In Which Castiel is Angel-napped.
It was fun watching the Winchesters slowly ease back up after little Benjamin was back safe and sound. Jake - at least that's what they knew him as right now - didn't mind that at all. He wasn't egotistical enough to believe that he would have as easy of a time this next round as he did last time. They were still aware he was out there and had their guards up. It just wasn't def-con 1 anymore.
Adam, as that was his real name, spent time working on stage two. A few days working over his informant had given him the name of the angel that had been Dean's bodyguard during the last few years. With a name, Adam was able to work out a trap specifically for him. This time he wasn't going to be as lucky with the kidnapped being forgetting his name and face. It meant that they would know who he was, and he was ready for that. He knew he would be able to keep himself safe from both God and demon - his having held Ben for a week with a single charm proved that. And he had the weapons to kill an angel if it came to that too.
At least, if he had to kill more than just the one he was aiming for.
The oil was easy to obtain. You'd thing that the people in Jerusalem would guard this stuff better. But no, once Adam had a location, he sent a few of his allies out to retrieve it and bring it back to him. He was getting more and more allies as word spread in certain circles about the human who was hunting Winchesters. And now with the oil circle on the ground, Adam went to a small abandoned farmhouse and leaned against the fireplace. His allies were outside, waiting to apply ward magic to the walls once he had the angel inside. But not before, because he didn't want them to sense a trap.
Carefully he took his necklace charm off and set it on the mantle, then took a few steps away. The charm was strong, but had a very small zone of invisibility.
"Castiel," he said aloud, lighting a white candle and placing it on the mantle as well. "Castiel I was told to pray to you for guidance. I need your help. Please, answer my prayers."
Castiel had agreed to give Sam and Ruby some privacy since they were now newlyweds. It still made him blush to think of why they needed the privacy, but he tried not to think of that. He did small tasks for the Garrison, but these days they mostly left him on his own. On his own, he read a great deal. Books were endlessly fascinating to him and the library would let him read whatever he wished for no charge. He quite liked the library.
He was reading one of his favorite authors, Twain, when he felt something he wasn't entirely familiar with. Someone was praying to him. He blinked, looking around the library as if he expected the person to be right there. He was such an obscure angel no one prayed to him, not since the middle ages at least. No, this was also strange because he knew that tug. A Winchester was praying to him. Now he was really confused. Sam wouldn't pray and neither would Dean. It wasn't Ben or Alec either. He put the book back on the shelf before taking a few steps and vanishing to answer the call.
"Who are you?" he asked immediately when he appeared.
Adam smirked, pleased that his plan had worked so far. "I'm just another lost soul. I've heard you have a habit of collecting them lately."
Castiel tilted his chin up slightly, frowning. "Your name, mortal. Now."
That look made him suspiscious. Something didn't feel right.
"My name's Adam. However, you might have heard of me already. Ben Braeden knows me as Jake."
And with that Adam knocked the candle over, setting the ring of oil on fire and trapping the angel in it. That was also the signal and the ones outside moved quickly, getting the sigils up on the walls so no one could try to interfere.
Castiel took a step back before he stopped himself. He knew what the fire was. He narrowed his eyes at the man. He didn't seem like a demon, but perhaps he had miscalculated. "What do you want?"
"From you? Nothing. Well, except a little bit of confirmation. I'm after much bigger game. Ben was just a piece of the puzzle I was trying to figure out, and you're going to help me see if my next piece is worth the sacrifice."
There was a fire going in the fireplace, and a metal rod was sticking out of it. Adam left it alone, knowing that it was still going to need time heat up properly.
"Now, if my sources are correct, you're wearing a vessel, right? Not just projecting the image of one."
He licked his lips, eying the poker with some concern. "Why do you think I will answer?"
"Well, if you're in a vessel, you're going to find what I do to you is going to hurt just a bit. And if not, well... then you're not worth my time and I'll just have to take care of you and find another target." Adam looked at Castiel with serious eyes. "And to answer your next question - no, you won't be the first angel I have killed, and I don't plan on you being the last either."
He walked back over to the mantle and put on his necklace. Castiel would feel Adam completely disappear off the radar again, and he tucked it carefully under both shirts he was wearing. "So, what is it going to be... Cas? Pain, or death?"
There was nothing Castiel could do, he realized. He had walked right into a trap. There wasn't much room for him in the circle of flames, but he wasn't completely powerless. He twisted his fingers and pulled the poker into his hand. The hot iron burned, but he could heal that easily once he was out of this.
