Sam headed out in the Impala with Harry in tow. He told the Ghostfacer that they would need to pretend to be FBI agents and asked if he had a suit he could change into for the interviews. Harry said that he did back at the Ghostfacer's headquarters, which turned out to be just the garage of a small house they were renting.
Sam's phone rang while he was sitting on the hood of the Impala waiting for Harry.
"Kevin?"
"Hey, Sam, I, uh… got some of the angel tablet translated. And I thought I should talk to you before I tell Dean what it says."
Kevin sounded nervous. This couldn't be good. Sam wondered what terrible news Kevin had for him. "Is this something that's going to help us get to Metatron?"
"No, Sam, it's about Castiel."
"Cas? How could the angel tablet be about him?"
Kevin coughed, "Well, I translated the part that contained the spell that Metatron used to make the angels fall. It seems like God created that spell as a way to join his two favored creations, humans and angels. The first part was to kill a Nephilim, which is the result of unnatural love between a fully powered angel and a human. The second part was to collect the arrow of a cupid, because cupids create a supernatural love between humans. The third part was to capture the grace of an angel… who is in love with a human. Complete those three tasks and angels will be cast out of heaven to live amongst humans so that love between an angel and a human will no longer be a supernatural occurrence."
Sam had gone quiet, processing everything that Kevin had just told him. Kevin took a breath and continued slowly, "Sam, you understand what this means? There is a reason that Metatron didn't take the grace of one of the thousands of angels already in heaven. It could only be an angel-"
"Who is in love with a human." Sam cut him off to finish his sentence. "Cas…"
"Right, the spell would only have worked if Castiel was in love with a human."
"Oh my God… Dean." Sam breathed.
"Yeah, he's gonna flip and I'm not looking forward to be the one to give him this news. I don't think he has any qualms about shooting the messenger."
"It's OK, Kevin, thanks. I'll take care of it. So, does the tablet say anything about how to reverse it so we can get Cas his grace back and get the angels back to Heaven?"
"I haven't gotten that far yet, but, Sam, it looks like this may have been what God intended."
Sam contemplated this a moment. Castiel. Leave it to their rebellious friend to once again change the course of history. The Apocalypse, Raphael, the Leviathan, and now the fall of the angels; this one angel had been the stimulus that changed the world several times over. And if Kevin is right, that angel is in love with his brother.
Sam was at a loss as to what to do with this information. In one day he had found out that Dean may be in love with the fallen angel and that Cas almost certainly is in love with Dean. On one hand, they both deserved love and happiness and, really, who else in the world could understand Dean like the angel who had seen him at his absolute worst and amazing best. On the other hand, Cas had a habit of leaving a trail of chaos in his wake and Sam really didn't want to see his brother become collateral damage.
But Cas was human now. Well, not really human. He would always be an angel, but without angelic grace, there was a smaller chance of Cas breaking the world again. And real bonus, he couldn't keep flying away and leaving Dean. His brother put up a pretty brave face, but Sam had watched Dean after Purgatory, Samandriel, Lucifer's crypt and when Cas disappeared to complete the angel trials. He was a wreck not knowing where Cas was or if he was alive. Sam thought that without his grace, Cas might just stay with Dean, become the steady presence in his life that Dean really needs.
The more Sam thought about the angel and the hunter, the more they started to make sense. Dean needed an equal, someone who was strong enough to deal with the life of a hunter but at the same time let Dean take care of them. Who on earth could fit that bill but Cas? He was pretty much the only person Sam had ever seen stand up to Dean the way he did. Cas could hold his own with the headstrong hunter and understand him like no one else. No other human could possibly comprehend their shared experiences in hell, heaven and purgatory. And since Cas' fall, he had watched his brother fuss over the fallen angel, grumbling the whole time. But Sam knew Dean better. He could tell that Dean thrived when he felt needed. Yeah, maybe this could work.
Sam was interrupted from his thoughts by Harry, who had changed and was ready to go interview the victims.
The first actress, Emily Stinson, was the one whose eyes had been burned. Sam was saddened by the sight of the beautiful woman sitting on the bed with thick bandages covering her eyes. The memory of seeing Pamela with her eyes burned out from seeing Castiel caused Sam to wince. He quickly collected himself, though, and introduced himself to the girl with as much empathy as he could in his voice.
"Hi Emily? I'm agent Hetfield and this is agent Smith. We are here from the FBI and wanted to ask you a few questions about your accident."
Harry was visibly nervous as he pulled out and flashed the fake badge that Sam had stuffed in his pocket. Sam tilted his head and pursed his lips at the man, who realized with obvious embarrassment, that he had just shown his badge to a blind woman.
"It wasn't an accident," the actress grumbled. "I was attacked. And I already told the police all about it. But they didn't listen."
"That's why we are here. Trust me, we will believe your story."
"Fine. We had been rehearsing a couple of the early scenes and I was watching Nick do this scene where Dean is at the hotel and he discovers the handprint on his shoulder. I remember feeling this really cold almost breeze from behind me and I got goosebumps all over. So I left the set and went to my dressing room to look for a sweater. I was so chilled, I just couldn't get warm. That's when I saw her."
