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The woods are so quiet.
The Angel, or more accurately the Seraph Castiel, is behind me and the human, Dean Winchester a few strides ahead.
The woods are quiet.
But my sensitive ears are filled with the thrumming of two heartbeats. Two very different heartbeats.
Dean’s... I remember when I first heard it. It was pounding. Racing, terrified behind his rib cage. The sound of it beating so hard and fast made me hungrier than I care to think about. It brought back memories of my early years of feeding, making me shudder because it woke that deep hunger.
He was fighting off two other vampires who were obviously drawn in by that strong heart of his. It is both a blessing, and a curse to be a vampire. Your hearing and sense of smell are exceptional. You have such great strength and speed. But, you must feed on blood, preferably human. And, you never die. Not unless your head’s been lopped off.
Anyway, initially, my instinct was the same. Rush in and take the human. Drink him slowly. But, I don’t do that anymore. Haven’t in a long while. That, and the fact that this human could be my ticket out of Purgatory.
So I lopped off those two vile beasts’ heads and talked the human down. I’ve been here long enough to know the train home when I see it.
Then, he asks me about the Angel, Castiel. Had I seen him?
I had sensed the great disturbance he brought along with him into Purgatory. But it was not that of an Angel. No, it was far more powerful and much more massive.
It was Seraphim.
I got chills knowing I wasn’t imagining that I was feeling things, and that there was, in fact, a living breathing Seraph in Purgatory.
Of course, the human, excuse me, Dean, didn’t yet know that the Angel he sought was no longer an Angel, and actually a Seraph. So I just went along. I was one of the few who have been around long enough to be able to tell the difference. But I digress.
So we eventually track down this massive Seraph and Dean practically tackles the powerful creature in a hug. Apparently, they know each other.
Turns out this Seraph, his name is Castiel. And he is indeed massive. His true form, I mean. I can sense it. Powerful. His vessel is enticingly handsome, in a rugged sort of way. As a human, he would have made an incredible vampire. His scent is intoxicating. But that’s not what really got me. I could hear his heart beating from 100 yards away. I’ve only ever been able to pick up a heartbeat from no further than thirty feet. And it was in a very quiet room.
This Seraph has an immensely powerful heart, and it beats out a slow, God-like pulse within his chest. The species must be magnificent to behold. I swallowed hard when I first saw him and I had to hang back to collect myself for a moment before walking down to the river’s edge.
Oh to taste the forbidden blood of a Seraph… And my, what a being he must be, to have a presence like what he has. Easily thousands of feet tall. And I can hear the rustle of probably three pairs of wings. His breath comes slowly from four mouths, but also just one; that of his human vessel. His scent is indescribable. Celestial. Pure. White with perhaps a little blue. But the thing I found most intriguing was the glow of Grace around his head. That ‘halo’ humans are always mentioning when talking about Angels. Apparently, few are actually able to perceive it.
Lucky me.
So, back to where I am now.
Surrounded, it feels, by the sound of silence, where time is kept by the beating of two hearts. What’s a vampire to do?
Lucky for them, I have immense self control, as well as other ways of feeding myself. There are many, broken humans in purgatory; soulless husks that still have a pulse. And a tendency to stumble about in terror trying to figure out what happened to them. What I do is a kindness; taking them out of their misery.
But I haven’t fed for a few days now. I’m getting hungry and the human, and the Seraph smell oh-so-good. It’s almost erotic, the sound of their blood rushing through their veins, especially when a vampire gets hungry. It twists us up someplace deep and visceral.
I grab my left wrist and rub the skin, trying to think about something else. Dean runs up ahead a good few yards to scout, leaving me with the Seraph and his slow, thudding pulse. I rub the back of my neck and I roll my head a bit, a few pops sound as the vertebrae realign.
“Benjamin?” The Seraph’s deep gravelly voice startles me from my thoughts and I wheel around to find him only three feet behind me. “Get Dean. Now.” I can’t help but furrow my brow in confusion. I notice that his pulse is quickening, and swiftly. Something’s got the Seraph very much on edge. “Go!” He snarls at me.
“Well what the hell are you gonna be doing?”
“Holding them off.” He growls.
“What?”
“Leviathans!” He roars and my eyes go wide. 'oh' we break at a run.
I follow Dean’s scent to where he is and grab his arm as I run by, yanking him to his feet. “Run damn it!” I bellow at him, putting him down. I can hear the Seraph sprinting towards us and he catches up. We tear through the trees at full tilt when suddenly a Leviathan crashes down between Dean and me. We skid to a halt. Castiel turns around and starts in the opposite direction. Another Leviathan slams down in front of him and he skids to a stop as well.
The Leviathan in front of me turns to face Dean.
