I get woken up by the sound of someone making painful grunting noises. It sounds like Sam. I slowly open my eyes and look around. I'm sitting in a chair with my hands tied in roped behind my back. Looks like I'm back in the motel room. Dean and Cas are standing there.
"You did this?" Cas asks Dean. I look over at Sam who's all bloody and beaten up. I probably have a giant bruise on my face.
"Cas? What's going on?" I ask.
"Let me go." Sam says.
"Have they been feverish?" Cas asks.
"Have you?" Dean asks either one of us.
"No. Why?" I answer.
"Are they speaking on tongues? Are you speaking in tongues?" Cas asks.
"No. What are you...? Are you diagnosing us?" Sam asks.
"You better hope he can." Dean says.
"You really think that this is-"
"What, you think that there's a clinic out there for people who just pop out of hell wrong? He asks, one of you answer! Then you shut your hole. You got it?" Dean says interrupting me.
"How much do you sleep?" Cas asks.
"We don't." Sam says.
"At all?" Dean asks.
"Not since we got back." I say.
"And it never occurred to you that there might be something off about that?!"
"Of course it did, Dean. I just never told you." Sam says.
"What?"
"What are you feeling now?" Cas asks.
"I feel like my nose is broken."
"And I feel like I have a giant bruise forming on my face." I say.
"No, those are physical sensations. How do you feel?"
"Well, I think-"
"Feel." Cas interrupts.
"I...don't know." I say.
"This will be unpleasant." Cas says. He walks over to me first.
"What?"
"Bite down on this. If there's someplace that you find soothing, you should go there. In your mind." He hands me a cloth or something to bite down on. Sticks in hand in my torso. I bite but then start screaming. Why do my insides feel like they're being burned and torn apart? When he pulls his hand out I'm gasping for breath almost.
"Did you find anything?" Dean asks.
"No."
"So, that's good news?"
"I'm afraid not. Physically, she's perfectly healthy."
"Then what?"
"It's her soul. It's gone. And I'd assume the same for Sam."
"Um...I'm sorry. One more time, like I'm 5. What do you mean they've got no-"
"Somehow when they were resurrected, it was without their souls."
"So, where are they?"
"My guess is... Still in the cage with Michael and Lucifer."
"So, are they even still themselves?"
"Well, you pose an interesting philosophical question."
"Well, then just get them back."
"Dean."
"Well, you pulled me out."
"It took several angels to rescue you, and you weren't nearly as well guarded. Sam and Ashlee's souls are in Lucifer's cage. There's a difference, a big difference. It's not possible."
"Okay, well, there's gotta be a way."
"So, are you gonna untie us?" Sam asks.
"No." Dean says.
"Listen, we're not gonna-"
"Ash, how the hell am I even supposed to let you two out of this room?" Dean interrupts me.
"Dean, we're not some psychos. I didn't want Ash or you to get hurt. I was just trying to stop the vamps. I'm sorry. It won't ever happen again. Please let us go."
"You're kidding right?" Dean asks.
"Well, what are you going to do, just keep us locked up in here forever?" I ask.
"You say that like it's a bad thing."
"Okay, fine, look, we get it. Dean, we were wrong. But I'm telling you, we're trying to get right. It's still us." I pull out the ropes around my wrists, this feels easy to get out of.
"Is it?" He asks.
"Yes, so just let us go."
"No way in hell."
"I didn't want it to come to this." Me and Sam look at each other. "You're not gonna hold us, Dean." Both me and Sam get the ropes off of us and stand up. "Not in here, not in a panic room, not anywhere. You're stuck with us being soulless, so you might as well work with us." Sam says.
"Let's fix this." I say.
"I'm gonna be watching every move you two make."
"Fine, sounds about right to me."
"Cas, clean them up." Cas places two fingers to mine then Sam's foreheads, healing us from Dean's beatings. "Alright, if we're going to figure out what happened to your souls, then we need to find out who yanked you out. You say you don't know."
