The Runt of the Litter

Control Is a Precious Commodity (Part III)

Note: hey babes thanks for reading <3 i'm making good progress on the later parts of the story, so you can keep expecting updates every other day!

Control Is a Precious Commodity (Part III)

Mary is in full hunter mode as she pulls up outside an inn at the edge of Kansas City. She doesn't see the Impala, so she knows the boys haven't made it yet. They'll be here any minute, though, she's sure. She slides out of the car and makes for the door quickly.

When she finds the room she's looking for, she gasps at the sight inside. "Castiel?" she questions, running forward to lean over him. There's blood, thick and wet, coating the angel's shoulder. Her heart is in her throat suddenly. "What happened?"

Castiel is breathing heavily, presumably from blood loss or whatever the angelic equivalent is. But he still dodges her hands when she reaches for the wound.

"I need to check it," she insisted gently.

But he was adamant. "I lost Anna," he informs with a grunt. "She's possessed by a demon."

"She's what?" Mary can't even begin to process this. Their rescue mission is suddenly so much more complicated. It's one thing to extract somebody from a demonic hideout. It's another job altogether to capture a demon alive and without harming their host, then to exorcize that demon, again without hurting the host.

"She's possessed," Cas repeats needlessly. He has his good hand pressed to his bad shoulder, and there's a fine sheen of sweat along his pale forehead. "I followed her trail to a gas station on the outskirts of town. She was waiting for me."

Mary closes her eyes in her worry. But she doesn't have time to react further, because the door swings open behind her, hitting the wall with force. She's on her feet in a moment, but she relaxes when she sees who it is. "Dean," she sighs.

He doesn't even bother to greet her, just surges over toward Cas, already pointing a finger at him. "Where the hell is she?" he demands. He's irate, something Mary doesn't think she's actually seen in him before now.

And Sam, racing in behind him, looks more determined and worried than anything.

"I don't know," Castiel admits in response to Dean's question. "But she's possessed by a demon who plans on delivering her to Lucifer."

Sam goes white as a sheet, and Dean's eyes are wider and angrier than ever. "She's what?!"

Cas swallows, "I'm sorry, Dean. I caught up to her at the edge of the city, but the demon overpowered me. I couldn't exactly use my angel blade."

Dean's fuming, that much is easy to see. But Sam's the one who speaks next. "Are you okay, Cas?" he asks with fatigue drowning his every word.

"I'll be fine."

"What the fuck were you thinking?" Dean snaps.

"I'm sorry, Dean," Cas says, but he's nearly shouting and sounds like he's barely containing his own anger. "But she followed me out of Lebanon and refused to go home when I told her to."

Dean is having none of it. "She's a fucking kid, Cas. Of course she didn't just turn around and go home. That's why you drag her ass back to the bunker or, I don't know, maybe to school where she's supposed to be."

Castiel is quiet, "I thought-"

"No, you didn't," Dean yells over whatever else Cas had to say. "Anna had no clue what she was getting into here. She's got no experience hunting down anybody as powerful as Lucifer. But you? Cas, if you'd been thinking, you would've seen from the get-go that this was a trap. This whole damn thing was too clean. They lured you in, and if you'd had your head on straight, you woulda seen it and you wouldn't have taken our sister out here in the first place."