“Oh, crap.” Dean groans as the Leviathan runs at him. I turn around to see Castiel in the grip of the other Leviathan as she slams him to the ground. My ears are filled with Castiel’s pained cries and his thundering heartbeat as the Leviathan over-powers him and opens its maw with a snarl. I sprint over and swiftly decapitate the abomination before it lays into the Seraph pinned beneath him.
Castiel’s heart seems like it couldn’t beat any faster if it tried. I reach down to him and he takes my hand. I haul him to his feet. His piercing blue eyes are wide and brow deeply furrowed. I make a brief reassuring expression before turning to look at Dean. His blade drips black blood and the Leviathan’s head is rolling to a stop at the base of a nearby tree. His expression is awed, and perhaps a bit confused by my actions.
“This guy needs a blade or a weapon or something.” I state, turning to the Seraph and patting his shoulder.
He looks at me, his eyes still a little wide and his breathing open-mouthed and heavy, “I had an Angel blade, but, I’m not sure if I can summon it here.”
Dean speaks up first, beating me to the punch. “Well have you even tried, Cas? I mean come on!”
Castiel’s eyes drop. “No. I haven’t.” His tone is a bit ashamed.
This time I speak first, “Well how about you go ahead and try right now, Seraph.” I cross my arms and look at him expectantly. With a glance at Dean I see he has a similar expression.
Castiel takes a long deep breath. Letting it out, he looks up and stares into the middle distance. A long, gleaming silver blade drops from his right sleeve and he catches the blade’s handle. The metal hums with power. He closes his eyes and tilts his head back with a sigh, gripping tighter on the handle. His head bows and then his eyes open. His piercing blue eyes flare bright for a split second before returning to normal. The wave of his energy washes over us and rustles the vegetation around us with a gentle shockwave. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
“See, that wasn’t so hard, now was it?” I growl at him in mild irritation. He simply looks at me with his head tilted a bit to one side and brow gently furrowed, as though he is trying to understand me.
“We should move. Quickly. It will not be long before something picks up on that energy burst.” Castiel muses, tucking the blade into his tattered and dirty coat. “Sorry.”
So we do just that. We move swiftly and quietly through the forest, towards our ultimate goal: the portal.
~~
Night falls quickly in Purgatory. That’s when the real nasties come out to play. Thankfully for Benny and me, we apparently have a full-blown Seraphim on our side. Castiel says he can use his power to somewhat cloak us from detection.
I am clearing sticks away from the base of a large buttressed tree when I hear the rustle of Castiel’s wings and I turn to face him. For the first time since I met this guy, I actually can see his wings. All six of them. He looks magnificent. The wings are massive, and each pair is smaller than the previous. Castiel stretches them out wide and shakes them, rustling the feathers back in place before delicately folding them against his back. They appear to melt away into his shoulders.
I stare, “Cas, your wings…”
Castiel looks at me, then walks closer so that we don’t have to talk as loud. “Magnificent aren’t they? I am still not quite used to having six of them in this human vessel. They fold differently in this form.”
I can’t help but chuckle, “They’re beautiful, Castiel.” I break out his full name to make my point that I am being serious. I yawn widely and finish clearing my small place at the base of a large tree to lie down and sleep. Finally I lie down on my back and heave a sigh.
Castiel finally speaks, his voice soft, “Thank you, Dean.” His expression is serious, and he looks deeply touched by what I said to him.
“You’re welcome, Cas. Are you taking first shift tonight?” I ask, putting my arms behind my head.
“Yes.”
And with that, I close my eyes and drift off.
~~
I wake to unexpected warmth beside me and so I carefully turn my head to see Castiel’s chest right by my head. Castiel is reclined on his left side between me and the tree me, propped up on an elbow with his back against the trunk. His head is lolling to his shoulder and he’s breathing softly.
Asleep.
He never sleeps. Which worries me, Purgatory must be taking a toll on him. That, or perhaps Seraphim sleep. Based on previous experience when Castiel was a normal, run-of-the-mill angel, the latter seems pretty unlikely. I look around to see Benny patrolling our small encampment vigilantly so I roll around to face Castiel. I grab his shoulder and give him a small shake. His back bumps against the tree’s roots. “Cas?” I whisper.
No response. Pressing my palm flat against his chest, I can feel his heart slowly beating behind his sternum, I give him a firmer shove, “Castiel?”
Castiel draws a deeper breath and his eyes crack open. He groans, “Hmmh?”
“Hey Cas, you should lie down. You’ll sleep more comfortably.”
Castiel does not even think twice. He nods, letting himself slump to the cool soil beneath us with a huff. His eyes close, “Thank you, Dean.” He whispers.
“You’re welcome.” I breathe back, turning around so my back is facing Castiel.
