Chapter 8
Alice pushed open the door to the crypt. Zombies sucked. She had the silver stake in hand. Sam waited in the car. The zombie, in theory, was inside its tomb. That's where it was sleeping. Why did she go into the crypt? Because she said she could handle it.
So, while she was lying on the ground, writhing in pain beneath the zombie, it occurred to her that maybe the zombie of a gymnast would be a little harder to deal with than a regular zombie. The oxygen was wearing thin in her lungs and she couldn't draw another breath. Her vision started to go black and red.
The pressure alleviated and for a second she saw a pair of wings. Alice got to her feet and shoved the stake into the still zombie where it had landed in its gravebed. Nothing was there with her, of course. She stumbled out to the car where Sam was frowning. "I'm fine."
"I hadn't asked yet."
"Well, I'm fine." She grabbed the map. "Where's the nearest church?"
Sam watched her run inside. It was the oldest church within 20 miles. He had a harder time following with his aircast. When he did, he felt something cold rush through him. Alice was crying. "Did you see it? Did you feel it?"
"Feel what, exactly?"
"The angel."
Alice sat under her uncle's scrutiny for hours. "I only got a glimpse. I was guessing. No one else was there."
"So, what exactly did you see?"
"I ran into the church and he was kneeling in the moonlight. I called out to it and it rushed me. Moved faster than anything I've ever seen. He passed right through me and I felt like… light had just passed through me." Alice tempered down the smile that crept out across her face when she saw the disbelief on his face. "I think it's Dean."
"How would Dean be out of hell?"
"I don't know. I want to catch him so I can ask him. We just weren't quick enough this time."
"Do you know how crazy you sound?"
"Yeah, and?"
Sam had all the old traps ready and nearby, just in case. He put the hex box in the center of the crossroads and waited. And waited. No one came. He waited all night. He checked the box's previous users. They were local, they were recent. He had dumped Alice off somewhere nice with decent sheets. She'd sleep all day. He asked the first three people on the list he'd made. Nothing happened with them either.
Alice was quieter than usual. Sam steered them to his house. She drew further and further into herself and he didn't know how to help. He didn't believe that Dean was an angel. That was ridiculous. It didn't explain why no demons were showing up to make deals. It didn't explain why Dean would suddenly become an angel; all lore indicated that God created a finite number of angels and they were separate from man.
Sarah welcomed him home coldly. She had long tired of his life; hadn't the strength to fight it after Dean died and he continued to hunt. The kids welcomed him warmly. Sarah had looked Alice over, frowned and motioned Sam into the next room. "Something's wrong with her."
"How do you mean?"
"She doesn't look right."
Sam never did figure out what that was supposed to mean. Alice pushed food around her plate. She slept a lot. She didn't run off again. Then after about a month, he started to see it. She was puffy. He didn't have another word for it. A couple of days of close surveillance revealed a morning vomiting habit, a late night eating habit and a refusal to wear anything that didn't have elastic in it.
Sarah took point on this one. She frosted cupcakes for her daughter's bake sale and watched Alice pick at the one she'd stolen. "How far along are you?"
"What?" Alice blinked at her.
"You're pregnant."
"What are you talking about?" Alice feigned ignorance but gave up when the nausea crept back up her throat. "Five months."
"The father?"
She laughed. "You mean… Father Jeff?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sarah only paused a second in frosting her cupcakes.
"I met a noviate and popped his cherry, so to speak. I don't actually know that he was a virgin before me but he was celibate. He's supposed to take vows and all that." Alice drew her knees up to her chest. "I wasn't going to keep it. I kept telling myself that I'd stop at the next clinic and before I knew it… it was too late."
"So, I presume that you haven't told him."
"No. He was already having doubts." Alice giggled to herself. "His director actually recommended sowing some oats as a sort of release before actually taking his vows… the doubts didn't have anything to do with women."
"So, you knew this… noviate, well?"
"Not really. I listened to him. He listened to me." She shrugged. She looked up at her aunt. "If I go home like this… my mom will freak."
"You stopped talking about freeing your dad from hell."
"I don't actually believe he's in hell."
TBC
