The Fall

Part 4

Castiel:      

Cas was surrounded, no way out. The two girls smirked maliciously in his direction. He could feel their red hot stare burning into him, like a pair of hawks staring down a sparrow as they circled overhead. Castiel could tell that he was outnumbered, and not just by a few. He tried to bolt, to get the hell out of there, get back to Sam and find Dean, but it was a futile effort. Ruby pinned him to the rough brick wall of the school and he didn’t resist her grasp, knowing that it would only worsen the situation at hand. She smiled like a kid at Christmas, then leaned closer, taking it all in, grin widening for  moment .She released the arm she had been pinning him with, like a zoo keeper, tossing a steak into the lion cage.

          “Have at him,” She said in an almost playful tone. Cas braced himself, he knew how to take a beating, but it was never easy. The way things were shaping up to be at this point, it was going to be bad.

          Meg strutted forward, eager to deliver the first blow. The rest looked on, waiting to see her strike. She knocked him to the ground with one closed fist, then had at him with the heel of her studded high heeled boots. He could feel the little metal posts that ran along the side of her shoes dig into his skin.

He was sent reeling from the pain, as he pressed one hand to his now bleeding cheek. They were no more than cat scratches, but one had really sunken in there, and he was bleeding a fair amount. Still, he knew he had more hits coming. The two girls backed off, inviting some of the rest to have their turn. Evidently, there was plenty of him to go around.

Castiel didn’t recognize a single one of them. They came at him one at a time. First, came a red-haired girl. She sported mainly leather clothing (like Meg and Ruby) with a graphic tee shirt underneath. To top it off, she wore a pair of old fashioned pearl earrings, and a fresh coat of red lipstick smeared over her pouty her lips. Her face was lovely but twisted in sadistic anger.

 She hit him plenty, but more than that, she mocked him. It seemed that she in particular had a bone to pick with the Winchesters, and seemed to have no problem expressing that to him, using both words and fists.

The next guy was actually a fair amount smaller than Castiel, but far stockier in stature. Unlike the previous girl, he was less bark and more bite. He wore all black, slacks and a button down, with a gruff British accent. The guy didn’t really seem to have anything against the brothers, or Cas, it just seemed that he liked to beat people up. Other than that, he and the read head girl seemed to have some tension, but Cas didn’t find it particularly pertinent to his own situation. The two of them were bad enough, on their own.

 As more and more had their way with him, the more he noticed something strange. One of them was holding off. Not that he seemed to be on Castiel’s side, because if he was, he wouldn’t just be standing idly by as Cas got his brains bashed in. There was some other reason.

 He could see the way that all of the other kids were eying this last kid. They were watching him in anticipation. He was tall and lean, definitely the tallest of the group, and certainly one of the most menacing in looks. His nose was hooked and there was blood on the cuff of his shirt. It didn’t belong to Cas, though, and that scared him more than anything.

Whose was it? Did he want to know? Most likely, the answer was no.

          He waited until the tall boy was the last one left in the group who had yet to take his turn with Cas. There was only one of them left, and he prayed to god that Sam wouldn’t take much longer. Castiel knew the severity of his situation. One of his molars was chipped; he had a deep cut across his cheekbone from the heel of Meg’s shoe, and with that added to the steady flow out of his nose, he really was losing a lot of blood. Cas could see it pooling between the crevices of the pavement, shining like liquid garnet as it ran in thin droplets. He was okay, though. He could take this, but not much more.