Part III
Castiel and Sam arrived in North Platte early the following morning. It was a small town, which would make searching for the location of Lucifer's crypt somewhat easier.
"I need a higher vantage point," Castiel said once Sam had parked the jeep.
"Uh, okay." He turned the engine off. "How about that apartment building? We can go up the fire escape."
Castiel nodded, and climbed out of the vehicle. He paused for a moment to listen, but the area was silent. He didn't know whether that was a good sign or not; either Lucifer's crypt would be heavily guarded, or it was such a well-protected secret that only a few select demons, like this Meg, knew where it was. Hopefully the latter was the case.
They cautiously made their way across the street and up the four-story building's fire escape. The town was remarkably undamaged, given the state of the world elsewhere, though like many human dwellings, it appeared abandoned. Survivors could have been in hiding here, though. As long as they weren't of the same mindset as those brigands on the highway.
Once on the roof, Castiel began to scan the town, narrowing his celestial senses on that of the unseen.
"Wouldn't Lucifer's crypt be warded against angels?" Sam asked.
"Lucifer is an angel." Castiel continued to slowly rove his gaze around, senses peeled. "No, it would be warded against angel detection."
"Uh…then how will you find it?"
"By searching for nothing."
Castiel could sense Sam's dissatisfaction with that answer, but he was too focused on his task to explain further at the moment. He had to do a complete sweep of the entire town to be sure, but then he turned back to the cemetery and pointed. "There."
Sam frowned. "How do you know?"
"When I focus on every other area, I can see the chords of creation," Castiel elaborated. "But when I look there, I see nothing."
Sam's confusion smoothed into understanding. "Because it's shielded."
"Exactly."
They made their way back down the fire escape, and then Sam drove them across town to the cemetery. Castiel hadn't expected Lucifer's crypt to be so literal, though it made sense; the fallen archangel would have stored his cache of various possessions in a place that would stand against the changing times. And there were few places left undisturbed by developers than graveyards.
Castiel kept his guard up as he and Sam approached the one large and stately mausoleum on the grounds. So far, though, it appeared they were the only ones here. That was both encouraging…and not.
Castiel walked straight up to the granite door and gripped the wrought-iron handle. With a firm wrench, the ancient lock snapped like brittle and the slab creaked open. Castiel descended the steps first.
Inside was musty and stale, dust motes cloying the air and tickling at Castiel's nose. Sam let out a small cough behind him. The chamber was filled with rickety shelves and crates stacked on the floor. Everything was draped in cobwebs.
"Doesn't look like anyone's been here in a while," Sam said grimly. "Not even Meg."
"No," Castiel agreed. "But we should look through the items here. We might discover the locations of the other crypts, or perhaps even something about Azazel and his plans."
Sam shrugged, and took the shelves on the right while Castiel went left. There was an odd assortment of artifacts and weapons in the crypt, some which Castiel recognized as being from Heaven's vaults. He should send a message to Gabriel about the find; some of these items would greatly aid their garrison in the war. At the very least, they wouldn't want them ending up in the hands of either Hell or Heaven.
A dark presence suddenly filled the chamber, and Castiel whirled to find a shadowed figure standing at the top of the entry. Sam noticed Castiel's stance, and flinched in alarm when he also spotted their surprise visitor.
Light footsteps slowly descended into the crypt, revealing a lithe woman dressed in a flowing white gown. Blond locks cascaded over bare shoulders, but Castiel's gaze was fixed on her eyes. They were white.
"Lilith," he breathed.
The demon paused halfway down the steps, a simpering moue on her porcelain features. "You've been a difficult one to track down, Samuel," she purred. "So imagine my surprise to find you here, of all places."
Castiel mentally berated himself; they'd probably tripped some kind of alarm at their entrance. But of all the demons he might have thought would come investigate, Lilith was not one of them…
His stomach dropped with dawning horror. "You sent the worm after Sam." The 'her' wasn't Meg; it was Lilith. Lilith, the first demon Lucifer ever created. Which meant whatever Azazel had been up to, it had to be at Lucifer's direction.
Lilith arched a delicate brow. "Hello, angel. Mhm, I don't recognize you as a devout follower of Lucifer." She made her way down the rest of the steps.
Castiel put himself in front of Sam. "I'm not. And you're not taking Sam Winchester."
