I'll Protect You, Always (Supernatural AU/ Castiel love story )

Chapter 25

Feeling your skin peel off is sort of a surreal moment. You would think it would peel off easily, but your skin wanted to stay on your body. So, I could feel every rip, tear, and pull. Of course it was only excruciating for a moment then, just as quickly as the pain would come, it would disappear. My skin would grow back, and he would just pull it right off again.

The worst part was when he would burn my skin after it was off my body. The room would fill with a burning smell like meat in an oven. He would do it because he wanted me to think it was still on my body, and they were burning me alive. For a while, I knew what they were doing. But, after you had been tortured with the same technique after about a week, you started to actually believe you were dying.

Everyday was like the last, they would ask me if I was ready to join and fight for them. And, everyday I would tell them to bite me. Then it would start. The slashing of my skin, the breaking of my bones, the burning and the carving of my flesh, the chunks taken out of my skin, and the torture didn't cease for a moment. It would only cease at the end of the day when my limbs were all twisted the wrong way, and I had scars covering my entire body. Then, they would roll the tools out of the room and say 'until tomorrow'.

Every week a new demon would torture me. Every one looking like someone I knew. The first week it was Dean. The glint in his eyes like when he was possessed. Barking at me that he didn't need me, and he didn't want me. That I never meant anything to me. He was the one to burn and skin my flesh.

The next it was Sam. First, he told me how sorry he was then he would grin and stab me. 'No, I'm not. I'm not sorry, because you mean nothing to us, Annabelle. You're just some help we took in. Frankly, you're a pain in my ass,' he would whine at me with fake pain in his eyes. Then he would continue to carve words into my flesh. Coward, help, dishonest, disloyal, skank, whore, weak, powerless, those words were just some of the words. Then he would sign his name just above where my underwear line would be, if I was wearing any, like he was claiming his work.

The next week Paige came in. Not saying a word just grinning a creepy smile the entire time she ripped my skin off.

You may not have known this, but on free days sometimes Dean and Sam would take me to see Garth. He was their friend, and he was a werewolf. Which at first I was ready to kill him for, then he started cracking stupid jokes and I began to love the guy. Seriously, you couln't not love Garth. Love was a funny thing it could be amazing and send you on cloud nine or it could be the thing that got you killed.

In my case, love was the thing that they were going to use to break me. So, on the fourth week you can guess who walked through that door. My very special friend, Garth. He didn't say anything, as his bones started to crack and reform as legs. He ripped chunks of my skin off with his teeth and clawed at my chest with his long sharp fingernails.

All the torture was horrendous, and my screams could probably heard throughout all of hell. But, down there another person screaming, wasn't anything to even bat an eyelash at.

You would probably think by week five I was close to breaking but no. I vowed to never break, ever. That was until the demons who looked like Sam and Dean dragged someone into my room. I could hear muffled screaming, but I couldn't lift my head. I turned my head slightly to the side, but Demon Dean was blocking my view. They slammed someone down in a chair and tied them to it.

When the demons stepped back from the chair, I thought I was going to die. Sitting there in all his glory and in his old vessel, was Castiel. He had a handkerchief in his mouth, and he was wrestling against his bonds. He was screaming something at them that I couldn't understand. I continued to stare at him not speaking.

His eyes flickered over to me and instantly flickered back to the demons. Then he was struck with realization and he slowly looked back over to me. He stared at me his eyes scanning my entire body. His breathing sped up, and he looked beyond pissed. He flailed around in his chair and screamed with all his strength. I watched him and with every move he made, I cried a little more. Demon Sam stepped in front of Castiel and grinned at him.