"I choose neither."
Adam just laughed and pulled out a silver weapon from a sheathe on his hip. It was a bright silver blade that he had fitted with a leather grip. A grip that then held a twisted leather and metal tie to a bracer around his wrist. "I'm sorry, that wasn't an option I gave."
An angel's sword. Castiel let the poker fall from his hand. There was nothing he could do, he realized, swallowing back fear. Not only was he trapped, but he had walked right into his death.
Raising his chin he regarded Adam with a blank, stoic expression. "Whatever you want from me, I won't give you. You'll have to kill me."
And when the human tried, Castiel would leave his vessel, burn the man to ash and choose death by the fire instead. Whoever this man was, he was a threat and had to be stopped.
Adam chuckled as he knelt down to grab the poker that the angel had so carelessly dropped. "You don't have to give me anything. Just standing there is all I need." Weidling both weapons, Adam took a moment to figure out his plan, and then he struck.
The thing that made Adam dangerous was that he was no longer fully human. He hadn't been since he was five. But he was too intelligent to turn into a mindless creature, and that gave him a very distinct advantage. He ran around the other side of the circle faster than any human could and lashed out with the sword. He aimed to strike, but in a way to get the angel to move instead right into the poker that would burn through his pant leg and straight onto his thigh.
The change would be almost instantaneous. Castiel would lose all his angelic powers and be cut off from heaven, trapped in his vessel because he wouldn't be able to project himself out. It was a lock, and the lock was surrounded by a symbol that would protect anyone from trying to heal the skin instead of finding the key to unlocking it. A key only he and a few others knew about. And the metal of the rod was the same metal that had been used to forge the colt once upon a time, and was known for keeping it's magic in place.
Adam quickly stepped back and watched a moment, wanting to see what the depowered angel would do. "How's that feel?"
He did, for a second, attempt escape. His Grace, his True Form flared in his eyes and then the mark was made and everything got locked down. Even pushing against it with all his might, there was nothing he could do. He was trapped. Honestly, he was terrified but he didn't let the human see. This was not a time to show weakness, even as it spread through his body. He stood straighter, adopting the arrogant attitude many of his brothers had when they dealt with humans.
"You can't win," he said calmly, "I still have my faith. Something no mark, no monster can take from me."
"I don't care about your faith, Castiel. Keep it. You're probably gonna need it now more than ever." Adam smirked. It had worked. It had really worked. He gripped the poker tighter as he put the angel sword back in it's sheathe. He knew running out of the place was suicide. Angels would lock into this place the moment that poker hit the angel's skin. But Adam already had his escape route.
This farmhouse he choose for a specific purpose - sewer access. Whoever lived here had done taxidermy or something, and had a drain set up in the back room to drip whatever down directly into the sewer pipe below. He would be long gone before Castiel was even able to get out the front door.
Adam started for the door to that room, then stopped and looked back at Cas. "Think you can get out of that ring, or should I send for the fire department?" The smirk was evil, and resembled one that Sam had worn back in his army general days.
He would stand for eternity before accepting help from this human. "I'd run quickly if I were you. You may be hidden, but your... friends aren't. I wouldn't put much trust in their loyalty to you."
"I don't trust them at all. They are, after all, demons." Adam laughed and went for his escape route, and was gone. Wearing the pendant meant no angel or demon could track him, and he moved faster than any human could see.
Castiel looked around the ring of fire in which he was trapped. There was no way out of this, but Adam had been wrong to not care about his faith. The wards and sigils might kept his brothers out, but they couldn't keep him in anymore. He carefully got to his knees and bowed his head.
"Father, I am in need. I have been trapped and my brothers cannot get to me. Please, send someone to find me. In Your name, I pray. Amen."
She had known something was wrong the minute the seal was branded into Castiel's skin. She couldn't reach him as easily as She normally could. The direct connection was weakened, and that wasn't a pleasant feeling. And when the prayer came, She responded in an instant, appearing in the middle of the warehouse where Her angel was being held and looking around for what was happening. When She saw the ring holding Castiel in place, and there was a brief blow of wind as the flames were blown out.
"What happened here?"
"Thank you, Father." Castiel got to his feet, though he kept his eyes downcast. "I was led into a trap. Someone prayed to me and it felt like they were a Winchester. When I went to investigate he trapped me. His name is Adam. I am not sure what his purpose is, but he is a danger."