"No idea." Sam says.
"Then we start a list. If it's so hard to spring someone out of the box, then who's got that kind of muscle?"
"I don't know. You have no memory of your resurrection?" Cas asks.
"We woke up in a field. That's all we got." I say.
"No clues? None?" Dean asks.
"I've got one." Sam says. "Samuel."
"Well, let's go then. Cas meet us there?" I ask hopefully. He nods his head and Dean looks at me questioningly. I just shrug my shoulders. "Or you know what, I'll go with you Cas if that's okay?" I ask.
"Sure, Dean?" Cas asks almost as if asking for permission.
"Yeah, fine." Sam and Dean walk out the door.
"Why do you want to come with me?"
"I feel like it would be awkward with Dean." I say, "And besides, it'll take them a while to get there so I thought maybe we could have a bit more fun."
"I like that thought."
"Do you think you'll be able to be on top or should I?" I ask.
"I think I can."
"Perfect." I walk up to him and pull him towards me by grabbing his jacket and pull him towards the bed.
****
Last time we did this, we didn't do any kissing or anything like that, this time we did and he has really soft lips.
"You did pretty well." I say.
"Thank you, so did you."
"Thanks." I say with a giggle. His hair is messed up and it's kind of adorable. "We should probably get going." I say getting up and getting dressed. Cas does the same. His hair stays ruffled and messed up.
When we appear at the Campbell base, it's right in Samuel's office.
"Hello Ashlee. This Castiel? You're scrawnier than I pictured." Samuel says.
"This is a vessel. My true form is approximately the size of your Chrysler building." Cas says.
"Alright, alright. Quit bragging. So, you were dead, and..." Dean says turning to Samuel.
"And pow, I was on Elton ridge. Don't know how. Don't know why. I got nothing to hide, guys."
"Well, you kind if Cas here double-checks?" Cas walks over to him and does the same thing he did me to check for a soul. Samuel starts screaming.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. It's okay, it's okay, it's okay." Sam says to Christian who barges into the office.
"What the hell?" Christian asks.
"Angel cavity search." I say.
"I'm fine Christian. Just give us a minute." Samuel says.
"But..."
"Just give us a minute." Samuel says then Christian leaves. "What the hell was that about?"
"His soul is intact."
"What? Of course I have a...What's going on Sam?"
"Whatever dragged us out...left some pieces behind."
"Did you know?" I ask Samuel.
"No, but I... I knew it was something. I...you're a hell of a hunter, both of you are, but the truth is...sometimes you scare me. So, what's the deal here? How do we fix this? How do we get their souls back?"
"We don't know yet, but we have to." Dean says.
"Well, I'm here to help, of course. What leads you working?"
"A bunch of dead ends and you." Sam says.
"Well, then we'll just have to dig." Samuel says.
"Sam, Dean... I have to get back." Cas says. I look over at Cas. Why is this happening?
"You're leaving?" I ask. I think there was a bit more sadness in that question than I intended.
"I'm in the middle of a civil war."
"You better tear the attic up, find something to help them." Dean says.
"Of course. Your problems always come first. I'll be in touch." Cas says, looks at me, it looks like he's blushing and then disappears.
"Ash?" Dean asks.
"Dean." I say.
"What was that look?"
"Nothing." I say, I turn to Sam and give him a look to help me change the subject.
"So what's with the book club outside?" Sam asks.
"Putting together a hunt." Samuel says.
"That's a lot of guys for one hunt." Dean says.
"You found him, didn't you?" I ask.
"Who?" Dean asks.
"He's got a lead on the alpha vamp." I say.
"Do you?"
"Maybe. Yeah." Samuel says.
"How'd you track him down?"
"We're good."
"That's all I get? 'We're good'?"
"When's the run?" Sam asks.
"Dawn."
"You didn't call us. Why?"
"Because of me. You don't trust me very much, do you? Especially when it comes to big game like this." Dean says.
"That's not true." Samuel says.
