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Chapter Three

"Hi, you must be Dean," Cas Szelsky said with a bright smile. He offered his hand politely.

Dean grasped Cas' hand in his own and shook heartily. He took a minute to study his charge. He was even more handsome than his picture. The camera couldn't quite capture the deep blueness of his eyes. Not that Dean noticed or anything. "Dean Winchester," he confirmed and then let go of his hand.

"You're friends with Adrian, right?" Cas asked him. He adjusted his messenger bag against his shoulder.

"I usually don't own up to that, but yes," Dean confirmed.

"He seems nice," Cas said to him. "Maybe a little much," he added. "But I haven't been in a school setting for awhile so what do I know, right? Maybe that's normal," he rambled.

"You talk a lot," Dean commented.

"Oh, sorry," Cas apologized. "I mean…should I be sorry or were you just making an observation?"

"Just an observation," Dean assured him.

"Oh, okay…sorry about the sorry then," Cas said.

"Listen," Dean said to him. "We don't have to be friends or anything. I just need to get good marks on this assignment so I get a good gig when I get out of here, okay?"

Cas tried to hide his frown. "Yeah, sure. I heard you're really good so I'm sure you won't have a problem," he replied.

"It doesn't matter what I've done up until now. It all comes down to this," Dean explained to him.

Cas nodded his head. "I understand," he said. "I was just…trying to be helpful."

"You don't have to worry about anything but going about your normal routine," Dean insisted. "You won't even know I'm here."

"My parents are friendly with our guardians," Cas said.

"Some guardians operate that way, but I don't," Dean replied.

"I can see that," Cas said, clearly disappointed by this revelation. "Don't worry. I won't make this hard for you or make you look bad."

Dean took a step back from Cas. "Just head to your first class. I'll be here," he said.

Cas looked like he wanted to say something but decided against it. He nodded his head and started towards his science lab. Dean fell in step behind him and kept watch for any 'Strigoi' waiting in the wings. He knew his teachers were going to go hard on him. But that was fine by him. The more practice he got the better.

The morning went by smoothly. Dean saw a few of his fellow guardians in training flub up during the practice attacks. He hated to think what would happen if any of this had been real. After a week of no action Dean was starting to get a little bored. You could only watch the doorway in anticipation before you got antsy. Just before Cas' last class was about to end the wooden door swung open to reveal Guardian Belikov, but not in his 'Strigoi' gear. He simply took one of Dean's classmates by the arm and scolded him for using his cell phone.

'What a moron,' Dean thought to himself. He shook his head and then out of the corner of his eye he noticed a black figure slip in the room. Everyone else was caught up in the cell phone drama and didn't seem to notice. Dean pressed himself against the cabinets on the right side of the room. He crept towards the 'Strigoi' as he (or she, Dean couldn't tell) advanced towards Cas. Just as the attacker was about to grab Cas by the arm Dean leapt into action.

Luckily the element of surprise was on his side and Dean was easily able to pin the aggressor to the floor without much effort. Unfortunately all wasn't well, as a bloodcurdling scream bounced off the four walls of the classroom. Dean thought it was the 'Strigoi' but when he looked up he saw Cas was having a full blown panic attack.

"I need to leave…I need to leave…" Cas stammered through very labored breaths. The teacher tried to get a hold on him, but Cas was too far gone. "Don't touch me!" he exclaimed and shook himself free from the teacher's attempted embrace and bolted from the room.

In a flash, Dean jumped up to his feet and chased after Cas. It's not like that had been a real attack…and besides he wasn't in any danger with Dean around. He was kind of insulted actually. Since Cas wasn't in as good of shape as Dean and was obviously very upset he didn't make it too far from the classroom.

Dean ducked behind the main staircase and saw his charge huddled up in the fetal position against the wall. He looked like a scared animal. "Hey, Cas…it's just me," Dean said. "Dean," he added.

Cas peered over and sniffled. "Are you alone?" he asked him after a few beats of silence.

"Just me, buddy," he assured him.

"Everyone saw that, huh?" Cas mumbled. He slowly started to unfold himself away from the wall.

"It was kind of hard to miss," Dean said to him.

Cas wiped his sleeve across his face. "Well, that was thoroughly embarrassing," he said with a sigh.

"Are you okay?" Dean asked him.

"I thought you didn't want to know anything about me," Cas scoffed. "You're only my guardian, remember?"

"Okay, so I was wrong…if you're going to lose it like that I need to…expect it or something, I guess," Dean relented.

"I'm scared of Strigoi," Cas said to him.

Dean had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. "Everyone is scared of Strigoi," he pointed out. "They're monsters who try to kill Moroi."

"No, I mean…I've been attacked before. My family was attacked," Cas said softly. He cast his eyes down onto the floor.

"What? When?" Dean asked. He racked his brain for any mention of Strigoi and the Szelsky family in Cas' packet, but came up empty.

"I was about eight-years-old," Cas said softly. "My brother was six. We were playing in the backyard when it happened."

Dean leaned back against the wall and, for once in his life, kept his mouth shut.