My Father's Daughter Part 4: An Angel Taunting the Shadows
Slowly and quietly I step off my bike. There's a wrench on the ground to my right but from where one demon is posted he would see me no matter what I did... I have to think of something else to do. Maybe I can get get to my duffle in the back. I crouch down and make my way around the Harley. Good thing there's a beat down truck blocking my way to the house, otherwise the demons would have spotted me already.
"Maybe I can..." I whisper and go to open the back. I almost click the latch open when I remember the food. I can't get to my duffle, much less open it and get out a weapon without making a sound. I look around. From here I can see some spare tires and some chunks of broken metal lying on the ground to my left. I guess that might work.
I roll to the side and grip a shard of steel. It's rusty and bites into my hand when I hold it tight, but it's approximately the same size and weight of my dagger so it should work out fine. I duck behind the truck as I see the feet of another demon walking by the other side.
None of them seem to be really trying for stealth or even quiet. But I do notice that there's a bunch of them. Just from poking my head out to the side a few inches I can see at least 20, and that's just from here. There's probably more.
Shit, they must have followed the boys when they brought me here. If they're here for me then they don't know I transported out. They also don't know I'm pretty well healed or that I'm right behind them. I can't take them all out myself but if I can just get inside...
I saw quite a few demon traps in there and Bobby seems pretty well set on protection. If I can just get inside, inside where I can have a minute, maybe I can work a spell to exorcise them all in one shot. That should work... Should.
Just as I go to peek out again and see which route to the front door would be best I hear a shotgun. I jump a little out of my skin but compose myself quickly. I hear the fall of a body and then the stampede of feet behind me. Someone inside must have shot and now the rest of the cavalry is coming.
I drop to my stomach and roll under the truck I'm hiding behind just as about 30 more demons rush by. Luckily, none of them saw me, or if they did they didn't care. I drag myself forward a bit so that I'm as close to the house as I can be. From here I can see them swarming the front of the building. Jumping on cars and backflipping closer to the house, they look almost like stunt actors in a movie... like its choreographed. If I didn't know any better... But I can think about that later. I hear another shot, shotgun. Probably Bobby.
"Oh, fuck..." I mumble. They crowd around the building. How am I supposed to get inside with all of them blocking the door. "Thanks Bobby."
"I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate you sitting out here while they storm his home."
My head snaps around to face the creature that just spoke. I recognise that voice. "Cas?"
"Yes." He states flatly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He is laying on his stomach under the car as well and for a moment my heart skips a beat as I notice how close he actually is to me. Then, it practically stops when I suddenly realise his hand is resting on my hip with his thumb gently stroking the tiny patch of skin just above my waistband that is showing because my tank top got twisted up when I rolled under the truck.
I look from his hand to his face and stop. He doesn't even know he's doing it. His eyes are locked on the scene unraveling before us. One of the demons has taken a crowbar to the window and is attempting to break in. The way he stops even though the windows open makes me think that at least someone inside must have thrown down some salt to bar their entrance. That might give us a bit of time.
"Cas." I say calmly to get his attention. His hand stops and he turns to face me. However, his eyes slide down to where his hand is resting. They widen in surprise for a moment when he realises what he has been doing and his hand flips back to his side quicker than even I can see.
He clears his throat awkwardly and my hand reaches out on its own to touch his face. I trail a single finger down his jawline and slowly bring it back to me. Our eyes stay locked for a moment as the electricity that was caused by each others touch fades.
"So... Want to kill some demons now?" I ask, a wild grin spreading across my face.
His response is just a tiny little quirk at the corner of his mouth and his eyes sparkle a bit with that a sense of mischief. But it is quickly snuffed out by his normal solemn look.
"Okay, I need to get inside." I start. "My dagger can kill them, one swipe. We're going to need it."
He nods in agreement. "However, I do not believe it will be enough."
I explain the rest of my plan. "Once inside, I need you boys to buy me some time. I'm probably going to need a few things from the kitchen as well. With those I might be able to cast a sort of demon nuclear bomb and take them all out in one blow. But it's going to take time."
"Then that is what we will do. Give me your hand."
I should have asked 'Why?' but I didn't. I just reached out and grabbed his hand. By the time I blinked we were standing in a small space between two major clusters of demons trying to dig, claw and bust their way into Bobby's house.
"Having a party and you guys couldn't invite me?" I taunt. They're all so stunned that they don't move for a moment. "C'mon guys. I should be a VIP. Do you even know who my Father is?" I asked the troops playfully. Castiel shot me a bit of a look but it didn't last long. We were about to get very, very busy.
I threw my makeshift weapon into the air with a bit of flair and stabbed the nearest demon in the neck. He spun around and swung a fist at me in retaliation but I dodged it with ease. He was slower with the wound gushing blood. Not that it made much of a difference to me. Just as I dodged, Cas swung a dagger of his own at him and sliced his head clean off. I watched for a second as the familiar red and yellow electrocution riddled his body.
