The next morning Castiel returned to the house. Though it pained him to admit, he was afraid of Dean. He was afraid of what the mark had turned him into and he was afraid of what Dean might do if he fell under it's influence again. He had resolved to go back and talk the situation through with him, to give him the support he needed to get through this - for lack of a better word- relapse. He only prayed he wasn't too late.

The sun had barely risen and when Castiel walked in he could tell Dean wasn't up yet. His leather jacket was still on it's peg and the impala was parked outside, the keys still in their bowl. Castiel was about to head upstairs and wake Dean when he heard 'Heat of the moment' by Asia playing from the kitchen. He frowned walking over and saw Dean's phone, the screen flashing. He remembered Dean had changed his ringtone to that because it freaked Sam out for some reason, the memory made him smile slightly. He looked at the caller ID, all it said was '666'. His brow furrowed again and he answered.

"Dean! Just letting you know I'll be round in a minute with our little helper and then we can get back to business." Crowley's voice sounded like he was talking into a tin can over the phone, but it still made Castiel's skin crawl. There was a pause on the other side. "Squirrel? ...Hellllooooo?"

Castiel hung up. He stared at the phone like it had betrayed him. He swallowed and put it down. Little helper? What had he meant by that? Then he remembered... Dean was a demon and so couldn't get the first blade out of the chest. That's why they needed someone else... a human.

An hour later Dean was roused from sleep by a figure standing over him. He grabbed his knife and leapt out of bed. He took hold of the figures throat and slammed them against the wall, his eyes turned black. Crowley grinned sheepishly.

"Might I say, black really suits you."

Dean dropped the knife and stepped away from him. "I'm not wearing the suit."

"Oh come on! It would be great, like a demonic version of the Men In Black."

Dean smirked slightly, rolling his eyes and heading downstairs. Waiting in the living room was a teenage boy. His eyes were wide and his skin sickly pale, clearly he was petrified.

Dean looked at Crowley, raising an eyebrow. The demon shrugged. "Short notice."

Dean motioned for the young man to follow him and he opened the door to his storage room. When he turned on the light and saw the state of the room, he froze. His mouth dried up and a shiver of rage ran up and down his spin. The floor boards were ripped up and the chest was open. Empty. Crowley looked over his shoulder.

"You should really throw a duster around here."

"It's gone."

"Well you can pick them up at the supermarket, Dean. Where's the nearest Tescos?"

"The first blade, Crowley. It's gone."

Crowley paused and clicked his tongue. "Well that's not good."

Dean suddenly turned, storming into the hall again. The teenager was watching the both of them with a morbid curiosity, like when a rabbit watches a fox kill another rabbit. Dean slowly turned his gaze and consequently his wrath on him. He clicked his fingers and the boy crumpled on the floor as every bone in his body snapped and shattered. Crowley looked at the mass of flesh.

"Really, Dean?"

"Did you need him?"

"Well no but-"

"Then who gives a shit? I want my blade and I know who took it." He grabbed the pre-packed duffel bag from the floor of the Hunter's room. Inside was his gun and various rounds for it, an angel blade and a copy of the important bits from his fathers journal. Sam had the original.

"Who?" Crowley followed him out of the front door.

He threw his bag over his shoulder while he waited for Crowley. "Castiel."

"That slimy little... alright, where do we find him?"

Dean thought for a moment, he knew Castiel has tattooed warding symbols on himself, so they wouldn't be able to track him. "By asking someone who might know."

"Who's that?"

Sam Winchester spun in a circle until he saw his keys on the table of the motel he was staying in. For the first time in almost eight months, he'd gone on a hunting trip. It had been fun really. Not the killing part, Sam didn't exactly enjoy that bit of hunting, but he definitely liked the part where he'd saved someones life. He slung his bag over his shoulder and opened the door. Staring in shock at the person standing on his door step, he became very still.

"Dean?"

Dean grinned. He seemed genuinely happy to see him. "Hey, Sammy. How you doing?"

"I'm... I'm good. What about you?"

Dean walked past him into the room and rubbed the back of his head. "Oh you know... I'm hanging in there."

Sam put his bag back down and shut the door. He walked over to the table his brother was sitting at and took the seat opposite him.

"You look better." Sam noted, and he did. The bags under his eyes weren't so dark, his cheeks looked fuller and there was a spark in his eyes that didn't come off as demonic.

