City of Angels (and Demons)

Chapter Nineteen

As soon as Sam, Dean, and the two others were gone, Amy got to her feet and started for the stairs. She stopped only when Ryan called out to her. Wishing to have a way to get them to believe her, she turned back. Ryan walked over to her.

"I don't know what Mark's doing or what he may have gotten himself into," Ryan said. "but when you see him, can you tell him everything's cool between us? I'll talk to Matt."

"I'm not gonna see -"

"C'mon, Amy," Ryan said. "When you looked at your phone, I could tell. Is Mark in trouble with those guys that were here?"

"In a way," Amy said since she still wasn't sure of what Sam and Dean were planning. They could say they were going to save him, but how could she be sure Dark would allow that? "That's why I have to see him."

"Well, be careful."

Amy nodded then headed upstairs to change. She walked into Mark's bedroom and closed the door, refusing to look at the bed. If any memories began to surface, she wouldn't be able to go through with seeing Dark. She found a pair of her jeans, putting on one of Mark's shirts along with it. She slipped shoes on then headed downstairs and out the door.

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Felix was glad to be out of that stupid hospital gown. He had been informed by the nurse a few minutes ago that his release papers were finalized and he was all set to go. He had changed into his normal clothes and called his girlfriend, Marzia, who acted like she hadn't been notified of his plans to stay an extra week. If he had gotten a bump on the head after his decision, why hadn't he informed Marzia?

When he walked out of the bathroom, he saw a guy in a trench coat standing there. He would normally find that weird, but the last two days had been progressively weirder by the moment.

"Don't tell me," Felix said when the guy turned toward him. "We met earlier this week and now we're best friends. I go hit on the head and forgot. It's another version of 'What happened last night?' "

"We've never met," the guy said in a deep voice that sounded unnatural. "But we have spoken, though you weren't yourself at the time. My name is Castiel."

Something about that name registered in Felix's mind, but he didn't know why. "I don't understand," he said.

"You don't need to," Castiel said. He stepped forward, touching his fingers to Felix's forehead.

Then everything went black.

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During the search for Cas, Sam passed by Dr. Bates' office. Glancing around once, he stepped inside. Dean would probably fuss about Sam not helping with the search, but there was still unanswered questions. Questions that could only be answered by Bates. And since Bates was dead, Sam had to rely on her computer. And what she had filmed about Darkiplier.

Sam sat down at the desk, booting up the computer. Thankfully, it wasn't locked with a password. He could have gotten in, but this way saved some time. And they didn't have all the time in the world right now.

He opened one of the files on the computer, seeing that Bates had been in contact with Dark for the last six months, all leading up to Mark's accident nearly two weeks ago. Not by email, but she had kept notes. Bates didn't meet Dark in person until a week before Mark's accident. Bates had included an audio and video file from what Sam could guess was a secret camera.

Sam didn't have time to watch it now, but he sent it to his own email, along with other Darkiplier files she had accumulated. The most recent was sent directly from her camera and dated a day before the video he and Dean had watched a snippet of. It was a video of Bates with Dark's empty body, confirming what Crowley had mentioned about Dark housing his body in the hospital. Sam had to look away from the video when Bates started having sex with the body. He couldn't imagine how Clyde had felt, being in the same room, but maybe Clyde had already been dead at that point.

Making sure everything was sent to his email, Sam erased anything to do with Dark then shut off the computer. As he was leaving, he got a text from Dean:

"Found Cas."

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Amy pulled out her phone to check the address once more then put the car in park and got out. She was a few miles outside of L.A. in front of what appeared to be an abandoned gas station. She glanced around once more then started toward the door.

As she walked through the door, a heavy feeling came over her and she was no longer in that gas station. There was darkness for as far as she could see. She looked behind her, but the door she had come through was now gone. She fought back her rise of fear. She refused to show any weakness in front of Dark.

Dean had managed to reach Mark, lost deep inside Dark somewhere. Maybe she could do the same.

"I'm here," Amy called, shouting into the darkness. "What do you want?" She turned and saw Dark, where nothing had been a moment ago. "You got what you want."

"And just as easily as I expected to," Dark said, a slight smirk on his face. "But you know as well as I do that I'm not quite done yet."

"If you're expecting me -"

"I acted unfairly toward you and what I did was wrong," Dark said, surprising Amy, but she knew better than to be pulled in by just an apology.

"Did you come to that conclusion before or after Dean shot you?" Amy asked.

"Dean didn't influence my decision at all," Dark said. He stepped closer to Amy, looking impressed when she didn't shy away. "But if you've been where I've been..." He trailed a finger down her cheek. Amy turned her head, but otherwise didn't move. "I haven't wanted a physical touch in so long." He lowered his hand away from her. "New body, new rules, I guess."

"Why did you ask me to meet you here?" Amy asked, forcing herself to look straight at him. He seemed to respect a certain amount of strength. She couldn't push that too far.

"There's a choice to make," Dark said. "The Winchesters seem to have trouble choosing what to do with me. I'm offering you the solution."

Whatever Dark had to offer couldn't be good, but he was giving her the light at the end of the tunnel. She couldn't believe he would just hand Mark over and leave, so there had to be something else to this. But before she could say anything, Dark stepped off to the side.

Behind him was standing Mark, but not Mark. He seemed off somehow. And when he opened his eyes, she understood.

Dead eyes.

No one was in that body.

Amy started backing up in horror then stopped when Dark grabbed her from behind. With her back against his chest, images of him leaning over her bare form came back to her...

Except now she saw Mark leaning over her. His hands were gentle. His movements loving...

Dark could take the pain away.

"You chose life over death for him in the hospital," Dark whispered in her ear. "You signed the paper. Handing him over to me. Now it's only fair you get to decide what happens next."

Dark moved around to stand in front of her once more. "As you said, I got what I wanted," he said. He tapped a finger against his head. "Mark..." He lowered his hand. "And his body."

"I'm not seeing a choice here."

"I'll be leaving with this body either way," Dark said. "Your choice? I take Mark with me, or I trap him in that body." He gestured behind him. "What would Mark want?"

What would Mark want? Amy had been thinking those words a lot since the accident. She had made herself believe Mark would want his life saved, but if he had known that action would lead to this? What Dr. Cook said to her that day came back to her now: You might risk going against his wishes. Had Dr. Cook known what would happen? Had she, in fact, gone against Mark's wishes? Trapping him in that body would give her the answers, but did Mark want that?

But she couldn't leave him trapped with Dark.

Amy opened her mouth, but then everything went white.