Caged Heat

Meg kidnaps Sam and Dean and tries to force them to tell her where Crowley is hiding. Sam makes her a deal they will help her find Crowley if she promises to torture him for information about how to get Sam’s soul back. Castiel joins the fight but finds it difficult to work with Meg.

Summary
Crowley tortures and kills the Alpha Shapeshifter because he won't tell him the location of Purgatory. Meanwhile, Dean and Sam are still providing Crowley with monsters. They hand over a Rugaru to a few of Crowley's demons and head back to their base of operations, a dilapidated house, where Dean tells Sam that he's sick of working for Crowley because it doesn't seem to be getting them anywhere. While they argue, demons get the jump on them. When they wake up, they're tied to chairs and Meg is there. She wants them to tell her where Crowley is, but they don't know, and Sam just laughs at her when she threatens them. He tells Dean not to worry about Meg: she can't kill them because she needs them. She and other "Lucifer loyalists" are on the run from Crowley, who wants to be uncontested in his reign over Hell, and Meg wants to find Crowley so she can kill him with Ruby's Knife.

Sam makes a deal with Meg. He and Dean will help her find and kill Crowley if she'll help them get some information out of him. They don't tell her what it is they want to know, but Sam is hoping to find out to get his soul back. Dean is unhappy with the deal, but Sam tells him that they'll kill Meg and all the other demons once they're done with Crowley. Sam realizes that they'll need some help, though, so he tricks Castiel into appearing by making him think that they have found the Ark of the Covenant. When Castiel tells Sam that he's too busy with the war over Heaven to help, Sam reminds Castiel that he owes him and tells him that if he doesn't help, he'll hunt Castiel down and kill him. Castiel eventually capitulates and tries to locate Crowley with a ritual. The ritual fails and so the three of them go to the Campbell Compound to look for information on Crowley's location.

At the compound, they encounter Samuel, who refuses to help them find Crowley. Dean asks him why he won't help them and why he's been working for Crowley, and they discover that Crowley promised Samuel that he would resurrect Mary. Dean tells him that it's a bad idea to bring her back from the dead, and Samuel calls Dean a hypocrite. Eventually, though, Samuel comes around, and he tells them where he's been bringing creatures to Crowley. Sam, Dean, and Castiel meet up with Meg and her demons so that they can go to Crowley's prison together. As they get ready to leave, Castiel tells Dean that he's not sure they should return Sam's soul to his body. His soul has been in Lucifer's Cage with Lucifer and Michael for over a year, and they have no idea what sort of torture he's suffered. Castiel tells Dean that Sam may be broken if he gets his soul back, and Sam overhears their conversation.

Using Samuel's information, they find Crowley's prison and Castiel helps them break inside, where they see various monsters, including the Djinn Brigitta, locked in cells. Eventually, they are pursued by the Hellhounds that guard the prison. Meg tries to leave her meat suit, but is trapped inside it, so she tells them to take Ruby's knife and find Crowley. She then kisses Castiel and takes his Angel Killing Sword to hold off the Hellhounds while they go on. Dean, Sam, and Castiel leave her behind, but are quickly attacked. Samuel uses an Angel Banishing Sigil to get rid of Castiel and demons grab and imprison Dean and Sam. Dean is incredulous by Samuel's betrayal, and he tells Samuel that once he escapes, he's going to find and kill him. Dean is then taken to a room to be fed to Ghouls while Sam is left in his cell. Dean fights off the ghouls long enough for Sam to escape his cell (using a devil's trap drawn in his own blood) and help kill them.

Meanwhile, Meg has been captured and is being tortured by Christian, who is still inhabited by a demon. While Christian is distracted, Dean comes up behind him and kills him with Ruby's knife, and he and Sam free Meg. They then lure Crowley into the room and catch him in a devil's trap. Sam demands his soul back and Meg tortures him until Crowley admits that he can't get it. He also tells Sam the same thing that Castiel said: Sam's soul is likely broken and will destroy him if he gets it back. Disgusted, Sam tells Meg to go ahead and kill Crowley, and Dean hands her Ruby's knife. She tries to kill him, but he gets the knife from her and uses it to break the devil's trap. Before he can retaliate, however, Castiel appears holding a bag of bones that he says belong to Crowley. He asks Crowley if he can restore Sam's soul, and, when Crowley admits that he can't, Castiel burns his bones without hesitation, killing him. While they are distracted, Meg flees.

Outside Crowley's prison, Dean thanks Castiel for his help. Castiel admits that the war in Heaven is not going well and that he'd rather be on Earth most of the time. He then tells Sam that they'll find another way to get his soul back before leaving to take care of the monsters still in the prison. Dean tries to reassure Sam, too, but Sam tells him that he doesn't think he wants his soul back after all.

Main Characters

 * Dean Winchester
 * Sam Winchester

Minor Characters

 * Meg Masters
 * Castiel
 * Samuel Campbell
 * Crowley