"Oh, thanks." Dean laughed slightly and then after a moment of seriousness, he spoke again. "Look, Sammy. You seen Cas lately?"

Sam frowned slightly and thought back to the last time he'd seen Castiel. It had been a while. They'd never exactly been close before and the whole demon Dean situation didn't exactly bring them closer. "Uh, no. Why? He okay?"

"Yeah, I hope so anyway. I just want to check up on him. But enough about him, what you been doing lately? Still hunting I see."

Sam smirked slightly. "Not so much, I'm actually back at school."

"No way!"

"Yeah! I'm just helping out a friend while I had a free weekend." He nodded. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he took it out, looking at the caller ID. It was Cas. "Speak of the devil."

"That Cas?" Dean motioned to the phone.

Sam nodded and answered. "Hey, Cas how's it going?"

"Sam. I need your help." Cas sounded out of breath, bordering on panicked.

"Yeah of course, where are you?"

"I... I don't know. There are trees."

"That describes about thirty three percent of the country, dude." Sam looked at Dean and frowned to show his concern for their friend.

Dean held his hand out. "Mind if I talk to him?"

Sam nodded. "Listen, I'm going to hand you over to Dean."

Castiel was silent for a moment. "He's there?"

"Yeah, I'll pass you over."

Dean took the phone and put it to his ear, leaning back slightly and smirking. "Hey, Cas. Where are you, buddy? I'd love to catch up."

"Dean, I swear if you hurt Sam..."

"Yeah, I miss you too. Look, why don't we get together soon and exchange gifts. I've got something for you and I know you've got something for me."

There was something in his brothers tone that unnerved Sam.

"I'm not giving you the blade, Dean. I'm keeping it until you realise what Crowley is doing to you."

"Oh, don't be a spoil sport, Cas. It's not as bad as you make it sound." Dean looked at Sam and rolled his eyes.

"Killing people is bad. That's about as bad as it gets."

"No it's not... would you like a reminder?"

Castiel swallowed, Dean practically hear him pushing away the memories of what had happened the last time Dean had let go of his humanity.

"The blade stays with me."

"Then I guess I'm going to have to come and find you." He hung up and passed the phone back to Sam. "Idiot got himself lost on some bee related nature walk. You know what he's like with bees."

Sam relaxed slightly, but he couldn't help the feeling of foreboding in the back of his head. It nagged at him like an insect bite that you can't help scratching. "Yeah. Weird. I'll come with you."

He started to stand, but Dean waved him back down. "You don't have too. I've got this." He smiled. "This was nice. I'll call you, okay?"

"Yeah... okay."

Dean was about to leave and then paused. He looked back to Sam. "Could you do me a favour?"

Sam nodded and sat up slightly.

"Could you track the call Cas just made... it would make finding him a whole lot easier."

Sam grabbed his laptop, plugging in his phone and running the software Charley had set up for him before she went to Oz. He ignored the dread in the back of his mind and tried to convince it that Dean was better and maybe they could finally get things back to normal.

Dean got into his car and called Crowley.

"I've got his location, I'll call you when I get there." He went to hang up and then frowned slightly. "I'm not calling you that, Crowley... no not even for your text ringtone." He hung up, threw his phone onto the passenger seat and then pulled away from the motel.

Sammy watched him go from the window and then picked up his phone, calling Castiel back.

"Sam! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. He took the bait."

Castiel nodded slowly and looked up at the darkening sky above him through the trees. "Good. Is everything ready?"

"Yeah, everything is set. You've better get into place." Sam grabbed his bag, heading out and to his car. "You know, Cas. This whole plan is very theatrical."

"Yeah... I learnt it from another angel playing God."

Sam smiled softly. "It's about time someone did."

Crowley walked behind Dean, his nose curled at all the nature around him.

"Why couldn't the angel pick a nice hotel with a spa?" He muttered to himself as he looked around them in distain.

Dean was looking at his phone and the coordinates that lead to Castiel's last known location. "He's not an angel."

Crowley stepped beside him. "Pardon?"

"His grace burned away. He's human."

"Oh... well that will make this easier."

Dean focused back on the path as they came into a clearing, expecting to see some evidence of the blade thief had been there. Instead he saw something much more surprising and possibly a lot more fun.

Sam stood at the front of a group of what he assumed were angels. He recognised Hannah and a five others from the cult Castiel had been running before Metatron outsmarted him. Sam's jaw tensed and he exhaled slowly, trying to calm himself. He kept his eyes on his brother, not even looking at Crowley.

