Dean could hear it the moment he stepped into the odd purple light. Cass was singing again, but this time his song was heartbreaking. It spoke of fear, anger, pain, distress, and humiliation, all providing a gentle countermelody to the overlying theme, the sickening feeling of being trapped. For the most part, it was only emotion. But now came the telepathic portion as well. "Let me go!"

Dean bolted out of the alley and looked up. There was Cass, wings beating so hard and fast they were a blur, darting around in the air in the open area between warehouses. His face was a twisted grimace of effort as he struggled, fighting to pull free from the chain on his left wrist. As the odd purple light pulsed, Cass faded in and out of sight, one minute clearly visible and the next ghostly and barely there.

Luke Morningstar and Fergus Crowley were standing on the ground next to the familiar SUV. In Crowley's hand was an elaborate staff, made of metal, obsidian, and crystal. A dark violet crystal tipped the staff, and this was the source of the pulsing glow. Next to him, Morningstar stood with both hands holding his pistol, which was pointed at Cass. But instead of bullets, a slender golden chain extended from the barrel of the weapon. The chain grew thicker and heavier as it went out from the weapon until it reached the shackle around Cass's wrist. The angel was struggling wildly against it and Morningstar held on, looking like an angler trying to land a prize catch. The warlock was smiling broadly even as he strained. "Come on, dammit!" he yelled. "You can't win this, you stupid creature. Stop fighting and land!" His finger moved, squeezing the trigger.

Castiel's song was suddenly filled with pain. His body jerked, his wild flapping stuttered, and he dropped to a heap on the ground. Immediately, the chain began to retract into Morningstar's weapon, dragging Cass along the ground towards the two warlocks.

"No! You don't know what you're doing!" Cass twisted quickly around, got to his feet and dug in his heels. Once more, the wings flapped, and Cass was again in the air, fighting to regain the inches he'd lost. "Stop! Let me go!"

"Let him go!" Dean yelled. "Stop it, you're hurting him!"

Morningstar's eyes remained locked on his prey, but Crowley's turned and spotted Dean. A pleasant, welcoming smile spread across his features. "Winchester! Come over here," he called, waving Dean over. "We need your help with this capture."

"Are you out of your fucking minds?!" Dean exclaimed. "You knocked us out of the sky, you just had a demon drag me over here, and you're trying to enslave my angel? You're crazy if you think I'm going to help you! Let him go!"

That made both warlocks chuckle. "Just come here," Crowley said pleasantly. "Give us this angel, and we'll get you back to our place so we can take that spell off of you. The mutts won't bother you after that."

"Are you deaf, or just stupid? I am not going to give you my guardian angel!"

And now the warlocks laughed, exchanging a knowing look. "Stupid peasants," Morningstar scoffed. "They see an angel and automatically think it's there to protect them."

"Don't be an ass, Luke, it's not his fault," Crowley scolded. He waved Dean over again. "Come on, Winchester. We won't hurt you."

"You're hurting Castiel!"

"That was it," Morningstar exclaimed. "I thought you gave this thing a name before, but I could not remember it and dickhead Crowley here wouldn't tell me." He frowned up at Cass, who was still struggling in the air. "Ok, Castiel, playtime's over. You get your ass down on the ground or you're getting another jolt!"

"No, stop it!" Dean yelled, running out towards Cass. "Don't hurt him!"

"Then come over here and let us borrow you for a moment," Crowley ordered. "See the lines of force leading to him?"

"What, you mean the chains?"

"Eh, it looks different to everyone," Crowley explained. "I see lines of force, like lightning."

"And I see award-winning blue ribbons!" Morningstar called.

"Bottom line is, you can see them. The reason one is leading to you…"

"…Is because I'm a focus for a binding spell. I know that," Dean snapped.

Now the warlocks looked impressed. "He knows what a binding spell is!" Crowley exclaimed.

Morningstar shrugged. "The angel probably told him."

Crowley rolled his eyes. "You're still trying to claim it can talk?"

"It can! I heard it!"

"Would you two knock it off?" Dean roared. "Fucking let him go!"

Crowley waved him over again. "Come over here so we can drag it down."

"Fuck you!"

"Oi!" Crowley warned, raising a hand towards Dean. "Look, you're obviously very upset…"

"You think?!"

"…But we're not a couple of evil monsters, we're not here to hurt you, and we can explain. I'm happy to sit down with you right here and now and explain everything, even before we complete the capture…"

"Seriously?" Morningstar exclaimed. "We gotta get this thing in the cage, Crowley!"