"Okay, well then. We're in."
"No offense, but-"
"So you don't trust me." Dean says.
"No, I just don't know you. Not like I know Sam or Ash."
"Alright. You call the plays. 100%. I'm here to listen."
"Since when?" Samuel asks with a chuckle.
"Big daddy bloodsucker? I ain't gonna miss that. But this is your deal. Okay? I get it. I'll follow your lead. I trust you." Dean says.
"Well, okay then." We walk outside to talk without the chance of anyone hearing us.
"I don't trust him. Dude's hiding something."
"What?" I ask.
"I can feel it. And if you weren't Robo-versions of you, you'd feel it, too."
"Huh."
"What?" Dean asks.
"Just...you. Saying you don't trust family."
"Look, we hang close, blend in, we see what we can pick up."
"You think Samuel is connected to this whole soul thing?" Sam asks.
"I still think he's the only lead we got."
"Well, let's give this a try then." I say. We head back inside, Dean walks in the direction of Samuel's office for whatever reason as me and Sam sit down in the main area of the Campbell base where there's about 10 hunters preparing various weapons for the fight.
Around midnight, we leave to for the Alpha vamp's house. When we get there it's about 5 am. Because there's so many of us, there's a few vehicles going. Once we're a close enough distance to walk, but still far enough that the vamps wouldn't hear us we all stop in our vehicles and get out to go over the game plan.
"The house is just over the hill. About a dozen vamps and the alpha. We got one shot at this son of a bitch." Samuel says. "Christian, take flank. The rest of you are with me and Sam. Dean, Gwen and Ash...hang back, sweep any stragglers we flush out. Problem, Dean?"
"No, sir."
"I'm in the rear with the rejects?" Gwen asks.
"Alright, let's go." Samuel says.
"Don't worry. It's fine." Sam says.
"No, nothing's fine. You're not fine. Go. Go." Me, Dean and Gwen decide to hang in the woods that lines the road, chances are that if there are any vamps they'd come through here to avoid being seen.
"Sorry about the reject thing." Gwen says.
"Ah, we've been called worse." I say.
"Just uh, get sick of being left behind. Think it's probably because I remind him of his daughter or something."
"Well, you just speak your mind." Dean says.
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"You should." I say. We hear branches snapping from somewhere. Gwen is the first to react and she gets thrown to the ground, me and Dean try a double attack with no luck, but luckily this gives Gwen enough time to get up and chop the vamp's head off.
"You're welcome." She says. We hear gunshots coming from the house. Automatically me and Dean run over there. "We're supposed to wait here!" More gunshots. There's a lot of people screaming. Pounding on windows. There's a gate surrounding the house which we're able to sneak over.
"Dean!" One of the girls screams from inside the house as she sees us through the window and then is grabbed from behind her and taken away.
"Sam!" I hear Samuel yell from around the house. Me and Dean silently walk around the house to find out what's going on. Sam, Samuel and a few other hunters have someone walking towards the back of an SUV with a bag over their head and hands tied behind their back.
Me and Dean walk back over to Gwen.
"Where were you?" Gwen asks.
"Everything alright here?" Samuel asks as him and the rest of the hunters come over.
"Just uh, chopped a runner. No big deal. How'd it go?"
"Rough, but one alpha down." Samuel says.
"Where is it? Want to pay my last respects." Dean says.
"Well, bring marshmallows. Already on the pyre." Samuel says as he gets into his vehicle and the rest of us do the same. As soon as we start driving I get transported back to the Campbell base without any warning.
"What the hell?" I yell
"Sam and Dean were going to tear each other apart." I hear Cas say from behind me making me turn around to face him.
"So what you're watching out for me now? Is that what's going on? You could've given me a bit of a head's up." I say. "We sleep together all of what, 2 times and you think you can watch over me?"
"I'm sorry Ashlee. I could not let you get involved."
"So why bring me here?"
"It was the first place I thought of."