He unleashed his grace with a crackling roar that filled the underground crypt with blazing bluish-white light. Lilith merely cracked her lips in a minacious grin, and black smoke burst up behind her, five coils splitting into a nebulous hydra. They screeched as she attacked.
Castiel's panther swiped a paw at the demon, but she twisted agilely away from the claws. He lunged after her. The serpent heads struck out in various directions. One sank its fangs into the panther's shoulder; another ducked underneath at Castiel's core. He threw an arm up to block, and nearly cried out when the snake latched onto his arm.
Forgoing throwing the hydra off, Castiel gritted his teeth and pushed forward to punch Lilith across the face. She fell back against the steps, expression stupefied for a split second. But then the rage exploded and with an angry shriek, the hydra heads reeled back. Castiel's muscles coiled to strike, yet before he could, the tenebrous serpents came shooting forward all at once. They slammed into his front, propelling him through nearby shelves and into the wall with a dull crack. Castiel hit the ground, dazed.
"Cas!"
Through blurred vision, he saw Sam swing a long metal object at Lilith, but she caught it mid-strike. With a hiss, she shoved him away with enough force that he went sliding into the other wall.
Castiel struggled to get to his feet. He couldn't let Lilith take Sam; he'd promised Dean.
Lilith spread her arms and uttered something low and guttural under her breath. Black flames ignited in her hands. Castiel stumbled upright just as she threw them on the ground where they went up with a whoosh, circling around either side of him until he was trapped against the wall by an arc of hellfire. Castiel jerked back.
Lilith relaxed her demeanor, her hydra form folding into her. "Nice try, angel." She turned to face Sam, stalking toward him with a sultry sashay.
He was on the ground, back pressed against the rear wall. All color had drained from his face, but Castiel could see him lifting his chin.
"What do you want with me?" he demanded, despite the tremor in his voice.
"You're a special child, Sam Winchester," she replied. "One of many, actually. And Hell has very special plans for all of you."
"What plans?" he bit out.
Lilith moved closer. "Come with me and find out."
Castiel's heart was pounding erratically in his chest. He had to get out, had to stop her. He cast a frantic look at the towering flames, trying to gauge whether he could cross without killing himself outright.
Lilith was right in front of Sam, reaching a hand down to him.
The Winchester's eyes hardened. "I don't think so."
He whipped out his handgun and fired five times. Lilith's body jerked with each impact that drove her backwards. Castiel froze.
Lilith slowly lifted her head, expression slack in utter shock. She let out a choked gasp, and each of the bullet wounds flickered orange as black vapor started to ooze from them. She probably hadn't figured Sam would be carrying angel bullets.
Her body dropped with a thud on the cold stone where it twitched and shuddered, spewing more dark smoke into the air.
Sam scrambled to his feet, moving to stand over her, gun still in hand. "What plans does Hell have?" he nearly shouted.
She let out a gargled laugh. "You'll find out soon enough." Her body spasmed, and then with a final wheeze, she fell still, head lolling to the side and white eyes turning gray.
The hellfire she had conjured simmered down into nothing. Sam lifted a haunted gaze to Castiel. They'd come looking for answers, but had only found more dire questions.
Gabriel didn't bother with the human convention of knocking, and instead popped straight into Dean's cabin, startling the human so he nearly tripped over a chair.
"No, come right in," the hunter grumbled.
"I thought a celebratory toast was in order," Gabriel said, lifting the bottle of fine wine he'd zipped back to the angel compound to pick up.
Dean arched a brow, but didn't object. He walked over to the desk in the room and pulled two shot glasses from the bottom drawer. "I'm not really a wine guy, but given the occasion, I won't say no."
Gabriel grinned, and popped open the cork with his bare hands. "Don't tell Balthazar, but I got it from his stash." He poured the mulberry liquid into the glasses.
Dean snorted. "Your secret's safe with me."
Gabriel raised the glass to his nose and took a good whiff. "Ah, 1964 Bordeaux. Good year."
"I'll take your word for it." Dean lifted his glass. "To healthy babies."
"To little Gabby." Gabriel had to admit he was oddly tickled that the parents had named their child after him. It was certainly a more appreciative response than Zechariah's had been, the old coot.
Dean's lips twitched. "Can an angel be a godfather?"
Gabriel shrugged. "This kid is the first one born into the end of the world. I think she'll need all the guardian angels she can get."
"Yeah, no kidding," Dean said under his breath.
They both then busied themselves with sipping the wine.
