CHAPTER ONE

November, 2008

Elise tried not to grimace a bit as Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven suddenly started coming through her car stereo. She had nothing against the song itself, certainly nothing against the music, just the concept of heaven. And angels. It was a family thing.

It the back seat her dog, Jasper, a giant beast of a German Shepherded, whined as if he could tell of her sudden distaste. Elise couldn't help but glance up into the mirror to see him watching her with those doleful big brown eyes and grin just a bit. Speaking of big brown eyes…

Elise wiggled her cell out of her jeans pocket, glancing at the screen and the road to make sure nothing suddenly appeared in her way – as it wouldn't be the first time something like that had happened- she found a number simply labelled 'Winchester' and hit dial.

It was a few rings until someone answered, but Elise recognised the sleepy gruff voice of the oldest Winchester brother. "Hello?" he didn't sound happy, she smirked almost seeing in her head the way he would probably be rubbing his eyes with one hand and holding the phone in the other on some crappy motel bed somewhere.

"Dean" she said in a singsong voice.

A sleeping chuckle and then "Elise, sweetheart, I told you we can't do booty calls no more."

"Well that's damn disappointing sweetie" she couldn't help grinning "but you're out of luck, that wasn't why I was calling." Before Dean could reply, Jasper in the back of the car gave a soft 'woof'.

"At least Jasper missed me" Dean gave a put upon sigh, and them more seriously "so what is it El', you stuck on a hunt?"

"Sorta" she shrugged though he couldn't see it "I called Uncle Bobby, he seems to think I've got one of your apocalypse seals on my hands."

There was a pause, and then Dean said "does Bobby tell you fricking everything?"

"Of course" she laughed "no matter how distantly related we might be – and its bloody distant let me tell you – we're family, and we hunt. I'd think you know what that kind of bond is?"

"Yeah" he sighed "right, fine. Where are you?"

Elise gave the boys the location of where she was hunting, a small town just over the border into Canada and gave them the warning to wrap up warm. The call ended by the time she'd returned to the little cabin in which she was staying – some kind of holiday home she assumed, far fancier than the usual motels. She bet it'd take the boys a while to arrive, and from what she and Bobby could tell they had a few days before the seal could be broken, so she didn't feel at all bad for curling up in the soft bed, Jasper at her feet, and trying to catch a few winks.

Still it took her a while to fall asleep, her mind racing as it had been since this whole apocalypse now thing started. She was working as hard as Bobby or the brothers to stop it, though she was good enough to admit her motivations where somewhat selfish. She preferred the world when the angels were upstairs minding their own business, and she wanted them to go back to heaven before they could find out she existed at all. Further still, Bobby had told her about the angel's interests in Dean. Which was why it had taken so long for her to call the Winchesters. She'd spent hours mentally debating the pros and the con's. In the end it was settled with her: she could call the Winchesters… but no doubt she would soon be forced to tell them what kind of blood ran through her veins.

X

The good thing about having a dog is that Elise didn't feel the need to be on alert all the time, which meant she was quite happy to work away pouring over the old books Bobby'd given her when she first started hunting looking for anything on the seals with her headphones on. She'd always liked her music loud, but knew on speakers it could upset others, so preferred the headphones. The only reason she was comfortable enough to wear headphones while hunting was Jasper – and the Winchesters had just learned why.

Elise was bobby her head along to Journey, muttering the lyrics under her breath, when she saw Jasper tense from his place in an armchair across the room. She continued to read, but her eyes flicked up now and then to the alert dog's big ears and twitching lip. Then, quicker than any cat she'd seen, Jasper was across the room bowling over whoever had just picked the lock on her cabin door. Elise pulled out her headphones, greeted with the noise of howling wind and protesting Winchesters.

She whistled and called "Jasper!" the dog immediately backed off, returning to her side and licking her outstretched hand as she rubbed his soft fur and told him he was a good dog. Dean entered the cabin a little more cautiously now in case the flying hair ball knocked him over again, brushing snow off his trousers. Sam entered behind him, grinning.

Elise got up and hugged them both "it feels like it's been donkeys years since I've seen you last" she grinned when she hugged Sam and he picked her up off her feet.

"I believe it was Saint Patrick's Day a few years ago… you got wasted" Dean grinned ruffling her hair.

"What? I can't live up to my Irish father's standards without getting wasted on a national holiday" she retorted with her own wicked grin, before moving off to find the book she'd been reading and handing it to Sam while handing Dean a beer. "Bobby thinks this is what I'm dealing with."

