Chapter Four

Main Street

Sam walked down the street in long, angry strides. He was having difficulty keeping his rage under control. He knew that he shouldn't be so angry at Dean, but he couldn't help it. He was not angry that Dean tortured people. As horrifying as it was to admit, Sam understood that Dean really didn't have a choice given his circumstances; however, two things bothered Sam. First, that Dean spent the last year or so judging Sam for his actions. Sam knew that there was nothing he could ever do make up for the pain and horror he inflicted when he was under Ruby's control, but given Dean's own circumstances, Sam had issues with the continuing judgment that Dean inflicted on him. Second, seeing the swastika made Sam realize how much Dean enjoyed torturing people. No matter what happened during his time with Ruby, Sam never enjoyed the actions he had to take. Damn, thought Sam, at least, I thought I was helping people.

Suddenly, Sam stopped. What am I doing, he thought to himself, when I am going to get over myself? Yes, Dean was judgmental, but Dean was usually like that when he was scared. Sam knew Dean well enough to know that. Also, as much as Sam hated to admit it, Dean was right about Ruby. Sam didn't want to see it. As much as he blamed it on his demon blood addiction, Sam knew that it was much more: power. He loved how powerful he felt by using his powers, by drinking the demon blood, and by defying his own better nature. Sam breathed in the cold night air. Tomorrow night was a joke, he thought to himself. Sam knew he would go, after all, he had given Cas's girlfriend his word that he would be there. But, he knew that however much he and Dean begged for forgiveness, that neither one of them deserved it.

Still, it did hurt Sam that Dean only reunited with him because he had been afraid that Sam would say yes to Lucifer. Sam's experience with Ruby had taught him the true meaning of Lucifer's power and the thought of the angel wearing his skin made him sick. No matter what happened, Sam knew that he could never give into Lucifer.

Pulling out his cell phone, Sam thought about calling Dean, but decided to leave it for tonight. A lot was said, thought Sam, and it was usually better for them to stay apart until they could cool off. Hitting his stride again, Sam continued walking until he found a motel. Jimmying the lock on one of the rooms, he went in. The room smelled of slight decay, but the sheets appeared clean and the bathroom actually had running water. Taking a shower, Sam felt even more drained. Lying down, he went to sleep and had a nightmare. Lucifer had summoned the townspeople of Point Pleasant to Main Street. Cas, Dean and Sam go to confront Lucifer who has taken Imani hostage and tortured her. They are forced to watch as Lucifer slices open her belly and a child falls out. Then Meg casts a spell on the child and from this child the Croatoan virus is unleashed. Sam could hear Imani's screams as he woke up shaking. No, thought Sam, it is just a dream. It can't be real. Reaching for his phone, he called Dean.

Route 2

Dean cursed the inventor of the GPS. The damn thing never seemed to work. Imani had given him and Sam her address as a place they could stay. Dean plugged it into the GPS, and now the damn thing had frozen up. Dean pounded on it, and the machine shut off.

"Great!" exclaimed Dean. Now he was stuck on Route 2 in the middle of nowhere West Virginia and had no idea where he was or how to get back to town. Grabbing his cell phone, he looked for a signal and couldn't find one. Disgusted, Dean threw his cell phone in the seat next to him. What else could possibly go wrong tonight?

Suddenly, the Impala went dead. Dean tried everything, but the car wouldn't start. Great, thought Dean, no GPS, no cell phone and now no car. Putting the brakes on, Dean grabbed his phone, gun and backpack and decided to start walking. He had no sooner locked the car than he heard a voice behind him.

"Hey Dean," purred a female voice behind him, "has your old junk heap finally given out?"

Dean gritted his teeth and the demon's name barely came out, "Meg."

Dean turned around to see Meg, wearing the same outfit she had on in Carthage, but now the woman she was wearing had burns all over her torso. Dean was shocked.

"Who did that to you?" asked Dean.

"Your friend, Cas," she said through gritted teeth.

Dean suddenly grinned. When he first met the angel, Cas was completely uptight, but since being thrown out of heaven, the angel has changed and in Dean's opinion, it was for the better. Still, thinking of Cas, reminded him that he needed to get to Imani's house to make sure that nothing happened between her and Cas.