"Shut up, Luke, I'm talking here."

Luke scoffed. "Whatever, talk faster, Hark the Herald is pulling my arms out of their sockets."

Crowley frowned at him. "I thought you took the strength enhancer?"

"I did!" Luke exclaimed. "You think you can land this bitch after the way it knocked us around last time, old man?"

"I'm half a century older than you! That's nothing!"

"Just talk faster!"

Crowley rolled his eyes and turned back to a sputtering Dean. "Alright, bottom line. The more that this thing fights and carries on in the air like this, the more it attracts the mutts. And the mutts keep getting bigger. As I have already mentioned, I can only control so many at one time. I was able to shield the angel until we got it down here, and obviously I'm still shielding us now." He indicated the weird purple glow around them. "But I can't hold them back forever. Now, I'm sorry that the second half of the binding spell got stuck onto you, Mr. Winchester, but that's where it is right now. Unfortunately, that means we need to use you to get Tinkerbell here out of the sky. So if you'll just come over…?"

"Just let him go!" Dean exclaimed. "I cannot believe this. I'm standing here talking to a couple of warlocks and…." He frowned, looking towards the warlocks' vehicle. "Wait, is that 'Touch Of Evil' you're playing on your radio in there? You're warlocks listening to the band 'Warlock' as you try to enslave an angel? Seriously?"

"Personal pride, man! Ok, I didn't want to be like this, but here's the deal," Luke declared. "You like this thing? You're attached to it, gave it a name? Then help us get it out of the sky or I'll keep hitting it until I knock it out and drag it over!"

"No!" Dean yelled. "Alright, just stop! I'll get him down. Don't hurt him anymore!"

"Excellent!" Once more, Crowley waved him over. "Just come over here. I promise it won't hurt."

"Fuck you," Dean called miserably, his eyes on Cass. "I can get him down from right here."

Crowley and Luke exchanged an odd look, but said nothing. Dean ignored them. He moved further out into the open, closer to Cass.

Cass was still straining in the air at the end of the chain. His terrified eyes were moving from Dean to the warlocks and back even as his wings clawed at the air, straining to pull free.

"Casts?" Dean called. "Come down here, buddy."

"Please, Dean! Don't help them. Don't let them take me now. I'm sorry I lied!"

Dean blinked. "Sorry you lied? What? You know what, never mind. Just trust me, ok?"

"Is he talking to that thing?" Luke's voice was soft behind Dean, obviously intended for Crowley.

"My concern is that he seems to think it's talking back," Crowley replied.

"It does talk," Luke insisted. "I'm telling you, I heard it, but I certainly didn't hear it just now!"

Dean ignored this. He reached up his hands towards Castiel. "Please, buddy, come down, ok? They'll only hurt you again if you don't. Trust me. C'mere."

Castiel landed a few feet away from Dean, his wings vanished, and once more he was completely solid. He gasped in alarm when Luke jerked on the chain, pulled back, and his wings opened once more.

"Stop it!" Dean roared, whirling on the warlock. "Stop trying to drag him closer! You wanted him down, he's down, now quit jerking on him!" Running to Cass, Dean moved until he was between the angel and the warlocks. "It's alright, buddy," he soothed. "Just hold still, put your wings away. You're gonna get us attacked by every demon in New York if you don't calm down!"

Cass's breath was coming in harsh, panicked breaths, but his wings folded and vanished. He jerked hard on the chain. "Let me go. Please! My mission! They can't take me before I complete my mission!"

"Ha!" Luke's voice called from behind him as Crowley gasped. "Told you! You owe me twenty bucks, Crowley. I told you it could talk!"

"Whatever, I'll pay you later," Crowley grumbled

"Bullshit," Luke retorted. "You'll pay me as soon as we get Holy Moley into the cage."

"Fine! Greedy bastard."

"I just know what a skinflint you are."

"Would you both just shut the hell up?" Dean yelled, not taking his eyes off of Cass. Then he lowered his voice, making it soothing, and raised his hands. "Look at me, Cass. I'm right here, and I swear I'm not going to force you to do anything. Calm down and talk to me, ok?"

"Please don't help them take me?" Cass pleaded again. "I have a mission!"

"I know you do, and I'll find a way to help you do it. I swear I will. But you gotta calm down, ok? Now, let me take hold of you, so I can prove you're down and they stop hurting you. Just keep calm, keep your wings in… That's it. It's alright." Dean slipped his arms around Cass's waist and held him tightly.