She moved closer to him, one hand resting on his shoulder as the other brushing against his face, a gesture that was distinctly maternal, but that was how she was feeling at the moment. "Are you alright?"
"He has trapped my powers," he admitted, his voice shaking slightly with fear. "I am cut off."
She frowned. "How? Show me."
"He had a poker, he burned this into my thigh." Castiel held his leg out and gestured to the burn that had gone through his pants and into the flesh of his leg. "When it was burned into my vessel's skin, I became trapped."
She reached forward, looking at the skin before sighing slightly, and nodding. "So it seems. You said his name was Adam?"
He nodded. "Adam. Ben knows him as Jake."
"Adam. No last name, though?" There were many Adams, but as knowledgeable as she was, she needed a couple more specifics.
He shook his head. "Perhaps Ben will know how to find him."
She nodded. "Perhaps. She moved towards him and extended a hand. "I'll take you somewhere safe."
Castiel put his hand in hers, licking his lips nervously. He wasn't quite used to having to get help.
She gave his hand a light squeeze, before they disappeared out of the room, and landed in the middle of the Roadhouse. Sam and Ruby weren't in a position to be bothered, Ben was at school. It was either Jo or Alec, and Jo was the closest at the moment. "Jo? You around?"
Jo stuck her head out of the back kitchen, frowning slightly at God and Castiel. What were they doing here? "Yeah, I'm here. What's up?"
She grabbed a dishtowel, wiping her hands as she moved behind the bar.
"We have a bit of a situation," she said gently. "Cas was attacked and trapped by the same person who kidnapped Ben, and the man seems to have found some way to bind an angel's powers." She paused, looking back at the angel before nudging him forward. "I was just wondering if you can keep an eye on him until I can track down Michael? Please?" She'd learned that it was better not to give orders to the humans. That didn't always go over so well.
Jo looked at Cas who shifted a little awkwardly on his feet. He looked like a lost puppy. "Yeah, I can."
"Thank you," Castiel said with a small nod.
"Thank you," she repeated with a sigh. "I'm going to see Michael now. Hopefully he'll be able to get here soon." She moved over to Castiel, and leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead, before disappearing from view.
Castiel actually smiled at being kissed by his father. He always liked his father's approval and love.
Jo, on the other hand, was a little confused on what to do with the angel left behind. She ran a hand through her hair. "You want to come help me with dishes?"
He nodded and followed her back into the kitchen.
Adam, as that was his real name, spent time working on stage two. A few days working over his informant had given him the name of the angel that had been Dean's bodyguard during the last few years. With a name, Adam was able to work out a trap specifically for him. This time he wasn't going to be as lucky with the kidnapped being forgetting his name and face. It meant that they would know who he was, and he was ready for that. He knew he would be able to keep himself safe from both God and demon - his having held Ben for a week with a single charm proved that. And he had the weapons to kill an angel if it came to that too.
At least, if he had to kill more than just the one he was aiming for.
The oil was easy to obtain. You'd thing that the people in Jerusalem would guard this stuff better. But no, once Adam had a location, he sent a few of his allies out to retrieve it and bring it back to him. He was getting more and more allies as word spread in certain circles about the human who was hunting Winchesters. And now with the oil circle on the ground, Adam went to a small abandoned farmhouse and leaned against the fireplace. His allies were outside, waiting to apply ward magic to the walls once he had the angel inside. But not before, because he didn't want them to sense a trap.
Carefully he took his necklace charm off and set it on the mantle, then took a few steps away. The charm was strong, but had a very small zone of invisibility.
"Castiel," he said aloud, lighting a white candle and placing it on the mantle as well. "Castiel I was told to pray to you for guidance. I need your help. Please, answer my prayers."
Castiel had agreed to give Sam and Ruby some privacy since they were now newlyweds. It still made him blush to think of why they needed the privacy, but he tried not to think of that. He did small tasks for the Garrison, but these days they mostly left him on his own. On his own, he read a great deal. Books were endlessly fascinating to him and the library would let him read whatever he wished for no charge. He quite liked the library.
He was reading one of his favorite authors, Twain, when he felt something he wasn't entirely familiar with. Someone was praying to him. He blinked, looking around the library as if he expected the person to be right there. He was such an obscure angel no one prayed to him, not since the middle ages at least. No, this was also strange because he knew that tug. A Winchester was praying to him. Now he was really confused. Sam wouldn't pray and neither would Dean. It wasn't Ben or Alec either. He put the book back on the shelf before taking a few steps and vanishing to answer the call.
