Chapter 3

Dean pulled the old car up outside of a low-slung metal building marked "Diner," then turned off the ignition. He turned to Cedric and asked, "I don't really know how else to ask this, so I'll just be blunt about it. Do you eat?"

"What?" Cedric was a bit nonplussed. "Oh, you're thinking, since I'm dead, I don't eat? Well, actually, I do. What do they make here?"

"Burgers, fries, and a shake," said Dean.

Cedric nodded. It sounded just like the sort of food Sirius served at the Second Marauder. "Make it a chocolate shake, then," he said.

"Sure you don't want anything like strawberry? Something fruity?" Dean chuckled. "Nah, I'm just messin' with ya. Chocolate it is." He closed the door and headed inside, leaving Castiel and Cedric alone.

"Um, I don't believe we got your name," said Castiel.

"Oh," said Cedric. "Not much of a surprise. Your friend doesn't place much importance on manners, does he? It's Cedric, by the way. Cedric Diggory."

"My name is Castiel," said Castiel, holding his hand out to shake.

"Yeah, I already picked up on both your names," said Cedric. "And you're obviously not human, so what are you?"

"An Angel of the Lord," said Castiel. "Or, at least, I used to be. The rest of the angels will have nothing to do with me. Three years ago, I tried and failed to stop Lucifer himself from acquiring the body of a certain young man who became my friend, along with Dean." Castiel swallowed. "As you can imagine, that sort of thing didn't go over well upstairs."

"And you said something about the angels being cast out of Heaven?" asked Cedric.

Castiel sighed heavily. "Yes. Metatron, the scribe who wrote the Word, performed a spell to lock the gates of Heaven and banish the angels."

"I'm sorry I asked," said Cedric. "No offense, but all this is really making my head spin."

"That's not much of a surprise," said Castiel. "You're not an angel. Even angels sometimes have a bit of trouble comprehending the bizarreness of the...er...misadventures Dean and I tend to get into regularly."

"Try me," said Cedric. "After being killed by Lord Voldemort, I think I can handle a few twisted stories - wait, what was that?" The car shuddered slightly, as if someone else had collided with it.

Castiel bristled, and opened the glove box to reveal a small but fearsome-looking knife - toothed, with a plain wooden handle. "Get out of here," he said. "I smell a demon."

"You mean, besides the one that's being kept in the-AAAARGH!" The door flew open and black smoke flooded in, pouring into Cedric's open mouth. The agony was indescribable. Being killed had only hurt for a split second, and that had been the worst feeling Cedric had ever experienced. Until now. This unknown attack felt like he was being slammed by a dozen Avada Kedavra curses at once. And it didn't stop after a split second like the real thing did, it kept going on and on, even when the black smoke stopped pouring in.

"Castiel," said Cedric's mouth, but Cedric wasn't the one doing the moving. With horror, he realized he was being possessed, and fought to break free, but to no avail.

"Lucifer," said Castiel. "What do you want now? Here to gloat?"

"That would be too easy," said the thing inside Cedric. "As a matter of fact, I really hope you expend all available effort to defeat me. It's no fun doing evil deeds unchallenged, don't you know that? Of course you wouldn't. Silly angel, all you see is the good side of everything. But - and correct me if I'm wrong, which, er, by the way, I'm not - didn't the angels get rid of you months ago?"

"We left by mutual agreement," said Castiel. "Something I'm sure you know all about."

Lucifer, or whatever the demon's name was, chuckled nastily. Cedric shuddered; he'd never even known his vocal chords were capable of making such dreadful noises. "True. I have a message for Dean Winchester, angel, although I'm sure you can stand to hear it too because it also concerns you, to some extent. Your Grace-less friend is holed up in South Lake Tahoe. Meet him there and maybe then you'll stand a chance to return all your former brethren to heaven."

"I'd ask you to swear on your soul, but you don't have one," said Castiel.

"You flatter only yourself, angel," said Lucifer. "Ooh. The memories inside this young man's mind...they inspire me." As Cedric fought to block out all memories of Lord Voldemort and dementors and God knew what other things he'd encountered in his final two years of life, Lucifer added, "I think now you'll need this one along for the ride, too. Only he can defend you from the things I'm about to set on you and your human friend."

Shit, Cedric cursed internally. Where's Occlumency when you need it?

"Oh, and do us all a favor and release Crowley," said Lucifer, using Cedric's hand to gesture behind him at the trunk. "He's been beseeching me to rescue him for days, and it's really getting on my nerves." With that, he exited Cedric's body in another cloud of black smoke, which Dean noticed as he left the diner. Dropping the doggy bag full of fried greasy goodness, he raced towards the car, revolver in hand, but by then Lucifer had gone. He looked around, as if hoping to see something, but then shook his head, recovered the fallen food, and reentered the car.

"Did you see him?" Castiel asked, as he stowed the knife back inside the glove box.

"No," said Dean. "Then again, he could just be out of sight somewhere."

"Who? What? What are you talking about?" asked Cedric shakily.

Dean turned to him with a look of faint sympathy. "I see you've met Lucifer. Charming fellow, isn't he? Cas, find the nearest tattoo parlor," he said. "We need to get this guy some protection, stat."

But Cedric was done being ignored. "Who's Lucifer?" he asked. "Who's in South Lake Tahoe?"

Dean handed back Cedric's meal, which he started to eat despite the fact that they were all coated in a thin layer of dust from the parking lot. He also handed back a photo of himself standing arm in arm with another man - taller, with long hair, but bearing a noticeable resemblance to Dean. "If you ever see this man," said Dean, "then get the hell away from him immediately. That's Lucifer. He's been inhabiting my dear baby brother's meat suit for the last three years plus."

"Excuse me," said Cedric, swallowing a dusty fry. "Did you say-"

"My brother, yeah," said Dean. "Sammy. Poor bastard. I still have trouble believing he was supposed to be the vessel for the Devil himself."