Reaper Holds My Soul

8 missed calls

“Dean, it’s been days since I’ve heard from you. I thought the hunt would take only a few days. Where are you?...”  Message 1

“Why haven’t you called back yet? You can’t just leave me like this. I need to know that you’re not in danger... or worse....”  Message 2

“You’re really making me panic. Answer your phone.”  Message 3

((possibly drunk)) “I think I saw a cat in the bunker. OOOOh and another. And another and another.....” Message 4

“You should have told me where the hunt was... And left me some money for the bus so I could get there... Please... Please, Dean. Call me back” Message 5

“I haven’t heard from you in weeks. I can only suspect that you’re dead.... You were supposed to come back.... It was just supposed to be a simple hunt... Please... Please don’t make me suffer like this. If you die, I /will/ go to the crossroads and sell myself. I’m not joking Winchester.” Message 6

“You aren’t here... I can’t do this anymore, Dean, I’m sorry. I’m heading to the crossroads tonight.” Message 7

Dean and Sam where on a hunt and they haven’t been back, or heard of in weeks. Castiel pulls on his coat and leaves the bunker. The full moon is shining and the crickets are chirping. Castiel drives out in one of the Men of Letters’ cars and heads toward the cross roads.

 Castiel finds a cross road finally after a long drive in the woods. He had the car pulled to the corner of the roads and found the center. He shook up the can of red spray-paint and paints a demon trap, before burying the small box full of various ritual worthy items and stood just outside of the circle before chanting the words needed. Then, he waited.

She showed up in the dead center of the crossroads and walks up behind Castiel, who was staring down at his feet with his back turned to her, deep in thought. Too easy. The demon woman walks quietly up behind Castiel. “Hello, angel,” she whispers into his ear.

Castiel’s whole body goes stiff at the soothing sound of her alluring voice. ‘The voice is better for business,’ he thought as he turned around to face her. She was absolutely beautiful, but Castiel looked right past it. He only had two faces in his mind at the moment; Sam and Dean.

“I want the Winchesters, well and ... Alive,” Castiel says firmly. He feels small under the demons gaze, much different from when he was an Angel.

The demon woman laughs. "No," She cackles. It was rough and scratchy, the worst laugh he had probably ever heard. “I’m not just going to hand them over to you, Cassie. Besides, they’re probably Crowley’s newest chew toys,” she smirks, “and you know, Dean is his favorite.”

Castiel’s stomach flips at the thoughts of what Crowley could be doing to the boys. Especially Dean.

 The demon puts a hand on her hip, “Make me a fair deal this time.”

Castiel grits his teeth together. Demons are manipulative, disgraceful, untrustworthy creatures that should be vaporized from existence. Castiel looks at her in disgust before proposing something else. “I’ll give you my soul for the location of Sam and Dean Winchester,” Castiel offers the black eyed demon with long, blood red hair.

“Deal,” she says quickly before pressing her lips to the former angels. Castiel feels his soul being branded with the contract in which he had just accepted. The kiss was emotionless and formal for Castiel, but he could feel her pleasure radiation off of her. Probably because she had just guaranteed Castiel an eternity of Hell after which he dies. He suspects she will get rewarded greatly for pulling this off.

As the deal states, his soul for information. Castiel receives his information in pictures. Warehouse.... Fire.... Cages.... Crowley. It wasn’t much, but it would have to do.

Castiel breaks the kiss as the last image seeps into his mind. “You have 3 years, sweet angel,” he hears her says after the kiss. The demon disappears as soon as he opens his eyes. Castiel lets out a deep breath in grief as he hurries back to the car. He speeds off to the bunker and goes downstairs to the basement. There, in the dungeon they found at the beginning, he does the ritual of summoning the King and stands as he waits for Crowley to appear.

“I said put that over-“ Crowley stops as he sees he’s somewhere else. His eyes meet a familiar, angry face of the former angel. “Ah, Castiel. And to what do I owe the pleasure?” Crowley asks with a smug face as he swishes around the scotch in his crystal glass. Crowley studies the ex-angel in front of him with his eyes. Something’s different... Very different. He smiles as he realizes what it was. It was the branding on Castiel’s soul.

Castiel stands straighter upon the arrival of the King of Hell. He clears his throat and glances at the demon trap symbol on the floor. “I want the Winchester’s back,” Castiel says confidently.

Crowley chuckles and takes a sip of his scotch. “And why would I just hand them over?”

Castiel looks at him in confusion. “Why do you have them? They haven’t been bothering you in the least bit and you say that Hell is going fine, in your standards.”