"A woman?"
"Yes, but she was like see through. She looked like she was holding fire in her hands but it was blue. And she kept saying 'mine, mine, mine.' I didn't know what she wanted and I was terrified so I told her she could have whatever she wanted. Then she kind of blinked away and a second later was right in front of me. She…" The actress had to stop as her breath hitched and her hands began shaking.
Sam took one of her hands in his, soothing her, "It's OK, take your time."
Emily shook her head, "She put her hand right through my chest and it hurt so bad, like ice but it burned at the same time. I screamed and then everything went white. I woke up here and now I can't see. What happened?" Her voice rose up as she practically squealed the last sentence.
"That's what we are going to find out," Sam told her. "Get some rest. We are going to find out who did this to you and stop them."
The actress squeezed Sam's hand and gave him a weak thank you before they left her room.
The stories from the other two victims were very similar. All three incidents had happened on set after rehearsing a scene. The victim who was burned on her mouth said that she had just finished rehearsing Castiel's big barn entrance when she felt the temperature drop and saw the same spirit, who also repeated her 'mine' mantra before shoving her hand in her chest. The third victim, whose burns manifested on her hands, had been running lines with Nick his trailer. She saw the woman once she got back to her own dressing room. This was definitely starting to look like it had something to do with the movie, probably a jealous former actress.
Sam and Harry decided to head back to the motel to meet up with Dean and Cas to plan their next move. He hoped that Cas had some luck gathering specific information about the spirit so he could lay this one to rest.
Castiel traveled to the local library with Ed driving the Ghostfacer's van. He sat in the passenger's seat, stoic and stiff as he became increasingly uncomfortable with Ed's sideways glances. He could tell that Ed was suspicious of him.
"I assure you," he told Ed, "you are in no danger with me. I do not wish you any harm."
"Hey, I just don't trust anything supernatural. As a professional paranormal investigator you have to be on your guard at all times." Ed adjusted his glasses and gave Castiel another stink eye. After an uncomfortable pause, "So, angels are real, then? Like wings and feathers and floating on clouds angels?"
"Yes, angels are very real. However, we don't… float on clouds," Castiel said this last part with all of the newly acquired sarcasm skills he had picked up from Dean. "An angel's wings are part of our true form, not something that exists on this plane of existence. We use them to travel between the celestial dimensions of heaven and hell or across time."
"Wow, this is crazy, man. I didn't think angels were real."
Castiel sighed, wondering to himself why it was that most of the humans he had encountered believed in all things supernatural except angels. Their existence is well documented in human literature, far more than most of the creatures that they hunt or in this case investigate.
"So, if you're an angel, and the Winchesters say they already stopped the apocalypse, what are you still doing hanging around with those douchenozzels? Don't you have angel-y things to do? I don't know, playing harps or something?"
Cas turned to face Ed, eyeing him suspiciously. "The Winchesters are my friends. As an angel, many of my powers came from my grace, which was recently stolen from me. I retained very few of my angelic powers so I can no longer serve in my garrison."
"Powers? Like what?"
"An angel's grace enables the power of flight across celestial planes and time, the ability to heal human wounds, angelic strength, and the ability to connect with a human's soul. These are just some of the things I can no longer do. I have, however, retained heightened senses and my angelic knowledge of the history of my father's creation and its physical laws as well as all languages. I believe that although I can no longer be useful as an angel, I can use this to assist the Winchesters."
Ed fumbled behind his seat for something. He retrieved a small recording device and brought it to his mouth. "OK, I need to record this. Testing one, two, three. OK. This is Ed Zeddmore, professional paranormal investigator with the Ghostfacers. I am sitting next to Castiel, who claims to be an angel of the lord. Castiel, can I record this interview?"
"No!"
"But it's for-"
"No!" Castiel grabbed the recording device from Ed's hand. "Dean said no recordings."
Ed mumbled something under his breath about angels being dicks and pouted the rest of the way to the library.
Once the arrived, the pair headed straight to the computers. Ed told Castiel, "Step aside. You may have angelic powers, but I have geek powers. Watch and learn."
Castiel watched for several minutes as Ed began to Google things like 'violent deaths at Acute Movie studio' before excusing himself. He approached a young librarian who was intently working on her computer. The girl had a pretty face and what Castiel thought was unusual hair. He knew that his father hadn't created humans with hot pink and yellow streaks in their hair but he smiled inward at their creativity in the many different ways they decorated their bodies.
When he said excuse me to get her attention, she hummed an acknowledgement to him while barely taking her eyes off the screen. "I am looking for assistance in finding out the history of a particular movie studio."
"Archive section," the librarian pointed to her left, "check in the…" she paused as she finally looked up and whispered a soft, "Oh." When she took in Castiel, her demeanor immediately changed. She offered him a broad smile and bit her bottom lip, looking up at him through her eyelashes. "Why don't I just… show you myself?"
She extended her hand out to him, "Hi, I'm Theresa."
