In the Light of the Moon

Part 6

The boys took turns talking through the case with you, giving you the run-down of what had been happening in Fall River, Massachusetts.
There were missing reports higher than any other city around. Charlie had brought up the fact that there could just be some wacko running about stealing people and Dean was quick to point out that the theory would be almost worse than the idea of monster attacks being behind this. You listened as everyone brought up ideas, trying to think through the monsters you had seen and heard of. Before your mind registered what you were thinking, the words threw themselves out of your mouth to collide with another's.
Charlie's.

"What about a Djinn?" You both piped up simultaneously, which earned looks from both brothers and Cas. "It could be one, couldn't it? The ones that were spotted not long before the abduction were heading into isolated areas near the edge of town. I bet there's a rundown, abandoned factory or warehouse or something there that the Djinn could be residing in."

So you, Sam and Charlie opened up your laptops and began to search the web for such things and after a couple of minutes searching, you found exactly what you were looking for... Only.. A lot more of what you were looking for. All the victims had been claimed to be seen in different parts of the city, but all moving towards desolated areas, so this didn't help put an exact pin-point on where to look, which would not help this case in the slightest. Fall River is known for their 19th century textile mills. There once were 120 textile mills in the city and the number had not decreased by much.
Now, 65 textile mills still remain in the city. Great monuments of what the city used to be. Lots of tourism (not guided, of course) and lots of break-ins, since all 65 mills are abandoned.

"Dammit! It could be any of these!" Dean exclaimed.

"Dude, it could be all of these..." Sam thew his arms into the air and set them down to rub his face. "Any or maybe even all of these mills could be hiding Djinn..."

"But what can we do, then? There aren't enough of us to go and raid every single one of those mills and have those all over in a month, let alone one night. We'd lose all the victims and even more would be taken and we'd lose those, too!" Your mind began to work itself into overdrive, concocting all the horrible thoughts up, all those people being snatched from their lives and dumped into another, fake life until they were entirely devoid of any kind of emotion, thought or breath. They would never know anything real for the last withering moments of their existence.
You shuddered at the thought as you became angry with yourself. If you were still an angel, you could have this over within a few hours.
Even with Cas as an angel, he wasn't at full power to be able to pull off such a task. There was no hope. There was absolutely nothing you could do, but save as many as possible. Even though you knew that wouldn't even be close to being enough.

"That leaves two things for us to do, then..." Dean's voice broke through your thoughts and suddenly, all eyes were on him. "We hope and pray that there aren't that many Djinn there, we go to Massachusetts and question some people. Try and get a more precise location as to where the victims would have last been before disappearing. Sound good?" He asked.

"Well, we have no other ideas, so it's the best shot we have." Sam responded as he looked around at all of you, silently checking if any of you did have ideas of your own that could be useful. None did.

"So, it's decided. When do we leave?" Castiel's voice ground through the air.

"Once everyone's packed food for the journey and clothes enough for a few days stay." Dean replied.

Once the talk was over, you went straight to your room and began packing clothes into your little luggage bag.

You were almost finished packing when a knock sounded at your door. It was open, so you simply looked over your shoulder to see Castiel standing there, head cocked a little to the left, asking permission to enter.

"Castiel... Hello." Your timid voice shook as the name left your mouth.

"Hello, Y/N... May I come in?" He also sounded a tad nervous, for reasons unknown. You turned and sat on your bed, after zipping up your bag, nodding to him as you did so and he entered.
"It has been a long time, Y/N. Many of us were worried you were dead..." He averted his eyes as he said this and you thought of how good dying would have been rather than going through everything you went through.
"I know." He looked at you sadly, "I know." You wondered what he could've meant at first, then you realised.

"Right. Angel. Mind-reading. Sorry... It's just... It's been a while.. Apart from-" your throat closed up at the thought of his name. The name he told you to scream out while he laid out his torturous plans on your body and in your mind, threatening to prolong and worsen the pain if you did not do as he said.

"You don't have to say his name. I know who you mean.." Castiel spoke soothingly. "Oh, sister... What you must have gone through. I am truly sorry. We searched and searched, but we could not find you nor he. But I know this is no excuse. We should have tried harder." His head hung low again.

"No, brother. Our numbers are not unlimited and there was a war ensuing at the time. Please do not blame yourself for this. This was not your doing, but his. Do not blame yourself for his wretchedness. For none could see it. I could not even see it... Until it was too late." It was your turn to look to the ground. You didn't want to think about it, but knowing that Castiel didn't look down on you for all that had happened helped a little. He called you 'sister'. You were minus your grace, but he still sees you as his sister. As an angel... You felt your eyes begin to burn and hot tears began to escape their ducts. Castiel said nothing, he knew he didn't have to. Instead, he pulled your head to his shoulder and lay his head atop yours and offered you his hand, which you gratefully took. He just let you sit with him and empty yourself of the pent-up pain and loss, hoping that you may feel found again, wrapped up in the shadow of a brother's wings once again.