Chapter Four: Eternals versus Angels

Sometimes, pain is all that lets you know you're alive.

-Lews Therin Telamon

Not more than a few seconds later, Castiel strode down the busy corridor to meet them at Bobby's hospital room. His face conveying the urgency of his mission, or it did, until he stopped to nod greetings to both of the Winchesters and turn to express greetings to their young companion. He met the eyes of Gail Olivia Sparks and froze, his tongue pressed against the ceiling of his mouth as his eyes widened.

"Cell phone, Cas?" Dean asked. His voice was barely higher than a hiss and he didn't notice the way that Castiel was staring at Gail. "Really?"

"What is she doing here?" Castiel asked. Ignoring Dean's question, his arms hung limply at his sides as his head cocked his head slightly.

"I don't know." Dean snapped. "She just showed up thirty minutes ago saying that the angels or the Hierarchy or whatever had assigned her to be my new bodyguard. Whatever the hell that means." He sighed but it came out more of a growl as he crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the angel. "You didn't answer my question."

"That is impossible." Castiel said. His voice was hard and flat as he stared at Gail, the pallor of his skin remained the same but there was something off about his eyes.

"The spell he carved on your insides hides you from all angels, dumb ass." Gail said. Her gaze was holding the angel's, firm and unblinking, but her shoulders twitched, almost as if she was laughing. "That includes him." She shrugged yet again and tilted her head to the side, her gaze never leaving that of Castiel's. "And it's not like they've never done this before."

"Why's it impossible?" Sam asked. He glanced from one face to the other, the tension between them making him shiver. Each gaze held so much animosity that it made him want to back up. Get out of the way before they both implode.

"Because she is supposed to be dead." Castiel replied.

"I got better."

"I am suddenly aware of that." Castiel bit out the words, his fingers twitching at his sides. His flat monotone voice held no hint of emotion but his brow creased slightly. "Clearly some information has been left out of your file."

"You're not high enough on the pay scale to get that kind of classified intel." Gail said with a toss of her head.

There was a slight challenge in her voice, but the undertone dripped with an intense irritation. Sam would almost have classified it as anger and maybe even hatred. One thing was suddenly clear to him. Whatever she is, she's not friends with the angels. But did that really mean she was on their side.

"Wait!" Dean held up his hands. This conversation was quickly heading in a direction that left him feeling confused, like the two were talking over his head. He didn't like them making him feel like a child. "She died?"

"I'm right here, numb nuts." Gail sighed.

"600 hundred years ago on a covert intelligence gathering mission, agent codenamed: Mace, second in command of the Hierarchy's Eternal Division, vanished." Castiel said. "The general impression was that he was discovered in his mission and executed. The report filed by the Eternal Commander Drake said that evidence suggested Mace's shard had been exploded by competing operatives leading to his complete annihilation." Castiel shook his head. "I was at Pinnacle when it was handed in. You were listed as going rogue and a bounty was posted for you, but no one truly believed you had survived."

"Like I said." Gail repeated. "I got better."

"Why didn't you come in?" Castiel demanded.

"Because that wasn't the mission." Gail replied. Her arms crossed over her chest and her features sagged, she suddenly looked very old and empty, like she was carrying a great weight on her shoulders. She gazed at Castiel, her expression irritated and then her entire face shifted.

"Angel." A deep gravelly voice spoke out of her throat. "It is not wise to ask more questions than there are answers." A cruel smile found it's way onto her mouth and Sam felt a chill run up his spine. He doubted very much that Gail and this Mace were the same person. "You are no longer part of the Hierarchy. You have," the voice of Mace chuckled. It was deep and throaty. "A significant bounty on you." Gail's head shook, but the smile remained etched on her mouth like stone.

"Yours is greater." Castiel growled.

"My loss was deemed more damaging." Gail's shoulders shrugged. "There are a thousand of you and only one of me." Again, Gail's chest rippled in a chuckle as her arms crossed over her chest. But, both Dean and Sam noticed, even the movements were different. There was a surety about them now, a decisiveness. "She finds you amusing, Castiel." Mace added in that same confident fashion. "She wants to know how you overcame your programming."

"Tell your host I have no interest in discussing it with her."

"Programming?" Dean mouthed the question at Sam, but his brother just shook his head. He was at a loss over what these two were talking about, the subject now having gone way over both their heads.

Mace shrugged, shoulders undulating in a smooth motion, apparently, this being also deemed the subject unimportant. "You wanted to speak to me?"