Suddenly, an arm is around my torso and pulling me back. My eyes snap open and with a gasp I realize Castiel is just pulling me against himself. His right arm drapes over my chest and he stuffs his fingers between the ground and my side to anchor his arm. He heaves a sigh and shifts slightly, then, falls asleep again. So now I am pressed tight against Cas’ chest.
For a moment I am not sure what to do. This is not normal. But then again, these are far from being normal circumstances. I guess I am going to have to suck it up. Clearly, Castiel cares deeply about me. Otherwise I severely doubt I would be where I am, with Castiel’s body pressed against my back and arm wrapped protectively around my torso.
I heave a sigh, guess I might as well sleep in the… arms of an… Angel… damn you Sarah McLachlan… I sigh again and start to drift off.
Dreams full of feathered wings, spattered in blood and black Leviathan goo, Benny's body torn to shreds, Castiel’s face and body scratched and bleeding, my own body sore and tattered. Hell hounds snarling at us from the treeline.
~~
I open my eyes. The vampire, Benjamin is still keeping his silent watch over me and Dean. I have slept for close to six hours, Dean at least that much. He still slumbers in my protective embrace.
The forest of Purgatory is quiet in the early, muted grey pre-dawn. I can hear Dean’s soft heartbeat. I find my lips curling in a gentle smile. Even in sleep, it beats twice the speed of my own. Humans are so fascinating. Warmth stirs in my chest. My musings are stalled when a large moth flies in from the left of my field of vision. I carefully sit up, taking care not to jostle Dean. I watch as the moth lands somewhat awkwardly on a tree trunk nearby and crawls up to a low branch.
The vampire turns around to look at me. We make eye contact before his eyes drift down to my chest, where they linger for a moment. I tilt my head, trying to understand what this creature is staring at. I look down to see if there is something there.
Nothing.
I look back up at the vampire and his brow furrows. He sighs, a strange and useless action, considering this creature does not breathe. I get to my feet and he watches me carefully as I walk over to him, out of Dean’s earshot so I do not wake him.
“Is everything okay Benjamin?” I ask softly.
Benjamin looks up at me, “You’re teasing me, Seraph, Castiel.”
“Please, just call me Castiel. No need for formalities amongst friends. But how am I teasing you? I have done nothing but sleep, and watch a moth fly to a tree.” I tilt my head, awaiting his reply.
Benjamin is holding my upper arms in the next second, face close to my neck. I gasp in shock as my body tenses. He takes a deep breath through his nose before letting me go and stepping back.
“What is wrong?” I ask shakily.
Benjamin smoothes one of his callused hands over his beard. “You do understand what Vampires like myself are capable of, right?” he asks, voice low.
My brow knits together, “I am afraid not. Aside from Being undead, blood drinking and killable only by decapitation.”
“We have hypersensitive hearing and a highly acute sense of smell. For example, right now, Dean’s heart is beating sixty times each minute. I can smell the rabbit in that bush over there,” he points at a scrubby bush about thirty feet away to my right, “and you, well the day we met, I could hear your heart beating from 100 yards away, Castiel. I’ve never experienced a creature like you before. Since that day, I have been teased by your scent, and slow God-like pulse.” He pauses and looks me over quickly. “I wish I could make you understand what it’s like to have to fight this hard to control myself. I’ve had centuries to perfect my self control, but you? You broke my walls Of resolve down before I even laid eyes on you.”
I have become very much aware of the quickening of my vessels pulse as this vampire talks about how my presence makes him feel. I am not sure what this vampire may do in the next few moments. “Are…you going to be able to go on safely?” I ask, my voice shaking a little with my anxiety as the Vampire steps a little closer.
“If you cooperate with me, I will. Come with me. We aren’t going far, Dean will be fine since I know you most certainly have him on your radar at all times. Just follow quietly.” He tosses his head down towards a thicker stand of trees. I hesitate as he walks away, before I fall in behind him. We walk into the trees a few moments later and he turns to face me. There is a gleam in his eyes I did not see before.
“You don’t need to be scared of me Castiel. I will not lay a finger on you.”
I swallow hard. “Why then am I growing more and more anxious the longer you look at me like that?”
“I have a rather personal question to ask you.”
I sigh, unsure of how to proceed. “Alright.” All in, I suppose. “Ask. I will do my best to answer.” I try to level my breathing.
“Can you make glass from this sand?” he reaches down and grabs a handful of fine silicate sand, letting it fall through his fingers.
I tilt my head curiously and furrow my brow. “Yes. I can. That is a strange question, Benjamin. What do you need glass for?” I stare intently at him.
“A small bottle of course. Make the mouth small enough that I can use this cork.” He pulls a small cork, no bigger around than his index finger, from his pocket.