Crowley’s smugness never fades. “Hell isn’t going ‘fine,’ Castiel. Hell has been the best it has been in well... forever! Now, I would be downstairs ordering my demons around and whatnot, but I wanted to collect some trophies while I was up here,” Crowley explains.

Castiel’s face twists in disgust, “Trophies? You call the Winchesters simply trophies? They are way more than just objects that you posses!”

Crowley smiles warmly at the now human’s reaction. “Would you rather I kidnapped the president?” Crowley teases.

Castiel pulls the angel blade he stored in his jacket and almost steps over the line that separated him and the demon King, but stops himself in remembrance that he is no longer any match for such a demon as he once was. “I want the Winchesters, Crowley. Do not make me use this, and remember, you’re the one trapped.”

Crowley’s face practically glows with entertainment. “And your boys are trapped too.”

Castiel, losing his temper, charges forward with the angel blade raised and his hand gripping Crowley’s tie. He pushes Crowley against the barrier of the demon trap and holds the blade to his neck with force. “Tell me where you have them!” Castiel shouts with rage.

Crowley was caught off guard by the attack, but never loses his cool. Though he had dropped his scotch glass, which shattered at their feet. “I’ll make you a deal, Castiel,” he says calmly, “You’ll get your lover boy and Samantha /if/ you play the game.”

Castiel eases the pressure of the blade against Crowley’s neck. “What game?” he asks, suspicious of the demon’s plans.

“I’ll let you take one of the boys now. You and one of the Winchester’s go looking for the other and you take him back with you. Easy enough, angel?” Crowley suggests.

Castiel would have immediately denied anything that Crowley offered besides the Winchesters, but he was desperate. He needed them and he couldn’t bear the thought of them being in Crowley’s possession. “I’ll play,” he accepts despite everything. The Winchesters weren’t going to like this. They would probably be pissed at him and go searching for the other by himself, but what could he do? Usually he would have used his “mojo” to track the boys and wipe out any demon that tried to lay a hand on them. Now he was human, and humans can’t just use heavenly powers to find one another. Castiel knew that they did however know how to use technology to find each other, but he had just now grasped the basics of using a “cell phone” and “calling” to communicate upon distances. “But, I want to see them first,” Castiel adds.

“We have a deal,” Crowley grins at the pleasure of making a deal. He is released from Castiel’s death grip on his tie and Castiel pulls the knife away from his throat. Crowley watches as Castiel steps out of the demon trap like a kitten fleeing from a large dog. “Shall we go then?” Crowley asks, gesturing at the annoyingly familiar outline of the symbol that captivated him.

Castiel gives him an annoyed look as he bends down to scrape a small section of the outer layer of the spray-paint off of the gray cement with his angel blade. He steps back as the King of Hell steps out of the circle with a sigh of relief. Castiel watches Crowley as he adjusts his tie of his all black suit, then the man disappears without a word. Castiel almost panics that he had left and that he wasn’t going to get the Winchesters back, but then his vision goes black for a moment before he is dropped in a hot, stuffy room. He feels dizzy from the travel, having not done that as human yet, and holds his stomach. Crowley looks over to the ex-angel folded over next to him. “Easy, love. Travels a bit bumpy,” Crowley says as he walks through a door.

Castiel follows the Hell King in after he enters. He sees demon guards in front of a big set of double doors. They almost attack, but notices their King standing with the former angel. The quickly bow before him, and then open the double doors upon his command.

Castiel walks along after Crowley into the room. He sees the pictures all over again. Warehouse... Fire... Cages... Crowley. The walls had burned ash sticking to it in a thick layer; smoke hovered in the air closest to the tall ceilings. There were cages everywhere, arranged in a way like a maze, but in an orderly fashion. They were stacked mostly, but a lot were just singled out in the row with nothing above them, but the smoke. Crowley leads Castiel through the maze of cages. Castiel looked over every detail he could of the Hell like building. He examined the cages, noticing some had other people and some had monsters. He noticed that not all were alive. A few cages they had passed had dead bodies in them, some more decayed than others.

Crowley stopped in the middle of one row and looked at two particular cages. Castiel followed the demon’s gaze and saw that the men in the cages were Sam and Dean, side by side in separate cages. The cages were individualized unlike most of the others, which were stacked. The brother’s cages were joined with a big, red bow tied at the top of their cages. Just like presents, gifts, trophies... “You’re sick,” Castiel states in disgust.

