Things had been pretty quiet the last few months, Dean guessed that a lot of badies were lying low after the whole 'God walks among us' fiasco. But while other hunters got to enjoy the extended break Dean was held up at Bobby's house making sure his brother didn't scratch his eyeballs out as he slowly re-lived hell all over again. Of course all the witches, vampires and monsters of the world were slowly starting to work their way back into trouble and the brothers couldn't sick back and let people die. They had been going out on a few cases but a lot of the time Sam would start to freak out and he'd have to call Bobby to get him so Dean could finish his job. Eventually Dean started doing most of his hunts solo while Sam researched at Bobby's house. As worried as Dean still was about Sam, he knew that his brother hated being cooped up in Bobby's house for weeks on end. So he risked a trip to the next state over, an easy hunt, a ghost that had put a dozen people in the ER but wasn't strong enough to put anyone in their grave. Sam was still a little twitchy the first day and sometimes he'd just stare at nothing lost in a hallucination but getting back into the hunting routine seem help keep him focused on reality.

The hunt was over in less then three days, that was the easy part, it was on the way home when everything turned south. Usually Dean would just drive through the night while Sam slept but he figured it be best to take it easy for Sam's sake, he even splurged on an actually hotel instead of the usually sketchy places they frequented. Of course as soon as they dropped their bags on the floor Sam was already on his laptop researching their next case. Dean thought that things were finally getting back to normal when the lights started to flicker. Sam looked up from his laptop and Dean quickly checked outside expecting to see a pack of demons or something. Just as he was about to give Sam the all clear Dean was hit with a sudden force that knocked him to the floor, Sam groaned when the same wave forced him against a wall.

"I don't get it." Dean heard the click of heels against the hard floor but couldn't move his head to look at the intruder. "You don't seem all that great." A face popped into his view, a women with black hair kneeled down beside him leaned in and tapped her finger against the hunter's forehead. She made a face of mild disgust and stood up making her way over to Sam, she looked at him long and hard as if studying him. She raised her hand up and tried to stretch her arm up to Sam's height. "You're both pretty scrawny."

Dean struggled against whatever was holding him down trying to open his mouth to yell at the stranger to get away from his brother. He didn't manage to make much more then a loud groan like sound which the women ignored now that her focus was on Sam. "I certainly couldn't imagine loosing my grace for you two."

Angel Dean's mind hissed, his blood beginning to boil at the thought of another one of those messing with the brother's lives. They hadn't seen an angel much less even heard of one being sighted since the gates of purgatory were open. The last one they'd seen had been…but Dean didn't have time to think about that because right now some winged bitch was poking his brother's stomach like he was some god dammed piñata.

"Let me tell you a story." She began snapping her fingers as she moved away from Sam. The pressure that was holding Dean down began to lift, not disappearing completely but enough that he could push him self up to a sitting positing. Sam's arms dropped to his side and his body relaxed but he also couldn't move much more against the angel's power.

"Go to hell." Dean sneered when he finally regained control of his mouth.

"No, you don't get to talk boy." The angel frowned down at him "and it's Rachmiel."

"Didn't Cas kill you?" He growled trying not to flinch when he said his old friend's name.

"That was Rachel, you stupid-" Rachmiel paused, biting her lip in an oddly human gesture. "Speaking of Castiel, he's the reason I'm here. My story! It's a good one, I think you'll like it, great beginning, sappy middle and no end." She pulled a chair up in front of Dean turning it around and sitting on it backwards resting her chin on it. "So my brother gets it in his head that he should single handedly take on the half of heaven that Raphael had brainwashed. Very noble, very stupid."

"Sorry but we've already heard this story." Sam interrupted, his brows furrowing in anger.

"So then these two stupid self-righteous brothers, who incidentally were probably the only reason he even got this idiot idea, basically tell him to screw off…" She trailed off tapping her nails against the wood of the chair. "Did I mention these two hunters are known for bending rules and making deals with demons? But I suppose you know that part. Now we're at the stories climax where the heavenly angel swallows legions of icky nasty monster souls and with no support system falls into a spiraling pit of self destruction. Kills some people, destroys a wickedly large portion of the heavenly host and saves the souls of close to a billion people, not that we talk about the last part much, before finally coming to his senses. He works some magic and pukes the souls back and then these two hunters they…"

She looks at Dean expectantly and he realized that she didn't know what happened after Castiel returned all of the souls to purgatory. "We didn't do anything, he couldn't handle it, he died."

"Is that so? And you just left him there?" She took their silence as a yes.

"Is this some twisted revenge for what you think we did to Cas? Because he sure as hell did a lot to us first." Rachmiel turned to look at Sam finding his words more mildly amusing then accusing.

"My brother died for you, twice. Suffered indescribable pain to raise you both from perdition. Lost his grace, forsake his family, took up arms against his brothers and he did it all for you. In fact I believe he pretty much used those exact words once. But that's only chapter one, I'm not here to kill you, I'm here to tell you a story and I'm not done." She stand up from the chair and kicking it back over to the table. "Heaven is at this point left scrambling to put it's self back together and for a long time doesn't have time to wonder about Castiel, assuming he's dead or human or had maybe even sucked into purgatory. No, heavens much more concerned about reorganizing its ranks and restoring whatever order it has left. Then things start to calm down, a lot of angels are concerned, a lot of angels are angry, so we look for Castiel. But he's not on earth, so we look in hell, then purgatory, then we even check over heaven thinking maybe Father granted him his eternal rest. No dice, in fact as far as we can tell Castiel simply disappeared from all existence."

