Wayward Hearts Book 3- Summer

Part 6

A young girl stood before Crowley as he sat on his throne, she nervously looked on at Emma, who stood silently at Crowley's side and waited for any order he would give.

"You stand accused of high treason," Crowley announced, "take her away."

The young girl shot a glance at Emma as she was led away, seeming almost grateful that there had been no order to release the Phoenix on her. She jumped slightly as Emma shifted her weight.

Crowley couldn't help but smile to himself as a demon handed him a piece of paper, "What's this then?"

Crowley read the paper out to himself before signing it and handing it back without much care.

Another demon approached the throne and bowed slightly before addressing Crowley, "I have an update on the angel Castiel. His grace seems to be fading. He's losing strength. If one were so inclined, this would be a propitious time for one to eliminate him."

"Castiel...is loosing his grace?" A sudden familiarity flickered in Emma's eyes as she glanced over to Crowley, instinctively she took a step back.

Crowley quickly stood and grabbed her, forcing her to stay put as he whispered in her ear, "Mentem tuam ac voluntatem adsumo."

Emma became rigid again and her eyes narrowed when she looked at Crowley, "As you command."

"There's my good girl. Now back to business," Crowley turned back to his minions, "if 'one' were so inclined?"

"You, sire," the Demon looked at Crowley before lowering his gaze as a show of respect.

Crowley nodded while stealing a glance at his newest soldier, "Follow him, keep me up to date on his decline."

The long silence that followed left many of the demons shifting uncomfortably as they waited for their next order.

"Great One?" A bolder demon finally spoke, "are you alright?"

"I was thinking of better days," Crowley slowly nodded.

"Yes," the demon nodded, "your sabbatical."

"My what?" Crowley raised his eyebrow.

"Uh, we were worried, of course. Your misadventure with the older Winchester was quite the topic of speculation. Uh, if you'll forgive my boldness," the demon suddenly lowered his voice as his nerves got the better of him, "I could now be your wingman."

"Could you now?" Crowley smirked with amusement.

"I, too, love to party," the demon was speaking quickly as he tried to prove his point, "and I do love the ladies. And the classic rock-and-roll. Most importantly, I could debauch by your side without being a personal embarrassment. You'll see what I'm worth!"

Crowley stopped smirking, "Oh, I can see that."

With a quick snap of his fingers, Emma was quick to react to the order as Crowley pointed her towards the demon who had been so bold to think he could ever keep up with the King of Hell. Emma pulled the demon towards her and gently touched his face, his body began to turn to ash as he screamed in agony. Once the screaming stopped, Emma fell back in line at Crowley's side.

"Anyone else care to comment?" Crowley bellowed the challenge, and everyone fell silent and failed to answer.

________________________

"Cas you still coming?" Sam asked through the phone as he glanced back at Damon and Dean.

"Yeah, I'm just a few hours away," Castiel assured him, "is the treatment working?"

"No, not very well. Look, it-it's not like it was with Crowley. Dean is in pain. I mean, he's in bad pain. It's like he's barely holding on. Cas," Sam hesitated for a moment, "I might be killing him."

"It might be," Castiel said in his normal, matter of fact way.

Sam sighed slightly and looked at his brother, "So...what? Should I stop?"

Castiel disagreed, "And do what? He's not possessed. Exorcism is out of the question. The ritual of purified blood is the only treatment I know."

"Cas, did you not hear what I just said? I could be killing my brother!"

"Sam, he's not your brother. At least not now. You have to be prepared for-"

"Killing my brother," Sam said in a final tone.

"I'll be there as soon as I can," Castiel tried to give Sam some sort of hope to hang on to.

Sam hung up the phone and looked at Damon, who was looking down at Dean as if he was deciding what his next move should be.

"Cas is only a few hours away," Sam informed him.

Damon nodded, "I heard."

"Right..." Sam bit the inside of his cheek, uncomfortable with the idea of hosting a vampire.

Sam noticed how still Dean had become and a fresh wave of worry overwhelmed him as he stepped over to him, "Hey! Hey Dean! Come on, come back!"

Dean's head rolled to the side slightly, his voice was barely above a whisper, "No."

Sam got on Dean's level and kneeled down next to his brother, "Come back to me. Hey! Dean you okay?"

"Yeah, if you consider drowning in your own sweat while your blood boils 'okay'," Dean said sarcastically.

Damon crossed his arms, "Anyone who still has that much sass in them is fine."

Dean coughed weakly while Sam stood up, "I can't stop doing this."

"But if you need to trade off, I'm good with taking over," Damon offered.

Sam shot Damon a glare.

"You can stop, you can just stop! There is no point in trying to bring your brother back now," Dean growled at Sam.

"Oh I'll bring him back," Sam crossed his arms.

"And then there is me," Damon interjected, "see, I have no desire to bring him back, because I really don't care. However I need him to get to my Emma. So I don't really give a damn about how much pain you're in, or how close to death you get, all I care about is Emma."

Dean looked between the men with a cocky smirk, "Your uh... guilt-ridden, weight-of-the-world bro has been M.I.A. for quite some time now. But I'm loving the new model, lean, mean, Dean."

"Give me a break," Damon rolled his eyes.

"You notice I tried to get as far away from you as possible? Away from your whining, your complaining. I chose the King of Hell over you!" Dean continued to berate Sam, "Maybe I was just tired of babysitting you. Or always having to yank your lame ass out of the fire since...well, forever. Or maybe, maybe it was the fact that my mother would still be alive if it wasn't for you. That your very existence sucked the life out of my life!"

Sam shook his head, "This isn't my brother talking."

"You never had a brother! Just an excuse for not manning up. But guess what, I quit."

"No. No, you don't. You don't get to quit. We don't get to quit in this family!" Sam stepped back to fill another syringe with purified blood.

Damon stepped forward and grabbed Dean's jacket, forcing his attention, "You don't get to quit until Emma is safe. I saw the look in your eye when you first saw her. Somewhere in there is the Dean that would do anything for her."

"Yeah, well good luck finding him bloodsucker," Dean grinned at the vampire before turning his attention back to Sam as he walked back over, "oh, is this you, manning up?"

"This is me, pulling your lame ass out of the fire," Sam jabbed Dean with the needle and injected the blood into him, a hiss escaped Dean as the blood entered his system, "you're welcome."

Sam walked away and Damon followed, closing the cell door behind him.