Chapter 3

Dean groaned as he slowly regained consciousness. His head was pounding and it felt like he was fighting through a fog to remember what the hell had happened. It wasn't until he smelled sulfur around him and felt his arms tied behind his back that it all came back to him.

He had been sent to the gas station to get ice for the fevered angel back at Bobby's. Everything seemed fine until he had stepped up to the counter to pay for the ice. As soon as he looked up from his wallet, the eyes of the clerk turned black. With barely enough time to draw his pistol before two of the other people in the store rushed up behind him, he spun around and shot one through the head, knocking him to the ground.

But the other was on him then and knocked the gun from his hand and shoved him over the counter. Dean had scrambled in his pockets for his knife when the clerk grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the floor. Dean was gasping as the clerk grinned at him and said, "This was just too easy."

Dean then slashed up with the knife and severed the hand that was wrapped around his throat. He fell to the ground as the demon yelled in agony but was quick to roll away and up to his feet again. The one that had shoved him over the counter was there with a fourth that he hadn't yet noticed standing behind him. "Come on guys, four, really? That's it?" Dean asked as he hurriedly glanced around, hoping there weren't any more. He wasn't sure how he was going to get out of this as it was.

It was then that he noticed movement outside and he feared that more demonic reinforcements had shown up. But then he saw a familiar face stagger up to the door. "Cas…" he breathed as he saw the angel reach for the door with a shaky hand. Pain was written all over the usually impassive face.

That was all the time Dean had to take in the sight of his friend before the two demons rushed him. He slashed the first one across the face but was suddenly grabbed by an unseen force and slammed into the wall of lottery tickets and cigarettes behind him. He blinked dazedly as he heard the jingle of the bell on the door sound.

Looking over, he expected Cas to come in, ready to smite the holy hell out of these punks. But it was the demon that he had shot that was leaving and meeting the angel. Dean watched as the demon made some kind of move against the angel. Cas' eyes widened but he reached up and placed his palm on the demon's head. Both of them froze for a moment but nothing else happened.

Dean gasped in surprise as the demon pulled back his arm and Cas suddenly crumpled to the ground and out of eye sight. It wasn't until the demon walked back in, holding a large and bloody knife in one hand, that Dean realized what had just happened.

"You bastard! What the hell did you do to him!?" he yelled as he struggled against the force holding him in place.

"Just another dead body," the demon said with a grin. "That and all this blood will help convince your brother that you really are in trouble here."

Dean froze as he realized that the demon didn't even know that he had just stabbed an angel. He was expecting Cas to bleed out from that wound. And, who knows, in the shape he's in, maybe he will. But Dean couldn't believe that. He knew Cas was still alive and he wasn't going to be brought down by something like this.

"Let's get him out of here before the brother shows up," the clerk said hurriedly. Suddenly Dean fell from the wall, only to be caught by two vise-like grips from the other two demons. He was dragged out of the store between them with the clerk and the gun shot demon behind.

They stopped outside and looked at Castiel who was gasping for breath and leaning against the side of the Impala. Dean looked down at Cas in horror as he realized how terribly wounded the angel was right then. He snapped his head back when he heard his own pistol being cocked behind him.

Gunshot demon must have retrieved his pistol when it fell and was now pointing the gun at Cas. "Look at him, he's already as good as dead," Dean quickly protested.

The clerk reached up and pushed the gun down saying, "He's right. Guy's gonna bleed out any minute. But, if we're lucky, the brother will get here in time to hear who it was that took 'em," he said with a nod towards Dean. "That'll at least get him on the right track."

With a scowl, the demon lowered the pistol the rest of the way. "Fine," he growled. He then turned and walked up to Dean. "But no more ruining my fun," he said and then reached up and clubbed Dean into unconsciousness with the butt of the gun.

XXX

"Turn up here, Sam," Castiel's voice was even deeper and rougher than usual.

Sam glanced at him and then turned as ordered. Cas had been getting worse the further they went. His breath was coming in short fast pants and he was clutching at his stab wound again. Sam could see the beads of sweat on his skin and there was an almost constant shiver running through his body now.

"Cas, you have to tell me if you're about to keel over, alright?" Sam said. "They need Dean alive to use against me so we can stop for a minute if you need…"

"I am fine, Sam," he replied, once again not allowing Sam to finish what he was saying.

Sam sighed in exasperation but kept his thoughts to himself. It was plain that Cas was pushing himself far beyond what he should for the sake of getting to Dean as quickly as possible. And, though it was something that Sam was sure he would also be doing if the roles were reversed, he didn't like the idea that he and his brother had taught the angel to be this suicidal. It was bad enough they would do it for each other, but now they had a celestial being following their bad habits.