"So what are we doing then?"
"Getting you out of harm's way and destressing." Cas says making me laugh.
"I've seen and been involved in many of their fights, that would have been no big deal, but destressing? So you like that then?"
"I very much enjoy that feeling."
"Haha okay. Let's go then." The whole group takes a while to get back so we are able to make great use Christian's bed area of the base. They take so long we are able to make fantastic use of it about 3 times. By the time they get back, it's already night time. I'm rushing to get my clothes on but I check my phone as soon as Cas disappears. 3 missed calls from Dean, 2 from Sam and a bunch of texts from both. I walk out back into the main area. Dean and Sam are the only ones to walk in.
"Ash, what the hell happened to you?" Dean asks.
"Someone zapped me outta the car. You two the first to get here?" I ask
"Guess so, why is your shirt backwards?" I look down.
"Oh, I didn't even realize it was." I say as I just take if off in front of the brothers and put it back on properly.
"What are those marks on your neck?" Sam asks. I glare at him.
"Ash, what's going on?!" Dean asks.
"I like having fun! Is that such a big deal?" I ask.
"Who did that?"
"None of your business."
"Fine, well, we have a plan after Samuel and his minions get back if you'd like to join that."
"Definitely."
"Great, well, I told Sam that we saw him manhandling the alpha and this goes for you too because I'm assuming you know about the torturing thing that Samuel's been doing. Neither of you have any instinct. So I'm in charge, I call the shots, and you two tell me everything, whether it's important or not because you can't tell the difference. Sam is going to try to get in with Samuel and it interrogating and then we'll go from there, but this is completely up to him with whether or not he comes back."
"Sounds good." I say as Samuel walks through the door. Me and Dean decide to hang around for a bit before taking off to put the plan in place. He drives the impala a few minutes down the road and shuts the car off while we wait for Sam to hopefully come back. This will be so awkward.
"So who gave you those marks?" Dean asks after what feels like a long time of silence.
"Um...well, Cas took me up on my offer for fun...more than once."
"Son of a bitch." Dean mutters. And again I'm saved by Sam hopping into the impala's backseat.
"Hey." I say to him.
"You didn't think I'd come back." Sam says.
"I figured 60/40." Dean says.
"So, Samuel didn't take the bait. So I went with plan 'B'." Sam opens up the laptop he brought.
"We had a plan 'B'?"
"Fired up the GPS on one of his cellphones. We should be able to track him right to the alpha."
"The old man won't notice?"
"Trust me. He think Velcro is big news." I say.
"There. Got him." He hands me the laptop and there a map and a big red dot to where Samuel is.
Dean drives us to the same spot that Samuel is, it looks like a big warehouse. We go around to the side where the main entrance is. There's blood on the deadbolt.
"Dead man's blood." I say.
"Smart. Lock the place down with vampire repellant." Dean says and starts picking the lock. We silently walk through the hallways of the warehouse once we get inside. We hear a door open and quickly hide in the nearest room. After we're sure that whoever that was is gone, we get out from our hiding spot and keep going. We hear Samuel's voice.
"Where is it? Answer the question. Where is it? How do we find it?" I hear the sound of electricity crackling.
"Ouch. Stop. That hurts." Another voice says sarcastically. Must be the alpha. The crackling stops.
"This is club med compared to what we have planned for you. I got all the time in the world." Samuel says.
"Well, that makes two of us." I hear Samuel pick something up and then throw it back down after a while and then he leaves the room.
"Are you three going to hide all night? Come on out." The alpha says, obviously to us. We walk into the room. "How can I help you?"
"We got some questions for you, Skippy, since you're going nowhere fast." Dean says.
"Don't be so sure."
"Yeah? Locked down pretty tight. And with all that dead blood rushing through your veins, not sure you got enough juice to fire up that psychic bat-signal of yours, do you?" I ask.
"True. Not near enough juice for that... Ashlee."
"I didn't realize we were on a first name basis."