"Nice toy!" I shouted over my shoulder as I kicked another demon in the grill. For a second Castiel was a bit confused.
"It's not a toy... Oh, Wait. Do you do references as well?"
"Not a reference. It's just a saying."
"Oh, am I supposed to laugh?"
He doesn't but I do. I chuckle loudly as I take on a couple more demons. "Sure Cas, you can laugh if you want." I feel a bit sick that the demons I'm taking care of are just getting forced out of their vessels. They'll just get new ones and come back. My dagger actually kills them, this hunk of metal just destroys the human.
"This can't go on forever Cas. Mine are just going to re-vessel themselves. I'm not doing much good out here."
"You are correct. Catch!"
I spin around and grab hold of his demon slaying dagger with my off hand. My eyes widen and I send the hunk of steel I have just past his head and into the skull of the demon charging him from behind. She screams as she exits her vessel and flies off into the sky in search of another. Then, Cas is just gone.
For some reason, I get this pain in my chest when he isn't there anymore. I look around nervously, searching for him, not seeing him anywhere. My hand moves out on it's own to stab a demon to my left. I toss the dagger into the air and catch it with my right, grabbing a blonde demon by the hair with the other. I slice through her neck and spin towards the door.
Just as I do, I feel someone grab my free hand and pull me forward. I almost lash out but then I notice the tiny bursts of electricity pulsing through my fingers. Cas.
I'm pulled to the door quickly, too quickly for the demons to recognize but that's okay. I take advantage of the situation and jab out with my daggered hand, taking out a few demons as we go.
Pulling up to the door, Cas pushes through a pair of demons smashing the door with axes, I trip one and reach behind to gut the other as I move by. 'We work pretty well together, don't we?' I think. But then my mind focuses elsewhere. I close my eyes as we pass right through the door and through Sam and Dean on the other side holding it closed.
I drop to my knees for a moment as soon as we stop. Cas is still holding my hand but he drops to his knees in front of me and cups my face in his hands.
"It is good that that worked. I was out of options."
"The hell have you been Cas!?" I hear as Bobby comes through the doorway from the kitchen. "We thought-" He freezes in place.
"Hiya Bobby." I say. It comes out a bit weaker than expected but I don't mind. The world is spinning in front of my eyes. I crumble to the side and into Cas's arms as the room tumbles out of control.
He grabs my face again and pulls me close. He whispers something softly into my ear. I don't know exactly what he said but I recognize the Enochian. I'm not fluent but I did catch a few key words. It was some sort of calming or healing cast.
The world slowly shifted back into focus as I stared into his eyes. Then he spoke. "Bobby. I think I know what she is. Or at least partially."
"Well, now's not the time is it!? Goddamn it, I'm surrounded by idjits!"
"What is she Cas?" I hear Sam say, the strain of holding the door is evident in his voice.
"An angel." He states bluntly. "Though not one I'm familiar with."
"That a good thing?" I hear Dean chime in. He doesn't seem too happy.
I jump into the conversation. "Get me to the kitchen and we'll find out just how good it might be." Cas helps me up and drapes one of my arms over his shoulder.
Once in the kitchen, I prop myself up on the table and start barking orders. I hate ordering people, that's when I most feel my Father in my voice. "Bobby, I need a large ceramic or metal bowl, preferably one that's been used in ancient casting before but a normal coffee mug might work in a pinch. I also need some black salt, sage, holy oil and some Shadow Dust. My bag was left with my Harley so I hope you have some."
Bobby stops bustling about the kitchen and drops the sage bundle. "Shadow Dust? What in the hell do you mean by Shadow Dust?"
"You know, Dramoranized Shadows. Shadows that have been stripped of their essence and then turned to dust?"
His blank look tells it all. "Well, fuck. Looks like I'm going to have to go without." I respond. "Hurry up, get your shit over here!"
Bobby drops the ingredients onto the table in front of me and Cas comes back in with an old black obsidian casting bowl. It has scrawling with faded symbols. Looks old, Babylonian?
'Perfect!" I exclaim as I take it from him. Our eyes lock and I have to force myself to tear mine away. I place the bowl on the table top and start to pour in the different substances as Bobby handed them over. I slowly whisper the first part of the incantation and the smoke from the sage, the black salt, and the holy oil all start to swirl and glow.
Bobby's eyes widen as he takes it in. "This gonna work?" He asks.
"Well, it wouldn't be a guarantee even if I did have enough Shadow Dust. Seeing how I don't, well, I'm just hoping we don't all end up... Deidrach."
Bobby was just about to ask what that was when Cas answered in his usual blunt manner. "Enochian for Dead."