"A sacrifice?" Sam frowned just glossing over the information.

"On the night of the blood moon on the sixth night of this month. There are a helluva lot of six's involved with this one by the way. More than the required three" she nodded as Sam sat down on the armchair. She took up a seat on the arm of the chair while Dean sat at the table with his beer in hand.

"How'd you come by this?" Dean asked.

"I was following demon omens" she shrugged "I recognised the rising of the witnesses seal a few weeks ago which was when Bobby told me everything, so I've been trying to ice as many of hells bitches as I can."

"So do you know who they're going to sacrifice?" Sam asked, still pouring over the book.

"I have a good idea. Like is said, there are a lot of sixes in this. Bobby helped me find this dude who not only is the sixth son of a local family, but he got a bit busy a few years ago and has six kids himself, all of who reached their six birthdays this year."

Dean raised his eyebrows "busy boy…"

"Wanna know what's even weirder?"

"Shoot."

"He doesn't remember any of those nights with any of the girls. He says he remembers a night out, blackness, and next thing he knows it's a month later and all these girls are telling him he's their baby daddy."

Sam finally looked up from the book "you think demons planned this?"

"I'm saying I wouldn't be surprised if they did."

"So… you think the blood moon is gonna come along and these demons are gonna make kid stew?"

"You're quicker than you look Dean" she winked.

"Guys, the sixth night is tomorrow… we're cutting it kinda close?"

"Right" Dean clapped his hands, downed the last of his beer and said "let's go do some babysitting."

X

By nightfall Elise was feeling, well, furious. Sam and Dean weren't any less angry, but she was downright spitting fire. When the hell had all those kids gone missing without her noticing? Small towns like this news usually travels fast – unless everyone is hiding from the snow and half the towns power is out from a fallen tree, then the news travels slow apparently.

Dean and Sam didn't try to calm her down, they knew what she was like when something got the one up on her during a hunt and knew she wouldn't be satisfied now until she'd killed that demon with her own bare hands. Her temper – should you ever end up on the receiving end – was fiery and they'd been burned once or twice as kids. No the boys followed the example of Jasper the dog, they kept their heads down and let her fume, occasionally retreating to a safe distance and throwing chocolate at her.

It was the early hours of the morning when they returned to the cabin, having spent all day and much of the night searching for any possible place a demon might have stashed a load of six year olds they couldn't yet kill. They'd trekked to abandoned warehouses and farms, search for local caves or mine shafts but found nothing. Elise had even tried getting Jasper to track through scent, but the poor dog got too confused and the snow cleaned up any scents left behind…

They entered the cabin, throwing down their damp coats and kicking off their shoes before they turned on the lights. Elise and Jasper where the last to enter, and when they did everyone was surprised when a growl suddenly ripped out of the dogs throat and he threw himself into the darkness. Sam turned on a light, alarmed and more than suspicious that the demon had found them.

Instead they found two familiar, and perhaps unwanted, figures. Uriel was giving the dog the same disgusted look he gave Sam and Dean, but (to Dean's disappointment) Uriel wasn't the one Jasper had tried to attack. Castiel was crouched down so he was eye level with the dog, his tan coat pooling on the floor around him, as he tilted his head and frowned a little. Jasper suddenly looked uncertain, for a dog, and backed away a few steps before he retreated completely and hid behind Elise's legs but remained glaring at the intruders.

"Yeah, we know. Seal about to be broken, we're on it" Dean huffed before the angels could speak, more than a bit annoyed they were here.

"Elise" Sam said quietly from besides her, having noticed her wide eyes as she stared at the two men "this is Castiel and Uriel, they're-"

"-angels" she finished, face pulling into a fierce scowl as she spat the word in the same way a child might say 'vegetables'.

What was funny, to Elise anyway, was that despite never having met an angel herself she did know a lot about them. And she knew she wasn't supposed to be able to see the wings of an angel, not even the silhouette unless they wished you to see them. So why was it that from the shoulder blades of the small one, the one in the overcoat with bright blue eyes, that she could see the shadows of large wings? She didn't ask, it didn't matter, but from the widening eyes of the angel in question she had the feeling that not asking would bite her later.

The other angel however, the grumpier looking one, had narrowed his eyes and if it was possible scowled even further before reaching into his jacket pocked as he spat with venom at her "Nephilim."

