I posted this yesterday, but for some reason it was deleted O.o

I'll post chapter 4 later tonight.

Cold fear swept over Castiel as he observed the scene on the porch. All of his instincts were screaming at him to flee, but all he could think about was his sister.

"Castiel." His mother whispered. "Slowly, we are going to move off the porch."

"Mom." He hissed. "Anna is in there."

"We're going to call her. Make sure she's okay. We are going to go back to the car first though and lock the doors."

His mother reached over and put her arm in front of him, as if she were forcing him to move backward.

"No." He hissed. "I'm not leaving her in there."

"Call 911." He whispered. "I can handle this."

He set his stuff down and tiptoed into the house as quietly as he could. His pain was forgotten. All he could think about was Anna. Protecting Anna, killing someone if they hurt Anna, and saving Anna. If anything happened to her, he wouldn't be able to live with himself.

All of the lights were on in the house and he heard the television playing in the living room. It was quiet, which was ominous in a way that he didn't like to consider. He turned the corner into the living room. A man sat on the couch, wearing khakis and a blue shirt. He was plain looking, with thinning blonde hair and a thin build. His legs were crossed, almost daintily. It took a second, but he realized who it was. It was the man who'd flirted with him at McDonalds.

"Oh, hello my little angel. How d'ya feel about me clipping your wings?" He asked, his voice silky and low. He grinned at Castiel and his eyes turned black.

Castiel screamed and turned to run out of the room. He didn't know where Anna was, didn't know how this man had known where he lived, but he knew he needed to get out of there. He knew the man was something horrible. The man was faster than him and leapt off the couch and grabbed Castiel by the back of his neck and threw him to the ground. Pain shot through his shoulders where the bruises were and for a second he saw white.

The man stood over him, one leg on each side of his body, and the man's eyes still black. He grinned again, showing a mouth full of crowded teeth. He bent over and grabbed the front of his shirt, lifting him off the ground.

"Oh, you are a rare treat." The man cooed. "I didn't think any of you remained. I thought that Michael had destroyed every single one of your kind."

Castiel struggled and the man moved his hand down to his throat, closing off his airway. Castiel gasped and tried to get away, but the man was inhumanly strong. He put his hand on the man's face, trying to push him off and there was light. White light poured from his fingertips into the man's face. The man howled in pain and withdrew, stumbling backwards, clutching his face. The white light had burned the man's skin and he was clawing at the singed skin on his cheeks.

Castiel just stared at his hand for a minute, not having any idea what had just happened, but then he knew it might be his only chance to escape. He got back up and fled the living room, into the front of the house, going for the front door. On his way out, he tripped over something. He fell face down and tried to scramble to stand up. Then he saw what he'd tripped over.

It was Anna.

Anna's body was lying in front of the front door, her throat slit all the way across. Blood was pooled underneath her small body and it was still dripping from her throat, indicating that she had been killed very recently. She was positioned on her side and her eyes were open, staring into space, at nothing. Her hands were covered in blood and so was the doorknob, indicating that she'd put hands to her throat and then tried to open the front door. Clearly she hadn't made it, because the door was still locked and there was blood streaked from the doorknob down to the floor, where she'd collapsed. Her last action had been her trying to escape.

Castiel felt like he stared at her for a very long time. It must have only been seconds since he escaped the murderer's grasp because suddenly, his mother was pulling him up off the floor, screaming at him that they had to get out before the man recovered. He barely heard her though. All he saw was Anna's body. Anna was dead. This man had killed her because, for some reason, he wanted Castiel.

"Come on!" She screamed and it sounded like they were under water.

She grabbed him by the arm and began to drag him to the back of the house, to the open back door. Suddenly his mother went flying backward, landing in a heap next to Anna's body. The man stood there, arm out, indicating that somehow he had thrown Castiel's mother without touching her. The man was grinning and the skin on his cheeks was singed red, where Castiel had touched him.

"Neat trick, but somebody isn't at full power yet! You're still going through puberty, aren't you little one?" The man said.

"You killed my sister!" He screamed.

The man burst out laughing. "She's not your real sister. Obviously not. If she were, I'd have possessed you and taken her. She's a lot prettier and I only need one." He pointed to Castiel's mother. "I assume that's the Virgin Mary?"

Castiel let out a scream, halfway planning to jump the man, but the man just flicked his wrist and Castiel was thrown against the wall. The man was holding him there was some kind of unseen power. He sauntered over to Tina Milton and lifted her up off the ground. Castiel struggled to get away, but he couldn't move.

