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The first thing that seemed off when Castiel got to the house Crowley had called him to was the pizza delivery car out front. Crowley didn’t need to eat, and when he chose to for the pleasure of it, he usually went for much finer food than Pizza Hut. Castiel paused to investigate it. The hood was warm, but only with the heat of the sun, not any residual heat. This car had been here far longer than it took to deliver a pizza. Possibly the driver lived here? No, that didn’t make sense; Crowley had called him on a babysitter’s death. Unless the pizza man was the babysitter…
Going inside allowed Castiel to see the furniture that was scattered around the room. It was unlikely that this was how the owners of the furniture intended for it to be arranged, as the couch was facing the wall, chairs were on their backs, and the table was in two pieces. It made Castiel sad to see, thinking of Meg and the pizza man. Then he noticed the pizza man, still in his uniform, lying on the floor with a knife sticking out of his back. Nearby, bent over a chair, was the babysitter, her pants and underwear around her knees. There was no sign of blood loss, and red handprints were still visible on her rear. She was clearly dead, but there was no immediate cause of death visible.
“Crowley?” The demon had called him in; where was he? While waiting, he went to the babysitter to take a better look. There was, thankfully, no evidence of sexual assault beyond the slaps to her rear. The prints matched the pizza man’s hands, too. It was likely consensual. No wounds, no signs of strangulation or poison. Disease didn’t work that fast.
Crowley came in, holding a glass of scotch. Castiel had to roll his eyes at his partner’s priorities. “There are two dead here and you need a drink more than you need to figure out what’s happening?”
“The pizza man was stabbed. The pizza’s gone, as are the kids. Babysitter, well, waiting for you to tell me what her deal is, darling.” Crowley winked. “Near as I can make out she died of fright. Look at her hair.”
Castiel did. It was white, which was an unusual choice for a teenage girl. Looking closer made him realize it was natural, not bleached. As her skin was not colorless, he couldn’t imagine she was naturally white-haired, not at her age. Her eyes were a deep brown color as they stared off into eternity.
“Fright doesn’t actually do that, though,” Castiel mused. If Jesse Turner were around, that could possibly explain it, but that didn’t explain the pizza man. Jesse Turner was not a murderer. Not on purpose. Knives in the back spoke to an intent to kill. There wouldn’t be another Anti-Christ, but it was possible one of the children was a cambion, or had powers of some sort. “Where are the children?”
“Good question. There’s two rooms, so I assume two kids, based on the toys and decorations likely a boy and a girl, but no sign of them in the house. I found a trail and started to follow it, but it went cold just before the cross street out there.” Crowley pointed to the south. “Probably taken by whatever did this. Kind of figure they took the pizza, too. Any ideas?”
“Cambion.” Immediately, Castiel felt foolish. Crowley would know if there were potential cambion involved. “Sorry, I… this reminds me of a case I worked with Sam and Dean, where a cambion turned out to be responsible for weird deaths.”
Crowley took a sip of his scotch. “It would explain a lot. This house is warded against notice by angels and demons. If the babysitter there weren’t the granddaughter of a human contact who didn’t show up for the music lessons her grandmother sold herself to me as a servant for, I wouldn’t be here.” Castiel’s disgust must have shown on his face. “Oh, don’t be like that. Deals are deals, she called me, and I gave her way better than ten years before eternal torment. Your people won’t take her for dealing with a demon, that’s Heaven’s problem, not mine, but I don’t have an exclusive claim on her soul.” Castiel just rolled his eyes and went back to examining the bodies. “It’s possible that a cambion’s been created that got overlooked because of all the chaos happening in Hell. I haven’t been looking for traces… there you are, you little devil.”
Castiel’s head snapped up. “Did you just make a pun?”
“I did indeed. What are you going to do about it?” Crowley finished off his scotch. “Come on, I know where the little cambion is. Want to come confront them?”
“Of course. I must ask… where are the children’s parents? Won’t they want to call the police?”
“It was a tragic day for this family. Their father was drunk and driving home from the bar, there was construction on the overpass, he was going too fast and lost control as he tried to turn… both parents killed instantly when the car hit the road below.” He shook his head, holding up his hands. “I swear, I had nothing to do with it, it was coincidence. We find those kids, they’re probably going into the system. The cambion can come with me, but while there’s a chance you might let me take that one, you’d never let me take a human child to Hell.”
“No. I’m not letting you take the cambion, either. They may be born with demon blood, but they can choose to be better than that.” Castiel straightened up. “We should take them to the Winchesters. Sam and Dean can handle a cambion, and will give both children a chance to become what they want to be.”
Crowley shrugged. “If you say so. What they want with kids, who could understand, but better them than dumping the kids on someone who can’t handle a cambion. Let’s go.”
Castiel and Crowley caught up to the kids in a small cabin in Alaska, the older boy holding his little sister close and trying to stop her crying. The empty pizza box was off to one side. Both children had to be freezing; there was no heat in the cabin or fire in the fireplace. Castiel corrected that problem with a wave of his hand. “Hello.”
“Stay back!” the boy said, putting himself between his sister and the strangers. “Who are you? How did you find us?”
“My name is Castiel. I’m an Angel of the Lord.” He let his wings spread out behind him, casting shadows on the wall of the cabin. “And this is my partner, Crowley. He’s the King of Hell, but don’t worry. He’s not here to hurt you or take you somewhere bad. What are your names?”
“I’m Eddie, and this is my sister, Tryna.” Eddie let go and stood up, hand hovering over a knife. “How did you find us?”
Castiel looked to Crowley, who pointed to Tryna. “Your sister is a cambion. She has demon blood in her.”
Eddie grabbed the knife and plunged it into Castiel’s belly. Castiel didn’t flinch. Eddie took a few steps back, but still kept himself in front of Tryna. “You take that back! Tryna’s a good girl, she didn’t mean to do anything bad, you have no right to call her a demon!”
“I believe you. Demon blood doesn’t necessarily make you bad, Tryna, and you can’t help what you are. I believe that it was an accident, but what did happen?”
“We were supposed to be asleep, but Tryna was hungry, so I agreed to sneak downstairs with her so we could get a snack,” Eddie said. “I saw that man hurting Miss Adelyn, like on TV, so I did what the people on TV do. I got a knife and told him to stop. He said no, and next thing I knew the knife was in his back and he was bleeding on the ground. Miss Adelyn wouldn’t respond, so I freaked out, and next thing I knew we were here.”
“Have you ever been here before?”
“Last summer, we came here on vacation.” Eddie crouched beside Tryna and put an arm back around her. “Now what happens? We can’t go home. I killed someone even if it was an accident! Mom and Dad won’t understand!”
“Your parents are dead, too,” Crowley said, earning a glare from Castiel. They could have broken that news a bit less bluntly. “Castiel wants to take you to friends of his. They’ve both killed people before, so they won’t be too mad at you. How’s that sound?”
Tryna was now sobbing loudly, while Eddie glared. “I don’t believe you. Mom and Dad aren’t dead.”
“I’m sorry, but they are,” Castiel said. Crowley wouldn’t lie to him. “We can take you to see their bodies, if you want, but they might not be recognizable. We can also take you to get your belongings from your home before I take you to my friends.”
Eddie looked between them, and then to his little sister shivering beside him. “Fine. Guess we don’t have much choice.”