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“I’m telling you, this is a mistake!” the dragon growled at Crowley, causing Dean to take a step back. “What is he even doing here?”
Crowley bowed low. “We’re well aware of the protocols when a dragon moves in near the town. A beautiful young virgin is to be presented as human sacrifice, to keep the dragon from devouring the entire town. Typically, once a year, on the summer solstice, but if there’s another day that would be better for you, all you have to do is say.”
“I don’t want any day!” The dragon stomped its foot. “Go away, take your virgin with you, I’m not going to do anything to your village, unless you keep pissing me off.”
Crowley bowed again. “As you wish, then. Goodbye. I’ll be back next year.” He turned and left. Dean didn’t go.
The dragon turned its livid eyes on him. “Aren’t you going to go?”
“No. I go back, Crowley breaks the deal we made when I volunteered as the sacrifice. I can’t let that happen.”
“What’s the deal?”
“I volunteer as the sacrifice. Crowley lets Sam live in peace with his wife and kids.”
“And Sam is…”
“My little brother. Crowley blames Sammy for bringing you here, says he released you from your cage.”
The dragon growled again, causing Dean to take a step back. “Sam had nothing to do with this. I was cursed by a foul sorcerer, Lucifer, and forced to take this form.”
“I know Sam has nothing to do with this, but Crowley doesn’t. He wanted to drag Sam up here, but I couldn’t let that happen.”
The dragon blinked. “How does your little brother have a wife and kids, while a good-looking guy like you is a virgin?”
“He doesn’t have a wife or kids, yet, but he will. There’s a couple girls in the village he’s got his eye on, and I know that Jess and Eileen would both say yes if he asks them when he’s old enough.” Dean rubbed the back of his neck. “Also, Crowley figured you wouldn’t actually be able to tell if I was a virgin or not. You don’t seem to give a crap about destroying the town, so… not a virgin. Not anywhere close.”
The dragon laughed. “I can respect sacrificing yourself for your brother. I’m not going to eat you, though. I was human before Lucifer did this to me, and it still feels like cannibalism to eat you. You can stay here, if you’d like. Good for sneaking back into town to see Sam.”
“Thanks. You got a name?”
“Cain.”
“Why’d Lucifer do this to you?”
“He was corrupting my little brother Abel, trying to take him as his protégé. I couldn’t stand to watch that happen, so I told Lucifer to go to Hell. He agreed to leave Abel alone, at the cost of my humanity. So here I am, a dragon.”
“How do you know Lucifer will keep his end of the deal?”
“How do you know Crowley will keep his? You came here expecting to get eaten.”
“Fair.”
Dean and Cain had been holed up in their cave, Cain using magic to extend the food from his few hunts and Dean’s trips into town to pick up food from Sam as much as he could. They had gotten very close in that time, and Dean wished he could break the spell on Cain so they could be together for real. Dragons were great friends, but they were hard to kiss, and sex was… incredibly complicated.
Dean was dozing in the shelter of Cain’s wing when the sound of hoofbeats woke him up. Cain groaned. “This better not be what I think it is.”
No such luck. “Dragon! Come face me, in the name of King Chuck!”
“Great. A knight. I don’t want to kill him. You want to take a crack at persuading him to leave us alone?”
Dean took a deep breath and straightened his clothes. “I’ll try.” He walked out and stared at the knight on horseback. He was extremely handsome, beautiful blue eyes, and clearly brave. “Sir Knight! A word, if you please.”
The knight looked down, and his mouth fell open. “Dean Winchester? You live!”
“Yes, I live. Cain – the dragon in this cave – doesn’t want trouble with the village at all. He doesn’t want sacrifices or worship or anything like that. He just wants to be left alone. What will it take to convince you to leave here without a fight?”
“I cannot, Dean. I’m sorry, but I swore an oath to Mayor Crowley to rid the town of the dragon that plagues it.” The knight looked genuinely regretful.
“Cain’s not plaguing the town! He’s just living up here peacefully in a cave, outside the borders of the town. There’s gotta be something we can do to convince you. Come inside the cave, take your pick of the treasure, go to Crowley and tell him that the dragon is gone but as he was dying he laid a curse on the cave, they’ll have no trouble with dragons and I don’t lose my love.”
“Your love? And does this… creature… love you?”
“He’s not a creature, really.” Dean explained about the curse.
Castiel dismounted and walked into the cave. “Cain.”
“Sir Castiel. I was afraid that was you. Dean, I’m sorry, but Castiel is one of the good knights. He takes his oaths seriously. If he swore an oath to kill me, then we have to fight.”
“Wait. Cain. What, exactly, was Lucifer’s end of the deal? You accept his curse, and…”
“And he stops trying to corrupt Abel.”
“Was that the specific phrase used?”
Cain closed his eyes. “Does it matter?”
“Yes. It matters a great deal.”
“I accept the mark of Lucifer, the curse to be given to me and my descendants from now until the end of time, and in exchange, Lucifer will no longer influence my brother’s life.”
Castiel smirked. “Then I need not kill you to fulfill my oath. Cain, as soon as you were gone, Lucifer killed Abel.”
Cain let out a roar at the top of his lungs. Dean covered his ears and closed his eyes, trying to avoid Cain’s rage. A hand on his shoulder caused him to look up. There was no dragon in the cave; only himself, Castiel, and another man with long hair and a beard. “Cain?”
“That’s me.”
“Awesome.”
Castiel held out a hand. “Shall we go to the village?”
Dean shook his head. “I can’t. Sam…”
“You fulfilled the terms of your contract with Crowley, Dean,” Cain said with a huge grin. “You came up here to be given to the dragon as sacrifice. Crowley has to honor his side, and unlike with me and Lucifer, you can be there to make sure of it.”
“Oh. Well then.”
Cain looked to Castiel. “Of course, now we have a… situation.”
“What’s that?” Dean asked
“Sir Castiel and I were lovers before Lucifer came along. You and I are lovers now. Tradition dictates that when a knight rescues a sacrifice from a dragon, the sacrifice marries the knight instead.”
“So the problem is…” Dean prompted.
Cain shrugged. “I didn’t say there was a problem. I said there was a situation. Cas? Do we have a problem?”
“I have no problem. Dean?”
“Hmm?”
“Do you have a problem with marrying me and both of us continuing our relationships with Cain?”
Maybe he did. “You gonna take me away from my village?”
“Yes. Sam, and his intended bride, as well, if they wish to come.”
“Who’d he pick?”
“A young woman named Eileen. He did ask me to look for a necklace he had given you when you were boys and return it. Do you still have it?”
Dean pulled it out from under his shirt. “I’m not giving it to you, though.”
“He will probably accept it if I return it when I return you to him.”
Sam did. He and Dean were happily reunited, and the five of them lived happily ever after.