AN: This story is a gift for the lovely Peddlergirl. Thank you. See the end notes for more details. I own nothing.
Pain. Her entire being screamed with a blinding pain that was nothing like she had ever felt before.
When she saw the sun start to die, it was her first taste of freedom. She had spent her entire existence tied to God, constantly on call. She'd served him from the shadows without even being given a name in return.
When the sun didn't die, she searched for him and one thing quickly became apparent. Chuck had left the building. She was free. Even locked in the cage all that time, Lucifer had more freedom than she'd ever experienced. Taking a page out of Gabriel's playbook, she found the perfect cover for an archangel trying to live among humans. She posed as a witch and formed a coven under the name 'Lilah'.
The coven consisted of a few lost humans she was hoping to give a better life. They were abused, traumatized, and in need of a family. She taught them things like warding and healing. Lilah encouraged them to learn and explore as long as they never harmed others or themselves in the process.
They'd been doing well for a while. Until Will, the most gifted among them, started asking about time travel. She'd tried to tell Will how dangerous time travel was for everyone. Instead of heading her warnings, he discussed it more with the coven. He never kept his desires to lead the coven a secret and took this as an opening. Over a couple weeks, it became a whispered obsession. They all had things they wanted to fix. They all had things that they needed to never have happened.
Lilah knew that things were taking a horrible turn, Will became more ambitious every day. But this was her mess and she couldn't simply walk away from it. Deep down, she needed this family as much as they did. It would've been more than leaving a mess, it would've been abandonment.
She walked in on them performing a spell. They had all of the ingredients for time traveling except one, the wing of an angel. It was meant to summon and trap the nearest one. They uttered the last words in Latin and she found herself trapped in a circle of holy fire. Instead of releasing Lilah and stopping this mad quest, they simply gave her looks of shock and betrayal.
She tried to explain, but they wouldn't listen. They locked her in a warded, windowless room in the basement while they fought amongst each other about what to do with her. They didn't reach the decision quickly.
The coven sent Heather in to talk to her. Heather was a kind and sweet person. She'd been one of the first to join the coven and among Lilah's favorites. "Don't worry. If this spell works, we won't need to go back in time again when we get to this point. It'll be like it never happened." She explained their reasoning to Lilah as if it were simple and it should all make sense.
She squeezed her eyes shut and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You have no idea. None of you understand what you're about to get yourselves into. You need to stop this before it's too late. Please, Heather. You need to listen to me."
Heather frowned and turned away. "Look, we're all grateful for everything you've done for us… But we all agreed, this has to be done."
"All of you agreed?" Lilah cast the young woman a sidelong glance.
Heather sighed and gave her a mournful look. "I thought you'd understand."
"Oh, Heather…" Lilah spoke gently and placed a hand on her arm. "I understand, I really do. But this isn't the way to fix things. This kind of magic is dangerous with unpredictable consequences at best. At worst… you don't want to know."
"Then tell me. Why did you lie to us?" She looked genuinely hurt. Lilah could tell that this is what pushed some of them to side with Will.
"I'm sorry I lied. I needed a fresh start, a new life." Lilah sighed. Heather's betrayal hurt. "I thought you—out of everyone—would understand.
Heather took it in for a moment before taking a step back. "I'm sorry." She turned and left Lilah behind in the dim room.
Will and Brad came in after Heather left. Brad was always in Will's corner since day one and now it looked like he was going to either be the muscle, second in command, or both. Will began to set up for a spell while Brad approached Lilah with chains.
"Please, Brad. You don't have to do this." She slowly retreated to the back of the room as she tried to talk him out of this.
He simply shook his head. "I don't have a choice. I can't live with—" He glanced up at the archangel. "Well… you know."
Lilah was powerless with the warding. Knowing what they were going to do made everything ten times worse. She begged and pleaded—a rare thing in her existence—as Brad shackled her arms above her head to an exposed pipe. This was going to be bad.