"Thank you. The studio in question is Acute Movies." He followed the girl as she led the way to the necessary archives.
"Isn't that where they're filming the Supernatural movie? Oh my gosh! Are you involved in the movie?!"
Castiel remembered that Dean had taught him that he may need to lie to get information so he decided to try to answer the librarian in ways that would encourage her help. "Yes, I work there."
"Oh! I am a huge fan of the books! Tell me, do they really have Nick Morgan playing Dean? I think he'd be perfect!"
Castiel nodded his acknowledgement as Theresa began pulling large books out from the shelves.
"Please tell me Cas is in the movie? He and Dean are my OTP."
"I'm sorry, I don't understand that reference."
The librarian looked at him and laughed, "Oh my God, funny! You must be a fan too if you are quoting Cas. You know, I always thought that Dean had feelings for him. It sucked that he never admitted it, though. Oh well, I guess that's what fanfiction's for, huh?"
Castiel squinted and tilted his head trying to figure out what the girl meant, "What do you mean, feelings?"
"Love! What else?" Theresa turned to him and handed him a box full of files to take to the table.
"You believe that Dean loves Castiel from what you read in the books?"
"Oh yeah! You know, I think the books got the ending wrong. The only reason Dean went to Lisa's is because he told Sam he would. I'm pretty sure if Cas had stayed, Dean would have been much happier with him. But Cas never stays, does he? Shame, because I think that's all Dean really wanted from him."
Castiel was confused by most of the new human feelings that he had been inundated with since losing his grace. But this one he was all too familiar with, both as a human and as an angel. This was regret tinged with guilt. Had he abandoned Dean when Dean really wanted him to stay? He had his duties in heaven, but maybe he shouldn't have left Dean for so long. Dean was also angry with him for staying in Purgatory and for leaving him in Lucifer's crypt. At the time he didn't have a true grasp on human feelings. He was just trying to do the right thing and couldn't understand why Dean was so upset. Now, without angelic grace to mute his feelings, he could truly feel the weight of the guilt sitting in his gut.
This librarian believed that Dean cared enough about him to want him to stay. But that was then. That was a different Castiel, one with power and grace, one who could help Dean and heal him when he was hurt. And now, he was the one coming to Dean for help. He showed up on Dean's doorstep empty handed, hungry, tired, and powerless. Even the clothes he was wearing now were given to him by Dean. Even if Dean had once wanted him to stay, now he felt like more of a burden than anything else. He felt that maybe if he could be of use on this case, it would prove to Dean that even without his grace, he could be of use to the hunter. Maybe he could earn back Dean's trust and if this librarian was right, maybe even more.
When Castiel and Theresa had a stack of large books and a box of files piled onto the table, they began to go through them, searching for police reports of accidents on set. After about ten minutes of searching, they were able to find the correct folder and records of two deaths. The first was in 1957. It was a man, a camera operator, who had fallen from a cherry picker during an overhead filming shot.
The second was in the year 1984 before the studio was sold to the new company. An actress named Betty Lange had been cast to play the mother in the movie Firestarter but she ended up being cut and hung herself on the set that night. This certainly fit the profile considering that she was an actress and the victims had been burned. The librarian was even able to help him find the location of her grave, which was just outside of Hollywood.
Theresa made him copies of the paperwork he requested and walked him back out to the main library, where Ed was still struggling to get any further than the studio's main propaganda page. Harry looked up when he saw Castiel with the pretty librarian.
"I have the information we need, we can go now," Castiel said to Ed.
Theresa put her hand on Castiel's arm and gave him a warm smile. "If you need anything else at all, please come back."
"Thank you for your assistance," Castiel said to her as she reluctantly pulled her hand back and went back to her work.
Ed gawped at the research that Castiel was able to come up with so quickly when he had so thoroughly failed. He huffed, "Well, not all of us look like we just stepped out of a CW program! We can't all just use our good looks and flirt to get help. Freaking Winchesters!"
Castiel called Dean when they had gotten back into the van, putting him on speaker to relay the information to him. "Dean, I believe we may have found the spirit and her burial location."
"Nice work, let's hear it."
"Her name is Betty Lange and she was an actress in a movie called Firestarter in 1984. I believe the movie title may be related to the victim's burns. The actress proceeded to kill herself on the set the day that she was cut from her role. She is buried at St. Luke's cemetery in north Hollywood."
"Perfect. Let's gank this bitch and get the hell out of here. Ed, you ever dug a grave up?"
"N-no." Ed looked nervously back and forth between the phone and Castiel.
"Tonight's your lucky night. You wanted to see what it's like to do what we do? Well tonight you are going to get your chance. Drop Cas off here at the Pine Meadows Motel off if I-75 and go get dressed for digging and bring shovels back with you." And with a click Dean was gone.
Ed turned to Castiel, wide eyed, "Did he say we are going to dig up a grave… tonight?"
"Yes. We will need to salt and burn the spirits remains."
Ed took a deep breath mumbling to himself, "You can do this. You are a professional. You are a Ghostfacer."