Bobby swallowed. "Aw, hell..."
"Well, here's goes nothing. You're going to want to back up." I slowly close my eyes and begin casting.
About half-way through the spell, I take control of the Shadows. They form out of the darkness all around and the fact that it's dusk out certainly helps. Right now I really want to look and see Bobby and the boys' faces but I really need to concentrate. The Shadows look like they're starting to dance. They weave around everyone and twist up into the air. They feel just glad to be awake. But I have a job for them to do.
My eyes flash open, shining black, as I hold them all in place. I've never controlled more than one or two at a time and with this many its difficult to maintain the connection. Some fizzle in and out of focus as I struggle to keep them together. Surprisingly, most of them are working to help me out. They hold themselves together as best they can, trying not to move too much.
Now that the incantation itself is done, I can focus strictly on working them and still communicate with the others in the room. "Cas?" I'm barely getting the words out.
"Yes." He answers.
"Get them... Out of...Here." I say, struggling to hold the Shadows as well as talk at the same time. I notice that my voice is overlapped by the many voices of the Shadows around me. The sentences criss-cross over each other, some gravelly, some dark and husky, some even sharp and quick but all are dark and low. "Take them...To the...Panic Room." Then I whisper so that the voices don't echo it all. "Please, Cas. And don't let them take control."
He leans in and speaks softly. "I will not leave you. Just focus on them."
Then he and Bobby leave the room. I can hear them talking indistinctly to Sam and Dean and then a bit of a scuffle as the two of them refuse to give up and leave. 'Just go' I silently hope.
Eventually, they all went down to the large metal room that I woke up in. I sigh deeply and focuse harder on the Shadows, putting them into place around the house. I send some to the doors and windows to hold the demons out and but send most outside to the perimeter of the junkyard. Through all of their eyes I can see so many views of the same thing, the house.
I hear the front door bust in. I've run out of time. At any moment they could come bursting in and take me out before I can finish, and there's no way I can help myself. Attached to all these Shadows, I don't know what could possibly happen to me. Frankly, I don't really want to think about it.
But they don't get through. I can hear the fighting and I just know that it's Castiel. He came back! Now that I got some back up, I can finish up this little trick I'm doing and get out there o help him out. I hate missing out on all the fun.
Moving my consciousness from one Shadow to another along the perimeter, I connect a line through each one. To anyone looking on from the outside it would look alot like crackling red lightning spanning the space between them. I can hear the fizzleing and popping coming from the connection almost as if it was running through me as well. Which I guess, is true, in a sense.
The louder the sound gets the harder it is to control and the harder it is to not give in. Every time I take control of the Shadows, it's like gambling. If I make one wrong move, they could overrun me. I could lose control and the effects would be devastating. Either they would materialize and become tangible on their own and I might die or worse, they might take me over and use me to bring the rest of their kind from their side of the veil to this one. They would over run everything and everyone.
Father did once teach me how to stop that though. However, it doesn't end that well for me. Basically it's a spell that's the equivalent of turning myself into a ripping, tearing, painful black hole that would suck all of them back to their plane and then collapse on me leaving me in the space-between-spaces and mostly dead for all eternity...Not so sure how much I like that idea.
But I digress. The Connection reaches it's max and I know it's just in time because Cas has been pushed into the kitchen and thrown down a bookshelf to make a sort of barricade to block the flow of demons trying to force their way in to get to me. He's breathing heavily and drops his weapon when he sees me. It's my dagger.
Just about anyone else having touched it sets my blood to boil, but with him it's different. I don't mind. I also don't mind him standing next to me at the time when I'm most vulnerable. The Connection is threatening to pull me under and it takes almost all I have to keep myself afloat.
I cast my eyes around the room quickly to take in the space. My glamour is messing with my concentration. It occupies a good portion of energy to keep it intangible and mostly occupying the space between here and the veil, that way it doesn't get in the way. I can feel the glamour, and my wings hidden beneath it but no one else can unless I let it slip. Which is what I need to do now. The room isn't quite big enough but I can keep them folded if need be.
I whisper the counter to the small enchantment of the glamour, shocking it off and letting wings free. Cas's eyes widen when he takes them in but I can't afford to focus on him right now. That small corner of my mind always occupied with the glamour is open and with it I can force the rest of the spell. The Connection takes hold just as I push the energy that's been building up in the Shadows straight to the house.
Like a rippling wave crashing through every living thing in its path, it rushes inward to the center where I am. I left out a scream as I tumble over, severing the Connection and falling into Cas's arms. The house rumbles as the wave tears though the troops of demons outside and rushes in. I have just enough energy left and time to cover the two of us with one wing before we get bombarded with electricity. And the last thing I remember is hearing my Father's voice deep in the recesses of my mind. "That's my girl..."