XXX

Dean was pretty sure he would much rather still be unconscious when he finally opened his eyes. He was in yet another abandoned warehouse from the looks of it. His hands were tied behind him around a pillar near the center of the building with a ring of black eyed demons surrounding him. There were three around him and, from where he was, Dean could make out a couple more scattered about the large space. That probably meant a few more that he couldn't see inside and however many more there were outside. Yeah, he was screwed.

He was just beginning to wonder if Cas might still be alive and able to tell Sam what happened when one of the three noticed he was awake and smiled at him. "Hey, he's awake!" he called out.

One of the three that Dean could see looked up and acknowledged the shout before turning and heading for a door at the end of the warehouse. He opened it with a metal squeak and then disappeared outside.

"So, what's the deal?" Dean asked. "We all waiting around for a party or something? Am I main course or what?"

"No, appetizer," one of the demons said with a grin, causing the others around him to laugh in response.

"No, more like dessert," another responded. "Can't have him until the other shows up."

"Oh, we can have him," another said. "Just can't kill him off yet."

"Well, if the other you're waiting for is Sammy, then you better make sure your life insurance is taken care of, guys," Dean said with a cocky smile that in no way reached his heart. "'Cause you're all going down once he gets here."

"Oh, he'll be a while yet," one said. "We're only staying here until the real party is all set up. Then we'll be all too happy to invite your brother over to join us."

Dean wasn't the praying type but he was praying in his head pretty desperately that Cas had survived and that he had sent Sam on right away because, from the sounds of it, if Sam didn't find him before he was moved again, he wasn't going to stand a chance. As it was, it was going to be an uphill battle for just Sam against all of these demons even with the knife.

Just then the door at the end of the building squeaked open again and the demon that had left a moment ago returned with another behind him. They quickly came over until the new guy, a well dressed young man in a suit and tie, was standing directly in front of Dean. He had a metal rod in his hand that worried Dean, but the hunter was not about to let the demon know that.

"Well, are you the host here?" Dean asked. "Gotta say, I'm not too impressed with this shindig so far," Dean quipped up at him.

"Oh, well," the demon said with a smile. "I guess we're just going to have to heat things up a little then." He reached into his breast pocket then and pulled out a small propane torch. He depressed the trigger on it and a jet of blue fire erupted from the end.

Dean couldn't help but frown when the grinning demon placed the flat circular end of the rod into the flame. "Let's see it then," the demon said as he nodded to a couple of the others standing around. Two other demons, a long haired man and a slight blonde woman, stepped forward then and reached down for Dean.

The hunter started to struggle but it was useless. The man pinned him up against the pillar as the woman reached and yanked down the collar of his tee-shirt, revealing the anti-possession tattoo on his chest. "Hey," Dean said. "How about a drink first?"

"Hold him," the well dressed demon said as he stared at the flat end of the rod in his hand as it started to glow orange in the flame.

The hands on Dean tightened as another set came up behind him and pulled him firmly back against the pillar. There was no room to struggle anymore, but Dean was going to be damned if he wasn't at least going to try.

But it was just as useless struggling against these demons as it had been against the angels not all that long ago. He watched in dread as the leader came forward and brought the now white hot iron out of the flame. He brought the brand lower so that it was just hovering over the tattoo on Dean's chest.

Dean gasped as he felt the heat radiating off of it, knowing that pretty soon it was going to be much, much hotter.

"That eager to be inside of me, huh?" Dean snarled up at the man.

"You have no idea," the demon responded just before he placed the brand against Dean's chest, being rewarded with a howl of pain from the hunter.

XXX

Cas hissed in pain in his seat as he bent over a little further. Sam glanced worriedly at him. "Cas?"

"Hurry, Sam…" he muttered. "We must hurry."

Sam bit his lip and then pressed the pedal down a little further. "What's going on?" he asked.

"I…" Cas cut off a moment as he gasped and flinched. "Hard to explain… Dean… He's in pain."

Sam felt his stomach drop at that but then asked, "How do you know?"

Castiel shook his head slightly and said, "I just do. I'll explain later if I can. But we need to hurry for now."

"Yeah, I got that," Sam grumbled

Cas was silent for a while before he spoke softly again. "We're going to have to talk about our strategy, Sam, because I think the situation is about to get more complicated."

Sam sighed and then nodded, "Yeah, it usually does."

XXX

Sam and Castiel had parked the car in the trees near the road and had made their way up to the abandoned warehouse on foot. It was twilight by now and the light was slightly in their favor here at least.