"You?" He said, his voice filled with disgust. "They saw you special enough to gift you with something as spectacular as that boy over there? My, my, the fly boys have definitely let their standards drop in the last few millennia." The man said, clicking his tongue.

"I know what you are. You know they won't let you take him." She spat.

"Mom!" He yelled. "Let me go! Don't hurt her!"

Castiel struggled to get away, tried to summon some kind of force to escape the invisible grip the man had on him, something like the white light he'd emitted earlier. The man ignored him, but lifted his hand up and squeezed the air as if it were someone's neck, and Castiel was suddenly unable to move at all.

"So, who does he belong to? I didn't know there were any fly boys slumming it on this shit hole." The man spat.

"You can't have him!" She yelled into his face. "He won't let you take him!"

"So, you won't tell me who the daddy is? No, I'm sure he'll just kill him, like they killed the others."

Castiel tried to open his mouth to speak, but he physically couldn't. Whatever hold the… demon… had on him, it was affecting him completely.

"What do you want with him?" Tina asked, pleading all of the sudden. "What good could a child like him do for demons?"

"I felt him from miles away and it was something wonderful. Do you have any idea what this boy is capable of doing? What power he'll have once he has his full grace? Right now, he's a meek thing, but his wings, well, they're sprouting as we speak. Possessing him would make me one of the strongest demons alive!" The man said, grinning at her, his eyes flashing black again.

Castiel struggled some more, willing the force holding him against the wall to break. He stared at his mother, who was pleading for his life. Castiel didn't even know that she cared enough about him to plead for his life. At the same time, it was evident that his mother knew exactly what this man was. The way she was referring to Castiel indicated that she knew what he was as well. She had known all along. Rage flared through his body, directed at both his sister's murderer and his mother. He gritted his teeth, feeling his blood boil, pure rage overtaking him, and with that, the demon's hold broke.

The demon sensed it and whirled around, lifting Tina Milton completely off the ground, so she was standing in front of him like a human shield. The demon made a motion with his hand and a large hunting knife flew into his hand. It was stained with blood, Anna's blood.

"One more inch and I'll gut her. You really want her blood on your hands too?" He snarled.

"What are you?" Castiel growled.

"He's a demon." Tina whimpered. "He's a filthy, unclean demon from hell."

"Mommy's right. I am a demon. Name's Balzac. Don't move another inch or I will kill her." He warned again.

"What do you want with me? Why did you kill my sister?"

"I came here to retrieve you, my dear boy. Found your big sister instead. Oh God, she was pretty. I was going to possess her, but she fought and that made me mad." He said, grinning again. "Still might possess her though."

"What am I?" He asked, trying to keep his voice steady. This creature obviously intended to kill him. He at least deserved some answers before he died.

"You're certainly not human." He spit, saying the word 'human' like it was a disease. "Well, maybe you're a little human, but mostly not. The fly boy who knocked mommy up clearly had a lot of power. Did mommy never tell you? You're a freak, Castiel, a half-breed, an abomination that God himself will smite."

Castiel choked. The anger swirled through him, making him numb. He was no longer afraid of this beast. He blinked, once, twice, staring at his mother, who was still in the demon's grasp. His entire life, she had lied to him. This demon had no reason to lie. He'd recognized that Castiel was different immediately. That had never happened before.

"How did you know?" He asked brokenly.

"Those wings you're growing, those puny, pathetic wings, they might not be the real thing, but anyone who's tuned in at all can feel how the air changes when you enter a room. I could feel your grace from 100 miles away. Why else do you think I'm in this pathetic town today?"

Castiel blinked and the windows in the kitchen shattered and the lights above the demon's head began to flicker.

Balzac burst out laughing. "That's my boy!"

Castiel felt his rage spill over. He let out a scream, a feral scream and launched himself at the demon, knocking his mother out of the way. He was on top of the demon and he shoved his hand on the demon's face, the face of the monster that had murdered his sister. Bright white light seeped from his fingers into the monster's skin, into the very core of the monster's being. Balzac yowled like a banshee, screaming in pain as his eyeballs burned and his life force drained out of the human body he was wearing. It took an agonizingly long time for the demon to die, but when he did, Castiel knew he was gone. He'd felt the demon's life drain away into his very palms.

Castiel tried to stand up, staggering. He looked over at his mother, who was a few feet away, curled up in a fetal position, sobbing into her hands. He stared down at his own hands. There was no blood on his hands, nothing to indicate the presence of the light that had just poured out of him. Whatever had killed the demon had come from somewhere unknown. Castiel had never seen anything like it. He had never felt anything like it. The feeling that washed over him when he killed the demon was absolute. Every emotion had disappeared and all he felt was power. Now that it was gone, he felt like a 14-year-old kid who wanted his mother and wanted to cry over his dead sister.

