Sweet Sacrifice (Cas, Paimon)

[The Preceptor]

Adam Meyer. That was his name.

He wasn't exactly tall, dark and handsome. In fact, one would venture to say that he was slightly below average in height. But he had this sandy blonde hair that was adorably cute because it looked perfect even though he put forth no effort to make it so. And his big, chocolate brown eyes were irresistible... many women had fallen victim to their charms. And that didn't even begin to cover how his sweet kisses could make a girl weak in the knees...

Of course, that was back when he was four years old... back when Annali would babysit him three days a week. Of all the children who had come and gone in Annali's life, Adam had to be the one that she was the most attached to. She adored him like she would her own child. Even after Mrs. Meyer had resigned from her job to become a stay-at-home mother and Annali's services as a babysitter were no longer needed, she still stayed close to the young boy.

So it would be understandable why Annali was reacting this way to the phone call she received just a few days ago. This sweet, precious boy, who had just turned thirteen years old, had been battling leukemia for quite some time and now laid in a hospital bed surrounded by his love ones, just trying to hang on to one more day. The news had been overwhelming to her, and she had left Bobby's house without a word and come back home to Topeka... and she had been ignoring calls from both he and Dean because if they knew what she was up to, there was no way they would let her go through with it.



Before meeting Dean Winchester, Annali had no idea that crossroad deals with demons were real. Sure, it was sort of a legend that she had heard, something she believed to be a myth, but her eyes had been opened up to so many things she had thought before to be impossible. Now, she stood at a dirt crossroads a few miles from her own neighborhood, her car parked off to the side. Aside from the company of the moon and a few scattered trees, she was alone... for now.

A cool breeze blew and Annali wasn't sure if it was the chill that caused her to shiver or the situation. If this went according to plan, she was about to come face to face with an actual demon... something she had been hearing quite a bit about over the last several months.. something she was in no hurry to encounter. If this went according to plan, a healthy young kindergarten teacher was about to cut down her life expectancy considerably. If this went according to plan... Adam Meyer would be freed of his cancer and would live a long, healthy life in her place.

She stared down at the contents of the school supply box she held in her hands, her stomach turning in knots. It occurred to her briefly that if something went wrong here, it was possible that this demon might come and kill her right then and there rather than grant her ten years. She flipped the lid closed on the box and reached into her jacket pocket, pulled out her cell phone, and dialed Dean's number. Her heart lurched a bit in her chest when she heard his recorded voice on the other line, and she found herself grateful that she could just leave him a message rather than have to answer any questions.

"Dean, it's... it's me.... It's Li. Listen, I um... I can't tell you what I'm doing , I just... I needed to tell you... in case things, you know... go wrong." She paused, took a deep breath, and let it out in a heavy sigh. "Dean I love you. I will always love you. Please forgive me for what I'm about to do." Annali's finger lingered on the end call button for a moment before she finally pressed it, dropping the phone back into her jacket pocket. Then she kneeled right there in the center of the crossroads and dug a shallow hole, gently placed the box into it, and covered it, wiping the back of her hand across her eyes to dry her tears as she stood up again and waited.

[Deleted]

I see a red door and I want it painted black.
No colors anymore - I want them to turn black.
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes.
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes...

Paimon whistled along with the Stones as he came up the basement stairs of his club. He nudged the door open with his foot as he carried a case of beer. He willed the door closed behind him as he headed for the bar. His eyes had turned a fiery red for a split second as he'd used his telekinesis to close the basement door. But, they were his host's clear blue eyes now as he set the case down behind the bar, raking a hand through his highlighted hair. The young woman tending bar had only been working for him a few weeks, but she was a good bartender and learned quickly. He hadn't had any problems with her so far.

"There you go," he said.

He gave her a small smile and nodded toward the case of beer. Julia was the only bartender on tonight. Normally there'd be someone else behind the bar to help her out, but the club was a bit short staffed these days, so he'd gone down to the fridge in the basement to pull up a case of beer for her. Now it was her job to stock the stuff.

But Julia didn't move. She just stood there blinking at him for a long moment. He wrinkled his brows.

"You okay, sugar?" he asked.

She opened her mouth to say something, then changed her mind and did her best to smile.

"Yeah... I'm fine," she said. "No worries."

