Little girl, little girl, why are you crying?
Inside your restless soul your heart is dying
Little one, little one, your soul is purging
Of love and razor blades your blood is surging

-¿Viva La Gloria? (Little Girl); by Green Day

Cambions — or half-demons — are considered, by Heaven, to be abominations, dangers to Earth and Heaven itself. And, by orders of the higher officials, any demon who managed to conceive such an abomination with a human woman would be eliminated immediately. In most situations, the human woman would be killed before the child's birth; in other situations, if the woman managed to birth the cambion, an angel would kill both when they were weak and defenseless. If the demon managed to stay on Earth, they would be eliminated as well. Thankfully, though, cambions weren't common, which meant Heaven didn't have to worry too much about one popping up like daisies. Unfortunately, there was one in particular that showed up when they least expected it.

A high ranking demon in Hell managed to possess and impregnate a human woman. The cambion would be powerful, and Heaven had its orders to kill the human and the abomination before its birth. Again, unfortunately, the human and her unborn child managed to flee each and every time before an angel managed to nab her. The demon father was always one step ahead. Before long, the woman managed to fall off of Heaven's radar, and it would be months before anyone in Heaven managed to find her. When it happened, they sent down a small flight of angels to take her down; and the demon, should he still be there. While one took care of the human, the others would search for the demon. Castiel's job was to kill the human, the others accompanying him would kill the demon. When the other angels had returned, the human was gone, and so was Castiel.

The human, Leigh Braxton, would be taken to a safe location by Castiel. One even Heaven wouldn't be able to find. In that area, Leigh would go into labor. After what felt like a lifetime, Leigh would give birth to a girl she'd name Lucinda. Because of the bargain Leigh made with Castiel, he would exchange Lucinda's life for hers; which meant Lucinda would live and she would die. After everything had finished and had been cleaned up, Castiel would allow Leigh one more look at her daughter before taking her. After telling her to close her eyes, Castiel stabbed her through the heart with an Angel Blade. One fatal wound. Looking at the crying newborn in his arms, Castiel initially had no idea what to do. He'd never been in that kind of situation before. He didn't know what babies needed in order to survive, and he started to wonder if, maybe, the deal with Leigh was really worth it. But when he looked at her body, bloodied and obviously peaceful compared to when she was alive, Castiel would take the regretful thought back. Lucinda needed someone to take care of her, and he'd have to figure out how.

If Castiel managed to find a human who'd help him figure out how to take care of newborns, then he'd be able to go from there.

Slowly but surely, Cas learned how to take care of Lucinda. He tried his hardest to provide for her, despite having no money and still not having a full understanding on how humans worked. The downside to having to take care of Lucinda was having to keep her a secret from Heaven. He didn't doubt that once Heaven realized Lucinda was still alive, they'd kill her and have a few choice words to him. It seemed as though Castiel had done a good job keeping Lucinda safe; he'd managed to keep her alive and well for twenty years, but his frequent absences in Heaven hadn't gone unnoticed.

Which was why, in Lucinda's motel room, he had been confronted by the former angels in his flight, the day he was supposed to kill Leigh and Lucinda.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

In all honesty, Lucinda didn't leave the mall for a couple minutes after the man left. She was scared that he'd show up again. After what felt like the longest five minutes of her life went by, Lucinda hesitantly walked around the corner and looked around. She didn't see him, but that didn't mean he couldn't be lurking around the mall still.

Swallowing thickly, Lucinda started to walk as quickly as she could out of the mall. Any hopes of maintaining a nice night out having vanished from her mind. All that seemed to matter was getting back to the motel and getting in contact with Cas. If she managed to tell him about the man, maybe he'd have some kind of solution for it. Hopefully.

Crossing her arms over her chest, Lucinda quickened her pace just a little, hoping she could make it to the motel before it got too late.

The idea of being out at night didn't sound as fun as she originally thought. Especially if she was staying in a not-so-friendly part of the area.

Once she was out of the mall, she hurried out of the parking lot, where the number of people and cars had diminished greatly. The number of trick-or-treaters had gone down significantly, which made Lucinda's stomach churn. She was hoping that there'd still be enough people out to make her feel comfortable in case the man returned. The thought of praying to Cas, having him pop up beside her like he tended to do, flitted through Lucinda's mind very briefly, but she didn't think it'd be a good idea. She wasn't exactly sure how anyone would react if they saw her kneeling, openly praying, in the middle of the night. The thought was immediately discarded.

Unconsciously, Lucinda started fiddling with the ring on her finger. It was snug, and she knew she'd have to get some kind of chain for it before it got too small for her finger. Looking down at it, Lucinda's lips pursed. The simple golden band held so much significance to her life, with Cas stating its importance so many times. She never understood why he was so intent on her having it on her at all times, but she did it to please him. If Cas felt it important to keep her safe — from what, she didn't know — then she'd do as he said for whatever plans he came up with. Which also involved moving around a lot.

Turning a corner, Lucinda made sure to take a good look around before proceeding, her pace becoming almost a slow jog. She really was desperate to get back.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"You've kept the cambion alive, Castiel." Ishim looked at Castiel with a look of disdain, as if he couldn't quite believe it. "Do you understand what kind of situation that puts us in? Cambions are dangerous, that's why we kill them."

"Lucinda is different," Castiel replied, keeping his tone civil yet monotone. "She's unlike any cambion Heaven has come across."

Shaking his head, Ishim let out a frustrated huff of air. "You don't believe that," he grumbled. "She's an abomination. An unholy result from her parents. She shouldn't even exist."

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Castiel pursed his lips. "That may be true, but there's still something about her that's different."

"I should've been the one to kill her," Ishim exclaimed. "If you'd left it to me, I would've gotten the job done. Now we've got a cambion on the lose and an angel who thinks she's good. How well do you think that's been taken upstairs?"

Before either of them could continue, Ishim's gaze went to the door of the motel room. Despite not a sound being heard from the other end, there was someone standing on the other side. Castiel's eyes widened a fraction before he turned to the direction of the door.

Before he even had a moment to react, Ishim had vanished, teleporting to the other side of the door.*

(A/N):

First off, sorry for the delay on this chapter! I tried to have it up and ready the day I updated the story, but I got so sidetracked that I completely forgot about this. I hope this chapter makes up for it. It may not be the best, but hopefully it's still decent.

I, unfortunately, own nothing in the SPN fandom.

Constructive criticism is always welcome. If you've got ideas for subplots or OCs, don't hesitate to PM me or leave a review. I'll be sure to put it in as quickly as possible.*

As a side note for those of you genuinely interested in the story, this past Wednesday I started my summer quarter. I'm taking two morning classes, which I think is great. But because it's summer and everything, my job has also increased my hours, so I won't be able to update as frequently; though it's not like I really update all that often for this story anyway. Which I apologize for. I just figured it'd be nice to let you guys know, right?

Also, come fall, I'll really be overwhelmed with school. I'm going to be taking five classes at my community college in hopes of graduating in the spring, so please don't be mad if my time on this story becomes nearly nonexistent. I'll just be drowning in schoolwork.

On that note, I should be wrapping up this author's note!

Be kind to one another, don't text and drive, and I hope you're having an amazing summer.

Leave a thought on anything I should improve on.

Thank you,

Alek Haydn