Winchester

CHAPTER NINE

"Put this on your shoulder." Dean tossed a cold pack at Sam who is seated on the couch by me. Sam threw it on the floor and cleared his throat. Dean sat down next to us. Castiel then walks into the room.

"I'm fine," Sam told us.

"The other demon escaped. I bound the one I caught in a devil's trap. I'm gonna interrogate it now." Cas turned to walk away.

"Wait a second. Cas. How about you answer some questions first? Like, where the hell have you been?" I questioned, looking at him with both eyebrows raised. I haven't heard of seen him in awhile and the time he comes back, he barely talks.

"You heard me, didn't you?" Dean asked when no one spoke for a few seconds.

"You prayed to him?" Sam and I asked Dean in sync. Dean didn't look at us.

"Yes, I heard you," Cas said as he walked towards us. "But that's not why I'm here." Cas sat down, and sighed. "I've been hunting demons."

"So this is you. Why?" I asked, leaning forward in the seat.

"I've been searching for the other half of the Demon Tablet," He told us which made my eyes go wide.

"Without us?" Dean asked roughly.

"I've been trying to help, Dean." Cas leaned forward so that he was looking Dean in the eyes. "And in my search, I uncovered that Crowley has sent out demons to find Lucifer's crypts."

"Lucifer had crypts?" I asked and Cas nodded.

"Dozens of them, apparently."

"But why the storage wars? I mean, what the hell are they all looking for?" Sam asked, in confusion. I was also confused, what was so important that they had to go and dig around.

"They're looking for a parchment that would allow them to decipher Crowley's half of the Demon Tablet without a Prophet," Cas explained to us.

"A demonic decoder ring? In Crowley's hands? Awesome," I said sarcastically as Dean nodded in agreement with me.

"The crypts were, uh, lost over time. Only those closest to Lucifer knew their whereabouts,"Cas informed us.

"Then how did Crowley find them?" Sam asked hm.

"His demons have been possessing locals who may have some special knowledge." I tilted my head and sighed.

"That would explain the crazy room at Ann's house," I commented. "But how did they know where to start looking in the first place?" I asked and looked to Dean then to Cas.

"I don't know. I'm hoping the strange-haired demon in the kitchen is more knowledgeable than the others I interrogated." Cas got up from the chair and went into the kitchen through the swinging door.

"Well, he puts the "ass" in "Cass," huh?" I asked as I narrowed my eyes at where Cas was sitting. There was something off about him.

"He's definitely off," Sam commented and I nodded in agreement.

"Off? He hasn't been right since he got back from Purgatory. We still don't know how he got out of there," Dean told the both of us.