Here is another continuation of the Katabasis verse! This one a multi-chapter one. Again, you don't *have* to have read the previous ones to understand this, but you might want to for context. There will be illusions to events in the previous stories.

Hope you all enjoy! And I'm happy to see all the excitement you guys have for the continuation of this verse ^_^

Caged

A Supernatural Fanfic

Chapter One

Castiel glided over the trees, glancing down at the birds and other creatures running through the woods, and enjoying the smell of hot pine needles in the sun on this warm summer day. Ever since he had learned he could fly with his wings in their corporeal state, he had taken to going on flights as much as he could, whenever he got the chance. Of course, he had to be careful to do it in places where people wouldn't see him, but Bobby's property was already sort of out in the middle of nowhere, and it didn't take long for him to reach the woods where there was only a rare chance of anyone catching sight of him. Out here there were just the creatures of the forest.

He flew upward again, surprising a falcon who made a sound of warning, but Castiel reached out to it with his grace, letting it know he meant no harm. It eyed him for a moment before it dived after some rodent in the forest. Castiel flapped his wings a couple more times and caught a thermal, gliding idly around on it for a while, before he realized it was probably time to head back to Bobby's.

Once the scrap yard came into sight, Castiel swooped in low and landed in the front yard, just as the door to the house opened and Dean came out.

"Hey, I was hoping you'd be back soon," he said. "We got a case. Strange deaths a few towns over. Sheriff Mills called us, said it sounded like our kind of thing."

Castiel suppressed a sigh as he tucked his wings behind him and dematerialized them back to the ethereal plane. It's not that he regretted getting into hunting full-time, it's just that sometimes he would like more time to relax between cases. Unlike Dean, he could sit around with nothing but books and flying trips to keep him occupied. But lives needed to be saved, and fallen angel or not, Castiel would always consider himself a guardian of humanity.

"I'll pack my things," he said, making his way inside.

"Don't forget the Fed threads," Dean called. "We leave in fifteen."

Soon, the three of them were piled into the Impala, driving south as Sam looked over the information they had been given on the case.

"I guess another sheriff Jody knows reached out to her on this one," Sam said. "On the surface, it looks like a string of serial murders, but once you start digging it's weirder."

"Like how?" Dean asked.

"Well, for one all the vics were in locked rooms or houses. The investigators couldn't find any way the killer could have gotten in. No open windows, no damaged locks, or anything. On both cases, they had to break their way into the houses." He flipped a page and grunted. "So, get this. The only thing CSI found around any possible openings was trace evidence of sulfur."

"So, demons," Castiel said wryly.

"Seems like," Sam replied. "So far, I can't find any evidence that the vics made demon deals or anything. They seemed like just normal people. Low risk victims for demons or serial killers."

"Then it must be something else," Dean said. "Despite the fact that demons are bastards, they don't just kill people."

"Especially since Crowley's taken over Hell," Castiel said grimly. "He'd think that was 'bad business'."

Just the thought of the new King of Hell made Castiel's stomach churn. He tried to put the past behind him, but despite the penance he had more than paid in Hell, he didn't think he would ever truly forgive himself for joining Crowley to stop Raphael. If for nothing else than for the grief he had caused his friends. He was extremely glad they had put that behind them.

"Well, whatever this is, another body dropped this morning, so there's no indication it's going to stop any time soon," Dean said. "If Crowley can't keep a leash on his goons, then he's gonna have bigger problems than running Hell."

Once they got into town they booked a motel room, changed into their FBI clothes and went to the site of the most recent murder.

The police and CSI were still there when they pulled up, as well as a few gawkers from the neighborhood. Dean parked the Impala down the street and they got out, showing their badges to one of the officers who let them over the tape.

They went inside and went over to the man who looked like he was in charge.

Dean flashed his badge. "Agent Johnson; these are my partners, you the lead on this case?"

The man nodded, holding out his hand for them to shake. "Yeah. Detective Ferris. Was wondering when you would show up."

"Well, three murders with the same MO in as many weeks caught our interest," Sam said. "What's the time of death on this one?"

"Best we can tell, sometime in the early hours of the morning," the detective said, leading them into the other room where the body was.