"Well," said Dean with a smirk, "I have to give it to Cas."

"Oh you do," said Meg responding with a smirk of her own, "I can't wait to give it to him too."

Dean's smirk faded. Meg had a maniacal gleam in her eye that worried Dean. Since the death of Azazael, Meg had been looking for another father figure and with the rise of Lucifer, she now had the ultimate father figure with Lucifer walking the earth, Dean figured that Meg had completely lost it. Meg, he knew, would want to get revenge on Cas and that Imani would be caught in the crossfire. Crawley was right, thought Dean, he owed Imani and her life was in his hands. Looking at Meg, he knew that reasoning with her was out, so he decided that Meg needed to know the truth about daddy.

"Your father killed demons at Carthage," said Dean.

Meg's face went cold. Even in the dark, Dean could see that her eyes went black and her white teeth gnashed together and gleamed in the darkness. Without warning, she used her powers and slammed Dean against the trunk of the Impala where she held him. Unable to move, Dean had to endure it while Meg climbed on it and sat on his waist.

Realizing how uncomfortable Dean was, Meg grinned. "Oh Dean," she smiled, "I thought you loved being in this position."

"I'd rather be castrated," Dean replied.

Meg pulled a knife from her boot, and put it against Dean's waist. "I can always arrange that."

Seeing Dean's sudden discomfort, Meg laughed and suddenly lowered her head to Dean's. Dean tried to move but Meg had him effectively pinned. Dean could feel her breath, and it smelled like death. When he first returned from hell, Dean spent hours in the shower trying to scrub that smell off of his body. Grabbing his chin, Meg forced Dean to look at her. Her face, while not burnt, was grotesque to him.

"My father is going to make that angel pay for what he did to me," said Dean. "By taking the one thing that he loves the most."

"She's a person," snapped Dean, "not a thing."

Meg grinned. "There won't be much left of her by the time my father is finished with her."

Dean moved his head so he was close to Meg's face. "I won't allow that."

"Aww," sneered Meg, "is your guilt getting to you?"

Dean's jaw clenched. Yes, he thought, I have a lot of guilt that I am drowning in, but I will not allow an innocent woman to die. Staring into Meg's black eyes, Dean thought, for a moment, about the number of innocent people who died as a result of this long war between the demons and angels, heaven and hell. Good people, like his parents, grandparents and even Cas's girl, were innocent victims. In that moment, Dean hated God. He hated him for deserting heaven and leaving angels ill-equipped to deal with running a world. He hated him for not killing Lucifer outright. He hated him for the millions of deaths that occurred in the world with people praying in vain for God to help them.

"Ohh, Dean," Meg savagely whispered, "is that hate I see in your eyes?"

"Yes," said Dean, "but not for you."

"Your God," she smiled, "Angry that your father deserted you, jealous that my father is alive."

"Your father," said Dean with a grin, "is no better than mine." "He takes what he wants and leaves you with nothing." His grin got bigger. "If I were you, I would take Crawley's advice and look out for yourself."

Meg's smile faded somewhat and the savagery of her joy seemed to go out of her. To Dean's surprise, Meg climbed off of him and walked backwards until she was about a foot away from him. Underneath him, the Impala roared to life. Meg smiled, "Enjoy your air of superiority Dean, by tomorrow night, you'll be weeping when you see the power of what my father is going to unleash on this world."

With that, Meg vanished. Dean pushed himself of front of the car and stood somewhat shakily on his legs. Oh God, he thought to himself, how do we stop a demon army?

Imani's house

Cas woke up to the smell of flowers.

Imani was wrapped in his arms, and Cas had his face buried in her hair. He smiled, remembering that Imani's favorite perfume was called Heavenly Blossom. The scent reminded him of fields of blossoms in heaven where he use to spend time with other angels. At least, he thought, until things fell apart between Michael and Lucifer. For the last 2,000 years, Cas had to watch as his home, heaven, fell apart, with God disappearing, and leaving Cas in a home full of angry, embittered angels. In some ways, he thought, being sent to earth to serve a purpose had been a blessing. Running his fingers through Imani's curly, soft hair, he smiled in realizing that it had been a great blessing.