Castiel was shaking like a leaf. He hesitated, but his right arm finally went around Dean. "You won't hurt me, will you?" he asked quietly. "You won't order me to let them take me?"

"Never." Twisting his head, Dean looked back at the two warlocks. "Ok, he's down, and he's calmer. Don't hurt him anymore!"

"Great, drag it over here," Crowley ordered. "Luke, keep it steady."

"I'm not a novice, asshole! I'm two hundred years old and I know how to do a capture."

Crowley ignored this. Moving quickly around Luke, he popped open the back of the SUV. "The cage is back here, Winchester," he called. "Once the angel's inside, we'll take you with us back to our place. It's got all the wards we need to take care of that spell. And seriously, we are really very sorry about this whole mess, especially for you thinking it's your guardian angel."

"I wish," Luke scoffed. "But honestly, I doubt there's a warlock in this world or beyond with the power to bind a guardian angel."

Dean went still, looking up at Cass, who refused to meet his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Couple of things every warlock knows about guardians," Luke explained. "Number one, they always come in pairs. You never see a single one, so you are always facing a double threat. And they work together really well. They are literally built to be part of a team. Second, guardians are obscenely powerful. If we'd tackled a guardian, even if we somehow managed to separate it from its partner, it probably would have blasted us into the next galaxy. As you may have noticed, we've had quite a bit of trouble just capturing this messenger."

"Messenger?" Dean was still looking up at Cass. "You're a messenger, not a guardian?"

Castiel hung his head, not answering.

"That there is your garden variety heavenly messenger, basic worker angel class," Crowley confirmed. "Still a bigger, tougher fighter than any other mutt those wankers can throw against us at competition this year." He was busy with something in the back of the vehicle, calling back over his shoulder. "That's why we need it. I don't care if the Canadians bring back that pit lord again, this time we're owning that convention. With this pureblood pedigree here, we'll take on every mutt that comes into that fighting pit, along with the Canadians and the werebeasts they rode in on."

Luke whooped. "First warlocks to try to enslave an angel in damned near a century, and the only ones to do it successfully? If that doesn't win us first prize, nothing will! Can I get an hallelujah?"

"Hallelujah!" Crowley cheered.

"Amen!"

"What are you two, a comedy act?" Dean exploded. "There is nothing funny about this! What are you talking about? Messengers and pit lords and Canadian conventions, and did you say werebeasts?"

"Ok, quick, simple answer time," Luke declared. "First, Flutterby here isn't a guardian, it's a messenger. They're basically the worker bees of the heavenly host, pretty low on the divine totem pole. But they're still damned tough! The last warlocks to try to bind one of them did not have such a good time…"

"The angel broke free and ended them," Crowley added. "Spread bits of them out to the moon and back, if the legends are true."

"…So we've studied what they did, tried to understand what went wrong," Luke continued. "And we figured out the problem. You see, with demons, even something as big and bad as that pit lord those Canadian fuckers captured, as long as you have a very powerful binding point, the proper spell, and a suitable sacrifice, you can enslave them. But angels are way tougher, ok?"

"Which is why that angel broke free and went all wrath of God on them," Crowley explained gleefully.

Luke scowled at him. "Thank you, Crowley, can I please tell the story?"

"You're taking too long, and you're boring when you tell it. So anyway, we realized that the answer was to use not one binding point, but two. One needed to be a very powerful magical artifact. So we used Luke's staff to…"

"Notice that I use a modern version, not that clunky antique this old geezer uses?" Luke called, indicating the gun. "Still a weapon, which a staff has always been, but lighter, more compact, less clunky, and as long as you have a badge and the proper paperwork, you can even take it on a plane. Meanwhile, Captain Traditional here has to classify his weapon as 'artwork' and pay to have it checked. This one time, it got sent to Bermuda when we were heading to Brazil…"

"Luke!" Turning back to Dean, Crowley shrugged apologetically. "Sorry, Mr. Winchester, I know you don't want to hear about our problems with air travel."

Luke rolled his eyes. "No, he'd rather hear about the real reason you compensate with that huge staff, Crowley."

Crowley blinked at him. "Excuse me?"

"Needledick the Bug Fucker? You'd sell your soul for a few more inches."

"Only so I could make double digits."

"You two are like an old married couple," Dean complained.