"Who are you?" he asked immediately when he appeared.
Adam smirked, pleased that his plan had worked so far. "I'm just another lost soul. I've heard you have a habit of collecting them lately."
Castiel tilted his chin up slightly, frowning. "Your name, mortal. Now."
That look made him suspiscious. Something didn't feel right.
"My name's Adam. However, you might have heard of me already. Ben Braeden knows me as Jake."
And with that Adam knocked the candle over, setting the ring of oil on fire and trapping the angel in it. That was also the signal and the ones outside moved quickly, getting the sigils up on the walls so no one could try to interfere.
Castiel took a step back before he stopped himself. He knew what the fire was. He narrowed his eyes at the man. He didn't seem like a demon, but perhaps he had miscalculated. "What do you want?"
"From you? Nothing. Well, except a little bit of confirmation. I'm after much bigger game. Ben was just a piece of the puzzle I was trying to figure out, and you're going to help me see if my next piece is worth the sacrifice."
There was a fire going in the fireplace, and a metal rod was sticking out of it. Adam left it alone, knowing that it was still going to need time heat up properly.
"Now, if my sources are correct, you're wearing a vessel, right? Not just projecting the image of one."
He licked his lips, eying the poker with some concern. "Why do you think I will answer?"
"Well, if you're in a vessel, you're going to find what I do to you is going to hurt just a bit. And if not, well... then you're not worth my time and I'll just have to take care of you and find another target." Adam looked at Castiel with serious eyes. "And to answer your next question - no, you won't be the first angel I have killed, and I don't plan on you being the last either."
He walked back over to the mantle and put on his necklace. Castiel would feel Adam completely disappear off the radar again, and he tucked it carefully under both shirts he was wearing. "So, what is it going to be... Cas? Pain, or death?"
There was nothing Castiel could do, he realized. He had walked right into a trap. There wasn't much room for him in the circle of flames, but he wasn't completely powerless. He twisted his fingers and pulled the poker into his hand. The hot iron burned, but he could heal that easily once he was out of this.
"I choose neither."
Adam just laughed and pulled out a silver weapon from a sheathe on his hip. It was a bright silver blade that he had fitted with a leather grip. A grip that then held a twisted leather and metal tie to a bracer around his wrist. "I'm sorry, that wasn't an option I gave."
An angel's sword. Castiel let the poker fall from his hand. There was nothing he could do, he realized, swallowing back fear. Not only was he trapped, but he had walked right into his death.
Raising his chin he regarded Adam with a blank, stoic expression. "Whatever you want from me, I won't give you. You'll have to kill me."
And when the human tried, Castiel would leave his vessel, burn the man to ash and choose death by the fire instead. Whoever this man was, he was a threat and had to be stopped.
Adam chuckled as he knelt down to grab the poker that the angel had so carelessly dropped. "You don't have to give me anything. Just standing there is all I need." Weidling both weapons, Adam took a moment to figure out his plan, and then he struck.
The thing that made Adam dangerous was that he was no longer fully human. He hadn't been since he was five. But he was too intelligent to turn into a mindless creature, and that gave him a very distinct advantage. He ran around the other side of the circle faster than any human could and lashed out with the sword. He aimed to strike, but in a way to get the angel to move instead right into the poker that would burn through his pant leg and straight onto his thigh.
The change would be almost instantaneous. Castiel would lose all his angelic powers and be cut off from heaven, trapped in his vessel because he wouldn't be able to project himself out. It was a lock, and the lock was surrounded by a symbol that would protect anyone from trying to heal the skin instead of finding the key to unlocking it. A key only he and a few others knew about. And the metal of the rod was the same metal that had been used to forge the colt once upon a time, and was known for keeping it's magic in place.
Adam quickly stepped back and watched a moment, wanting to see what the depowered angel would do. "How's that feel?"
He did, for a second, attempt escape. His Grace, his True Form flared in his eyes and then the mark was made and everything got locked down. Even pushing against it with all his might, there was nothing he could do. He was trapped. Honestly, he was terrified but he didn't let the human see. This was not a time to show weakness, even as it spread through his body. He stood straighter, adopting the arrogant attitude many of his brothers had when they dealt with humans.
"You can't win," he said calmly, "I still have my faith. Something no mark, no monster can take from me."