Castiel instantly smelled the sulfur, and he winced at the blood that covered the room. He crossed over to the body that was lying at the foot of the bed, covered by a tarp, and carefully lifted the sheet to look at the woman.

She was in her mid thirties, blond, had probably been pretty, but now her features were all but destroyed. She had been tortured mercilessly. He thought there was something else about her too, but there was so much blood, it was hard to detect anything else like he normally would have been able to. So many cuts and stab wounds…

Castiel swiftly tucked the sheet back over her, closing his eyes as flashes of his own torments in Hell came to him. He stood up swiftly, and saw Sam cast a concerned look at him, but he shook his head.

"So, she was tortured to death, and no one heard anything?" Dean asked skeptically. "This place isn't exactly in the middle of nowhere."

The detective shrugged. "I'm as baffled as you. I guess the killer muffled her pretty good. We still don't know how this guy is getting in."

"We saw in the report that you found sulfur at the last two scenes," Sam said. "Did you find it here too?"

The detective ran a hand though his hair. "Yeah. Some on that windowsill over there. CSI is taking a sample back to the lab, but so far we haven't been able to figure out what its significance is. It doesn't factor into the torture, as none of the victims had any on them. Best guess we have is maybe this guy is a chemist? Who else would have sulfur on them? If it's a signature, it's a strange one."

Sam and Dean shared a look and then excused themselves from the detective.

"Well?" Dean asked.

"It's definitely a demon," Castiel replied. "But I have no idea why a demon would want to torture someone like this for no reason. And you're right, this isn't a deal come due, as she was not killed by a hellhound."

"We need to look into the victimology more," Sam said. "See if there's any connection between these people that we missed.

"Okay," Dean said and reached into his pocket for the car keys. "I'll stay here, see if there's anything we missed on the scene, you and Cas head to the morgue to check out the other bodies."

Sam nodded, taking the keys, and Castiel followed him outside to the car. They drove to the morgue and were shown in by the coroner when they showed their badges.

"Well, these are the bodies from the last two murders, gentlemen," the man said, pulling out the proper trays with the cadavers on them. I'll go grab the full autopsy reports for you."

"Thanks," Sam said, and he and Castiel turned to inspect the bodies. These two, a man and another woman, had also been tortured mercilessly. The man even had one eye missing. Castiel shook his head.

"This torture, it's…methodical," he said, looking at the cuts working their way up and down the two victim's bodies. "I think this was more about information than simply torment."

"But what we need to figure out is what sort of information a demon would be trying to get out of these people," Sam said, a furrow forming between his brows.

Castiel leaned closer to the nearest body and inhaled slightly. There was no hint of sulfur, but…he frowned, and touched the victim's forehead, reaching out with his grace to feel out the molecular structure of the body. Realization struck him, and he swiftly turned to the other body to do the same thing.

"Cas?" Sam asked. "You find something?"

"Well, I did find a connection between the victims," he said grimly. "They were all possessed by demons previously." That was what he had been trying to detect from the woman at the crime scene, but with his powers so low, he hadn't been able to do so past all the blood and the sulfuric reek at the scene.

Sam's eyebrows shot up. "Wait…you can tell?"

Castiel nodded. "Yes, it's harder after the soul has left a body, but demonic possession leaves a mark. The possession wasn't recent, but all of these people were possessed at one point."

"Huh," Sam said, shaking his head. "That just makes this even weirder. Why would demons go after old meat suits?"

Castiel glanced down at the corpses again. "Perhaps they saw something when they were possessed that the demons need to know."

"Well, whatever it is, we need to find out fast, before they go after more people," Sam said, and Castiel agreed fully.

They picked up the autopsy files from the coroner and Sam called Dean to tell him they were done at the morgue.

They met Dean at a diner in town and had lunch while they discussed what they had found.

"So all the vics were demon puppets," Dean said as he took a bite of his hamburger. "Why the hell would demons be after old meatsuits?"

"That's what we need to figure out," Castiel said, picking at his bowl of chili. He wasn't very hungry considering everything that had happened. "It possible they saw something when they were possessed. Maybe something they weren't supposed to."

"Yeah, but if the possessions weren't recent, then why now?" Sam asked. "And if it was just that they saw something they shouldn't have, the demons would probably just kill them, not go through the trouble of torturing them to death."