Sam and Dean scowled, looking between Elise and the angels, which was probably why they were fast enough to get between Uriel and Elise before the angel could stab her with his angel blade which was obviously what he set out to do as he pounced. Dean and Sam managed to grab him by the arms, holding him off as he still tried to reach her. Elise hadn't moved, just folded her arms, and by her legs Jasper growled showing white teeth. Up until this point Castiel had been staring at her. He, like Uriel, had been able to identify her as Nephilim also, it was easy for an angel to see the tiny amount of grace in her, but something else had made him stare. Now that he saw Uriel move to attack her he too got between the other angel, the brothers and the Nephilim.

"Uriel" his deep voice commanded attention, and for once Uriel actually seemed to listen frowning at his brother "we have bigger things to concern ourselves with than the nephilim."

"Castiel, you know our orders" Uriel pointed with the tip of his angel blade at Elise "these half-breeds are to be exterminated."

"Our old orders, Uriel" Castiel argued "have been cancelled in lieu of preventing the apocalypse."

"-yeah because it's not like I've been helping you stop that or nothing" Elise suddenly said, her voice vibrating with anger as she glared at the angels "considering your kind so graciously exterminated mine after your father brought is into existence to fight in exactly this kind of situation. No, no you still want to kill me despite me doing a better job of what I was created for than you are."

"You do not get to speak to us this way, cur" Uriel spat again.

"Whoa okay, time out" Dean got between everyone again holding his hands out and pulling an angry, but confused, frown. Sam was frowning too, looking between Uriel and Elise while simultaneously keeping an eye on the dog who looked like he might try rip Uriel's throat out if he came near Elise again. "I don't have a fudging clue what is going on here, but I sure as hell am more concerned about saving six kids from becoming some demons casserole dish so can we please concentrate on that?"

"Good idea Dean" Elise muttered after fix seconds of silence, but she was walking out of the cabin re-zipping up the jacket she'd had half off. "I'm going to go check some of the caving systems we didn't make it too. Jasper!" she and the dog vanishing back into the darkness outside, and didn't come back even when Sam called after them.

"Dean-"

"-let her go Sam" Dean sighed "she's a big girl."

"She's an abomination" Uriel growled at the boys, fixing Dean with that distasteful glare of his again as he said "do you have any idea what that girl is?"

"Yeah" Dean growled right back, faltered slightly and then said "no. no I don't have any idea what the hell a 'nephilim' is but you know what? That girls been our friends since she was in diapers and has had our backs for as long as we've been hunting so if you want to kill her, you'll have to go through me first."

Uriel's lip curled and he looked like he wanted to say something else but was stopped by Castiel's deep, but calm, voice explaining "she is a nephilim."

"-aren't nephilim supposed to be offspring of humans and angels?" Sam suddenly piped up, frowning and sure that was the lore he had read.

"In your books, yes" Uriel snorted, turning away to the window.

"but that is not so" Castiel explained further, casting a glance at Uriel as if to make sure he was still there before he looked back at the brothers "the first nephilim where created by god, angels but mostly human. They were god's secondary foot soldiers until many, many, many centuries ago we were ordered to destroy them all."

"Well I guess you'll have to tell daddy you missed one, maybe that'll get him talking to you again" Dean said with mock cheerfulness and earning himself a glare once more from both Uriel and Cas.

"It is not of importance that she survives" Castiel said, though he got a disapproving look from Uriel "what is important is that you save this seal."

X

Outside in the cold, Elise tried not to think about the angels and instead settled on wishing she had snow shoes. A pair of combat books where not productive to walking in the snow, though they were keeping her feet dry but she couldn't appreciate their dryness since they were numb from cold. Jasper however seemed to love the snow, diving into big piles of it whenever she threw a stick in that direction and bursting out again with a look of doggy-glee, long pink tongue flapping about comically enough that it brought a grin to her face despite her dark mood.

It was a while before her phone rang, she was well into the woods so she was quite surprised her phone got any reception and she answered it to Sam "Elise?" his voice was a little broken by static.

"Sam" she said "is this a warning to get my butt running kind of call or a where are you kind of call?"

She heard the smile in his voice "a where are you kind of call. So where are you?"

"Uh, I took a left from the cabin and just kept walking. I heard there's some kind of mine shaft or something along the river so kind of just hoping to stumble across something y'know?" she tried to keep the topic subject of her voice as she carried on walking, Jasper loping along beside. If there where demons lurking by – though she was sure Jasper would know if they were – she didn't want to advertise herself as more than a nosy dog-walker.

"Right" she heard Sam sigh "we'll follow you're prints. Uh… Cas and Uriel have decided to stick around and keep an eye on this one, just to warn you."