Still confused, I take the cork when he hands it to me and examine it. “Very well. You may want to shield your eyes, the light will be quite bright and I understand your eyes are sensitive.” I kneel and place my palm on the soft cool sand and close my eyes. I see the glass bottle in my mind’s eye and pulse that energy into the sand, melting it into the perfect realization of the bottle. I pull it carefully from the sand and empty the remaining grains from inside of it before pushing the cork into the mouth and handing it to him.
He refuses it. “Now, I would like to ask you to kindly fill that with your blood.” He says, his expression quite serious.
My brow furrows. Distrust rises in my chest and I withdraw the small bottle, clutching it protectively, “What do you plan to do with it?” The moment the words leave my mouth I realize their stupidity, and my own.
“Well, savor it, of course. I will not lie; it is incredibly difficult not to admit to my,” he pauses to lick his lips very quickly, “immense desire to drink deeply from your carotid artery. However, I am a gentleman and I also have a great respect for human life. Since you, a Seraph, walk among us in a human vessel, it is both an irresistible opportunity and a necessity to ask politely for you to donate a few ounces to the cause. The longer I’ve waited, the hungrier I’ve gotten, so it is prudent that we get this out of the way before I can go find another creature to feed upon.”
“But, you most certainly will then have a taste for my blood. What will keep you from forcibly draining my vessel?” I ask. My heart is pounding anxiously.
“Fill that little glass whenever I ask.” He arches an eyebrow at me. “So, what’ll it be Seraphim Castiel? You gonna bleed for me?” he growls softly, an almost wicked smile on his face.
I clench my jaw. Seraphim blood is powerful. And can be used in gruesome ways against its donor. “You will only be drinking it.” I reaffirm.
He nods.
I narrow my eyes. “I will not hesitate to destroy you the moment you cross the line.” I say with authority. I grip the bottle and fill it with my blood, handing it to him. He reaches out to take it and I withraw it a bit, “Do not test me.” He shakes his head and I hand the bottle to him.
He takes it gingerly, moving it from one hand to the other, a look of concentration on his face. “Thank you Castiel. You have my word, you will not regret this.”
“I hope not.” I breathe, turning to walk back towards Dean. Benjamin is suddenly in front of me.
“Just a moment. If I may.” He holds up the glass with a subtle grin, uncorking it with a pop. He pockets the cork and with that same hand he reaches out and places his palm on my chest. “Just relax, Castiel. This won’t hurt a bit.” He chuckles, pushing my back against a tree and holding me there, his hand still pressed against my chest. He closes his eyes and slides his hand up to my neck where he softly wraps his hand around the base of my neck and top of my shoulder. The outer side of his thumb presses against the artery in my neck, gently tilting my head away. He opens his eyes. “Take a deep breath, Castiel. You’re not relaxing. I promised you I would not harm you. Just trust me.” He soothes. I furrow my brow and oblige, taking a deep calming breath. “That’s better.” His eyes close and he slowly drinks.
I look away, towards where Dean is. He is still sleeping. That is reassuring.
Benjamin’s hand slides down across my collar and presses firmly against my sternum. I watch as he empties the glass and licks his lips. His eyes finally open and he locks eyes with me.
“Fuck, that’s good. Thanks for bearing with me, Castiel. I couldn’t let this opportunity slip through my fingers.”
“You’re welcome…” I reply, still somewhat unsure. “We should get back to Dean, he may wake soon and would not be pleased if we were not there.”
“Right.” Benjamin agrees, corking and pocketing the vial as we walk back.
Dean is snoring softly when I walk over and sit cross legged in front of him.
“Castiel,” Benjamin whispers and I look back at him. “I’m gonna get a few hours in, keep watch?”
I nod, “Of course,” returning my gaze to Dean. I hear Benjamin settle down and fall asleep moments later. My focus now turns fully to Dean. I listen as his heart beats steadily, and watch as his chest rises and falls slowly. I close my eyes and allow my focus to encompass my surroundings, time kept by Dean’s pulse.
I hear the trees creak in the wind. There is a small finch on the branch behind dean. The rabbit is nibbling on the terminal buds of the bush it is hiding in. A bee flies past my face. This peace follows Dean wherever he goes throughout purgatory. I know, because I have been without him, and no such peace has ever found me during my time here apart from Dean.
Suddenly, there is silence. Dean’s heart beat is all I can hear now. Terror grips my heart like a vice and my eyes snap open. This silence only means one thing; Leviathan. I grip Dean’s shoulders tightly and lift him to his feet while screaming for Benjamin to wake up. Dean screams as he is lifted bodily from the ground and Benjamin is on his feet in seconds.
“What the hell’s going on Cas?!” Dean yells franticly.
“Leviathans. They are approaching. We need to move.”
No further questions. We move in unison at full tilt towards the river.
~fin