Imani murmured in response and wrapped her arms around him. The softness of her breasts pressed his bare chest, and Cas was surprised to feel his body become immediately aroused again. Sex had been a wonderful surprise to him. Although he had always wanted to experience it, unlike other angels, Cas did not use his vessel to do so. He wanted to experience it on his terms and with the right person as God had decreed it in his teachings. After his vessel's death, Cas felt that Jimmy's body had become entirely his even if he did not always understand how it functioned. As such, he was free to experience sex on his own terms.

Still, he wanted it to be with the right person. Cas didn't understand angels who had sex just to experience it. God, in the earliest days of creation, had created sex to be a joining of souls. Why have sex with someone, thought Cas, just to prove a point? Within his garrison, Cas had been the subject of ridicule because he choose to wait. With Imani, Cas felt that it had been worth the wait.

"Hi baby," she cooed, getting his attention, "did you sleep okay?"

Cas leaned over and pressed his lips against hers. "I slept great." Imani deeped the kiss and pulled Cas completely on top of her. Cas felt his desire lengthen as Imani wrapped her legs around his waist. Yes, thought Cas, as he lost himself to ecstasy, it was definitely worth the wait.

Main Street

Sam stood out in the cold waiting for Dean to arrive. Dean had finally gotten a cell signal and got Sam's message. He agreed to come back to town so he and Sam could figure out how Lucifer was going to raise his demon army and where Imani and Cas's relationship figured into that. Although neither said anything, Sam and Dean knew this alliance between them was only temporary as there were still trust issues that needed to be addressed. For now, Sam and Dean were united by their desire to save the townspeople of Point Pleasant, Cas's girlfriend and stop the creation of a demon army that would kill over 6 billion people on their planet.

It was a lot to deal with.

From a distance, Sam could hear the roar of the Impala as it was driving up. He looked around his environment, as his father had always taught him, but saw or heard no one. That bothered Sam a great deal. He understood Imani's point. That these people were shadows of their former selves and needed help, but, thought Sam, what if it was too late to help them? Even worse, thought Sam, why had they not seen anyone since arriving? Tapping on his bag, Sam had accumulated evidence that he thought might help him and Dean figure things out.

The Impala stopped by Sam and he opened the door and got in. Sam had found a restaurant, down the street from his motel, where he and Dean could make sandwiches, coffee and talk in some privacy. Dean steered the car down the street slowly. He sighed.

"Don't think it's weird that we haven't seen one person, besides Imani, since we have been here?" asked Dean.

"Actually, I was just thinking that," said Sam with a grin.

Dean smiled back and then suddenly became serious. "I'm sorry, Sam."

Sam's smile faded a bit, but he managed to say, "Me, too."

Dean reached the restaurant and parked in front. Shouldering their equipment, Dean and Sam went in. While Dean set up their computers, Sam made sandwiches, soup and coffee. By the time, Sam finished, Dean had everything up and running.

Dean grabbed a sandwich and bit down, "Okay, let's treat this like any hunt: what do we know?"

"Well," said Sam, "we know that Lucifer is here to raise his army." "We know that there is a link between Imani, Cas and the Nephilim."

"So," said Dean, "we don't know the link between the nephilim and the raising of Lucifer's army."

"Exactly," replied Sam. "Did you reach Cas?"

Suddenly, Dean looked tired. "Yeah," he said quietly, "he sounded really happy."

"Like I just got laid happy?" asked Sam.

"Yeah," said Dean sounding grim.

Sam shook his head, still not quite seeing the connection between the nephilim and Lucifer's demon army. Why would it matter whether Castiel had sex with a human woman? How did this act lead to the unleashing of the Crotoan virus? Sam shut his eyes for a moment. None of it made sense.

"Alright," said Dean, "I have nothing." "So what about this dream of yours?" Dean rubbed his eyes. "Maybe there are some clues there."

