Dean and John landed in a clearing next to the angel statue. They barely had time to register their surroundings before two black bullets of goo smacked into the ground.

"Shit," Dean said, "Run." John looked at the people forming from the goo and ran towards the tree line. Dean followed quickly. One of the leviathans, a female with blonde hair, started heading for them in the denser forest. Dean pulled his machete from the sheath on his hip.

"Leave them," the male leviathan said, "This is more important." Dean looked the closer leviathan in the eye before it turned around to look at the weeping angel.

"I haven't seen you in oh so long," the male said to the statue. He looked at his partner.

She asked, "What is it?"

"Do you not recognize a weeping angel?" he asked, "The only creature in existence older than ourselves, and you don't know it?"

The male leviathan flickered like a ghost as the angel touched his shoulder. The leviathan's mouth grew to cover his face in a surprised cry.

Regaining his human features, he looked at the angel sadly. "You should not have done that. Such a waste," he said.

At his words, the angel statue's wings began to crumble. It cracked in half and collapsed to the ground in a pile of rubble. John looked over at Dean, confused. Dean shrugged. He didn't know what the hell just happened.

"We need to move," he said, "This way."

When Dean and John got further into the woods, Dean put a hand on John's shoulder and pressed the button on the vortex manipulator to take them home, but they didn't go anywhere.

"Shit," Dean said.

John asked, "Is it broken?"

"Hell if I know," Dean said, "Looks like we're doing this the old fashioned way."

Dean handed John his machete and pulled a bowie knife from a holster on his calf. At least he'd had the good sense to come prepared, though he doubted Cas would've let him come so easily without multiple weapons. He even had his pearl sided 1911 in his thigh holster for good measure.

They started off through the woods.

"Weeping angels devour potential energy, right?" John asked. Dean glanced at him and held a finger to his lips to signal John's silence. If they were going to find the oasis Cas had been at, they needed to keep quiet or fight their way there.

"If leviathans don't die like it said in the books, then sending a leviathan back would just make an alternate timeline," John said, "An infinite amount of potential energy would've been made."

Dean sighed frustrated, "And that may very well be what happened. But we need to get out of here alive, so please, for your own sake, shut up."

A werewolf jumped at John from behind a tree. Dean quickly pulled the monster over John and onto her back. Without a moment's hesitation, Dean shoved his bowie knife into her heart. Forcing the silver blade through skin, muscle, bone, and blood felt so good. He twisted the knife just to feel the extra crunch of flesh as he slowly dragged the knife out. He quickly flicked his eyes black and back to green to be sure he didn't accidentally go full demon before looking at John again.

Wiping the blood from the blade on his pants, he said, "Come on. Let's keep moving." John looked at him in shock and a healthy amount of terror. Dean saw John was physically okay and kept going without another word.

They only had to fend off one more attack, rawhead this time, before they got to the clearing. Dean could still see Cas crouched by the water's edge.

A knife pressed against Dean's throat. Dean froze.

His assailant said quietly, "Oh, brother, look at you."

Dean grinned. He would know that southern drawl anywhere. "Hey, Benny," he said.

Benny took his knife from Dean's neck and pulled him in for a hug. Benny looked just like he did the last time they saw each other.

"This is Benny?" John asked.

Benny released Dean and glanced at John, unimpressed. "Who's your friend?" he asked Dean.

Dean sighed, "This is John. He's helping on a case. He's a fan. It's complicated."

"Dammit, I'm in the books now, too?" Benny groaned.

Dean patted his friend on the back. "Join the club," he said, "Anyway, we're headed for the portal. You coming with this time?"

Benny sighed, "I don't know. I'm no good topside, Dean."

"And you're hiding in the safest spot in Purgatory because what, you're doing so well here?" Dean countered.

"I'll go with to the portal," Benny said, "but past that, I dunno."

Dean nodded. He'd take what he could get. At least Cas wasn't here.

"So, what brought you back to these parts?" Benny asked as they headed back into the woods.

