She Talks to Angels | {BOOK 2}

11|Hell and Sam's Secret

"Where did you send him?"

"Relax, Eleanor. He'll be fine."

I glared at Castiel standing on the other side of the room from me. Sam had disappeared at some point in the middle of the night again. Dean had been having a nightmare and when he woke up, Castiel appeared and sent him... somewhere with nothing but the instruction to 'stop it.'

"There's something else I need you to see," Castiel continued.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I held up a hand, stopping him from touching my forehead like he did with Dean. "I'm not letting you send me anywhere until you tell me where you sent Dean."

"I sent him back to learn the truth. He doesn't know everything we do."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"The truth about Azazel and the children like Sam."

My heart thudded in my chest. During my time being possessed by Yellow Eyes, or Azazel, I had learned that he had bled into the children's mouths which is what gave Sam and the others their psychic abilities.

"Where's Sam?"

"You and Dean will have to stop it once he knows the truth," Castiel informed me. "For now, there is something you must see."

I bit my lip, bracing myself as the angel placed two fingers against my forehead. The next thing I knew, I was transported to a foreign location. Looking around, there was red and black everywhere. It was also flaming hot, as if the area was on fire even though I couldn't actually see flames anywhere nearby.

"Sam! Sammy! Ellie!"

I started, hurrying in the direction of the shouts.

"Ellie! Please!"

My hand flew to my mouth as I spotted the person yelling. Dean continued to call out for me and Sam. Sweat and blood coated his skin and he was chained with iron shackles on his wrists and ankles, suspended in midair. Another chain with an iron fish hook on the end was hooked through the skin of his shoulder, a second fish hook through a section of his stomach. He was barefoot, his blue jeans and grey shirt both ripped and bloody.

As I watched, a demon approached him, sneering up at Dean, who'd fallen silent.

"Join me, Dean," the demon told him. "Join me, and all of this will end."

"Screw you," Dean spat.

The demon sneered again, picking up a long Sycle like tool and cutting into Dean's skin. Dean screamed as the demon continued to cut into him until Dean no longer looked like Dean. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I watched. And then, suddenly Dean returned to the state he had been when I first found him and the demon was there again, offering him the same deal. The pattern continued over and over for what felt like 30 years.

I could see Dean's walls breaking down, the will to resist fading with each passing day. And then, one day when the demon returned with the offer, I heard it. One word, whispered from Dean's lips, that made my heart shatter in my chest.

"Okay."

The demon smiled, snapping his fingers. Dean was suddenly put back together in perfect condition. His skin no longer bled and his clothes were clean and no longer had rips and bloody stains on them. The demon handed him the Sycle tool and together they headed to a different area of Hell.

"Dean, no," I whispered, but it was like they couldn't see or hear me.

I watched as Dean, under the demon's instruction, tortured other souls on the rack. I wanted to look away, but I couldn't tear my gaze away from the elder Winchester. My heart clenched in my chest when I noticed Dean smiling to himself, as if he was enjoying himself.

"Okay, I get it," I said. "Come on, Castiel. Send me back. I don't need to see this any more. Castiel, please!"

I was suddenly back in the motel room. Dean and Castiel were both there. Dean looked confused while Castiel just stared at me with something akin to pity in his blue eyes. It was one of the few times I'd seen any sort of emotion come from the angel.

"Where was she?" Dean demanded.

"She had her own information she had to learn," Castiel said. "Now you know everything we do and she knows the truth."

"The truth about what?"

"We can talk about it later, Dean," I interrupted quietly.

Dean looked over at me and I swallowed hard, playing with my locket before moving my gaze from him back to Castiel.

"Where's Sam?" Dean asked, just noticing that his brother was missing from the other bed.

"We know what Azazel did to your brother. What we don't know is why- what his endgame is," Castiel said, not answering Dean's question. "He went to great lengths to cover that up."

"He didn't even let me see that part," I added. "I could hear his thoughts, I knew what he did, but he didn't let me know why."

"Where's Sam?" Dean repeated.

"425 Waterman," Castiel said.

Dean grabbed his keys and jacket and I moved to follow him out the door.

"Your brother is headed down a dangerous road, Dean," Castiel called after us, "and we're not sure where it leads. So stop it. Or we will."

⁘

Dean and I stood by a window, looking into the warehouse Castiel had directed us to. Inside, we could see Sam, the young woman that had been with him when we first tracked him down and a man tied to a chair. We couldn't make out what was being said, but we could tell Sam and the man were talking. The man in the chair appeared to be taunting Sam from Sam's facial expression. The young woman looked over at him worriedly. As the man spoke once more, Sam's face contorted in anger and he held up a hand.

A look of concentration crossed Sam's features. As he did so, the demon smoke began to come out of the man and flowed to the floor at the man's feet. The smoke burned through the floor and was gone. Sam put his hand down, taking a breath as he calmed himself back down. They young woman was smiling as she and Sam exchanged a look, and then Sam was smiling as well. Dean and I exchanged a worried look.