“You can sweet talk me later, honey,” Crowley teases, before he gestures to the boys. “So, Castiel. What’ll it be? Moose or Squirrel?”

Dean could have sworn he heard Castiel’s voice. He opens his eyes and lifts his head slightly, trying to catch sight of the former angel. No, that’s not really him. It can’t be. He’s talking to Crowley. It’s just another one of those piss-ant demons of Crowley’s. He looks over to the cage next to him. His brother was laid on his back with his knees bent and his arms sprawled out at his sides. Dean could see, though his vision was blurry, that Sam’s face was bloody and bruised. He curled up in a ball as his body went into a coughing fit. When he pulled his hand away from his mouth after the fit was over, he saw a puddle of red forming in his palm. Dean ignored the blood and tried to focus on the demons in front of him. Dean had originally thought that it was just demons standing in front of his cage, but he had heard the conversation the two exchanged and his whole expression changed. His face turned to a hopeful, but worried smile. “Cass...” he whimpers in a broken voice.

Castiel finally looks to the man in the cage. He was bloody in tattered clothes, looking like a true prisoner of war. He couldn’t bare to look at Dean in this state, but he forced himself to keep his eyes on the broken man. Castiel tested Crowley by walking over to Dean, which didn’t seem to bother the demon, and he reached in to grab Dean’s arm. “Dean,” he smiles painfully at his best friend, “I’ll get you out soon. Don’t worry, it’ll all be okay.”

Crowley nearly snickers in amusement. “Which do you choose, Cassie?” The King of Hell asks the ex-angel.

How could he choose between the two? They needed each other like walls need insulation. Without it, it is simply a cold room. Castiel’s eyes go big and sad as he thinks of a plan with Dean staring at him.

Dean puts the pieces together of the situation and looks back to Sam, his neck aching with each move. He groans as he looks back to Castiel. “Take him,” he demands Castiel, “You have to get him out of here.”

Castiel bites at his lip as he considers what to do. “Dean, that would mean leaving you behind. I don’t know how long it will take us to find you, much less if we can find you,” Castiel warns, his voice cracking slightly as he explains.

“It’s all part of the game,” Crowley adds to their conversation as he stands in his same position. This would be fun for the demon. Watching as they struggled through “the game” obviously delighted him.

“Cas... please,” Dean says urgently. Dean reached to place his hand on Castiel’s hand that held his shoulder. “Sam has to get out of here,” Dean continues in the same urgency. He couldn’t help but go into another coughing frenzy. He holds his face to the cage floor as more blood comes up his throat in his coughing. Castiel had grabbed Dean’s hand as the man had his fit once again. Dean held onto Castiel’s hand tightly until his coughing had ended and he was finally able to breath. He took a few deep breaths before he lifts his head. Castiel frowns at Dean through the rusty bars of his cage. Dean looks up to the ex-angel with desperate eyes. “You have to take Sam...” Dean says brokenly.

Castiel places his hand on Dean’s cheek to lift his face up slightly. “We’ll get you out. I’ll save you as I have before. I will not fail in saving you, I promise,” Castiel says with sheer determination.

Dean smiles slightly at Castiel, but can’t get his hopes up. He knew he would probably die in... wherever he is, and he knew that Crowley wouldn’t let them off so easy. But, despite what he thought, he replied, “I know you will.”

“I see you’ve chosen Moose. The smarter and taller one. Interesting,” Crowley smirks at his suggestive hints.

Castiel moved his hand from his cheek and gave him a sad, worried smile as if to say goodbye. He pulls his arm out of Dean’s cage and turns to Crowley with his jaw clenched and his eyes watering slightly. He held it back and balled his hands up in fists. Pure evil. He was looking pure evil right in the eyes. Castiel held his head high and tried to show no emotions, which was difficult since even as an angel, he had gained human emotions. Now, he was just as human as any other human. Castiel couldn’t hold back the hatred that he was feeling for the demon at this moment. His teeth gritted against each other as his nails dug into the palms of his hands. ‘Calm down. You can’t do anything here. They will kill you and the Winchesters if you make any rash actions,’ Castiel thinks to himself. He eases his clinch in his jaw and fists before saying, “Sam Winchester will be coming with me. I will be back for Dean.”

Crowley smiles with his permanent smugness at Castiel’s decision. “I’ll be having fun with my chew toy while we wait,” Crowley adds before snapping his fingers. Sam vanishes from his cage, along with Castiel. Crowley walks over to Dean’s cage and stares down at the broken man.

“And so, the game begins,” Crowley states, grinning darkly at his favorite Winchester.