Dean pushed a branch away from his face. "Had to kill a thing. Couldn't kill it. Sent it here. It wasn't the best plan, but it's all we had," he said.

Benny moved a few paces ahead and asked, "Mind if I ask what the hell happened to you?"

Dean sighed. Of course Benny would notice the demon thing. He looked over at John for a second.

"Not much. Just hitched a ride down here with the help of a time-traveling alien," Dean said.

Benny grinned, "It's always something crazy with you, but that's not what I'm talking about."

"That's all I'm saying, brother," Dean said, fixing Benny with a sharp look.

Benny nodded, looking at John, and continued towards the portal.

After that, they continued on in silence aside from Benny's soft whistling of the 1812 Overture. An hour later, they reached the base of hill the portal sat on top of.

"There she is," Benny said.

John's mouth fell open slightly.

Dean turned to Benny and asked, "Well, you coming?"

Benny sighed, "What am I gonna do up there? I couldn't even hold down a small job without a hunter getting after me."

"You could stay with us if you want," Dean said, "You'd make a pretty good hunter."

"Yeah, I'm sure that'd go over great with Sam," Benny scoffed.

"Don't worry about Sam. You could do whatever you want, Benny. I'm just saying that I've got your back. Come with us," Dean pressed.

Benny sighed, "Fine. I'll go with you, but how are you gonna get me back there when you can't get through the portal yourself?"

"What?" John asked.

"What are you talking about?" Dean asked.

Benny chuckled glumly, "Well, brother, you're not exactly your old self. Kinda need to be human to use the portal."

Dammit. Dean shot Benny an irritated glare.

"You're not human?" John asked, shocked.

Dean faced John.

"What are you, then?" John asked, taking a few steps back.

Dean had sort of figured it was going to come out eventually, but this was really not the way he wanted this to go down. He flicked his eyes black. At John's horrified expression, Dean turned his dark stare to Benny.

"Did you have to tell him?" Dean asked.

Benny shrugged. "He needed to know if he's gonna get us out of here," he said.

"How did this happen? Are you even Dean?" John asked.

"It's a long story, but I'm definitely still me," Dean said, turning his eyes back to being human.

Staring at Dean warily, John asked, "How can I even trust you?"

Dean thought of a million excuses. He saved John's life, he had been nothing but helpful this entire case, he volunteered for the trip to Purgatory. All of them were lies though. They happened to be true, but they felt like lies. He saved Kevin's life, and that kid had trusted him. His guilty demon conscience knew what had happened to him.

So, Dean told John the truth. "You shouldn't," he said, "You shouldn't trust me. No one should, but bottom line, you're the only one who can get us out of here."

John looked from Dean to Benny and back. "What do I have to do?" he asked.

Dean told him the incantation and handed him his bowie knife.

"You'll have to do it twice for both me and Benny, but this is what we did to get Benny out last time," Dean said, "Also, you'll have to throw my body through the portal since I came here physically."

John nodded, gripping the knife tighter.

Dean said quickly, "Oh, and this is really gonna hurt." John ran the blade across his arm and said the latin words to bring Benny's essence into his flesh.

John inhaled sharply. "Yeah, that stings a bit," he said stiffly.

"C'mon," Dean said.

They climbed up the hill to the portal.

The wind from the glowing entrance was so intense, Dean had to shout to John. "Give me the knife," he called.

John handed it over and shouted, "Why?" Dean ripped open his shirt and placed the blade flush with his skin. He was endlessly glad Cas wasn't here to see this. Quickly, he gritted his teeth against the numb, detached almost ticklish feeling he had as he sliced his anti-possession tattoo off of his chest. No use leaving his meat suit if he couldn't get back in later. He ignored the blood pouring from his chest.

"Do the incantation," Dean shouted. For the first time since waking up as a demon, Dean left his body in a flood of black smoke. He'd never felt freer. John shouted the incantation over the new gash in his other arm, beckoning Dean to it. Dean felt compelled to obey the incantation as a strange, warm sensation traveled through his withered soul. All was soon darkness.