"Wonderful" she said a bit dryly "I'll stop by the river and wait if you haven't caught up by then okay sweetie?"

"Alright El', see you soon." He hung up.

Elise looked down, intending to make some snarky comment about nosy angels to Jasper, until she realised the dog had gone shock still a few steps behind her. His large ears where twitching, brown eyes narrowed as he looked and round and his nostrils flared scenting something she couldn't. Elise approached her dog, kneeling down at his side and gripping him tight by the studded leather collar that Dean had gotten her for Christmas many years ago (he said the dog needed to look a bit more badass if he was a hunter) and she eyed the dark trees like something might jump out and grab her.

Which was why she didn't jump when a man suddenly came out from one of the trees. He didn't look like a hiker, and he certainly wasn't dressed for the snow in jeans and a light shirt. Not even so much as a hat on his head. In Elise's opinion he screamed 'demon' so loudly he should have just worn a sandwich board informing the world of the fact. It was a good job she had a hold of Jasper's collar because the second the demon revealed itself the dog tried to lunge, barking.

Elise put on her best professional smile, a bit difficult when you're holding 80 pounds of muscled canine struggling to get out of your grip, and said to the demon with a polite tone "I'm sorry about him, this is why I only walk him at night. Tends to get a bit overprotective. Kinda reminds me of my ex."

"Some might say that's a good thing" the demon said after pausing to consider her for a second, deeming her no possible threat, and walking right up to her. He stared at Jasper, and for the second time that night the dog quietened down and retreated behind Elise's legs. She could still feel the shudder of a growl vibrating through his chest against her legs however, and that was a comfort. "There" said the demon "all he needed was to know whose boss."

"Ah well, not many people can get my alpha doggy to back down. You must be quite a guy" Elise fluttered her eyelashes a bit and tried not to vomit into her mouth.

The demon paused about an arm's length from her "this isn't really a hiking trail" he said.

"I know. I just kind of…walked" she shrugged, then with a kind of sly smile said "you see I'm looking for some kids that went missing earlier today, and at first I wasn't sure I was going in the right direction, but low and behold you came along so I guess I'm getting close, am I right?"

The demon looked quite surprised for all of a second before his expressions came over in a fierce look and he tried to lunge for her. Elise hopped backwards to dodge, and Jasper came out of nowhere latching his teeth around the demon's ankle. Of course a dog bite does not really effect a demon, but in her years hunting Elise had found it to be a near excellent distraction. She reached into her boot and pulled out a wicked black blade holding it in a ready position as the demon kicked out finally managing to dislodge Jasper who backed up a few paces out of reach before the demon could do him any serious harm. Instead the furious demon, bleeding from the leg, turned its attention back to Elise and laughed at the blade in her hand. "Stupid bitch, a little pig-knife isn't going to hurt me-"he was cut off by Elise slashing with the knife, cutting the arm he'd put up in defence. The wound spoked and crackled with light, stunning the demon for a second.

"This knife's kind of been in the family for generations" she muttered, keeping her gaze on the demon and waiting for its attack "it works on demons just fine."

The demon's face pulled into a snarl and he lunged, trying to grab her while simultaneously avoid her knife. Behind her Jasper barked loudly. After a few seconds the demon managed to get a hold of her wrist, the one holding the knife, and with a malicious look squeezed trying to make her drop the blade. Elise felt her bones rub together and grimaced but kept her grip firm on the knife.

Then, the demons grip slackened and his features suddenly exploded in light and smoke. Elise was confused, until the body of the demon fell into the snow at her feet. She had expected Sam or even Dean. She did not expect the angel. He put his blade away eyeing her with his baby blues, and Elise found herself glancing up to the shadowy wings on his back that twitched.

"I could have taken care of that" she growled irritably looking away from the angel, crouching in the snow to check over Jasper and make sure he wasn't injured. The dog did his best to try lick her face, which made Elise want to smile despite trying to glower at the angel. "I didn't need your help."

"I am sure you are a capable hunter" he said, and Elise was surprised by the sincerity in his voice and expression "but in this instance it looked like assistance was required."

Elise didn't grace that with a reply as she carried on walking, Jasper keeping close to her legs, instead she looked around and asked "where's your grumpy partner?"

"Around" he replied ambiguously with a slight shrug, but it was enough to make Elise cast a glance at the shadows of the trees around her despite knowing angels could choose to be seen by her mortal eyes or not.

After a few moments, Elise turned on the angel again "why the hell are you following me?"

"I wished to speak with you… Elise?"

