City of Angels (and Demons)

Chapter Eighteen

Amy, sitting on the couch, watched as Sam and Dean left the room with the two newcomers. She only had an idea of what they could be talking about. And what else would they be talking about? The newcomers were obviously that help Dean had mentioned the day before.

"What the hell's going on?" Ryan asked, looking at Amy. She had only heard bits and pieces from Sam about Ryan being found unconscious with Dark gone. "The last thing I remember is talking to Mark. Last night."

Amy looked at Ryan then toward the other room before looking back. "Who you talked to last night wasn't Mark," she said, bracing herself for their reaction. "It was Darkiplier."

Matt and Ryan both said nothing for what seemed like forever. Amy could tell that the two weren't taking her seriously. She really didn't expect them to. After all, Dark could easily be Mark when he wanted to.

"He's taking this way too far," Matt said, getting to his feet. "I understand getting into character, but he could have hurt Ryan!"

"I'm fine," Ryan said. Something must have happened last night for him to be defending Mark now. "I don't even know if Mark did anything. I could have just blacked out. I was rally tired last night, after apartment hunting."

"Then where's Mark now?"

As the two went back and forth, Amy looked at her phone when she got a text. It was from Mark, but she knew better. Dark was asking her to meet up with him. She hesitated then gave an answer just as Sam and Dean walked back in.

"We gotta go back to the hospital," Dean said then looked at Amy, addressing her specifically. "Do you think he'll come back here?"

Amy thought about the text then shrugged, catching herself before she answered firmly with a no. "As far as he knows, you're still here," she said, ignoring the confused looks on the faces of Matt and Ryan. "In my opinion, I don't think he'll be back."

"What about for you?" Sam asked.

Amy refused to think about what Dark had done to her. "I'll be fine," she said, feeling the opposite after that text. "What's at the hospital?"

"A way to end this."

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Walking into the hospital, Dean immediately sensed that something was wrong. More so when Sam pulled out his phone to let Dean know that Dr. Cook had been found dead in his office.

Dark was cleaning up.

"Dammit," Dean muttered under his breath then turned to Crowley. "Did he know you were coming?" he asked. It was the only thing that could explain why Dark would come here. Crowley knew about Dark's body. They had never mentioned Crowley by name around Dark.

"Hey, you let him loose," Crowley said. "Don't start pinning the blame on me."

"You reveal that Dark has a body and he just coincidentally comes here?" Sam asked.

"You don't know it's him."

"Cut the crap, Crowley," Dean growled. "You warned him somehow, didn't you?"

"Why is it," Crowley started, looking and sounding more irked with every word spoken. "that when something goes wrong, you automatically assume it's me?!"

"People are dying here, Crowley," Dean said, not caring that his voice was rising. This was a hospital. Hospitals handled dead people all the time. "If all of this is because of you -"

"All right," Crowley hissed. "Keep your bloody voice down. I can't have grieving families suing me over their loved ones death." Dean rolled his eyes. "I let him know I was coming. And not in a I'm-Coming-Get-Out-Of-There kind of way. It was more like...'I've got you now.' "

"Are you saying you've been looking for Dark?" Sam asked. "I thought your hunt was for Lucifer."

"And that hasn't changed," Crowley said. "Dark was a side hobby of mine."

Dean raised his eyebrows, his mind in the gutter. "No wonder he ran when he knew you were on your way," he said.

"Not that kind of hobby," Crowley said, annoyed. "Searching for him. I let him out into the world, after all. He was supposed to do as he was told."

"So we capture a rogue demon," Dean said. "And the first thing you do is gloat about catching him before you even arrive to say it to his face."

"You make it sound -"

"Guys," Sam cut in. "Where's Cas?"

Dean looked around, but there was no sign of the angel. "Dammit," he murmured. "He better not be following a hunch."

Muttering a brief search plan, the three split up to search for Castiel. Crowley went with Dean because Dean wouldn't trust Crowley on his own.