"Of course we are. After all, you were my child...for a time. Ashlee, tell me... did you enjoy it?"
"We're asking questions here, fright night." Dean says. He turns on the electricity.
"When your kind first huddled around the fire, I was the thing in the dark! Now you think you can hurt me? I have all night. Anyway, I'm happy to tell you whatever you want to know."
"Why?" Sam asks.
"Why? Because soon, I'll be ankle-deep in your blood, sucking the marrow from your bones."
"So you're really it. The first of your species."
"The very first."
"But if you're the first...Who made you?" I ask.
"We all have our mothers. Even me."
"What does that mean?" Dean asks. "And what's with the big surge of vamps lately? I mean, its like-"
"Like we're going to war."
"Why? What's going on? Why did Samuel bring you here?" Sam asks. The vamp sniffs the air.
"You smell cold. You both do. You have no souls. What an oddity. Do you feel how empty you are? What is it like to have no soul? Answer my question."
"You first. You're the one in the cage." I say.
"The thing about souls, if you've got one, of course, is that they're predictable. You die, you go up or down. Where do my kind go?"
"Alright, enough with the sermon, freak." Dean says.
"I'm trying to answer the question. Now, when we 'freaks' die...where do we go? Not heaven, not hell. So?"
"Legoland?" Dean asks.
"Little rusty on our Dante?"
"Purgatory." Me and Sam say.
"Purgatory? It's real." Dean asks.
"Oh, stupid cattle. Of course! And it is filled with the soul of every hungry thing like me that ever walked this earth. Now, where is it? That is the mystery. And that is what your kindhearted granddaddy is trying to beat out of me."
"Samuel brought you here...to find out where purgatory is?" Sam asks.
"I keep telling him, how would I know such a thing? But he refuses to untie me."
"You know exactly where it is. Why does Samuel care about any of this?" I ask.
"He doesn't care. He does as he's told."
"Well, if the old man's Kermit...whose hand's up his ass?" Dean says. We hear a gun cock from behind us and turn around to see Samuel, Christian and some other hunter.
"Evening, guys." Samuel says. Samuel gets us all to talk outside of the room leaving his random hunter in the room with the alpha and making us throw all of our weapons into a pile on the floor.
"Wow, you know. I have seen some stupid in my time, but you take the crown. Putting Jaws in a fishbowl? How do you think that's gonna end? I don't know what kind of game you're running-"
"What, do you think I'm doing this for kicks?" Samuel interrupts.
"I think you've got the rest of these feebs convinced that you're John Wayne. So whatever you're doing, whatever you're hiding... it's gonna put you and everyone around you in the ground." Another gun cocks from beside us.
"Hi." Gwen says.
"Gwen. And I thought we had something special." We hear a yell from inside
"Grab your stuff." Samuel says. The hunter is dead on the floor and the alpha is nowhere to be seen.
"How long till the alpha's 100%?" I ask.
"Hour. Maybe less. We need to get him dosed up and back in the cage."
"No." Dean says.
"What do you mean 'no'?"
"I mean, I don't know what your big plan was, but playing catch is not on the table."
"Dean-"
"We take the thing's head off or it kills us all! You know that." Samuel nods his head. "Ok. We split up. Clear every room. You get a shot, you take it. It's not gonna kill him, but dude will move a lot slower without any kneecaps. And if we make it through this, you, me, Sam and Ash are having one hell of a family meeting." We all talk a walk around the building looking for the alpha who is nowhere so we end up going back to the main room we were in before.
"You think he ran out?" Christian asks. The alpha comes, Christian advances on him and he gets thrown down. Me and Sam rush him after Dean and Samuel but we get pushed back.
"The kids with no soul. I've got big plans for you. It's amazing how that pesky little soul gets in the way. But not for you. You will be the perfect...animal." Sam gets thrown to the side and the vamp bares his fangs and starts leaning towards me. I watch as Christian comes up behind and stabs him with a syringe filled with dead man's blood.
