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"I summon the great angel Castiel to come help me with my assignment!" I slapped my hand down on the hotel table and succeeded in nothing more than bruising my wrist. "Owie...Guess that proves that website was pointless..." I said to no one in particular as I scratched another suggestion of the list. I had been trying for hours to summon Castiel but google had failed me in my quest for the right spell. There were thousands of different methods on the internet and digging through them all was a fruitless task. I was tired, bored, and no closer to a pair of wings.
"I need a Bobby Singer in my life...Or at least a half decent partner in crime." I grumbled as I reached page 10 of the search results. The partner in question was most likely lying on a beach somewhere drinking a pina colada, I could see it. Shoving the mental image of him in a speedo out of my mind, I hit the jackpot website wise. The graphics on this particular site were terrible and I had to quickly shut off my speakers as obnoxious nature sounds blasted from it, but it actually seemed legitimate. I was truly impressed, but also a bit ticked off that it took me so long to find.
Gathering the ingredients took me another few hours and required me going to some of the seediest shops in the area. Luckily I didn't have to order anything online, I didn't have the time to spare, but if this didn't work out, I had dropped a good $300 for nothing. Setting up the ingredients in a bowl as the website dictated, I held a match above it with shaking hands. I kept having to tell myself that the worst this could do was make my room smell horrible. Or it would summon a demon even though the site promised me it wouldn't. I forced my fingers to open up and the march dropped in, instantly engulfing the ingredients within. It was quite the impressive fire show but I didn't think anything had worked. Until I turned around of course.
"Umm hi?" I said cautiously to the man behind me. Surely this wasn't an angel, maybe TV had skewed my perception of what an angel should look like. What self respecting celestial being would be caught dead in a ugly tan trench coat?
"Why did you summon me? I don't know you..." The man replied, squinting his eyes in a confused manner.
"Umm no, you probably don't...You are Castiel right? I didn't fudge up somewhere along the way?"
"I am. How do you know about me?" He was more hostile now and I began to worry. Now that I actually had him in the room, I was less sure of my ability to convince people. Julius had always done that part, now I had the ropes and no idea what to do with them.
"Through Sam and Dean."
"You know them?"
"No exactly...That's why I need to talk to you." I took a deep breath. "This all sounds crazy and stalkerish but I promise you it isn't. I just would like to ask you some questions about them. It's for a research project. I've already talked to most of the dead people in their lives and I was wondering if you could provide some additional information on their dynamic."
"How have you been able to talk to the dead?"
"A reaper...I won't tell you which one because you might know him and he's already potentially in a lot of trouble right now and I'd rather not make it any worse." I added quickly in case Castiel got any ideas. He continued to survey me for several more moments until speaking again.
"How do I know you're not going to try to hurt them?"
"Because I'm about as threatening as a hippo."
"Hippos are one of the world's most deadly an-"
"Right, right, bad analogy but you get the point! I'm not trying to use this info to overthrow them or kill them or steal their pride and glory. All I want is answers, and I know that's a lame excuse for raising the dead but it's not harming anyone. I swear on everyone I've met so far since starting this, nothing that you tell me will be used against the Winchesters in any way whatsoever. Think of this meeting as you aiding me in writing their memoir. Except they're not dead and I'm still not going to kill them." I was awful at trying to explain myself and was damn glad I hadn't chosen a career in selling cars.
"I don't trust you."
"I don't trust you either but Bobby Singer does and he was the one who told me to talk to you. Oh, and Pamela says hi."
"You talked to Bobby?" Castiel said and I could see something flicker briefly in his gaze, it wasn't anything monumental, but it was a start; for a moment he looked happy.
"Yeah, I talked to him not too long ago. He said you would have what I needed even though technically you aren't dead. Or can I consider you on a separate plane of existence? What do angels qualify as?" I asked, propping my head up on my hand.
"I don't know what you're trying to ask me..." I had all the time in the world to interview this guy but I wasnt going to get anywhere with it if I didn't stop confusing the crap out of him.
"Sorry, just rambling, never mind." I sighed and stared at the blinking red light on my voice recorder. "So tell me, Are you willing to cooperate or not?"
"Do I have a choice?" Castiel looked hostile once more and I felt a headache coming on.
"Of course you have a choice, you always have a choice. I'm not gonna take your own free will away from you...Ignoring the fact that I kinda did by summoning you here in the first place." I winced slightly. Once again something I said seemed to open him up more. It was fascinating to watch as his guard slowly dropped and the tension in the room just eased off. He was in no way going to tell me everything he knew, but now I had a better chance of getting at least a couple answers out of him.
"What do you want to know?" He said finally.
"Why did you pull Dean out of Hell? That was you that did it, wasn't it?"
"Yes, because I was ordered to." It felt a little anti-climatic. I was hoping for some star-crossed lovers angle.
"Ordered by who exactly? The CEO of Heaven?" I joked and was surprised at his serious response.
"By God, yes." Something about his answer unnerved me. I had willingly suspended all my previous beliefs to do this project, even gone so far as to accept the possibility of angels and a higher being. But hearing it said out loud just felt...weird.