"About what?" she shoved her hands into her pockets and irritably looked around at anything but the angel.

He tilted his head watching her for a moment before he said "I do not understand many human interactions or the complexity of their emotions but I am confident that I have detected a certain animosity you hold for me?"

Elise glanced at him briefly "well you're not wrong…" she said, slightly amused, then with a sigh and only because she had heard this angel was something for a 'friend' to Dean she asked "what's your name angel?"

"Castiel."

"Alright Castiel, I'll tell you a little secret" she looked at him with just a glance and saw his curiosity "I hate angels- but it's nothing personal against you. I don't like to talk about it though."

The angel opened his mouth to say something, she saw that in the corner of her eye, but suddenly he paused. Elise paused too, tilting her head as she heard something that a human would not. It wasn't often that it happened – it would probably give her a headache if it was often – but Elise could pick up prayers like any angel could, maybe better since they seemed to be able to identify emotions as well as a carrot could.

"Please help us, god please, please, please" it was a child's prayer, it echoed around Elise's head like a ping pong ball in an otherwise empty room and she found herself standing and going off the path to follow it "please, it's dark and cold and I'm scared! I'll be good for mom-"

Elise had stopped walking when she heard the prayer and glanced to her side knowing that Castiel would have heard the prayer too. Which was why she was not shocked that he was gone, the only evidence he had been there was the foot prints in the snow that would likely vanish soon as flakes began to fall from the sky once more. Elise snorted and thought good riddance, before she began to follow the prayer.

Elise followed the prayed for maybe ten minutes, ignoring the chills in her limbs and the way her ankles twisted as she slipped on patches of ice and snow. Jasper obediently followed. Neither of them picked up on any demons, nor angels for that matter, not even as she came to the small entrance of what was probably the mine she'd heard about.

"Hello?" she called out, testing. She didn't even care if demons heard her. Let them come, she had a bit of steam to blow off anyway.

"Hello?" she heard the hopeful sound of children's voices echoing inside the mine "help us, please, oh god!"

"Hang on a second" Elise called back cupping a hand to her mouth. She turned to Jasper, knowing he'd likely be too big to slip into what was left of the mine's entrance, and she told him to stay. It took three tries – he kept trying to follow – but eventually he stayed outside. Elise, satisfied, got out her phone flicking on the torch so she could see better.

It took a bit of walking, in some places slipping, before she found the children. They were locked up on individual cages probably meant for dogs of Jasper's size. They weren't dressed for the cold, and huddled in little balls to try and keep warm as their breaths came out in little clouds. Still when they saw her, some shrank back in fear while others came forwards with hope. Elise couldn't help but try to reassure them as she put down her phone/torch and smiled getting her lock picking tools out of pocket, she asked "which one of you prayed for a miracle?"

One of the kids, a boy in a shirt with a dinosaur on it, crawled forwards eying her doubtfully and asked "are you an angel?"

"Nah" she said, getting to work on the first lock "I'm better."

The lock clicked open and the kid pushed the door open looking relived, but as he did there was noise at the mouth of the shaft. Elise's first dreaded thought was that more demons had returned – she didn't know exactly how many where there after all – but a few seconds later she realised that wasn't what she should have been worried about. The tiny bit of natural light coming out from the mouth of the cave vanished with a loud noise, and she realised she had just been sealed into the mine with the kids. The kids began to panic again, yelling all sorts of things until Elise stood up (the second lock now in her hand as a girl climbed out of another cage) and with all the authority she could muster yelled "quiet!"

She was actually surprised when they fell silent, all looking up at her with doleful eyes. "Look, I've got friends who were following me out here. They're looking for you too. They're gonna find us, okay?" she gave them her best smile. One by one the six kids nodded, though only a few of them looked reassured. Elise couldn't blame them as she looked at the empty signal bars on her phone screen… she felt a bit doubtful too.

X

When Sam and Dean came across the dead man in the wood, they lost Elise's tracks in the freshly falling snow. If it hadn't been for an insane amount of barking, they'd never have known which direction to head in. "Jasper!" Dean bellowed into the woods, probably waking every living creature from hibernation. Still it did the trick, they heard the dog before they saw him. He didn't linger however, the dog ran back the way he came pausing now and then to make sure they were following. When they came to a sealed mine entrance, they had an idea what had separated Elise and her dog.

"Knock, knock, Elise – you in there?" Dean yelled, tapping on the boulders.

"You better not be a Jehovah's witness" Elise's voice called back, muffled by the rocks "hey Dean, you think you could move some of these rocks?"