The next thing Dean knew, he was funneling back into his body. He opened his eyes, flicked them a couple of times to make sure they weren't black, and sat up. They were in the cemetery Dean had popped up in last time.

"That was the weirdest-" Dean started.

John asked, "What do I do about Benny?"

"I'll take care of Benny," Dean said. He grabbed his knife from John and cut his forearm, gripping John's forearm tightly. He muttered the latin incantation swapping Benny's essence from John's arm to his. Dean grimaced. It didn't hurt nearly as bad as the last time. It was really weird to admit, but Dean sort of missed real pain. Demon pain just didn't cut it. Realizing his chest was still bleeding, Dean healed it with a quick thought. He did the same to John's cuts. His mojo definitely had its perks.

"Gotta go to the bunker. You coming along for the ride?" Dean asked.

John shrugged, "Why not?" John would probably needed some serious therapy after all of this. Dean grabbed John's shoulder and whisked them off to the bunker.

John gasped as they landed outside. "I didn't think you meant this second!" he said, reeling from the demonic teleportation.

Dean hurried around to the back of the bunker near the garage. He felt his eyes turn black almost on their own as he directed a hand towards the ground. Dean had started getting used to telekinesis when he'd first really used the First Blade against Abaddon. Using that same dark thread of energy, he raised Benny's coffin through the dirt to the surface.

John, having joined Dean near the garage, asked, "You buried Benny here?"

"I had to kill him to save Sam," Dean said, "It was never meant to be permanent, so I buried him here...in case I got him out of Purgatory again. Did you not read that far in the books?"

John sighed at Dean's comment. Dean slit his arm open over Benny's body and watched the vampire come to life just like last time.

Dean turned around to look at John. "Nobody else needs to know about the demon thing, okay?" he insisted.

John looked at Dean worriedly. "Do Sam and Cas know?" he asked.

Dean laughed, "Have you seen how much Sam and I fight lately? Yeah, they know."

Benny got up out of the pine box and stretched, his back popping several times. "So, where's the case?" he asked.

"London," John said.

Benny laughed, "I hope you don't mind if I sit this one out. Wouldn't mind having some time to get my sea legs this time."

Dean let Benny inside and said, "Make yourself at home. Just don't touch anything weird. A lot of the weird stuff is cursed or worse."

Benny sighed, "Never a dull moment with you, Winchester."

He went inside and Dean asked John, "You got a phone?"

John nodded, pulling out his phone.

"Call Sam," Dean said, "Let him know we're back topside and where we're at. I'd poof us there, but it would kind of give away the demon stuff."

John nodded and called Sam.

As the Tardis materialized moments later, John said to Dean, "You know, even with everything, I trust you."

"You really shouldn't," Dean said.

John grinned and said, "Too late."

As soon as the Tardis fully landed, Cas came out first, walked over, and hugged Dean. "You've been gone for a full day," he said, holding onto Dean tightly, "I should've gone with you. I could've helped. What happened? I thought you were supposed to use the vortex manipulator to get back-"

"Cas, calm down," Dean said.

Cas released Dean and looked at him. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Dean shrugged, "Yeah, I'm fine. Getting out was a bit difficult, but-"

"Just so you know why I can't help," Cas said.

"What?" Dean asked.

Cas' gaze was distant, like it had been in the crypt when they found the angel tablet.

"Cas?" Dean tried. Cas blinked a few times and looked at Dean.

"I'm glad you're alright," Cas said.

Dean nodded, "Yeah, me, too. What just happened?"

Cas cocked his head to the side. "What are you talking about, Dean?" he asked.

"You just said...never mind," Dean said. Cas clearly didn't know what had just happened, so pressing the issue was pointless. He decided to keep a close eye on Cas though, because weird didn't begin to cover it when Cas acted like that.

The Doctor leaned out of the Tardis door and said, "We still need to figure out where Moriarty got a weeping angel from. Come along."

Dean, Cas, and John got back in the Tardis and headed back to London.