Both warlocks immediately took offense. "We are platonic life partners," Luke declared. "Partners in life and magic. Nothing else! We don't need another rumor like that one spreading through the Warlock Council. Last time was a nightmare."

Crowley cleared his throat. "Anyway! The other binding point had to be one of the most powerful items in existence in order to hold an angel. We chose something that angels were personally invested in to further seal the deal – a human soul."

"So why did you pick me?" Dean asked. "Because Castiel was assigned to me?"

"We never picked you," Luke exclaimed. "Why the hell would we use some guy we never met and had no way to control as a binding point for the biggest capture we've ever done? No, you were a complete accident."

Dean gaped. "What?"

"We had a coma patient in a nursing home all picked out," Luke explained. "Not going anywhere, no whining or making demands, not wanting a salary and retainer, you get the idea. You, we knew nothing about. We had no idea you existed and didn't care to. You were never supposed to be involved. We didn't even know you were until we did a divination to find out where the other anchor was and got your name."

"We are really very sorry about your car and your apartment, Mr. Winchester," Crowley apologized. He did look genuinely sorry. "Like Luke said, you were never supposed to be involved. Summoning an angel requires a huge amount of effort and preparation, sacrifices, and hours of complicated spellcasting. That's why we couldn't just summon it back until now. But in the end, all we did was lay a trap and wait for something to fly in." He indicated Cass. "Then it showed up, and the fight was on."

"We knocked it out of the sky, and I got it bound to my staff," Luke explained. "That locked it in human form, but it was still fighting. We barely managed to latch the second spell onto it before it took off again. So I jolted it with everything I could give it..."

"…And that's why it ended up smashing your car and destroying your apartment," Crowley explained. His voice had gone gentle. "I'm sorry, Mr. Winchester. I know how badly, how very badly, you want to believe that this angel came for you. But it isn't true. It never came for you. It was just your bad luck that you happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and when we brought it down, it landed on your car."

"You never came for me?" Dean's voice was small as he looked at Castiel. He heard another distant rumble of thunder, and wasn't sure if it was real or simply the storm raging in his heart. "You never were my guardian angel? It was all just… an accident?"

"Ok, I feel really bad now," Luke sighed.

"It's rather like telling a child there's no Santa Claus, isn't it?" Crowley agreed. "Mr. Winchester, words cannot express how deeply sorry we really are."

"Yeah, for real," Luke added. "We've been around for a long time, and we've got plenty of money. We have every intention of paying for the damages we caused. I know it doesn't help with what you must be feeling right now, but it's the least we can do."

"That, and get you free from that binding spell," Crowley said. "That was probably the worst thing, because that's the reason it's stayed with you. You see, once we knocked the angel down that second time, naturally, we chased after it. But we couldn't find it. And meanwhile, the end of that second binding spell was flailing around, interfering with the first one. We couldn't track it, couldn't control it. The bloody messenger was shifting all the control it could into the second bind and it wasn't attached to anything. But of course, it was going to attach to something sooner or later. The angel was trapped in human form and we knew it couldn't have much juice left. But it still managed to avoid us long enough to…"

"…To latch that second spell onto me," Dean finished. His eyes were locked on Castiel, but the angel refused to meet them. "That's why you rescued me? So you could put that binding spell on me and keep them from taking you?"

"I saved you because you were crying!" Castiel confessed. His voice was quiet as he spoke, and his right arm gripped Dean even though Dean had let his arms drop from around his waist. "You were trapped and frightened, and you were crying because you didn't want to die like that. So I helped you. But then you gave me a hug and it felt so good. I thought you wouldn't hurt me like the warlocks did, so…"

No one spoke. More thunder rumbled overhead. Dean stood as he was, trembling. "You were never there for me. It was all an accident. I don't have any great purpose. There's no major part for me in any kind of divine plan. I was just convenient, something you could use to latch a spell onto so you could keep yourself from being enslaved."

Castiel looked at him now, the blue eyes filled with shame. "You do have a part in the divine plan, Dean. You have to believe that! I put that spell on you because I thought I could get away, that if you didn't know, you couldn't keep me. But I was hurt too much. My head, I fell asleep?"

"You passed out."

Cass nodded miserably. "Then I was in the hospital and you came for me. You were the only one who could help me, but I stayed with you because I wanted to. I thought I could just escort you, keep you safe until I could find a way to get away from the spell. But the more I was with you, the more I wanted to stay. And then, when you said that to break a binding spell you have to break the focus?" He shook his head. "I can't do it. I won't let anyone hurt you!"