"But why exactly would God want to save the soul of some dude from Kansas who goes around with his little brother chasing urban legends?"
"In order to prevent Lillith from breaking the 66 seals that would've freed Lucifer from the cage." He spoke as if it were common knowledge. "Why are you laughing?"
"Oh nothing...Sorry." The image of Satan in a dog kennel refused to leave my mind. "And how did that work out for you guys? Did saving Dean save the world?"
"No, the seals were ultimately broken and Lucifer was freed." I had chosen the wrong moment to take a drink of water.
"He got out?! And went where?" I winced apologetically as Castiel impatiently wiped the water that had been spat on him off his face.
"He found a vessel on earth. Not his true vessel of course, that was Sam."
"Sam was Satan's suit? Don't tell me he's still here..."
"Lucifer? No. He was put back in the cage with Michael. Unfortunately Sam got sent down with them. The only way we could make it work was for Sam to consent to being the vessel."
"He's not still Satan is he? I don't know if I want to do this anymore if I have to deal with one of them being satanic. That won't end well for me."
"Yes, we just left one of the most powerful celestial beings inside of Sam Winchester." Castiel rolled his eyes and I fought the urge to hit him.
"Well you said he went with them down into the cage! How the hell did you separate Sam from Satan? Seems like a not so easy process if you ask me."
"I didn't. And I managed to pull him from the cage...but at a cost."
"Which was?"
"His soul."
"Is that the cost for everything for the Winchesters? Accidentally set Satan on the loose? Sacrifice your soul! Brother dead? Your soul will fix that too! Need life insurance? Just sell your goddamn soul."
"Dean doesn't have life insurance."
"Well, from what I've heard, he should really get on that."
"I don't disagree with you."
"Look at that! One thing we can agree on at least. So getting back to the point, you're telling me both Dean and Sam have been to Hell?"
"Yes."
"Huh..." I paused for a few moments. "So, you've known the Winchesters for a while now I'm guessing. Just give me your thoughts on them, what kind of men are they?"
"Dean is one of the bravest men I know. His actions can be rather rash and pigheaded at times but he never does anything that he doesn't believe to be the right. Sam is a bit more cautious on the other hand but just as strong willed and courageous as his brother. They both would do anything for each other, you're probably aware of that already. They're both incredibly loyal...They're the closest friends I have."
"Have you ever doubted their leadership? Perhaps Deans in particular?"
"I haven't had any reason to."
"I think you're lying but it was a nice thing to say so I'll drop it.." I looked down at my computer. "Anyway, moving on, what do you think about- Hey! What the hell are you doing? We're not done here." In the few seconds that I had looked away, Cas had stood up and started to head towards the door.
"I thought we were done."
"What gave you that idea?"
"You had run out of interesting things to say."
"Oh thanks, jerk. Sit your feathery-ass back down, we are not done."
"No." It was like working with a disobedient child that had the attention span of spoon.
"Are you done?"
"Yes."
"Fine then, leave! I won't keep you here any longer, I release you or whatever I need to say so you can go.."
"You don't need to say anything. I could've left at any time, I just chose not to." His sass was wearing me out.
"Well thank you for the honour of gracing my presence, oh holy one." I replied flatly. "One last thing though, where is God? Like, do you keep in contact with while you're on earth?"
"I don't know."
"How do you not know? Wouldn't he just be chilling up in Heaven? Or is he on earth too?"
"We can't find him." Castiel shrugged.
"You lost God?! First you free Satan and then you lose God? He's not like a lost sock in a dryer, he has to be somewhere."
"Maybe he doesn't want to be found."
"Why would he not want to be found? Did you say something mean to him? Did you hurt God's feelings?" I asked but Castiel was already gone. I cursed silently and made a firm note-to-self never to deal with an angels again, to stick to ghosts and ghosts were a lot easier to handle; a lot less annoying anyway.
About an hour after Castiel had left, Julius showed up once more, a tray of coffee held in front of him.
"Fifteen minutes late with Starbucks, how very like you." I commented.
"You missed me and you know it. You weren't actually interviewing anyone, you were just sitting here crying because I wasn't around." He handed me a latte.
"Yeah, you got me! How ever did you know." I took a sip and immediately spat it out. "Why is this spicy?"
"Oh yeah, I may have poured hot sauce in that one..." Julius said with a smile.
"But why?!"
"Punishment for summoning an angel! It's a good thing you chose a chode like Cas or that whole interview could've gone south fast! No more doing anything without me there to help you. I had a day to think about this and I realized that if you do something stupid like that again, it could be bad for both of us. You wanted my help, I'm gonna help and we're gonna do this my way." He jabbed his finger at me threateningly.
"You're not gonna be pleased with me then...I don't really need your help with this next interview."
"How so?"
"I contacted Linda Tran and she agreed to help out. Next on our list is Kevin Tran, boy wonder and coffee maker possessor!"
The look on Julius' face told me all I needed to know; it was going to be a long night.