Late Night Hunting

Chapter 6: The King Of Hell

"Who's this? I don't believe I've met him before, since usually you only travel with Moose and your father." The King of Hell said with a snide, smug grin. "Crowley." Dean said through gritted teeth. "But of course! Who else would it be?" He said, smiling widely and snapping his fingers. A glass of Scotch appeared with a tiny pink umbrella sitting against the rim. "Ahh. Can't beat a good Scotch, eh Squirrel?" Crowley chuckled, taking a sip. "Now, why don't you introduce me to your friend here? I'd hate to be rude." he said with a Cheshire grin. Dean muttered under his breath about wishing Crowley's mother were here so he could tell her exactly what he thought of her son, and then said to Cas, "Cas, meet Crowley. King of Hell and full time asshole." he said with a snort. "Hello." Cas said flatly. Crowley frowned in mock disappointment. "We should work on that a tad, don't you think?" Wow, Cas thought, how much of an ego does this guy have? "Here, I'll go," Crowley said.  "Hello. The name's Crowley. What's yours?" Cas sighed internally and said "Hello, sir. I'm Cas." Crowley clapped sarcastically. "Good job, mate. That's much better." Dean grunted and asked tersely "Can you let us go inside now if you don't mind? We're kinda busy and have lives, unlike you." Cas winced and stared at The King of Hell, waiting for his response. Crowley smirked and did a mock bow. "Why, of course! I'm sorry to have kept you waiting! Is this your first-" Just then Crowley's cellphone started ringing. He cursed and looked at the number, then said "Oh bollocks." and disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. Dean grinned at Cas and said "Must've been his mother. Come on, this place has the best French Toast this side of Elkton." Cas followed Dean through the front doors and as he stopped to flirt with the waitress, Cas whispered in his ear "I'll be back. Heading to the bathroom." Dean touched Cas's shoulder to show he'd understood. Cas walked off to find the bathroom. After about 2 minutes, he found it and headed straight in. He locked the door (since it was a one person bathroom) and stood in front of the sink, gripping both sides, his knuckles turning white as he fought the tears of despair and confusion that were threatening to consume him.  Because when he and Dean had run into Crowley earlier, his dark and menacing presence reminded Cas of his dreams about his mysterious daughter, where she could be, and who (or what) she was running from. He was so confused and frustrated, and no one was giving him any answers. He finally couldn't hold it together anymore from all the stress and worry and frustration, and broke down into tears.  He sank to the floor and started to sob with his head between his knees. Soon after, at least in Cas's mind, there was a banging on the door and the sound of Dean yelling "Cas! Are you ok? If this door doesn't open in 10 seconds I'm coming in." There was a short pause, in which Cas managed to gulp air, then the sound of the lock twisting and springing open. Dean burst in and looked around wildly until, seeing Cas's shaking, gasping body on the floor, raced over to him and enveloped him in a hug. It then occurred to Cas that this was the second time that day that Dean had saved him from himself and all his troubles. Cas gasped out a raspy "I'm okay now.." and sat up slowly. "Cas, are you really ok? You can't keep doing this to me, man. Tell me what happened." Cas nodded and told him about the other dream he'd had earlier and why he'd been sobbing on the ground. When he'd finished, Dean sighed and smiled a tired smile. "Cas, I promise we'll find your daughter and I'll explain as best I can as soon as we get to the motel. I'm sorry that this keeps happening to you, and I'll help as much as I can. I won't let anything hurt you anymore." It's funny, Cas thought, how you'll believe anything when you're 16 and on the floor being comforted by your best friend. But he believed Dean anyway and let him help Cas up. They got their food to go and hopped back into the Impala, on their way again. After a few miles, Cas turned it to the radio. One of Dean's favorite songs (even though he won't admit it), "Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi, came on. Cas smiled at Dean and said "Look, it's your favorite song." Dean grinned playfully at him and said "You know me too well." Cas laughed and said "Duh, we're best friends. I know practically everything about you, Dean." At that, the smile dropped off Dean's face. "You don't know everything about me,Cas.  You've barely scratched the surface. I've done things......." He trailed off, staring hard at the road. Cas stared out the window, trying to imagine what Dean could've done. "Maybe I'll tell you sometime," Dean sighed, "But now isn't that time." He glanced at Cas, who's eyelids were beginning to droop, then back to the road. He smiled a bitter smile and said "I trust you Cas. Maybe a little too much. But you shouldn't trust me. You'll end up dying too." He ended in a whisper. Barely hearing Dean, Cas drifted off. No dreams came.