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72. Throat

One of Castiel's most sensitive areas was his throat. He absolutely loved it when Dean kissed and sucked and gently bit it, leaving him with a racing heart and marks that told the world that he was off-limits.

But, by the same token, his throat was one of his most guarded areas. As a warrior and a hunter, Castiel knew just how vulnerable the throat was and how easy it was to kill people just by stabbing or slitting their throats and letting them choke as they struggled to draw air in. Their enemies knew it too, if their preference for holding knives to throats to force their hostage's comrades to surrender was any indication. Castiel was given a harsh reminder of this while on a case with Sam, Dean and Charlie, trying to take down a large group of demons (Rose, meanwhile, stayed back at the motel room with a thick ring of salt and Devil's Traps everywhere. Sam may have reluctantly agreed to let her accompany them on a case but Castiel knew that he'd die before letting her get involved).

"Cas!" Charlie called. "Duck!" Castiel had a brief moment in which he was tempted to ask, "Where?" but he realised what Charlie truly meant and threw himself to the ground, cursing Dean and his idiotic sense of humour. Charlie impaled a demon behind Castiel with her fairy blade from Oz (which, it turned out, could kill demons) and smiled in satisfaction as it lit up, jerked and died. Her triumph was short-lived, though, as another demon grabbed her from behind and pulled her hair, making her let out a short, sharp cry.

"Let her go!" Castiel said furiously, clambering to his feet. Charlie stamped on the demon's foot which, while not hurting it, distracted it long enough for Castiel to stab it through the chin with his angel blade.

"Thanks, Cas!" Charlie said cheerfully, extracting herself from the demon's corpse. "We make an epic team, huh? We're just like Harry and Hermione, kicking ass and being awesome!"

Just as he registered the pop culture reference, Castiel felt someone grab him around his waist and he was pulled back into a warm, stocky body. When something cold touched his throat, Castiel realised that it was a knife and he instinctively raised his head to avoid cutting himself on it.

"Cas!" Dean shouted. He started towards Castiel but the demon holding the ex-angel dug the knife harder into Castiel's throat. Castiel raised his head even more, his heart pounding, hating the fact that he had to expose himself even more when all he wanted to do was hide his throat and make himself less vulnerable. "Let him go, you son of a bitch!"

"Then drop those weapons, Winchester," the demon spat. "If I'd known that threatening your pretty angel was all I had to do, I'd have done it before you killed half my group!"

Castiel forced himself not to make a sound as the demon lightly dragged the knife across his skin, though not hard enough to draw blood. Making any type of noise would show weakness and he was not going to do that when he was in a weak enough position! Instead, he caught Dean's eye and they shared a silent conversation. Dean clearly had a plan, so all Castiel needed to do was get himself free so that Dean wouldn't have to worry about him.

"I said, drop them!" the demon demanded. Castiel stiffened when the knife dug so hard into the base of his throat that a warm, sticky liquid began to trickle down into his shirt. The look in Dean's eye terrified Castiel and he knew that he wasn't the one Dean was mad at! In his rage at being trapped, Castiel felt a surge of energy pulse through him.

"I – am – not – a – helpless – hostage!" he snarled, elbowing the demon hard in the ribs. This startled the demon enough that Castiel was able to wriggle free, though not before feeling the knife score a shallow cut across his collar. The minute he was free, Dean sprang into action and the demon was dead before he even hit the ground. Castiel scooped up his angel blade, which he had dropped in the commotion of being held captive, and jammed it into the stomach of the nearest demon. With their leader dead, it was easy to dispatch the rest of the demons and the group of four stood over the corpses once they were done, panting.

"I'm sorry, Cas," Charlie said immediately. "I distracted you with my Harry Potter reference – it's my fault, please don't be mad at me –"

"I'm not mad, Charlie," Castiel said. Why would he be angry at Charlie? "It was a simple mistake and I'm sure you will not make it again."

Before Charlie could respond, Dean grabbed Castiel, and pulled him in for an aggressive kiss, one which Castiel eagerly reciprocated. He could feel love and relief in the kiss and, hoping that he succeeded, tried to pour his own feelings in as well.

"Don't you ever do that again!" Dean said harshly. "You got that? It's bad enough that they get Sammy all the time but I don't need them grabbing you!"

"Dean, he's got the Winchester luck," Sam pointed out, grinning at Castiel in relief. "He's doomed anyway."

"Shut your face, bitch. You and Charlie go and call Rose and tell her we're alive. I need to patch Cas up."

Castiel remembered that he was bleeding and so, while Sam and Charlie left, he slowly raised his head and allowed Dean to put pressure on his accidental cut with a piece of his T-shirt.

"You could have waited until we returned and used a first aid kit," Castiel pointed out.

"Yeah. But Charlie shares a room with us, so I wouldn't be able to do this." Dean leaned in and gently kissed the skin around the minuscule wound that the demon had left next to the cut. Castiel felt a brief moment of panic and stiffened before forcing himself to relax. This was Dean. He could be vulnerable around Dean! But Dean noticed and straightened up.

"I'm guessing this is off-limits for a while?" he said, carefully running a finger down Castiel's neck. Castiel shivered at the sensation and looked at Dean apologetically.

"If you wouldn't mind," he said. "I'm sorry, Dean."

Dean waved his apology aside.

"It's cool. No need to apologise. I'll just have to mark you somewhere else." He smirked at Castiel, who smiled back as he felt himself begin to heat up. "Now, come on. I'm starving and there's nothing like a good pie after killing a swarm of demonic sons of bitches!"

Castiel resisted the urge to remind Dean that he was always hungry, instead choosing to follow Dean out of the building, content in the knowledge that his human would always have his back.