"He's right, whoever killed these people was after information," Castiel said.

"Well, there were no other clues at the crime scene," Dean said. "I think we need to start looking for demonic signs here, see where they're coming from. They probably have a base of operations somewhere close by."

"Do the police have any suspects so far?" Sam asked.

"Not so much as a security camera photo," Dean shook his head. "No one's got anything useful on this case and we have no idea who will be hit next."

"Unless Cas has some way to figure out who else in this town has been possessed as some point," Sam said, turning to the angel.

But Castiel shook his head regretfully. "No, I'm afraid that unless I crossed paths with the person I wouldn't be able to tell."

"Well, let us know if you see anyone," Dean said. "In the meantime, Sam, you check into local weird and see if demonic signs culminate anywhere in particular."

They finished their lunch and then Sam went to a coffee shop with his laptop to use the internet while Dean and Castiel visited the first two crime scenes to see if there were any other clues hiding.

But even after talking to the neighbors they didn't have any more leads. No one seemed to have seen or heard anything useful.

By the time they finished, the sun was setting and they decided to reconvene for the night and rethink their case.

"I don't know," Dean said, loosening his tie and tossing it and his suit jacket onto his bed. "Maybe we should just try summoning a demon and grilling him for info."

"There must be something else we're missing," Sam said, still on his laptop. "I mean, there are some demonic signs in the vicinity, but nothing that shows where they might be hiding out. And with demons torturing people here, then that's probably enough to show signs anyway."

"Well, whatever it is, we're not getting anything else tonight," Dean said, heading toward the bathroom. "I'm taking a shower, then we can go grab something for dinner."

He disappeared into the small room and the shower turned on. Castiel sighed, glancing out the window from where he was sitting on one of the beds. His wings itched to be out of the ethereal plane, and he really wanted nothing more than to go for a flight right now, but knew there was no way he could chance it in the populated environment. However, he was still feeling restless without anything to do to help with the case at the moment.

"Should I go pick up something to eat? Pizza maybe?" he asked Sam, having seen a pizza place down the street when they drove in.

"Yeah, that would be great, Cas," Sam said, glancing up from his computer for a moment.

Castiel grabbed his coat and left the motel room, making his way down the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets.

He mused on the case, wondering if this might have something to do with Crowley. Perhaps the demon was planning something or was trying to find out some information he thought important. Either way, Castiel couldn't shake the feeling that this was bigger than they thought and that they were definitely missing something.

He got to the pizza place and reached for the door handle, only to have the door open and nearly hit him.

"Oh my, I'm sorry," the woman apologized, as she exited the store with several pizzas in thermal cases stacked in her arms.

"Oh, no, you're fine," Castiel assured her, and held the door open so she could exit. He was about to slide inside, when he caught a certain sense from the woman. The door slid from his hand as he turned to watch her hurrying to her car with one of the pizza place signs on the roof of it, wondering if he had been wrong.

But, no, as he reached out with his grace he saw he had been right. This woman's soul bore the mark of possession.

Before he could think of propriety, he hurried after her toward the parking lot where she had finished loading her pizzas and was getting into her car. "Um, ma'am…"

But her car door closed and she was already driving off. Castiel stopped, memorizing the license plate so maybe Sam could look it up.

But then he noticed a car parked on the other side of the street pull out after the woman's car and follow her. Castiel's breath caught in his throat as he saw the driver through the window and recognized his demonic signature.

He hurried down the street after them, knowing he couldn't lose them as he pulled his phone from his pocket, swiftly dialing Sam.

"Cas?" Sam's voice came. "You get the pizza already?"

"Sam, I found the demon and his next victim," Cas said urgently, cringing under his breath as the cars began to outpace him. He hurried behind the building.

"What?" Sam's voice became urgent. "Cas, where are you?"

"Several blocks from the motel but they're on the move. I'm going to follow them, and I'll tell you the address once I have it." He told Sam the woman's license plate just in case he couldn't find her.

"Okay, fine, but, Cas, just don't go in alone, okay?" Sam said. "Dean and I are right behind you."

"Of course, I'll talk later," Castiel said and ended the call. He swiftly glanced around to make sure no people were there and pulled his wings from the ethereal plane and with a couple flaps and a jump, he was airborne and flying out over the town.

