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A white hospital ceiling was not the worst sight Dean could have woken up to, but it certainly wasn't the best either. The small movement of his arm reminded Dean of the extent of his injuries, and he took a look at his body as best he could. Bandages plastered his entire body, no doubt covering numerous stitches, and the smell of antiseptic made his nose twitch in discomfort. His phone buzzed impatiently by his bed, and with a bit of fumbling with his numb fingers he was able to answer the text from Sam.

From: Resident Tall Person
Something took Cas. I have a theory that I'm researching. The nurse has my fake number, ask her NICELY to call me when you wake up.
Received 10:38am

Dean scoffed at the emphasis on 'nicely', but the rest of the message hit home, making his blood run cold. Cas was gone. Memories flashed to the forefront of his mind; the three of them were hopelessly outmatched by a nest of rogue vampires and fighting desperately for their lives. Cas was lighting up monsters left right and centre, while Sam and Dean were backed in a corner together when Dean was flung across the parking lot and rocketed through a brick wall.

That was all he could remember, so whatever happened to Cas happened after he blacked out. Dean was shaken out of his thoughts as the nurse stepped through the doors consulting a clipboard. Her grey-streaked hair was tucked up into a bun and the glasses perched elegantly on the end of her nose, which slid off as the nurse looked up in surprise at her patient.

"Mr Novak, you're awake!" the nurse exclaimed, jotting various things into her file. "How are you feeling?"

"Like a brick wall fell on me" he responded, smirking at the internal joke. He watched her fiddle around with the intravenous tap when he caught her name. "Ms Steyn" the nurse turned and snorted at his wide-eyes puppy dog look. "Is my brother out there?"

She nodded, and fixed him with a worried look. "Are you sure you're up to visitors?"

Dean assured her and after a final check-up, the nurse left to find Sam.

***

Sam tucked the notebook away and slid the heavy book back onto the shelf, nodding with certainty. He smiled briefly at the librarian and walked out into the cool summer's air, walking down the familiar street in Lawrence, Kansas. The public library was only a half hour's walk from the hospital, and Sam took the chance to grab a coffee that was far superior to the shitty instant stuff the hospital provided. Dean still hadn't responded, and Nurse Steyn hadn't called.

He waited in the uncomfortable plastic chairs going over his notes when Nurse Steyn approached him with a wide smile. "He's just awaken. He's asking for you." Sam sighed in relief and followed Nurse Steyn to the ward and grinned at his older brother.

"How are you doing Dean-o?" he asked, taking a seat while Nurse Steyn check his vitals one last time.

"Pretty well considering you reversed into him Mr Novak" Steyn injected, shaking her head and laughing. "I'll leave you two alone. Press the green button if you need non-urgent help, red for emergencies"

The nurse left and their faces fell instantly. "What happened to Cas" Dean instantly objected, struggling up into a sitting position and repositioned the bandage around his wrist. Sam shuffled in the tiny chair and sighed.

"After you got thrown and didn't get back up, Cas tried to get to you but we were swamped. I don't know how, but we got rid of them and I was looking at Cas when he cried out. I got hit in the back of the head with a steel pipe and collapsed" he lightly touched an evidently sore spot just behind his left ear, and turned to show Dean a large deep purple bruise. "I was falling unconscious when I saw the same person who hit me fighting Cas. They were moving too fast for Cas to get a proper grip on him to gank him, and somehow Cas got injured and was taken away."

"Cas got nabbed?" Dean cried incredulously. "How the hell?"

"I believe it was a Djinn, and a stupidly powerful one at that. I mean, being to overpower a Sephrim takes enormous skill. And get this" Sam continued, pulling out his notebook "there have been 8 disappearances over the last 2 months, all from around the same area. I checked it out and boom; abandoned chocolate factory in ruins. The carpark where we fought the vamps backs on to it. In fact, the wall that fell on you separated the building from the carpark"

Dean nodded along with the information and gestured to the notepad "So what, it just grabbed Cas?"

"Well now here's the weird part; Djinn's are usually in a pack, but this one seems to be solo. And it also seemed to have a type; pubescent boys."

Dean fixed him with an odd look. "Pubescent boys."

"Yeah" Sam nodded energetically. "Cas is totally not his type. So why nab him?"

"My guess is that when I got kapuchied into the wall, we disturbed the Djinn. It sensed that there was an Angel in the midst and I'm sure that Angel blood is quite rare stuff for the monster." There was a moment of silence then Dean shot him a determined glare. "Then what the hell are we going here? We gotta go get him before the bastard drains Cas!"

"Woah Dean" Sam pushed his brother down by the shoulders and held him firmly against the bed. "You're not going anywhere. I've got it all sorted out"

Dean still struggled under Sam's vice like grip. "What the hell do you mean you have it sorted? You're not going in there alone"

"Dean" Sam deadpanned "Dean for Christ's sake, I'm not going in there at all."

"Then –"

"I got my hands on some African Dream Root and I have a beer bottle that Cas drank out of." Dean stopped struggling and stared at him. Sam shrugged and continued. "I'm going to go back to the motel and dream walk into Cas's hallucination. Try and get him out. And before you complain" he put his hands up to stop Dean's words "Garth is currently proofing the motel to the max. He'll wait while I'm in there." Dean's words died on his lips and he glared at Sam mutely.

"Alright. But just get Cas out of there." He finished and Sam nodded. He rose and left the room, smiling at the nurse and quickly strode to the motel.

"Garth? Garth it's me" Sam called before opening the door. Traps and sigil from any and every religion covered the walls and floors in tape and there was salt everywhere. Garth was seated at the table, going over the list that Sam had provided and was checking off all the symbols. "Nice job man" Sam grinned and Garth smiled lopsidedly in the way that only Garth did.

"Thanks. How did Deanie-boy take the news?" Garth slung back another half-pint of apple juice – no drinking on the job – and went back to the list.

"As expected" Sam shrugged out of his jacket and took out the little packet of the root, passing it over to Garth.
While Garth prepared the beverage, Sam doubled checked every trap, every sigil, and every salt line to make sure nothing could get to him. It wasn't that he didn't trust Garth, it's just.... Well you get the idea.

"Ready to go Sammy" Garth called and brought the bitter smelling concoction to Sam's bedside table. "Alright the saliva is mixed in, but just incase" Garth handed over a small tear of pale dotted with brown ink, "Cas bled on this the other day. Just if the saliva doesn't work" he grinned goofily and took his seat at the table, shotgun in his lap.
"Cheers" Sam grimaced and downed the condition in one foul go, settling back on the mattress and waited for the effects to take over.

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