The king of Hell swallowed. "What? No banner? What kind of surprise party is this?"

Dean smirked. "Don't even have balloons."

"Exactly! Where are my bloody balloons?"

Angel blades dropped out of the angels sleeves and into their waiting hands.

"Those aren't balloons."

Sam held a hand up to signal them to stop. They did as he commanded and Dean whistled lowly. "I might not be the first to point out the irony in this, but... Lucifers prom dress leading an army of angels and Michaels suit on Hell's team. It's actually kind of funny."

"Dean, you don't have to do this. Crowley is not the option, he's never been the option. I mean look at him! He's got 'stab you in the back' written all over him!"

"Been peeping through my window again, Moose?" Crowley wagged a finger at him. "Naughty."

"You're not alone, Dean. You have your family here. Me, Cas, you... we only have each other now. I wasn't there for you last time, but I am from now on. Come back to me."

Dean swallowed, looking at him sadly. "Sammy..."

Sam smiled, something softer was in his brothers eyes. It didn't last.

His expression turned into a menacing smirk. "We're brothers and you know I don't swing that way."

An angel blade dropped into his hand and he spun it around, his eyes turning black. "Let's dance, bitch."

The angels looked at Sam, he sighed and then nodded slowly. The garrison moved forwards into the attack, Hannah hung back with Sam to act as a body guard. Dean grinned. Grabbing an angels wrist, he head-butted them and, while they were reeling, turned their hand and made them fall on their own blade. He elbowed an approaching angel in the face while another stabbed him in the back. He cried out, gritting his teeth. Angel blades had no effect on him, but they still stung a quite a lot. He turned, grabbed their shoulder, and then stabbed them in the gut. He twisted the blade inside them. Unhurriedly. He enjoyed reaching them scream and watching their grace burst from their vessel. He turned in time to lean back on his left foot and kick an angel in the chest to send them flying away from him. Pulling the blade out of the now dead angel, he caught the attack of another one. While holding their blade wielding hand above their heads, he pulled the knife out of his back and stabbed the attacking angel, running the blade up him like gutting a fish. The last two came at him from either side cautiously. Dean side glanced both of them as he spun the blades in his hands. They attacked at once but Dean suddenly vanished. They stumbled forwards in confusion, then looked at Hannah for guidance and she in turn looked at Sam. Crowley laughed slightly.

"My boy does his job well, doesn't he?" Crowley smiled proudly, looking at the carnage. "He's a demon, you morons."

Sam was about to shout at him, but his words died in his mouth when he heard a startled cry beside him. Dean had the angel blade against Hannah's neck, blood on his face and hands.

"Where's Cas, Sam?" He asked quietly.

Sam swallowed and focused on Hannah. She was wide eyed and clearly frightened, but nevertheless she shook her head slowly.

Sam nodded slightly then looked at Dean and said defiantly, "I'm not telling you."

Dean pouted slightly. "Telling me now will spare hers," he pointed to the two other angels with his spare blade, "theirs and your life. We can do this the easy way, or the fun way. It's up to you really."

'The devil in disguise' started playing and everyone turned slowly and looked towards Crowley. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "You mind if I get that?"

Dean shrugged, still holding Hannah at knife point. "Knock yourself out."

Sam frowned. "Elvis?"

Dean glanced at him. "He's the king." He spoke as if it was a rehearsed response.

Crowley answered his phone. "This is the king." He paused, listening to the other side. "Alright, alright I'll pass you over." He took the phone away from his ear. "Squirrel, it's your giraffe."

"Oh." Dean said calmly, walking over to him with Hannah. "Mind holding this?"

"Sure thing." Crowley took one of the blades off Dean and they swapped places.

Dean wiped the blood on his hands on his shirt and put the phone to his ear. "Cas! I was just thinking about you! Where are you hiding, buddy?"

"Follow the light."

A spot light suddenly shot up onto the trees, clearly coming from deeper in the forest. "Creepy... See you in a few minutes."

He hung up and passed the phone back to Crowley. "This had been fun and all... but I've got somewhere to be." He waved to them. "Have a good evening." He walked into the trees towards the lights point of origin.

Sam and the angels turned their eyes on Crowley who was still holding Hannah.

"Well... this is awkward."

Castiel watched the tree line. His heart beat in his throat and he swallowed it down, getting his nerves in check. As he heard footsteps approaching he closed his eyes and prayed.