They skirted around the demonic sentries and split up. Cas went and waited near the main entrance while Sam moved about as silently as he could. One by one, the hunter came up behind each of the guards and took them out with Ruby's knife. Finally, Cas saw Sam sneak up behind the last guard at the entrance and took him out as well.

Sam placed his back to the door as he waved the angel over to him. Bent over and staggering slightly, Cas came to stand on the other side of the door from Sam. Sam frowned as he watched the angel take deep breaths while holding his bloodstained bandaged side. "You sure you're up for this?" Sam asked with a frown.

"Not much choice, Sam," Cas responded.

Sam nodded, now that he knew the stakes, there really wasn't much choice. He wasn't going to be able to do this on his own and Dean needed them to get him out of there now.

Sam nodded to Cas and the angel drew his blade. Sam drew a pistol from the back of his jeans and flipped off the safety. "Ok, here goes nothing…."

XXX

The demons inside all spun around at the sound of the door banging open suddenly. Before they even realized what was happening, the closest one to the door was down with a bullet of salt embedded in his chest. He was just barely getting to his feet again when a knife followed the bullet, causing his body to spark in orange for a moment before he stilled.

That was all the time there was for the surprise to pass before the other demons converged on the towering hunter that had entered their midst.

Cas waited until all of the their attention was on Sam before he slipped inside. Sam had pulled out a flask of holy water and was using it to keep the other demons back while he wielded the knife on another.

It took Cas a moment to spot the slumped figure still tied to the pillar at the center of the room, currently unguarded. Glancing back to Sam, he saw that the younger Winchester was holding his own against the half dozen demons that still remained. He hurried over then to Dean and started to cut the ropes with his blade to release his hands before the hunter so much as stirred.

"Wh…" he muttered.

"Hold still, Dean," Cas said as he worked. "Sam and I will get you out of here soon."

"C…Cas…?" Dean asked groggily.

Cas nodded once as he released Dean's hands. No sooner was the hunter free, however, than he tried to spin around to grab at Cas. Castiel was faster, however and grabbed Dean's wrist with one hand and pulled the hand away from his body, dropping his blade in the process. With his other hand, he reached up and pulled down the top of Dean's tee-shirt, revealing an angry burn that broke the tattoo. In its place, there was seared a new mark of a circle with a line through it into the flesh.

Cas looked up at Dean's face then and two jet black eyes looked back at him with an evil grin to match. "Too late, feathers," the demon said in Dean's voice. "I'm not going anywhere."

Cas clenched his jaw and then placed his palm over the brand. There was a sudden flash and the demon shrieked in pain.

Cas stumbled backward as the demon staggered the opposite direction. It looked down at the brand and saw that it was now just as destroyed as the tattoo had been a moment ago. "Fucking angel," he snapped and then looked up as Cas stumbled back some more before falling on the ground.

Demonic Dean grinned then as he slowly advanced on the downed angel. "That's all you have left, isn't it? You're all burned out… all the holy used up…" he bent over and snatched up the angel blade that was on the ground beside him.

Suddenly there was a multi-voiced shriek from across the room that drew demon Dean's attention. He looked up in time to see the remaining four demons spewing forth their smoky selves from their meat suits. "So, Sammy, come to save the day have you?" Dean said as he stepped up and grabbed Cas by the collar of Sam's jacket that he still wore. He lifted Cas to his feet one handed and then turned him around so that he was braced against Dean's chest and facing Sam.

"Don't even think about using one of those tricky little exorcisms with me," he told Sam even as the younger hunter made his way across the room to them.

"You're angel's all juiced out. I could snap his neck in a second and kill him right here."

"Yeah," Sam said. "But you won't." he continued to move steadily towards them. "Dean won't let you."

Demonic Dean laughed as he brought his other hand up to grab the other side of Cas' head. "You wanna bet?"

But Sam was already chanting the exorcism as he moved closer. The demon winced but then snarled. "You want the death of an angel on your hands?" he asked as he took a step backward, dragging Cas with him.

Cas' breathing was fast and harsh and he probably would have dropped to the floor in an instant if he wasn't being held up but he did manage to speak. "Dean… fight it," he said softly.

"You of all things should know how pointless that is," the demon scoffed at him. "You took over that little vessel of yours there. You might have been nice enough to get consent first, but you know that the pitiful soul you pushed aside couldn't have taken the reins back if you didn't want him to."

"Dean can. He won't let you hurt me," Cas said with confidence.

"He won't?" the demon sneered as he grabbed the top of Castiel's head by the hair and yanked his head back. The demon twirled the angel blade around in his hand and quickly pressed it to Cas' exposed throat.