The task of obtaining her wing was a three step process. First, Will conjured her angel blade and Brad took it from her. She watched as they looked at it with fascination before moving on.
Will then proceeded with a spell that would force her wings to manifest. The young men had no way of understanding what a violation that was for an angel. For Lilah, it was the equivalent of being stripped. They were so awestruck, they missed the tear rolling down her cheek and the look of defiance she was giving them. Will and Brad even stepped forward to touch her.
"Don't…" Lilah meant it to sound like a warning, but it came out as a plea. They ran their hands through her black, iridescent feathers. She knew then that she stopped being Lilah to them. They saw her as a creature, a thing. And worse yet, she was a thing that had something that they needed.
Will made eye contact with her for the first time. He stepped in front of her with her angel blade clutched tightly. He spoke calmly, quietly. "Right or left?"
The question sent shivers down her spine. Her heart raced with terror. "Will. Undo this. Please…"
He simply sighed. Ice cold dread washed over Lilah. "I think you're right handed. Left it is."
"No… No! Don't do this. You don't have to do this Will!" Lilah tried to move away from the blade and tucked back her wings as much as she could.
Will signaled to Brad as he stepped behind her. Brad grabbed her left wing and stretched away from her body. Lilah didn't have time to brace herself before a searing pain enveloped her. It felt like an eternity as they mutilated her. Will's inexperience caused him to hesitate and work slowly—making the experience even worse if it were possible.
The agony was so overwhelming that she didn't realize they had finished until one of them unlocked the shackles and she fell to the floor. They left her alone there. Lilah remained motionless on the floor. Blood and grace leaked out of her wound creating an eerie pool around her. A few feathers littered the floor as well and trailed off towards the door.
Mercifully, Heather walked in and erased some of the sigils. She had the decency so show some guilt and sadness. "You need to heal or you'll bleed out. I know you can't with these here."
Immediately, the pain lessened enough for Lilah to become barely coherent. "Th—thank you." Her voice was a whisper. She didn't know if Heather even heard her as she left. As she became more aware, she wondered what they would do with her now. Would they simply use the spell and just leave her? Or would they need something else angelic to power up another spell later? Maybe they would just kill her. Right now, that sounded like a mercy.
Lilah rolled from her stomach onto her right side when she had the strength. She blinked up at the painted walls that kept her trapped here. As she examined the smudged sigils more closely, Lilah saw an opportunity. Whether Heather meant to or not, she had erased enough for Lilah to be able to escape. Flying was no longer an option. And with the coven still around, neither was leaving through the front door—even if she could go unnoticed on the streets. There was one spell that might work if she could concentrate enough to complete it.
Summoning all of her strength, she stood shakily. Every movement, every step was pain. She used the wall for support after stumbling multiple times and falling once. The loss of a wing caused her to feel off balance on top of everything else.
Everything from the spells had been removed except for the table. Lilah leaned heavily on the surface. Using her own blood, she drew sigils on the empty table top. She smeared blood on her hand before whispering a few phrases in Enochian. Lilah braced herself before finishing the spell and touching her hand to the table.
There was a blinding light. A fierce wind whipped around her and she actually felt the speed of flying for the first time. After a few disorienting moments filled with uncertainty and panic, the world came into clear focus. A man turned around and gave her a puzzled look. It worked. She could hardly believe that she actually pulled it off.
"Who are you?" It was the first question and only natural. He rushed towards her.
The edges of Lilah's vision were going black. She'd overexerted herself escaping. "Castiel… Help me." She lost consciousness and collapsed into his arms.
Castiel sank to the floor with her in his arms. He cast a panicked look around the bunker. "Dean! Sam!"
AN: I have much more in store! But a quick note, I started a go fund me for a dear friend of mine. She helped me with a few gish items and she is truly a wonderful person. Please take a look and consider donating or maybe just give the page a signal boost.
www. gofundme (add the dot com)/ kkyqpx-peddlergirl-goes-to-creationcon-dc