"So you're really not my angel, and everything I believed about you, everything you let me believe, was all a lie," Dean managed through numb lips. "You learned how to lie, at least by omission, before you learned how to talk, didn't you? You son of a bitch. You bastard. You were never my angel, you just used me!"

Cass's arm tightened around Dean. "No! I will always be your angel, Dean. I love you, and I would die for you." Once again, the eyes went to the ground. "But I'm not a guardian angel. I tried to be, but I'm only a messenger. I couldn't be trapped, couldn't let them take me when I had a mission. So I did what I thought I had to do." Cass hung his head, and suddenly looked very small. "I lied to you, Dean, right from the start. A guardian would never have put that spell on you. I'm sorry."

"Ok, this is touching, and I'm totally crying on the inside, but we are wasting valuable time here," Luke called.

"Luke, you miserable bastard, shut the hell up!" Crowley snapped. "Can't you see that the poor man is in a lot of pain?"

"He'll be in a hell of a lot more pain if we keep standing here and the mutts keep coming," Luke pointed out. He jerked on the gun, and Cass stumbled and gasped. "Look, Winchester, believe it or not, I really do feel horrible for you. I'm just too macho to show it. Now the shield is keeping humans from seeing or hearing anything going on here, but like I said, the mutts are starting to get thick out there. So seeing as how you have the bulk of the control, if you will please come over here and let us use your end of the spell to drag this thing over and get it into the cage? We can finally end this."

"So you can't just take him?" Dean asked. "That's why this whole time, you've been trying to get me to give him to you?"

"Not with all the control it shifted to you, no," Luke confirmed. "You gotta give it to us. Sorry, buddy, but we gotta use you for this."

"Give us the angel, Winchester," Crowley urged. "Once we get it in the cage, we'll get you back and I promise you, we'll get that spell off of you. Then this whole nightmare will be over."

Dean looked up at Cass, who looked back at him with eyes devoid of hope. "What will you do with him?" Dean asked, not looking away.

"Well, the convention is Wednesday," Crowley explained. "That gives us the weekend and Monday to lock it down properly, maybe even do a bit of training. Then Tuesday, we'll head out. Wednesday is the judging, Thursday the tournaments start, and by Friday, we should have won every prize there."

"You assholes seriously did all this for trophies?" Dean exclaimed, turning to face them.

Luke sighed. "Kid, we have been around for centuries. Have you noticed? No? Well, the reason is that we keep a very low profile. It's the only way to keep the peasants from showing up at the gates with torches and pitchforks. We don't live in a big brooding castle, we live in a remodeled condo on the east side of the city. And every year, a new crop of wanna-be warlocks is out there, thinking about challenging us for our territory."

"Only so many warlocks can be in the same place at the same time, with the available mutts," Crowley explained. "Winning at conventions gets you access to powerful global networks, new spells, new ways to control bigger and badder mutts, power, money, and most of all, recognition. No one is stupid enough to challenge those who do well at conventions unless they are very powerful or very foolish. And Luke and I were in the top rankings of every convention for the past century…"

"…Until the fucking Canadians showed up with that fucking pit lord!" Luke spat. "Those sons of bitches came flying down out of Montreal and the judges lost their shit. Then came the tournament. That thing rolled over our mutts like we were imp-summoning novices, those cocky bastards spread the word that we'd lost our touch and gone too complacent to be able to really pull the big mutts anymore, and it's been nothing but trouble ever since."

"But not anymore." Crowley smiled at Dean. "Once we get this angel properly bound, we can release it from human form and it can access its powers and its weapon. Then it will smack that pit lord right back to Hell, along with anything else those bastards might be able to dredge up. The L.A. warlocks have already called. They saw our mutts out there when you left and figured out what we were doing, and they're almost as excited as we are! What are we doing with this angel? We're bringing respect back to the warlocks of America, that's what we're doing!"

"Amen!" Luke cheered.

"If you need him, why the hell did you send your demons after him?" Dean wanted to know. "Why did you fake that phone call to get us to go to L.A.?"

"Because we couldn't find the damned thing," Luke sighed. "Look, that's more we need to apologize to you about. While the angel stayed in human form and didn't use its powers, we couldn't track it and neither could the mutts. But then it suddenly lit up! We sent a mutt out after it, but somehow it lost it."