"Stop with the chanting now, Sam, or that's it for Cassie here."

Sam came to a halt and eyed the situation wearily but didn't stop chanting.

"You don't think I'm serious?" the demon spat and then reached down, plunging the blade into Castiel's shoulder.

Cas gasped in pain and Sam's chanting faltered.

"No, keep going, Sam," Cas gasped out.

"I thought you said I couldn't hurt you, angel," the demon scoffed into his ear. "I think I just did."

"Dean…" Cas gasped but was cut off when he was forced to groan in pain as the demon slowly twisted the knife in his shoulder. "Dean… stop it… just… a little more!" Cas practically pled.

Suddenly the knife stopped twisting. Sam picked up the chant again as he saw the frown on the demon's lip. He picked up the pace of his words, rushing towards the end of the exorcism.

"Dean… please, fight it," Cas panted.

Suddenly Dean released Castiel and the angel crumpled to the ground. "Sammy… hurry it up," Dean gasped as he doubled over, clutching at his head. "Son of a bitch is too strong."

Sam rushed up and grabbed Dean's hands and held onto him tightly as he hurriedly finished up the chant. Suddenly, just before Sam had finished, the demon tossed Dean's head back and fled from his body.

Sam gasped and caught Dean before he fell but Dean was already pushing Sam away as he tried to stagger forward. "No… no, it's going for…" but he was too late.

Cas was just starting to struggle back upright when the billowing smoke descended on him. "Cas!" Dean cried as he watched in horror as Castiel went rigid as the smoke forced its way into his mouth and nose.

"Oh God," Sam muttered. "Can it do that? He's…"

And then Cas was coughing and choking as he fell onto all fours on the floor.

"Cas? Cas!?" Dean called as he rushed up to the angel.

"Stay back!" Cas suddenly yelled at him as he looked up at Dean. His eyes were a mix of swirling black and bright white light.

Dean staggered to a halt and stared in wonder. It was as if the battle between the two opposite forced was being waged in Castiel's eyes.

The angel opened his mouth and coughed again. A puff of smoke expelled but quickly dove back into his nose.

"Sam, exorcism… now," Dean snapped.

But Sam was already speaking rapidly behind him.

Cas started to convulse as he collapsed to the ground completely. "Cas, hold on!" Dean yelled as he ignored Castiel's warning and rushed over, grabbing the angel in his arms and trying to keep him steady.

"Dean… don't… you're vulnerable…" Cas gasped before he started choking and writhing again.

Suddenly an eerie laugh came from Castiel's lips, causing Dean's stomach to drop out of him. "He's going to lose. I'm going to kill him," the demon spoke through Cas. But then suddenly Cas gasped again and the black that had been winning in his eyes was pushed back again.

"Sam! Hurry!" Dean yelled as he clutched the angel tighter. "Hang in there, Cas. You've got to hold it so Sammy can toss this jerk back to hell."

Castiel gasped and shook again but nodded his understanding as he gritted his teeth and clamped his mouth closed.

His body shook again and a moan rumbled in the back of his throat. His lips started to part and a thin wisp of smoke began to seep out. But with a shake of his head, he forced his lips back together and closed his eyes tightly.

Dean realized that Cas wasn't breathing anymore even though his body was still jerking in his arms.

"Sam..." Dean called again.

The volume of Sam's voice increased as he was nearing the end again.

Cas was starting to digress into an all out seizure, causing Dean to have to use all of his strength to keep him in place. And still the angel refused to take or let out a single breath.

"Christe Glorius Pacem!" Sam finished loudly.

Suddenly Cas arched sharply in Dean's arms and threw back his head. His white lips were forced apart as he and the demon shrieked in union and the billowing smoke rushed out of his mouth and pooled onto the ground where it quickly disappeared into the floor.

As soon as the last of the smoke had left Castiel, the angel shuddered and started to gasp as small sounds of agony rumbled in the back of his throat.

"Cas!" Dean gasped as he finally pulled the blade from the angel's shoulder and then gathered him into his arms tightly. "Cas, stay with me… you're fine now… it's gone," he muttered as Cas shook and moaned.

Sam came up beside them and watched as Dean held the angel as if he were a scared and sick child, comforting him with soothing words and soft shushing sounds.

After a few moments of this, Cas went limp in Dean's arms but it was clear that the angel had simply passed out as he was still breathing and the slight tremors hadn't quite left him yet. "He's exhausted, Dean," Sam said softly. "We should get him back to Bobby's."

Dean nodded as he struggled to stand up while still keeping Cas in his arms. Sam helped as best he could, but Dean seemed determined to carry the angel himself.