She hurried over to the case of beer and started unloading the bottles and putting them in the fridge behind her. Paimon studied her curiously. No, she'd noticed something. It was probably the telekinesis. He hadn't even thought about it when he'd done it. He tensed a little, almost inperceptibly. Now he'd have to deal with this somehow. Either tell her straight up what was going on, or make up a convincing lie... and if neither of those went over, he'd have to get rid of her and get a new bartender...

Before he could figure out how to remedy the situation he felt a strong tug. Like someone had tied a rope around his waist and pulled.

"Oh, son of a..."

He sighed, a bit annoyed at the timing. He touched Julia's shoulder casually and she flinched like she'd just been slapped.

"Woah, sorry. Didn't mean to scare you, sweetheart," he said casually. "I gotta head out for a bit, so if you need any help ask one of the bouncers. They're good at lugging heavy boxes around."

He winked and headed swiftly out from behind the bar, noting the fact that Julia looked relieved to see him go. He worked his way through the crowd as that tugging feeling got stronger and stronger. Pretty soon he wouldn't have any control over it and he'd just disappear and reappear somewhere else. He managed to make it outside the club at least before it happened.

When he reappeared he was standing in the center of a crossroads very much in the middle of nowhere. He looked around a little, not really caring where he was at the moment. It was more to note that there were no salt lines or devil's traps present.

All he saw aside from a few trees was a car way off in the distance and a pretty young woman, who looked a little nervous. Her eyes were slightly swollen, like she'd been crying.

When Paimon opened his mouth to speak he sung his words to the tune of Paint it Black by the Rolling Stones.

"I see a pretty girl who wants to make a deal.
But I see by your face you're not sure I'm for real.
Let me first assure you that I can really help you out.
It's time for you to let me know what this is all about."

He smiled, letting his eyes go red momentarily before blinking them back to blue again. Then he took a little bow.

[Deleted]

Castiel knew that something was wrong, he didn’t know who or what, but he felt like there was something major happening, he had that gut feeling, or the feeling of his Father telling him this. Sometimes that DID actually happen, though sometimes he didn’t know that i was from God, or from his superiors. It was hard to tell because God wasn’t as...present as he used to be. Castiel knew of the child, because his superiors told him of the child at the time. Castiel also knew that Annali was close to this child, and of course, he knew of Annali. He also knew that he had to stop what she was about to do. He knew how much Dean cared for her, but not only that, there was no reason for her to loose her life this way.

Castiel knew Annali was about to make a deal. Of course he knew, because he had been keeping an eye on her. It worried him, how easily humans can make deals and such. Why did she not just call on the angels for her problem? He didn’t understand humans at times.

The demon she had called...Castiel knew that he would not be defeated easily. He slowly watched as the demon spoke to her, looking over her shoulder, and trying not to be seen. He would wait until last minute perhaps, if he was able to stop the deal at all. He hoped that it would be within his orders. Things were so hectic between Heaven and Hell lately that Castiel was hesitant to walk anywhere within a demons reach, though he could take out most demons, still...some really odd things were happening and Castiel always liked to wait it out to see if he could find out more. He didn’t understand why Annali was making this deal, or why she would do such a thing and risk her own life.

For now, Cas waited, and he called to his brothers hoping that one of them would hear him and want to help him stop her from doing this.

He could hear the demons sing song voice, and he knew that the demon was going to take advantage of her for every chance that he had. Castiel watched and waited hoping that this wouldn’t take place. If it did, he would step in and stop Annali. He had to, even if it wasn’t within his orders. He couldn’t stand by idloy and watch.

He was sick of getting ordered around, sick of not being able to help his friends when they needed it the most. He knew he was starting to rebel a bit, and it scared him. More then anything. He was scared of falling. He didn’t wish to fall, but he knew he was coming close to it. So for now, until he received orders to help her, he sat and watched, and waited in the dark. He would step in if it was appropriate.

[The Preceptor]

Whatever Annali had been expecting, this wasn't it. She had heard numerous horror stories from Dean about demons and everything they were capable of but never had they really discussed what to expect when meeting one face to face... likely because Dean probably never would have imagined Annali would be foolish or desperate enough to ever summon one. Now and then a visual image of a demon would run through her mind and they always included horns, flaming eyes, horrific, thunderous voices and rows of sharp, venom-dripping teeth, but this guy seemed so... normal. If it hadn't been for the fact that he practically labeled himself with his altered song lyrics and appeared from nowhere, she probably wouldn't know that there was anything particularly off about him.