"So you didn't push me out in front of that bus?" Dean asked.

Luke and Crowley looked horrified. "What? No!" Crowley exclaimed. "What kind of monsters do you think we are?"

Dean chose not to answer that. He'd moved slightly and slipped his hand into Cass's behind his back. Cass looked at him in surprise. "Trust me," Dean whispered without moving his lips.

Cass squeezed his hand.

"But that did give us the answer," Luke was saying. "We did some research on you, found out about your extended family. Your brother wouldn't work because you see him every day and could reach him easily. We had to use your parents. We were, as you can imagine, not happy to find out that they were clear across the continent, meaning the angel would be well out of our reach. We knew we were taking a huge chance and might end up losing it and possibly you as well. So we were very, very happy when it came flying in, carrying you. Couldn't get it to bring you here, so we had to use a mutt, and I see your arm's hurt. You really need an antibiotic for that. The mutts aren't exactly the cleanest things."

"Thanks," Dean said dryly. "Alright. What do you need me to do?"

"Just come over here," Crowley instructed. "We need to stay by the cage. If we get too close to the angel and it's not near enough to the cage, well, I'd rather not get into a fight with it right now. Come over to me, Winchester, and I'll channel the spell through you."

Dean gave Cass's hand one last squeeze. Then he came closer.

Crowley transferred his elaborate staff to his left hand and took hold of Dean's arm with his right. There was a tingling sensation, and suddenly Castiel gasped as the chain on his right wrist grew taut as well.

"Now we got it!" Luke sang. "Alright, let's drag it in."

"Just hold very still, Mr. Winchester," Crowley instructed. "This is going to take a bit of concentration and we can't be distracted. If it gets away from us now, it will be another week before we can summon it again."

"Good to know." Dean's eyes were locked with Castiel's. Cass was struggling again, fighting against the chains even as he looked back at Dean. His eyes were full of fear, but there was trust there, as well.

"Alright, Luke, start pulling," Crowley ordered.

Luke nodded. "On three, one, two, three!"

The chains began to steadily retract, dragging Castiel forward. "No!" The angel strained with all his strength. But his feet were sliding along the ground as he moved closer and closer to the warlocks and their cage.

Dean stayed as he was, eyes locked with Cass's, for a moment more. And then he jerked free, reached over, grabbed Crowley's staff, and swung it with all his strength at Luke's gun.

The weapon went flying, bounced once, slid, and passed outside of the edge of the glowing purple light. The chains immediately went slack, sending Cass sprawling. "You're loose!" Dean yelled. "Run, Cass! Run!"

"Not without you," Castiel replied, scrambling back to his feet. "I can't leave you alone when we're surrounded by demons!"

"Oh, this has gone too far!" Crowley yelled. "Bad enough you broke the summons, but would you please look around you? The angel is right! Just outside of the range of my shield is an entire horde of pissed off mutts!"

"And you just knocked my staff into them!" Luke wailed. "The only place safe is with us now. You broke our summon spell, Winchester, but the instant you try to take off with our angel, the mutts will tear you and it apart!"

Crowley made a grab for his staff and Dean swung it at him. The warlock dodged, wide-eyed, as the glowing crystal nearly hit him in the face. "Careful! You have no idea what you're doing, you stupid peasant! Children should not play with real weapons!"

"Then back the fuck off! We're leaving, and I swear, if you ever come near either one of us again I will burn you both at a stake myself!" As he spoke, Dean was rapidly backing towards Cass. But as soon as he was a few feet from the SUV, the glowing purple crystal flickered.

"You didn't really think you could just take my staff and go, did you?" Crowley asked calmly. "You can't use it, and the only other place that's safe from the mutts is with the cage. Give us the angel, Winchester, and we'll let bygones be bygones, get the spell off you, and we'll all go our separate ways."

"Cass?" Dean called nervously. "Can you use this thing?"

"No," Cass replied.

"Oh, we are so fucked," Dean groaned. "Well, if that's the case…?"

Dean swung the staff with all his strength, slamming the crystal into the pavement. It shattered.

Instantly, the purple light vanished as the staff went dark.

From all around, sensed rather than heard, came a howl of pain and fury as a wave of force flashed out. For an instant, the demons around them were clearly visible, tumbling and flipping through the air, driven as if by a great explosion.

And then a set of strong arms was around Dean. Castiel's wings pounded at the air and they were off, racing through the momentarily-stunned demons in a desperate bid for freedom.