"Mom." He said raggedly. "Mom, please."

He crawled over to her. "Mom." He whimpered.

"I'm so sorry." She sobbed. "I never should have had you. I knew this day would come. Anna is dead because of me and you… look at you."

"Mom?" He said brokenly. "What am I? Please. Nothing he said made sense."

"You're not human." She whispered, choking back a sob. "I thought you'd be human, more human anyway, but what you just did, well, you're connected to it. More connected than I ever thought possible."

"Connected to what?" He cried. "What the hell am I? What is happening to me?"

"Connected to the host. To others like you. Castiel, your father wasn't human. Your father is an angel."

Castiel backed away, feeling like she'd just thrown acid into his face. "You're insane." He hissed.

"I wish I was. I wish this was a nightmare. I wish you and your poor dead sister were a delusion. I wish none of this was real." She cried. "He was just so beautiful. Then you were so beautiful and I couldn't… I couldn't let them take you."

"Who is my father? What is happening to me? What am I?"

"You've always known, haven't you? What else can you do, Castiel?" She asked, her eyes suddenly wild. "Can you bring Anna back?"

"You've known all this time? Known I was different? You treated me… with such coldness growing up. I was all alone, going through this by myself. Mom, I'm a freak!" He yelled. "I've been a freak since I was 4 years old!"

She hung her head. "I'm sorry. I thought you might be normal. I thought there was a chance. Castiel, please, try to heal Anna. Please."

"I can't! What are you talking about? Anna is dead because you lied to me for years. If you had told me, if my father, whoever the hell is, was here, Anna would be alive! I wouldn't have… been so alone for years!"

"Try to heal her! I'll tell you everything." She cried, fresh tears falling down her face.

Castiel crawled over to Anna, whose body was cold now. He placed his hand on her cheek and tried to will the white light that had come out when he'd killed Balzac. Nothing happened. The pain in his head and his shoulders was gone for the first time in months. He knew it had something to do with killing the demon.

Anna's dead and it's my fault. Anna died horribly, terrified and alone, because I'm not even human.

He and his mother sat there for a long time with Anna and Balzac's bodies. He kept his hand on Anna's face; trying so hard to do something that he knew innately he wasn't capable of doing. He hadn't known he could shoot out the white light that killed the demon, but he had, and when it had come streaming from his fingers, somehow it hadn't surprised him. He knew he couldn't heal Anna though. He wasn't strong enough.

Finally, his mother stood up. She looked so broken. She was usually so controlled and so cold. Now her hair was messy and she had blood on her face and her clothes were ripped. It was the first time Castiel had ever seen her like this, unwound and showing any kind of emotion at all. She disappeared from the room for a few minutes and returned with a small box. It was made of some kind of wood and had ornate carvings on the top that Castiel didn't recognize. She wordlessly handed it to him.

"Everything you want to know is in there." She muttered.

"What are we going to do?" He whispered, clutching the box.

She turned to him. "You have to leave."

"What?"

"Now that you've killed a demon, word will get out. They'll start coming after you. Demons, angels, god knows what else. They'll want you. God only knows what you'll become once you have all your grace. You're a nuclear weapon waiting to be detonated."

"What am I supposed to do? Where am I supposed to go? What is 'grace'? What is happening to me?" He cried.

"Leave. Just… leave me. You can't stay here, Castiel. You're putting everyone in this town in danger just by remaining. Everything you need to know is out there." She said coldly, her typical demeanor returning. She walked over to the cabinet and pulled a knife out.

"Mom…" He said, his voice heavy with warning. "What are you doing with that?"

She turned away and Castiel watched as she cut herself with the knife. He didn't know what to say. She hadn't cut herself enough to cause any real damage. She rubbed her finger in the blood and began to draw something on the wall. Castiel looked down at the box. Whatever she was drawing in her own blood resembled the carvings on the box she had given him.

She turned to him. "Castiel, I'm so sorry. I never should have brought you into this world. When you're gone, please stay away. You're not part of this family anymore." She said brokenly. She placed her palm onto the wall and Castiel felt himself catch on fire, white hot pain flashing through him, slicing into each of his molecules, cutting into him at his very core.

Castiel landed halfway across the world in a rural town in Japan. He awoke, still clutching the wooden box. His own mother, his only living flesh and blood in the world, had banished him.