Still, his human appearance didn't keep her from being terrified. She knew what he was and she knew that if she wasn't careful with every word and every move, she was going to be looking at a future of much less than ten years. She listened to his little song and felt oddly like a storybook princess, and he was somewhat of a Rumplestiltskin. Annali felt suddenly cold, and she shivered, wrapping her arms around herself and taking a step back away from him, her frightened blue eyes locked on the demon. Now that the time had come... she wasn't sure if she could go through with it.

"Are you..." She paused, and bit her lip, looking around at the trees nearby, and then to the door of her car, wondering how difficult it would be to get into it and drive away... and if he would let her. But no. No, she couldn't do that... she couldn't let Adam down when he needed her. Who knew that being brave could be so difficult?

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, gently rubbing her sweaty palms against her hips to dry them as she opened her eyes and looked at the demon again. "A good friend of mine is very sick..."

[Deleted]

Paimon smiled softly at the woman, waiting patiently for her reply. These days he dealt mostly with drugged out musicians looking for fame, but he'd made deals with his share of grieving, emotionally fragile women. Oddly enough, he found them the most difficult deals to close. He wouldn't be able to sway this type of contract with promises of fame and fortune. He'd have to be very careful with how he navigated around this contract.

"Are you..." the woman began.

He inclined his head, waiting for her to continue. Was he what? A demon? If she had summoned him in this way she must have known what he was. She looked around and took a breath to calm herself, he supposed. This one was a little skittish.

"A good friend of mine is very sick..." she said.

Oh, jeez. A deal to heal a sick friend. Well, that was sort of lucky for him. People desperate enough to summon a demon in the first place for this kind of thing would usually say yes to just about anything if it meant their loved one would be saved. Still, he didn't want to scare her off. He didn't really want to sing when he replied, but it wasn't something he could control. He'd started singing when he made his deals in his early days as a form of protest and his boss hadn't been happy about it. Now it was like an inconvenient curse. He wouldn't be able to stop singing until his summoner told him to stop or he teleported back to his own crossroads. His words were still laced with the tune of Paint it Black when he spoke.

"You don't have to say much more for me to know what you need.
Your friend must be in bad shape for you to do this deed."

He almost rolled his eyes at the end of his reply. This really wasn't the time for singing. When he was dealing with musicians it was fine, and usually helped him close the deal, but in this case it would be a hindrance. Matters of life and death were nothing to sing about as far as humans were concerned.

"I'm deeply sorry for my musical replies," he continued, still singing.
"I mean no disrespect toward you with this reprise.
It's just that I can't stop this song until you ask me to."

He shrugged, hoping the explanation would help the situation.

[Deleted]

Castiel had been watching the whole thing. Was there a reason that he couldn’t heal Annali’s friend? He asked his Father this a few times over and over again, but he knew it he were to heal them, then he would be in danger. Still...Castiel almost didn’t care. He was going to do it. He had to stop her from making this deal. It wouldn’t be right. She did not deserve to go to Hell. Cas wondered WHY things were the way they were. He was starting to ask too many questions and he knew that.

With a sigh Castiel listened to the demon. He was very ‘sing songy’ and it was beginning to annoy him. Castiel rolled his eyes a bit. He didn’t get demons sometimes, sometimes they were very....unentertaining. As much as they thought they were doing a good thing here. They truly were not. Castiel wanted to tell Annali things would be alright, that he could heal her friend, but he couldn’t. He hated it more then anything. He was sick of the ‘natural order’ of things. This time, he was going to back out on his orders, and he knew that he must. He knew he could get repremanded for it, but at this point he didn’t care.

Castiel turned as someone stood next to him. Zachariah. He sighed as he looked at his boss. “Zachariah...” he simply said with a nod.

“You are not interfering in this I assume, are you Castiel?” Zachariah asked him.

Zachariah looked at him sharply and Castiel stared back wide eyed. He wondered if they were keeping tabs on him and now he knew they were right.

Castiel sighed, “No, I was not,” he said softly.

“That’s what I thought,” Zachariah said, “Keep it that way,” he said and then left.

“Yes sir,” Castiel muttered sarcastically. He knew Zachariah had been watching him since he had been taken back to Heaven and had the ‘talk and torture’ session with his superior.