"Okay, look," Gabriel broke the silence. "I still don't entirely get why Castiel has taken to you and your brother." Though, the past twenty-four hours had given him a bit of a glimpse into it. "Or vice versa, for that matter," he added. Because that was the real mystery—two humans befriending an angel like he was one of them.
"But," Gabriel went on. "I do think you've been good for my little brother."
Dean regarded him for a moment. "It's mutual. I wouldn't be here without Cas."
"Don't get me started on that little Hell stunt of his," he huffed. "But I understand why he did it." His tone turned soft with introspection. "We all need reasons to fight."
"And what's your reason?"
Gabriel shrugged. "Same as you; what other choice is there?"
He shook his head at himself. That wasn't true; he could have chosen to stay with the pagan deities, or slipped into a pocket dimension somewhere to wait out the End of Days with a margarita in one hand.
"I'm fighting for my family," he amended softly.
Dean was quiet for a moment, and then he raised his glass again. "We have that in common."
Yes, Gabriel supposed they did. "To little brothers, then," he said in another toast.
Dean cracked a grin. "Even when they're pains in the ass."
Gabriel couldn't help but smirk at that. "Hear, hear."
Sam finished wrapping Cas's forearm with gauze and taping it in place. They'd made a hasty exit from the crypt, but had only driven a few miles outside of town before Sam pulled over to treat the angel's wounds.
Cas took his arm back and started to slip his jacket back on. "Thank you."
"How's the shoulder?"
"Sore." Cas grimaced as he shrugged his arm through the sleeve.
Sam began putting things back in the first aid kit. "I still don't get that, the difference between your two forms. How one can bleed and the other doesn't."
"They both bleed, just in different ways."
Sam shook his head. "Yeah, that's what I don't get."
Cas's brow furrowed. "I'm not sure how to explain it. An angel's grace animal is…spirit. Like humans have souls. Only, you don't possess the ability to extend yours."
"But your shoulder hurts."
"Doesn't your chest hurt even when your heart is the source of pain?"
Sam almost made a quip about yes, if someone's having a heart attack, but decided against it. He knew what Cas was getting at.
He stuck the med kit in the back of the jeep, then bowed his head. "Hell's not going to stop coming after me, is it?" he said quietly.
Cas didn't respond for a moment. "I doubt it," he replied, tone grave.
Sam's knuckles whitened on the rim of the back window. "Should I even go back to Camp Chitaqua? If my being there is gonna put Dean and everyone else in danger—"
"The camp is fortified against angels and demons," Cas said firmly. "And I will fortify it two times over if I have to. But running off on your own would not be wise, Sam."
He closed his eyes against overwhelming anguish. He didn't want to be alone, but he couldn't bear the thought of putting Dean in harm's way like Cas had been today, or Jo earlier, just because demons were going to do whatever it took to get to him.
"And I will keep searching for answers," Cas went on. He moved closer and clasped Sam's shoulder. "I will do everything in my power to keep you safe."
Hot moisture pricked at the corners of Sam's eyes. He didn't deserve that kind of devotion from an angel of all beings. Not as the boy with the demon blood.
But, maybe, it meant he wasn't beyond redemption.
"Thanks, Cas. For everything."
The angel nodded.
"What about these other 'special children'?" Sam added.
"They will also be difficult to track down, but I intend to try," Cas replied.
Sam felt a flutter of trepidation. "But you'll be careful, right?"
The angel gave him a wry look. "Of course." He turned toward the passenger side of the jeep, but paused and looked over his shoulder. "Sam, Hell may have its plans for you, but as you just showed Lilith, you don't have to go along with them."
Sam managed to quirk a fraction of a smile. True. And maybe it was time the demons learned what happened when they messed with a Winchester.
…
NEXT TIME
"What is so important and why couldn't you share it in front of the others?"
Ezra slowed to a stop, and cast a fidgety gaze around the warehouse. "Castiel, there's…there's a mole. In the garrison."
He frowned. "How can you be sure?"
Ezra grimaced, his hands flexing and clenching almost compulsively.
"No one else is here," Castiel said.
"Are you certain about that?" a deep, baritone voice spoke from the shadows.
Castiel whirled, but the only thing he was able to register was a hand slapping down on a sigil painted in the back. Blinding light engulfed him like white fire.
A/N: Be sure to check 29-pieces-of-me on deviantart for the stunning piece of art that goes with this episode!