"Sure princess" Dean smiled, nodding for Sam to help him.

"I thought Uriel and Cas where supposed to be helping us out?" Sam asked as they struggled together to life a particularly large boulder.

"Angels, dicks" Dean grunted.

"Language!" Elise's voice was sharp "there's kids in here."

"You found them?"

"No Sam, I found a different bunch of missing kids"

"No need to get testy."

It took some work but eventually the boys had cleared enough of the rocks for the kids, and then Elise, to fit through. It was then some work helping the kids back through the snow, having to rely not only on their directions to the nearest safe place but having to carry the kids that hadn't been wearing shoes when the demons grabbed them. Sam, being the tallest, had one kid on his back and another in his arms. Dean carried another in his arms (Elise thought it was kind of adorable how the little girl was telling Dean he was like a prince in a fairy tale, though Dean kept trying to macho up the story whenever he caught Sam's eye he was clearly enjoying the praise) and Elise was piggybacking another kid. The two kids who were walking, Elise was touched to see, kept their hands on Jasper's fury back as he walked in between them calmly. They returned the kids to the local police station, Elise filled out some bullshit report that she'd been taking her dog out to go do his business when he ran off and found the kids, and didn't linger for any kind of thanks or congratulations. They did however receive a number of high fives off the kids, and Dean got a peck on the cheek from the girl who thought he was a prince.

On the way back to the cabin, Elise stuck her hands in her pockets and said into the silence "so you guys aren't mad that I'm…" she trailed off looking at the floor.

"A nephilim?" Sam frowned from beside her, pause and then said in a kind of lazy tone "nah"

"Nah?" she looked up.

"Well we always knew you weren't quite human" Dean said suddenly with a shrug, kicking a bit of dirty snow "that's never really been a problem since we've known you since Sammy's toddler days."

"You're…serious?"

"Yeah" Sam threw an arm over her shoulders "you're like family, idiot, did you really think this'd be a problem?"

"Well…"

Dean suddenly ruffled her hair, a kind of sad grin on his face as he said "you really are an idiot."

"Yeah well you're a dingus" Elise fired back climbing the cabin stairs.

"Cow" he fired back with a smirk, unlocking the cabin door.

This time Dean didn't seem shocked to see Uriel and Castiel in the room. Sam and Elise paused, but didn't linger as they kicked off their shoes a dampened the wood floor with snow. Elise kept a close eye on Jasper, but was surprised when her dog walked right up to the angel whose wing shadow she could still see – Castiel, right? – pressing his wet nose into the angel's hand asking to be pet. The angel actually looked quite startled, before rubbing the dog's ears a few times.

"Traitor" Elise muttered, though she didn't mean it. It wasn't her dogs fault she had a grudge after all.

"You did exceptionally well" Castiel praised, but he was looking only at Elise and not the boys.

Uriel, also looking at her, couldn't seem to help himself from adding "for a mongrel."

Elise felt her blood boil once more, but rather than saying anything in anger she decided to pull off her best smile yet and she winked at the cantankerous angel "oh Uriel, you whisper such sweet nothings in my ears don't you?"

He looked taken aback, and Castiel furrowed his brow in annoyance, while Dean smirked at Elise before he said to the two angels "she was a hell of a lot more useful than either of you dicks, what did you two do eh?"

Castiel turned his head to Dean fixing him with that stare as he said "there were no demons to stop you retrieving the children. Did you not wonder why that was Dean?"

The three hunters paused, though Elise moved to sit by the fire and warm her feet. She could barely feel her toes at all. She was not blind enough to not notice the way Castiel watched her like a hawk. What did he think she was gonna do? Jump up and bite him? She snorted at that idea, which made everyone look at her, so she tried to cover it with a cough. "The only reason I have not killed you yet nephilim is because Castiel has argued that you will be useful" Uriel decided to break the silence.

Elise was, she admitted, a bit surprised by that but just shrugged and said "whatever works for you, dick-wings, have a nice day now."

Elise didn't turn to the see the angels again, so she didn't know if they were annoyed when they left but it gave her a warm fuzzy feeling to assume they were. She heard a flutter of wings however, announcing their exit, and for just a second felt her heart leap of its own accord and Elise was left frowning in the armchair.

Dean threw himself into the armchair opposite her "I've never seen you be so aggressive with someone you just met, what's the story?" he asked almost immediately.

Elise just shrugged, looking at the warm fire as her toes began to thaw and replied simply "I hate angels."