Castiel closed his eyes and leaned against the wall. Dean would never forgive him if he would let Annali make this deal. Why should he? Who did Cas care more for? Dean? Or his superiors. The answer was simple. He started walking more towards Annali and the demon.

“Annali...” Castiel said to her softly. “What are you doing?” he asked as he walked over to the two of them. “What are you doing with this...abomination...” he said. He looked at the demon and frowned. He was definitely going to stop this and heal Annali's friend. He would be disobeying and possibly loose his grace which terrified him, but he thought Annali was more important at the moment. He would not let this deal go through.

[The Preceptor]

She was already getting a headache. And the fact that this man... demon... was singing and making a mockery of the situation was just making things worse. For the first time since her decision to drive to this crossroads to make this deal, she wished Dean were here to talk to, to advise her, or maybe just to kick this guy's disrespectful ass. He was infuriating... and her frustration was building but unfortunately Annali was far too timid to speak up. Instead she just clenched her fists until he went silent again, and she paused, looking at him questioningly as she went over the lyrics he had just sang in her mind. "You can't stop... unless I ask you to?" she asked, looking at him with confusion etched all over her face. "That's... um..." That was definitely not something Dean had ever told her about. If she lived through this, she definitely was going to mention it. "Oh. Okay well... please st--"

“Annali...” Castiel said to her softly. “What are you doing?” he asked as he walked over to the two of them. “What are you doing with this...abomination...” he said.

She jumped, startled, and looked over to see Castiel approaching. Her hand moved to her chest as she paused to catch her breath for a moment. She hadn't even heard him approach... but, of course, that was nothing new.

"What? I..." She glanced uneasily at the demon and bit her lip, her blue eyes flickering back and forth between he and the angel. She wondered exactly how much Cas knew. "I'm not doing anything," she responded in a shaky voice. "We were... we were just talking..." Annali couldn't help but wonder why the angel was here anyway. She knew he had much more important things to do than to just worry about someone as small and insignificant as her.

[Deleted]

Paimon could see a bit of anger behind the woman’s teary eyes. Oh, people were so touchy about being sung to about the impending doom of either themselves or a dear loved one. But, she did seem to comprehend the message he’d tried to get across through the lyrics he strung together.

“You can’t stop… unless I ask you to?”

Paimon inclined his head once in confirmation, not wanting to bellow out another few lines of poorly constructed lyricism.

“That’s… um…”

Strange? Confusing? Inconvenient? Stupid? Paimon could have thought of several adjectives to describe this lovely punishment, and he wondered which one the woman would choose. However, she didn’t finish the thought and instead began to ask him to stop singing.

And then she was interrupted.

“Annali… What are you doing? What are you doing with this…abomination…”

Ugh. Paimon almost groaned as Castiel approached. An angel. Perfect. Just wonderful. What was he doing here in the middle of this? He’d never heard of an angel sweeping in to disrupt anyone else’s crossroads deal. They had other things to worry about, like the coming war and what they would do when Lucifer took his rightful place ruling over all of them.

Paimon’s gaze moved between Castiel and the young woman – Annali, apparently. Why an angel was on a first-name basis with a human was beyond him. Angels looked down on anything that didn’t have wings. The woman looked startled, like a child caught playing with a confiscated toy. Paimon watched curiously to see how she would reply. She sputtered out something about just talking and Paimon smiled, almost laughed, except he was hesitant to open his mouth. He didn’t say – or sing – anything. He merely shrugged to Castiel innocently, as if to say, “Hey, she summoned me here.” Although he was a bit irritated that he’d been pulled away from his own business to be belittled by one of God’s forgotten children. He had much better things to do with his time, and he was sure the angel did too.

[Deleted]

Castiel looked from Annali back to the demon. He was concerned for Annali, he didn’t want her just making some deal. Dean would never forgive him for one, if Cas let her, and the second thing, Annali was family to Cas. Just as Dean was and he didn’t want anything bad happening to her. If she was hurt, stranded, or alone, Cas could help, but once a deal was made, it was made, and he had to get her to understand that. The thing was, Castiel KNEW he shouldn’t be interfering. Not after what Zachariah just told him and he knew he was being watched.

“You were what…exactly?” Castiel asked her. He knew very well what she was doing, and whether or not Annali wanted to admit it, he wanted to help her. He was sick and tired of being under orders, being told constantly what to do and who to help. He had friends now, things were different.