Sam leaned back and stretched his arms. "Well," he began, "you, Cas and I were on Main Street and Lucifer was there with Imani and the townspeople. The townspeople were in their normal state, but they appeared to be in a trace. Lucifer had Imani and she looked. . ."

Dean leaned forward, "Looked like what?"

Sam look embarrassed, "Pregnant." Sam looked thoughtful for a moment, "in fact, she was heavily pregnant, I would say that she was about 7 to 9 months along."

"Sam, you have to have that wrong," said Dean, "She's not pregnant, certainly not that pregnant."

"She was in my dream," said Sam. "Wait a minute."

"What?" asked Dean. "You've thought of something?"

Sam opened his laptop and clicked on some files. "According to legend, the nephilim were a group of angels who fell from grace because they desired human women."

"Yeah," said Dean, "that's a pretty well-known fact."

"Why did Cas fall from grace?" asked Sam.

"To help us," said Dean, "and he was tired of their b.s."

"Do you really believe that is the only reason?" asked Sam incredulously.

"Well. . ." began Dean now looking confused, "why else would he rebel?" "Cas was as faithful and loyal as they come." Dean took a swig of coffee. "Even now, he is trying to find God and almost killed a kid because he was the antichrist."

Sam looked pained. "I hate to tell you this, but Cas told me that he saved Imani from hell when he saved you."

"Okay," shrugged Dean, "what's the big deal about that?"

Sam sat up and looked straight at his brother. "She was on the table and you were. . ."

Dean's face went pale. "Oh," was all he could manage as he began to root around his bag.

"Cas pulled her out at the same time," continued Sam, "and brought her home."

Dean began pouring some Jack Daniels into his coffee. "Yeah, so?"

"He fell for her," said Sam, "he told me that he always wanted to have a relationship with a woman, but never had the occasion."

"Until now," said Dean taking a long swig of his coffee.

"Yeah," said Sam leaning over and taking the Jack Daniels bottle away from Dean. "You see, Cas was in love with a human woman when he fell which puts him in the category of the Nephilim."

Dean suddenly sat up. "That means, that any child they would have together would be half angel, half human."

"Exactly," said Sam, pouring some Jack Daniels into his own coffee, "and such a child would be considered an abomination by heaven."

"But it still doesn't answer how Meg uses the child to unleash the virus," said Dean. "It also doesn't answer how this is supposed to happen tomorrow night."

"I know," said Sam, "there is no way that a fetus can grow that fast over night." "That's why I called Bobby."

"How's he going to get in touch with us?" asked Dean, "You can't get a cell signal in this town."

"I'm using a satellite link on my laptop," said Sam, who was clicking on his laptop. "Yeah, Bobby sent something." Sam began reading and his face went pale. "It looks like there is a spell that Meg can use on the baby that would unleash its power in the form of a virus."

"A baby could do that?" asked Dean skeptically, "It doesn't seem possible."

"Children are very powerful in biblical lore," Sam pointed out, "look at the impact of a baby who was born 2,000 years ago."

"Or the impact of your birth," said Dean. Leaning forward, he looked at Sam. "Your birth changed everything."

Sam's eyes dropped to his lap. "Yeah, and not for the better, look at what I've become." He looked back up at Dean, "Or what I could become."

"Sammy," said Dean, "I know that I've been a dick." Sam's stare sharpened, "but I've never regretted being your brother." Sam managed a smile and the tension seemed to lift between them.

"What about the baby's size?" asked Dean. "There's no way that it can grow that fast in 24 hours."

Sam's face turned grim as he read the rest of Bobby's e-mail. "Apparently, the child of an angel-human union can grow that quickly."

"God, this is bad," said Dean. "Still, we know what the hunt is now."

Sam nodded in agreement. "The question is what do we do about it?"

"First," said Dean, "we need to get Cas's girl out of here."

Sam shook his head. "That won't work Dean." "Lucifer will just track her down."

"No," said a voice behind them, "it won't work."

"Cas," said Dean, "what are you doing here?"

"Dude," chimed in Sam, "you look awful."

"It's Imani," said Cas, "something is very wrong."