"I don't care about your faith, Castiel. Keep it. You're probably gonna need it now more than ever." Adam smirked. It had worked. It had really worked. He gripped the poker tighter as he put the angel sword back in it's sheathe. He knew running out of the place was suicide. Angels would lock into this place the moment that poker hit the angel's skin. But Adam already had his escape route.
This farmhouse he choose for a specific purpose - sewer access. Whoever lived here had done taxidermy or something, and had a drain set up in the back room to drip whatever down directly into the sewer pipe below. He would be long gone before Castiel was even able to get out the front door.
Adam started for the door to that room, then stopped and looked back at Cas. "Think you can get out of that ring, or should I send for the fire department?" The smirk was evil, and resembled one that Sam had worn back in his army general days.
He would stand for eternity before accepting help from this human. "I'd run quickly if I were you. You may be hidden, but your... friends aren't. I wouldn't put much trust in their loyalty to you."
"I don't trust them at all. They are, after all, demons." Adam laughed and went for his escape route, and was gone. Wearing the pendant meant no angel or demon could track him, and he moved faster than any human could see.
Castiel looked around the ring of fire in which he was trapped. There was no way out of this, but Adam had been wrong to not care about his faith. The wards and sigils might kept his brothers out, but they couldn't keep him in anymore. He carefully got to his knees and bowed his head.
"Father, I am in need. I have been trapped and my brothers cannot get to me. Please, send someone to find me. In Your name, I pray. Amen."
She had known something was wrong the minute the seal was branded into Castiel's skin. She couldn't reach him as easily as She normally could. The direct connection was weakened, and that wasn't a pleasant feeling. And when the prayer came, She responded in an instant, appearing in the middle of the warehouse where Her angel was being held and looking around for what was happening. When She saw the ring holding Castiel in place, and there was a brief blow of wind as the flames were blown out.
"What happened here?"
"Thank you, Father." Castiel got to his feet, though he kept his eyes downcast. "I was led into a trap. Someone prayed to me and it felt like they were a Winchester. When I went to investigate he trapped me. His name is Adam. I am not sure what his purpose is, but he is a danger."
She moved closer to him, one hand resting on his shoulder as the other brushing against his face, a gesture that was distinctly maternal, but that was how she was feeling at the moment. "Are you alright?"
"He has trapped my powers," he admitted, his voice shaking slightly with fear. "I am cut off."
She frowned. "How? Show me."
"He had a poker, he burned this into my thigh." Castiel held his leg out and gestured to the burn that had gone through his pants and into the flesh of his leg. "When it was burned into my vessel's skin, I became trapped."
She reached forward, looking at the skin before sighing slightly, and nodding. "So it seems. You said his name was Adam?"
He nodded. "Adam. Ben knows him as Jake."
"Adam. No last name, though?" There were many Adams, but as knowledgeable as she was, she needed a couple more specifics.
He shook his head. "Perhaps Ben will know how to find him."
She nodded. "Perhaps. She moved towards him and extended a hand. "I'll take you somewhere safe."
Castiel put his hand in hers, licking his lips nervously. He wasn't quite used to having to get help.
She gave his hand a light squeeze, before they disappeared out of the room, and landed in the middle of the Roadhouse. Sam and Ruby weren't in a position to be bothered, Ben was at school. It was either Jo or Alec, and Jo was the closest at the moment. "Jo? You around?"
Jo stuck her head out of the back kitchen, frowning slightly at God and Castiel. What were they doing here? "Yeah, I'm here. What's up?"
She grabbed a dishtowel, wiping her hands as she moved behind the bar.
"We have a bit of a situation," she said gently. "Cas was attacked and trapped by the same person who kidnapped Ben, and the man seems to have found some way to bind an angel's powers." She paused, looking back at the angel before nudging him forward. "I was just wondering if you can keep an eye on him until I can track down Michael? Please?" She'd learned that it was better not to give orders to the humans. That didn't always go over so well.
Jo looked at Cas who shifted a little awkwardly on his feet. He looked like a lost puppy. "Yeah, I can."
"Thank you," Castiel said with a small nod.
"Thank you," she repeated with a sigh. "I'm going to see Michael now. Hopefully he'll be able to get here soon." She moved over to Castiel, and leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead, before disappearing from view.
Castiel actually smiled at being kissed by his father. He always liked his father's approval and love.
Jo, on the other hand, was a little confused on what to do with the angel left behind. She ran a hand through her hair. "You want to come help me with dishes?"
He nodded and followed her back into the kitchen.