He saw the cars again, and followed them. The woman drove to an apartment building and parked in the parking garage. Castiel landed on the top of the garage and swiftly ran down the stairs to the level the woman had parked on. He saw her exit the car with her pizzas and then saw the demon get out of his car and follow her swiftly.

"Stop!" Castiel cried, breaking into a run, reaching for his angel blade.

The demon turned and grinned when he saw him, but swiftly turned and attacked the woman, hitting her over the back of the head before she could get to the elevator.

She went down with a shout, pizza boxes scattering over the ground.

Castiel caught up to the demon then, and tackled him to the ground. The demon growled and kicked him away, but Castiel pulled his blade out, falling into a fighting crouch, standing between the demon and the fallen woman.

"Leave her alone," he growled.

"Or what?" the demon sneered. "What are you gonna do, angel? You're not at full power, even I can see that." He grinned then. "I bet Crowley would be happy to see you though."

He lunged and that turned out to be his mistake. Castiel dodged a punch and came up under the demon's defenses, stabbing him through the chest. The demon died with a shout, sparking out before he collapsed on the ground.

Castiel swiftly knelt beside the woman who was already groaning.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

"Yes, what…what happened?" she asked, looking confused and then her eyes widened as she saw the dead demon. "Oh god!"

"It's okay," Castiel tried to assure her. "Listen, he's not the only one, there will be more after you. Is there somewhere you can go where you'll be safe?"

She still looked dazed, but then she pointed behind Castiel. "Um, who are they?"

Castiel turned to see more demons running around the corner, snarling when they spotted him."

"Go. Go!" Castiel told the woman, hauling her to her feet and pushing her toward the stairs. "Just find somewhere safe and pour salt in front of all the doors and windows."

"What?" she cried.

"Trust me!" Castiel shouted, readying his blade. His phone was ringing, and he answered it as he waited for the demons.

"Cas," Dean's voice came. "Where the hell are you?"

"Apartment building on 6th Street," Castiel told him. "There are demons here and maybe more on the way."

"Cas, just get out of there!" Dean demanded. "We'll be there soon!"

Castiel looked between the phone and the demons and made his choice. His wings shimmered into existence to shouts from the demons and he ran over to the side of the garage, ready to jump out.

"Get him! It's Castiel!" one of the demons shouted and Castiel was just wondering whether his wings would be able to clear the space provided when someone slammed into him from behind and he went down hard on the concrete.

He rolled, coming up with his blade ready, striking out at the demon with his wings. The demon went flying, but three more came at him. Castiel struck out with his blade, slashing one across the face, and stabbing another in the gut, but the rest of the demons bore down on him, and more were coming.

He suddenly felt something heavy and cold circle around his chest, and then before he could fight away from it, it tightened around his wings, which he had tucked tight to his body to avoid the demon's touch. He struggled, seeing it was chain that had sigils on it. Frantically, he tried to pull his wings back to the ethereal plane to give himself some room to move, but he found himself unable to do so.

That was when panic settled in. He had lost his blade at some point and all he felt were demons' hands on him, holding him down, hands clutching his wings, and pulling the chains tight around his upper body and his legs until he could only squirm.

He thrashed, shouting at the demons, but all it did was make them laugh at him. One of them picked up his blade and she crouched down beside him, running the point of it mockingly down his cheek.

"Oh, Crowley is going to be so happy to see you," she chuckled, standing up and kicking Castiel in the ribs.

"Yeah, he's been looking for his old business partner," another demon added, grinning.

"And what a rare thing to see an angel with all his feathers, just…ripe for the plucking." The female demon added suggestively, bending over again to run her fingers none-too-gently through Castiel's feathers.

"Stop," he growled, flinching away.

The demons only laughed, until one of them stepped forward.

"Now now, Carla, his majesty might get upset if we rough him up too much, deprive him of the fun. But I'm sure he'll let all of us have a turn after he's done with him."

The female demon pouted, but stepped back as the other demon, probably the leader, took Castiel's angel blade from her and crouched in front of him.

"Now, it's time for you to say hi to your old business partner."

Castiel made one last attempt to struggle free but it was no use. The demons held him tight as they made their escape, hauling him into the void.