"No, no, I swear. I barely know the guy!" Raphael had spent a long time radically downplaying his connection to these damn brothers and now Sam was here, it was getting harder and harder to maintain. He didn't know that he had slipped up but he clearly had. He closed his eyes and winced under the foot on his chest. "He's nothing to me, I-I ... He's Lucifer's vessel, I had to know him."

Raphael was pleading, speaking more now than he had for almost a year but he was suddenly driven with an urge to try and protect himself. And not just himself. If Lazar felt Sam was special, Sam would suffer. And he didn't want that.

So he gave away his affection without meaning to, unable to summon up his usual cunning and subtly. He closed his eyes tight and whimpered. "Please. I didn't."