Losing Hope | {BOOK 4}

41| Curing Cass

Maddie, Zep and I were playing a game in the library when the boys brought Rowena back. The second they came through the door, Zep jumped out of his seat and ran into my arms and Maddie stared at the witch with wide eyes.

"Hello again, dearies," Rowena purred, looking over.

"Don't you talk to them," Dean growled, pushing her down the hall toward room 7B.

Sam trailed behind him, carrying Rowena's bags. A flash of protective anger coursed through me at the thought of the witch being anywhere near my kids. I knew they had been in the abandoned brewery where the group had been working to read 'The Book of the Damned' to cure me of the Mark, and the thought nearly sent me spiraling. Not that I didn't trust that Sam and Dean had kept Maddie and Zep far away from most of the action, but still.

Once the trio was out of sight down the hall, I looked down at Zep, who I was hugging in my arms and then across the table at Maddie.

"Come on," I coaxed them both gently. "Let's keep playing. Zep, it's our turn."

A few minutes later, Sam appeared back in the doorway.

"Ellie, have you seen Cass?"

"I thought he was in the spare room."

"Well, he's not there now."

My heart dropped in my chest, and I moved Zep off my lap, setting him down on my chair.

"Mommy?" he looked up at me.

"Mama?" Maddie also chimed in.

"Stay here with Uncle Sammy," I told them.

Sam and I exchanged a look as I passed him, and then he moved toward the table while I rushed down the hall. I double checked Cass's room, even though I trusted Sam was right about the angel not being there. Just as he said, the room was empty and I headed to room 7B to tell Dean. He turned to look at me, Rowena chained up in a chair behind him.

"Dean!"

"Yeah?"

"Hey, we can't find Cass."

"What?"

"He's not there. He- he- he broke free. He's gone."

Leaving Sam behind with the kids, Dean and I dragged Rowena along with us to go search for Cass.

"So absurd, driving in circles looking for your unhinged angel," the witch rolled her eyes in the back seat.

"We're not driving in circles, alright?" Dean snapped. "We're locked onto his phone's G.P.S. We're tracking his location."

"I have no idea what you just said, but I'm sure I could do it a lot faster."

"Yeah, maybe you could, but you would have to do a spell, which means we would have to take the cuffs off, and we are not going to take the cuffs off," I glared back at her.

"There's no trust? Are we not a team?"

"No," Dean and I chorused.

"I have myself to blame," Rowena sighed, staring out the window. "Should never make deals with Winchesters, since they seem unable to hold up their end of the bargain."

"Meaning what?" I asked.

"Oh, just the thing between Dean, Crowley, and myself."

"What? What's she talking about?"

"Oh, surely, you knew Dean made a deal with me to kill my son if I removed the Mark of Cain from your arm. Well, is the Mark gone? Yes. Is Crowley dead? No."

I was glaring over at Dean, who was white-knuckling the steering wheel and refusing to look at me.

"Mm," Rowena broke into a grin as she saw our reactions. "Oh, she didn't know? She didn't know!"

"Look, I was gonna tell you," Dean finally glanced over at me. "Obviously, nothing ever came of it, so I-I figured there was no point, you know?"

"No point, huh?"

"I-I mean, I see what Eleanor's saying. Your wee pal Castiel wouldn't be in this pickle if you'd done what you'd promised. I would've had no reason to cast the attack dog spell if Crowley was already dead. Good point."

"It's not my point," I snapped. "Dean knows my point. Key word- secrets."

"Ah, well, I'm just glad I got the conversation flowing. Family relations are a speciality of mine."

"Hey."

"Did he stop?" Dean looked over at me.

"Yeah, he stopped. And he's close."

We parked the Impala in an alley, climbing out and dragging Rowena with us to find Cass. While Dean and Rowena went one way, I went another. As I wandered, I heard something crash and followed the sound to a warehouse. When I got inside, Cass was holding a girl by the throat.

"Ah!" the girl cried.

"Cass! Cass!" I called out, and he looked at me, eyes crazed. "Don't do this. Okay, this isn't you. It's the spell. You can beat this. Cass... let her go."

After a tense moment, he did as I said and the girl ran away from him toward me.

"Go!" I told her, pushing her back toward the door. "Go, go, go."

As soon as she left, I took a step toward Cass, hands open in a placating gesture.

"Hey," I said gently. "Okay, okay. It's going to be okay, buddy, alright?"

I groaned as the angel started attacking me. While we were fighting, Dean and Rowena showed up and Rowena began reciting the counter spell.

"Desiste," she said, then paused.

"Do I need to remind you these are witch-killing bullets?" Dean growled at her. "Finish it!"

"Yes, yes, alright," she sighed, holding out her hands toward me and Cass. "Adlevo onus tuum."

I was breathing heavily as Cass's eyes returned to normal, effects of the attack dog spell gone.

"Cass? Cass?" I crouched down, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Hey. Hey, hey, hey. Come on. Come on. Yeah. Hey."

Just then, Rowena turned toward Dean, casting another spell.

"Permitte telum. Abi!"

Dean groaned, sinking to his knees as he clutched his stomach in pain.

"No!" I cried out.

"Impedi!" Rowena cried, stopping me in my tracks. "I'm sure you had every intention of honoring our deal. But why take chances?"

⁘

Cass, Dean and I were back in the main room of the Bunker, Dean bringing me a beer from the other room.

"Hey," Dean said when I took the ice pack off my face. "You should keep applying that."

"Thanks, mom," I quipped. "You just keep the beers comin'."

"Eleanor, I..." Cass began. "There aren't words."

"You're right," I told him. "There aren't words, Cass, 'cause there's no need. You were under a spell. It's fine."

"Yeah, but you had Rowena. Because of me, you..."

"You know, Cass, we've got the codex," Dean jumped in. "That's a start. You know, it'll slow Rowena down some. If we'd killed her, 'The Book of the Damned' would've been lost."

"Besides, we got bigger fish to fry," I added.

"The Darkness," Cass acknowledged. "What does he want?"

"Well, the big question is, where is he?" I asked.

"Eleanor, I can fix that," the angel gestured to my wounds.

"No, no, no," I protested, holding up a hand. "No, no. It's fine, Cass. Besides, I had it comin'."