feel. "What if my powers didn't work? Dean would have been killed!"

"Relax, you big fool! Do you honestly think I couldn't take him down? If you failed miserably I would have gotten Dean out of it."

Sam turned to his brother, only to find Dean calmly staring at Crowley.

"That was actually a good idea." Dean nodded.

"Dean! You're actually agreeing with what he just did?"

"Of course he is! It worked, didn't it?" Crowley looked incredibly smug. "This is perfect. Ripping out demon souls will kind of be like riding a bike. Once you learn how to do it, you won't forget. Things shouldn't be nearly as difficult for you now." Crowley started walking out of the room. "Since you killed my demon, I'll send you out another one to play with."

As soon as the demon was gone, Sam was seething at Dean.

"I can't believe that you supported that!"

Dean shrugged. "You weren't in any danger. No big deal."

Sam resisted the strong urge to punch his brother in the face. Of course he would make this all about Sam.

"Yes, it was a big deal! It doesn't matter if I wasn't in danger because he could have killed you. Do me a favor and think about yourself for once. Because if you die again, this time you're not coming back. You'll be gone, Dean, for good. And I can't have that."

Dean glanced over at Sam, but before he could say a word, the whole room seemed to shake and a loud scream from a woman was heard.

"What the hell was that?" Sam turned to Dean, but even his brother looked a bit worried. "Is it demons?"

"That's no demon," Dean muttered but he grabbed Sam's sleeve and started dragging him somewhere. "Come on, hurry."

"What is it? Dean, what's going on?"

"Does it look like I have all the answers, Sam?" Dean hissed in an irritated and panicked tone. He led Sam over to the wall near one of the flat screen TV's and started doing who knew what with his demon powers. A section of the wall opened and Sam realized this must be an emergency hiding place of some sort. Dean pushed Sam inside and then followed before closing the door.

Sam looked around the tiny hidden room. There was even a velvet couch and a bookshelf in here. Really?

"Crowley is paranoid. And he's not much of a fighter," Dean whispered. "So he made these because he's a big fat baby and would rather run than fight."

Dean went and sat down on the couch, kicking his feet up. "Might as well ride it out and hide from whatever broke in here."

"Whatever came in here had to be pretty powerful to get past all the wards and protection surrounding this place," Sam muttered as he wandered around. He placed a hand on the walls surrounding him. "How safe is this room?"

"Pretty damn safe. It's soundproof from the inside. And according to Crowley, they're nearly indestructible."

Sam listened to the commotion happening above them. There was lots of scurrying and screams from what had to be the humans. "Are you sure they can't hear us? We can hear them pretty well."

"Positive." Dean yawned, and then got comfortable on the couch.

"Seriously, Dean? What's with all the sleeping?"

Dean looked defensive. "I've always loved my sleep."

"Not this much, man. It's like you're sneaking in sleep whenever you can."

"Yeah well, you try going through eighty years of Hell without being able to sleep."

Sam was quiet for a while. What could he say to that?

"You weren't even able to pass out from the pain?" he whispered.

"Hell no. Thing was, even though I wasn't in a body I still got tired. I was exhausted; felt like the lack of sleep was driving me crazier than the torture was."

Sam sat on the floor and didn't say anything for a long time. He was shocked when Dean suddenly spoke up.

"They'd trick me sometimes. I'd be in a motel with this... illusion of you. Sometimes I even believed that I finally got out. Dude, I would get so excited. I thought I was back, that you were back and I'd finally get some sleep. But every single time I closed my eyes... I'd open them to find you dead in some gruesome way. You always died before I even got to say goodnight."

Finally, Sam understood why his brother always insisted on saying goodnight. He wanted to make sure in case anything might happen. And now that he didn't have to worry about finding Sam dead, he was taking advantage of sleeping any chance he got.

Sam wanted to say something sentimental, to tell Dean how much he meant to him. But he didn't feel like getting punched in the face today. He'd go for humor instead.

"Please, like anything would be able to make it past you to kill me. You'd always save me in time."

Dean grinned and Sam knew he said the right thing. "I know, right? Should have known it wasn't real, I'm too awesome to let anything get to you."

Sam let Dean sleep after that. He spent what felt like hours flipping through the novels Crowley had collected in the room. Things had quieted down around them. Maybe they were nearly safe. Hopefully Crowley would come down and let them know soon.

Sam was thinking of waking up Dean and asking if they should take a peek and check if the coast was clear. That was when the walls practically shattered around them.

Dean jumped up and the look in his black eyes was pure terror. "No! Not again! Whatever the hell you are, don't you dare touch my brother." Sam wondered if something similar to this scenario had happened to him in Hell.

Through the dust and debris Sam could see the silhouette of a male figure wearing a long coat.

"I am not here to harm Sam Winchester. He is being misled down a dark and dangerous path." The dust cleared a bit and a man in his early thirties with brown hair and blue eyes was staring them down... with no emotion whatsoever on his face. The man looked over at Dean. "I am here to stop the threat; it is my fault this creature is here today. It is about time that I clean up my messes.

Dean opened his mouth, but he wasn't able to get any further in conversing with this thing. Suddenly, Dean was being roughly thrown into the next room like a rag doll. Sam watched in horror as Dean's head hit a wall, leaving a large dent in the plaster.

Whatever this was, it was strong as hell.

The thing turned back to Sam, but all Sam could focus on was Dean's moans of pain.

"We cannot have you going down the wrong path, Sam Winchester. I am here to help you. My name is Castiel, and I am an angel of the Lord."