"Like father like son." Dean sneered. He heard Sam hiss and less then a second later felt a searing pain spread from his stomach straight up to his heart. Rachmiel stood beside him with a sour look on her face enjoying his suffering for a moment before snapping her fingers and letting the pain slowly ease away. "You crazy bitch, what is wrong with you?"

"Then the craziest thing happens." She continued, choosing to ignore the insult. "After months of assuming Castiel was gone forever, I hear him call my name."

"What?" Sam coughed the pain in his stomach still causing his chest to tighten. "Why would he call you?"

"Maybe he didn't." She shrugged. "There are more angels in heaven then stars in the sky. Off the top of my head I can think of at least a hundred angels with names similar to mine. Though I imagine when you're being tortured you have good reason to call upon an angel of mercy."

"Tortured?"

"Hm yes it seems Crowley was less then pleased when Castiel betrayed him."

"So what exactly are we supposed to do about it? I hope you don't expect us to help that. That-" Sam racked his brain trying to think of the right words to use. He felt his heart clench in anger and he had to grip the healing wound on his hand when he heard the imaginary Lucifer began to chuckle at the situation."

"You know Castiel believed that the answer to everything was free will. Well look where that got him. So no, I'm not giving you the option of refusing, consider it more of an order."

"Why the hell would I help you, I'm already dealing with the mess Cas left behind I'm not looking for anymore." Rachmiel leaned down, placed her hands on her knees and looked Dean in the eyes like some sort of battle of will.

"Listen…Dean." She gritted her teeth like it pained her to say his name. "He's hidden from heaven and even the demons don't know where he is. I can't fix what Castiel did to Sam but do you really think that he deserves constant torture for his crimes?" The dark look in Dean's eyes told her that he probably did. "Fine."

Rachmiel reached into Dean's jacket and before he could protest grabbed his knife. She crossed the room over to Sam whose eyes widened in surprise but he couldn't move much against his invisible binds. She raised the knife high above her head and brought it down in one swift motion, the blade ripped through his shirt and left an ugly red stain. Sam barely had time to cry out in pain before the knife cut through his skin again. Dean swore at the angel to back away from his brother but could only helplessly watch as she slashed at him over and over.

'Don't be such a baby." She chastised, grabbed Sam's shirt and ripped it open. Dean could clearly see his wounds that formed a pattern instead of just a slew of random cuts. The angel dragged the knife over her thumb drawing a few drops of blood before she ran the bloody digit against Sam's chest. A faint blue light began to run across the bloody lines sucking the spilt blood back into his body, leaving clean but unhealed wounds behind. "I can't put all the pieces of your soul back together, consider this more like duck tape. You'll still see things at least you'll know it's not real, you'll be able to fight it without becoming a rambling mess. Castiel is somewhere around Chicago, that's as close as I could pinpoint before I lost him, if you find him I'll do this again in a few weeks when the effects start to fade."

Then she was gone and Dean was able to move again s he rushed over to his brother. He gently ran his fingers over Sam's wounds which made the taller man hiss in pain. Parts still glowed with the angel's blood in what looked like very sloppy Enochian carved into Sam's chest.

"So what now? Are we supposed to just show up in Chicago with no leads and find someone even heaven can't find?"

"I don't know Sammy." He helped his brother up and sat him down on the bed. "How do you feel?"

"Well I uh…" His stomach felt kind of tingly but otherwise nothing seemed to have change. He wasn't seeing Lucifer but it was normal for him to disappear every now and then. "I guess we'll have to wait and see."

"Ya well, I'm not doing shit all for any angels till I know they upheld their half."

Castiel woke up alone. Water dripped down from a rusty pipe into a puddle that had grown substantially since the night before. Unfortunately it hadn't spread far enough to clear away the pool of blood that had formed in the corner Castiel fell asleep in. He shifted a bit trying to ease the stiffness of his body but his left arm practically screamed in protest.

"Don't get up on my account." A voice chuckled, light flooded in from the open door and Castiel had to squeeze his eyes shut when he felt a migraine building behind his eyelids. Castiel had been…where ever he was, for a long time, but his captor didn't speak much and had never mentioned his name. All the souls had been returned to purgatory and Castiel vaguely remembered Dean saying his name but then just nothing. He didn't know if he had died or if that's when the demon's attacked but the next time he woke up he was locked in some tiny wine cellar. The demon pulled the cord on the dangling light bulb, Castiel's eyes still burned with the brightness but gathered enough will to stair down the abomination in front of him. "I don't know how you did it, breaking through my seals, but it doesn't really matter because they're not going to find you in time. It's really very disappointing, after all my hard work I have to leave you to bleed out, well enjoy what time you have left. Here," he tossed a black marker at Castiel's feet before heading back out the door. "why don't you write a thank you note for the people that find you're corpse?"