The Bodyguard (is the Omega)

13.

There was a cheer like a wave washing up onto the stage.

"You guys wanna hear a song? Now I know Run To You was a love song. I wrote it for this special guy who's just come into my life. You know who you are," Dean turned around and winked at Castiel, who had stepped back into the off stage shadows. "But this is a love song too. Different kind of love song. Now you might be an alpha, an omega, or a beta. A man or a women or whoever you wanna be. You're the Queen of the Night. The King of the Night. Be the night, don't give a crap what anyone else thinks of you cause that's on them. Just have a freaking good night!"

Dean started singing. It was an anthem with a catchy chorus, just the sort of song that was easy to win over a crowd. The guitar riff was fast and dirty and Dean flung off his cape to show stylised armour artfully covering his chest, arms and legs. For a second Castiel had the hysterical thought that maybe the armour could be more than superficially protective. He ran his eyes over the crowd, the whole point of having Garth point out every known Alpha Alliance face was that Castiel needed to work out who didn't belong. The people in that group were mostly known to each other, but there were some lone wolves too, baited out by the chance to cause trouble. Working on the premise that The Empty stalker was a loner he would probably dress like one of them. That's what Castiel would have done, blended into the crowd of discontents, hid his bitter face amongst the others.

A bunch of backup dancers Hannah had already screened ran up behind Dean on queue. They moved around their well rehearsed marks and shielded Dean from view while the rigging technician quickly connected Dean. Then they moved away from Dean again and as the music crescendoed, Dean shot right up in the air on the wire, still singing in midair. He was getting back into the repetitive chorus again, but now that he was up there he was taking off his armour. The pieces were plastic and he threw them one by one into the writhing crowd, revealing the soft pink lace bodysuit he wore underneath. The delicate and seductive outfit got the crowd roaring and Dean's voice hit all the hight notes then rolled into husky bass.

Castiel saw the man move through the crowd, his face hidden by a vinyl cap, his arms bare and glittered. The vest he wore bore the head of a wolf with a bloodied mouth and golden alpha eyes. He had a red bandana pulled up high over his mouth and nose. That one, Garth had said he's never seen that guy before. Castiel took one step back, then propelled himself forward, startling a few dancers as he leapt off the stage. His eyes honing in on the hand that was in the guy's pocket, he dealt a blow to the masked face, hearing the satisfying crunch of nose bones shattering. There was a pained grunt but the man still managed to press the button on his remote control. There was no explosion, maybe it didn't work. Doing that gave Castiel just enough time to jump on him. He had him in his grip, the hat fell to the ground, he got a fistful of dirty blonde hair. On the stage, Dean was slowly coming down from the ceiling.

Then the chemical being released by the stalker took effect. The crowd went still at first, the air was suddenly heavy and sweet. It dawned on Castiel why the guy was wearing the bandanna, it wasn't for a disguise. He let go of the target and snatched the bandanna just as the crowd reacted to the inducer that was being pumped through the club's air conditioner. The man slipped from his fingers, crawling away, eaten up by the masses, but at least now Castiel had a way of saving Dean.

Alpha eyes started glowing all around the room. They looked confused but a few were already charging the stage. Dean hadn't been hit by the inducers as he had been hanging up in the ceiling. Which made it worse, because he wasn't out of his mind with pheromones and he was afraid. His eyes were dull gold as he did his best to fight off the alphas who were attacking him brazenly now. Ripping at his costume and putting their hands all over him. Calling him names for the clothes he wore and salivating over it at the same time. Dean retaliated with fists and elbow, well aimed kicks and sheer strength of will. Hannah and Samandriel were on stage, they couldn't fire their guns because of all the civilians in the room, so they were carving a path of broken noses and cracked ribs towards Dean. Then the inducer started acting on them too, Hannah grabbed Samandriel by the wrist and started resolutely dragging him away from Dean. Samandriel wasn't too far gone and he scrambled off the stage with her. Dean stood a better chance of survival against the affected rabble than two fully armed elite bodyguards off their heads on inducers.

The omegas in the audience were bunching up, circled by the alphas while the betas tried to intervene to no avail.

Garth ran up to Castiel "I know where the fire exits are, I'm extremely claustrophobic so I scoped those out!"

"We'll lead people out, you got this bodyguard dude?" Ash looked ready to take on the world.

Castiel nodded. "Get the betas to help, they aren't affected, it's inducer."

"Fucking things should be banned, personal use my ass," Ash swore.

"Stay safe security man," Garth gave Castiel a comradely nod and ran off with Ash to evacuate all the omegas out of the place.

Castiel could barely see Dean now, just occasional flashes of his sparkling head dress, the crystal encrusted horns reflecting the stage lights. Castiel ran behind the stage and grabbed a hold of a beta wiring technician.

"Eyes on me," he said to her. She nodded when she realised what he was going to do.

She hooked him up to the wire at lightning speed and pressed the button to hoist him up. She overrode the speed break and Castiel grabbed the wire with one hand to maintain his balance. He swung form the air and swooped down over the pile of alphas, spinning as he kicked the ones in the inner circle on the head. Dean reached up and Castiel grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him out of hell. Dean hooked his legs around Castiel's waist and wound his arms around Castiel's neck, his face buried in Castiel's chest.

Ketch helped steady them when the wire technician lowered them down back stage. "Come on this way!"

He charged ahead of them, fists flying at anyone who stood in his way.

Castiel held Dean tightly against him. Dean wasn't able to walk, his knees kept buckling, he was mostly naked and bleeding. Castiel lifted Dean in a fireman carry and went out the back way. He knew the layout of the club well from his fastidious planning. He didn't even need to alert Charlie over the headset. She'd already pulled the limo up in the back alley as soon as she saw people running out. Castiel got Dean into the backseat and Charlie took off.

Dean curled up against the leather backseats, not making eye contact. Castiel took off his jacket and draped it around Dean's shoulders. When he saw that Dean was still shaking, he picked up his trench coat and wrapped that over Dean too. Dean made a hoarse sound in the back of his throat.

"You're in shock," Castiel said. "And you're probably feeling the inducers too. Here, you need fluids and glucose."

Castiel reached for an orange juice from the limo bar. He opened it, sliding the straw into the cardboard box. Carefully he raised it to Dean's eye level and gently placed the tip of the straw over Dean's bottom lip. Dean leaned forward and sucked greedily, the juice box collapsing as he drank in great gulps.

"You K?" Dean managed to say when he'd drained the whole juice. His eyes were still mostly yellow gold but he seemed to recognise Castiel and there was concern in his voice.

"I had a bandanna soaked in suppressants, I'll be fine," Castiel knew that was a lie. The suppressants would only delay the effects and he knew what inducers did to him. How his body reacted. He had to get Dean home and safe before that happened.

Before his heat came.