"Yes." Castiel said. "Why are you here? Dean Winchester is too small a job for you. He could not have been your classified mission."

"That is true." Mace laughed. "They are both beneath me. But the Hierarchy deemed Dean Winchester's safety important enough to blow my cover and end a six hundred year investigation." Again those slim shoulders twitched and Mace straightened up, her movements cat-like and the smile never leaving her lips. "But it is Apocalypse Now and the world is ending in flames and fire. If rumors are to be believed then Lucifer himself is once again walking the earth." Mace snorted and chuckled. "Apparently the fucker will not stay dead. But to completely answer your question Castiel, I'm taking this opportunity to have a little fun." Her eyes swung to examine Dean again, the predatory smile growing ever wider. "I have not stretched my wings for some time and I admit I've been chafing with nothing to kill."

"This is not the field of battle I would have thought to find you on." Castiel replied. He kept his voice level, even though inside he could feel Jimmy squirming in terror. Castiel was glad for the moment that both boys were for the most part psychically deafened and could not see what he did. I doubt they would understand why they should fear. Of the fourteen Eternals, Mace was one of the deadliest and the one best known for combat.

"You thought I would join the other side?" Mace asked. Her low gravelly voice grating in the ears of others and she snorted. "I, who has never lead the Hierarchies forces into battle? Or did you expect me to put myself within Lucifer's grasp?"

"Which again begs the question," Castiel growled. "Why are you here?"

"Working." Mace chuckled. "As she has said before. I'm fucking working."

"I will not allow you to harm these two." Castiel said. He forced the words through his teeth and listened as the other being laughed. Castiel was not accustomed to being afraid, but he knew the Eternal Mace's reputation only too well.

"And if I decided to, how would you stop me?"

The question hung in the air between them and Castiel did all he could to keep from hissing. He knew now that Mace knew and that Mace did not care that he did. The information had been passed freely from one to the other with no currency exchange and only served to emphasize for Castiel how far he had fallen.

"Okay, anyone want to step in and make sense of this brooha?" Dean asked. He glanced from Mace to Castiel. "And I suppose you're the one who kicked our collective asses in the parking lot."

"If you have to ask, then you are dumber than I imagined."

Dean felt himself twitch. "Just checking." He said, spitting the words out as he glared at Mace. "Cas?"

"Sam, Dean," Castiel sighed. "I did not believe you'd ever come across one…"

"Really?" Mace's voice was a gravelly chuckle. "It is the end of the world, Angel cake." Mace said. "Are you that confused about where Heaven and Hell have left their foot soldiers?"

"I was given no reason to believe that they would ever be involved with the Ancients, much less one of you."

"And if they ever encountered the Horsemen what then?" Mace chuckled. "You did not believe they would ever meet one of us? When so many of us have been gathered here? Pestilence and Death are both in this timeline. They are merely awaiting a signal. I have few doubts about War's presence, but that little fuckhead Roon has always been good at hiding from me." Mace crossed her arms over her chest and lifted a condescending eyebrow. "The majority of humans in this timeline are combatants not civilians, and that means there will be no evacuation, no Rapture for the Christian sheep. I may be a fucking old school boogey man, myth and mystery to greater civilization. Even a god to more than a few ancient civilizations." She twisted her head so that her smile widened. "And I know what it looks like when the world ends and now that the war has reached here, well, that the real battle's about to begin." Fire sparked in those cool eyes as their irises lightened to a strange yellow color. "Chaos."

"This is not their war." Castiel replied. He jabbed his index finger at her, his face a mask of stone. "Maybe if Dean had said yes to Michael it would be his, but until he does you have no business with them."

"Orders are orders."

"And you being here will only serve to lead Zachariah straight to—"

"Oh?" Gail's entire body shifted suddenly as her face brightened and a wide smile broke out of the cool smirk. Both Sam and Dean blinked in surprise. Gail was back. "You don't have to worry about that."

"We don't?" Dean asked. He hated that he sounded cautious. He didn't trust either part of this girl's personality, but he did find the way that she put Cas on edge amusing. Does she do that to every angel?

"No!" Gail waved her hand, her nose scrunching as if she'd just smelled something horrible. "I already got rid of the spyware they implanted in your brains and got the ones spying on me high."

"Spyware?" Sam asked.

"High?" Was Dean's question.