“Talking….” Castiel repeated, “You were just…talking with a demon,” he said to her, “Annali, people generally don’t summon demons to talk….they….want deals…” he said. “What is it you wish for? Is there something I can help with?” Castiel offered, “Annali I….do not know why you would do this, but Dean….would not forgive me if I let you go through with it…” he said.

Castiel looked to the demon, “Very well then, she summoned you, but I am afraid she is not needing your services at the moment,” Castiel said plainly.

Cas knew he was being bold in saying that, generally if a demon is summoned, they are summoned, and nothing is to stop what they were summoned for. Zachariah had even attempted to stop Castiel but Cas stood his ground. He was going above what his orders were. He knew he would be punished for it later. He did not care.

[The Preceptor]

Annali frowned, looking back and forth between the two of them. An already uncomfortable situation was becoming even moreso and all she wanted to do was back away slowly, hop into her car and drive away. She started to tremble nervously as she looked back and forth between the angel and the demon, watching them stare each other down and trying to decide which one she wanted to piss off the least. It didn't take long for her to make her choice... she figured that between the two of them, Castiel would have more compassion. The problem was that she didn't really want to make this deal but she didn't know what other options she really had. Asking an angel to stop whatever important things he had to do in order to help her with something like this was selfish. Besides, she had summoned the demon here and she doubted he would take kindly to his time being wasted. She had to go through with it.

"It's okay," she said, trying to sound calm even though her stomach felt as though it would drop to her toes any second. She offered the angel a small, timid smile, her eyes brimming with tears that she quickly blinked away. "You have much more important things that need your attention."

Taking a deep breath she turned to the demon, wringing her hands nervously and trying to ignore the angel behind her. "What do I have to do?"

[Deleted]

Paimon watched the human/angel interaction with irritation and curiosity. He wasn’t quite sure what was going on between the angel and the woman, but he observed carefully. Apparently, Castiel had some soft spot for this Annali person. He didn’t think angels were capable of having anything but contempt or indifference toward humans. He mentioned Dean and Paimon raised an eyebrow. Could that have been Dean Winchester? Well, now this was getting interesting.

“Very well then, she summoned you, but I am afraid she is not needing your services at the moment,” Castiel said.

Paimon laughed.

“Nice try,” Paimon sang simply. “But I’m afraid that’s not your call.”

After politely blowing off the angel, Annali turned nervously to Paimon.

“What do I have to do?”

Paimon smiled and began slowly pacing back and forth. Still singing to the tune of Paint It Black, he told her.

“Well, first you tell me what it is you want from me.
And then I weigh the price and say what you owe me.
Usually I take your soul and you wind up in Hell.
But you get time to live your life and live it well.”

He stopped pacing and smiled at Annali, holding out his hands as if to say “and there you go.” Like it was as simple as a handshake.

[Deleted]

Castiel frowned at the demon as he spoke. Cas always hated confronting demons because he knew that no matter how hard they tried, they were always manipulative, and Casitel could NEVER convinve them to back down. Even so though, Castiel knew that the demon wouldn’t just let this be.

“I suppose you didn’t HEAR me,” Castiel said again to the demon, “This deal is done here, there will BE no deal,” Casitel said trying to make himself very clear. He wasn’t about to let Annali do this to herself, not when Castiel could try to help her himself.

As Palmon explained that Annali would have to give her soul to him, Castiel shook his head once more, “That will NOT happen,” He said to Palmon. He turned to Annali, “Annali, I can help you, I will not allow you to do this. Do you realize what Dean would say about this?” Casitel asked her softly.

Why was it that he could get NO one to listen to him? Why was it so hard for the humans to understand what he was telling them? He usually saw things to reason, and he liked it.

Castiel frowned as Annali said that he had more important things to do, ‘Actually Annali, I do not have more important things to do, the MOST important thing for me to do is this, protecting you from this demon,” he said “The longer you drag this conversation on with this demon, the more you drag me away from helping whatever friend of yours needs help, and I will NOT have you making this deal! Why is it so hard for you, humans to listen to me?” He asked shaking his head, “Do NOT do this Annali.” Casitel said to her.

He just didn’t understand why this was so hard for her to grasp. WHY wouldn’t she listen? She seemed to be being just as stubborn as Dean was. Dean wouldn’t have listened to him if he tried to tell him not to make that deal for Sam years ago when he had. Castiel was fed up, but he HAD to try. Loosing Annali would KILL Dean, and he knew that much.