"Christian?" I ask. His eyes are black. Suddenly Christian and the alpha have disappeared. We hear slow clapping from somewhere in the room.
"Well, that was dramatic." Crowley says.
"Crowley?" Sam asks.
"Hello. What an unexpected treat."
"Bring Christian back now." Samuel says.
"I'm sorry?"
"My nephew! The one you just crammed a demon into!"
"Oh. No. I had him possessed ages ago. Samuel, really. I keep an eye on my investments."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. You two know each other?" Dean asks.
"Not in the biblical sense. More of a business relationship, I'd say."
"You're Crowley's bitch." I say.
"It's not what you think." Samuel says.
"It's precisely what you think. That alpha he's caught me is getting him a gold star." Crowley says.
"Since when do you give a crap about vampires?" Dean asks.
"Since, uh...what's today, Friday? Since, let's see...Mind your business."
"You may as well share with the class, Crowley. We know you're looking for Purgatory." I say.
"So you heard about that?"
"Yeah, you want to tell us why?"
"Isn't it obvious? Location, location, location. I'm a developer. Purgatory is vast, underutilized, and hell-adjacent, and I want it."
"What for?" Dean asks.
"Best shut you gob. Employees don't question management."
"We ain't your employees."
"Of course you are! Have been for some time now, thanks to gramps. I don't keep Captain Chromedome around for his wit, do I? Samuel knows things. More than any of you, actually. Walking encyclopedia of the creepy and the crawly. And I knew... You two are so hung up on family-loyalty nonsense, he said jump, you'd get froggy."
"Yeah, well, the game's over." I say.
"Yeah, well, afraid not. Not if you want to see yours and Sam's soul ever again."
"You're bluffing." Sam says.
"Tell them, Samuel."
"He pulled us all back, me, Sam and Ashlee."
"What? You knew?" Sam asks.
"No, Cas says it takes big-time mojo to pull something like that off, and you're nothing but a punk-ass crossroads demon." I say.
"Was a punk-ass crossroads demon. Now? King of hell. Believe me, I've got the mojo. I snap my fingers, Sam and Ash gets their souls back. Or you can be...You, and I shove Sam and Ash right back in the hole. Can't imagine what it's like in there... and I can imagine so many things. So, we clear? Me, Charlie... you, angels. Job's simple enough -- bring me creatures. Aim high on the food chain, please. Everybody wins. It's been a pleasure. See you soon." And then he disappears.
"You're letting a demon call the shots?" Gwen asks.
"Nothing's changed. We hunt. Period. Don't worry about him. I'll take care of it. You trust me or not? Get the van, Gwen."
"Working with a demon, huh?" Sam asks. Samuel starts packing up his weapons.
"You're not who I thought you were." I say.
"You don't know anything about me." Samuel says.
"So, what's so important that you're the king of hell's cabana boy, huh? What'd he offer you? Girls? Money? Hair?" Dean asks. Samuel starts to walk out when Dean stands in the way.
"I got my reasons. You gonna make a move, go ahead."
"Or what?"
"Or nothing. I'm not gonna do anything to you, Dean. You three...you're my family. So the way I see it, you got two choices. Put a bullet in your grandfather or step aside." Dean steps aside and lets Samuel go.
"He sold us out." I say.
"I know. Let it go." Dean says.
"Why?" Sam asks.
"Get out of here."
"So, what now?" I ask.
"We can't work for Crowley."
"Are you sure about that?"
"I don't think you understand. Demons bone one of you every time."
"Oh, no. We get it, we do, believe me." Sam says.
"Just running the math, do we really have another choice?" I say.
"We could stab him in his throat."
"And get our souls back how? I'm just saying, seems like we got to play ball, at least for the moment."
"I have done some stupid things in my time, but punching a demon's clock?" Dean asks.
"Look, just till we find another way." I say.
"And then?"
"And then we track Crowley down and give that son of a bitch what's coming to him. You with us, Dean?"