"I fed Larry, Curly, and Moe a big lunch of shard energy. They're gonna be tied up with the brass for awhile explaining why they've been feeding off shards and probably won't be let out of Pinnacle again for at least another hundred years." She grinned. "Detox." Gail glanced at Sam. "And on the second question, yes, the angels that visited you implanted listening devices in your brains and blockers that let them keep tabs on where you are. I got rid of them while you were sleeping in the parking lot. You can thank me later."

"Oh." Sam responded. He felt a little faint.

"Say that again." Dean said. "This time in English so we can understand."

"You lot gonna yammer out there in the hall all day?" Bobby growled from behind them. "Or are you gonna get your asses in here and fix me?"

"Sorry, Bobby." Dean said.

"Sorry." Sam echoed.

Castiel stood stock still in the hallway, gazing at Bobby. His expression was sad.

"Get healing!" Bobby growled. "Now!"

"I can't." Castiel sighed.

Bobby's eyes glared at the angel, more hateful than they'd ever been before. He wheeled his chair around to face the other man, his face a mask of storm clouds and thunderbolts. "Say again?"

"I've been cut off from Heaven, much of Heaven's power, certain things I can do and certain things I can't."

"You tellin' me you lost your mojo just in time to get me stuck in this trap the rest of my life?" Bobby snarled. He wheeled forward, the anger flowing off of him palpable in the air. Tension skyrocketed within the room as the faces of both Sam and Dean fell. Gail crossed her arms over her chest and examined Bobby with her eyes.

"I'm sorry."

"Shove it up your ass." Bobby growled. He turned back to face the window, staring out at the rain with pained eyes.

"He can't." Gail said. Her voice breaking the tense silence as she stepped past the boys and into the room, her entire body twitching and her gaze never leaving the back of Bobby's head. She wet her lips nervously. "But I might be able to." She swallowed. "I mean, I've forgotten a lot but compared to soul surgery healing your body shouldn't be too difficult."

"You." Castiel's eyes swung to her and he turned around in surprise. It was like he was seeing her for the first time. "You are not a normal host. Who are you?"

"I'm nobody." Gail replied, her voice very flat. There was a dark edge to it that threatened him as she turned her eyes away from him. "Mace's powers…"

"Are not what you plan on using." Castiel replied. "I ask again, who are you?"

Gail turned away from Castiel, indicating that the topic of conversation was closed and focused her gaze on Bobby Singer. "Do you want to walk again?"

"What's going on?" Sam asked Dean.

"Hell if I know." Dean growled. "I haven't understood a single thing since the two of 'em started talkin'."

"You can fix me?" Bobby asked. His voice was incredibly bitter as he looked at her. "What? You another one of them angels?"

"I'm something different."

"A faith healer then?"

"No." She shook her head. "Nothing like that. All I need is a pen. So, do you want my help or not?"

"Wait a minute!" Dean snarled. "We don't even know what she's gonna do? Bobby you can't trust her!"

"I ain't seein' any other options, kid." Bobby said.

Gail sent Castiel a triumphant look and then turned back to the old man. "Then one of you help him out of that chair and the other find me a marker. Permanent would probably be best."

"What are you plannin' on doin'?" Bobby asked as Sam moved forward to help the old man out of the chair and lay him down on the table.

"I'm guessing that she is a hierophant," Castiel said. He was glaring at Gail. "Of some kind, which is why you should be careful."

"A little high magic never hurt anyone." Gail replied. She lifted her right hand up and put her left on her chest. "I solemnly swear that I will not turn him into a zombie, nor will I infect him with any diseases. I'll return him to being healthy and whole, like he was never stabbed in the first place."

"I have seen the ill effects of necromancy."

"Necromancy?" Dean exploded as he walked back into the room. "Did you say necromancy?"

Gail swiped the pen from his frozen fingers. "Being a hierophant and a necromancer are two different things."

"And you are both." Castiel accused.

"Not so much anymore, no." Gail replied. "And I haven't been for a while now." She tapped her forehead with the butt of the pen and unscrewed the cap. "Not really. Anyway, that's a long boring story that no one wants to listen to. I'd much rather get to work and fix things like spines." She crossed the room quickly and leaned over Bobby, her eyes dark as she looked away from all three men. Lifting the black ink, she sighed. "This would probably work better if I just cut the incantation into your flesh, but given the way things are… I doubt you want long lasting scars or enchantments."

"Just do whatever it is you're gonna do." Bobby growled out of the pillow.

"Okay then," Gail said. "Just warning you though this is probably gonna hurt… a lot."


A/N: Review okay, I'm not proud to admit it but I'm a review whore! Lol. I guess that leaves me saying thanks for reading!