AN: Going on vacation tomorrow to a beautiful little seaside town in New Jersey :-D I hope all of you fine people are having a wonderful summer (and you on the other side of the world are having a good winter!)
As usual, what can I say. You guys absolutely rock my world. Thank you. And please continue.
Chapter 10: The Bitch Is Back
Dean had awoken, was pronounced human, showered, ate, and been gruffly pretending to be fine for three hours when Sam alerted him to the intruder.
"Dean," he snapped, causing Dean to spin around, hand on his gun. The world tipped when he stood fast, swaying slightly, and he had to blink hard for the scene in front of him to come into focus.
"Cas?" he asked, surveying his angelic friend, then looked at Eli, unconscious and writhing in his arms, her clothing ripped and sagging, like it had been put on by somebody who didn't know how. "What the hell is going on?"
"Sam, Dean," Castiel gasped, trying to hold on to his charge as she flailed about like she was having seizures. "I need your help."
"What's happening?" Sam asked, his voice methodical and mildly interested.
"Jesus, Cas, she's seizing," Dean snapped. "Put her on the bed or something."
"Not enough time," Castiel said, grunting as her hand smacked his face. He adjusted her in his arms, trying to hold down all her flailing limbs at once. "We need to get somewhere safe, now."
"Define 'safe'," Sam said.
"Demon-proof, monster-proof. Someplace we can barricade ourselves in." They stared blankly at him. "Now!"
The brothers snapped to attention. "Uh, yeah, but where?" Dean asked.
"Samuel," Sam said, then rolled his eyes at Dean's incredulous stare. "Look, I know you don't like the guy but it's the safest place there is, and you know it."
"Great," Castiel said immediately. "Let's go." They stared at him as if expecting to fly away. He sighed, exasperated. "In the car. I can't fly anywhere; they would be on me instantly. Now move, before they descend on us and we're all dead."
"You brought something with you?" Dean yelled as they grabbed their guns and supplies and ran out of the motel room.
Castiel surveyed the sky with narrowed eyes, as if expecting to see something in it, but it was clear and blue. "It's probable that I was followed," he admitted. "But I needed help."
"And you didn't think to…" Dean started, but Sam put a hand on his arm.
"Dean, enough. No time. We have to go."
As they peeled out of the parking lot, clouds began to roll in from the east.
"Spill, Cas," Dean said as they sped along the highway toward the Campbell compound. "And can you calm her down?"
Eli was sprawled in the backseat, her head cushioned by Castiel's lap, eyes shut but still struggling, a high-pitched whine coming from her throat. Occasionally she would scream.
"I've already calmed her down," Castiel said, gripping her arms so that she wouldn't hit herself in the face. "It's taking most of my power to calm her down."
"Start from the beginning," Sam said, staring at the road, as if the last time he saw Castiel the angel hadn't threatened him. "Tell us everything."
"The sigil is complete," he said, his voice rough with exhaustion and worry. "But it seems that I…miscalculated the effect it would have on her."
"Meaning?" Dean asked.
"Meaning that a spell on a Nephlim works differently than a spell on a human. Instead of memories returning piece-by-piece it was as if… the other her was pulled forcefully into that body. Her shields started breaking; it's like…" He hesitated, searching for the right words. "It's like her body wants to return to exactly how it was before, both mentally and physically, and is fighting against her Heaven-bound shields." His voice dropped. "She nearly exploded."
"Not to nit-pick, Cas, but don't you think you should have figured that out before you carved into her?" Dean asked in an aggravated voice.
Sam ignored him. "But why are we running?"
"Her power blast occurred on a fundamental level; it resonated with every supernatural being for hundreds of miles on a molecular basis."
"English, Cas," Dean said, still driving at breakneck speed.
"All of the demons, monsters, and ghosts in this state felt the power, and are coming for it. While she is in flux, the power that she is emitting can be…drained. Like a battery. We need to keep her safe until the flux has ended."
"When she's back to normal," Sam clarified.
"I do not know," Castiel said in a sad, self-loathing voice, still holding her thrashing figure down. "I don't know what will happen when the power surge is over. She could be locked in her own head, she could be brain dead, she could lose all her memories. I just don't know."
"Great," Dean muttered. "Just great. So how long with this flux thing last?"
"I don't know."
"Anything you do know?" Dean asked snarkily.
"Look at the sky behind us," Castiel said, and Dean took his eyes off the road for an instant to swivel his head around.
"Shit," he swore. "Is that big-ass cloud what I think it is?"
"An army," Sam said.
"More like a race," Castiel rasped. "First demon to reach us wins. Dean, drive faster."
"I swear, every time I see you boys it's like the end of the world," Samuel said in greeting as they got out of the car. "What is it this time?"
"Demon horde," Dean said, just as Sam said: "Monster horde." Dean shot him a look.
"Lots o' shitty things horde, can we just get to locking the damn gates already?" he snapped.
Samuel turned from his contemplation of the quickly approaching surge of black. "Calm down, Dean, we've got the place covered in protection for anything that might come our way. Ain't nothing that can get through."
"Don't be so sure about that," Castiel said, pushing past them with Eli in his arms. "Everyone, get in the building. I am sealing these doors shut from the inside."
"Wild guess, it has to do with that girl, right?" Samuel asked dryly as they closed and locked the heavy metal doors. "Your friend seems to be more trouble than she's worth."
"Don't talk about her like that," Dean said, unexpectedly, and the surprise showed on his face. "I meant to say 'Amen, Gramps'," he continued as Castiel drew sigils on the doors and chanted in a low voice. "But now I just want to punch you in the face. That part's not weird, though," he said on afterthought.
"The sigil's not just about memories, Dean," Castiel said, finishing with his work. "Feelings come through the gap too. Here." He deposited a still-thrashing Eli in Dean's arms, startling the hunter. "We should go deeper. First impact in under three minutes."
"These walls will hold," Samuel said, affronted. Castiel gave him a withering glare.
"Because they held so well against one alpha shapeshifter," he said drily.
"We've revamped the place," Samuel argued. "Like I said, there's nothing—"
"Enough of your pride," Castiel interrupted. "It will do you no good when you're dead. Move."
Samuel grumbled under his breath, but complied.
"T-minus two minutes," Sam said, looking at his watch.
"This section's all locked up," Gwen said, panting and running up to them. Dean looked around.
"Where's everyone else?" he asked, trying futilely to keep Eli from smacking him in the face. "Where's Christian?"
"Hunting," Samuel said shortly as they ran down the stairs, deeper into the complex, slamming and bolting doors behind them, Castiel drawing on the walls with blood. "You don't think they just sit around here all day, do you?"
"Where to now?" Castiel asked in an aggravated voice. Samuel shrugged, glancing around. They were in an underground storage room, long and low, piled with dried goods, canned food, emergency water, old mattresses, medical supplies, candles, and toilet paper. The light was hazy and weak, just old bare bulbs swinging from wires, casting most of the room into shadow.
"This is as low as we go."
"Then this is where we fight," Castiel said, taking Eli from Dean's arms and laying her on a stack of blankets in the corner.
"Thirty seconds," Sam said, loading his shotgun.
"And here they come," Dean murmured.
The first wave hit, shaking the building. Dean could hear the sounds of howls and snarls even from deep underground. Seven minutes passed in hushed silence, all of the hunters staring at the far door, and then the first barrier crashed with a thunderous boom.
"One down, two to go," Gwen whispered.
"How do you like your unbreakable doors now, Gramps," Dean muttered. Sam elbowed him in the ribs. Behind them, Eli let out a well-timed yelp.
"Will someone shut her up?" Samuel snapped, just as the second barrier broke to triumphant howls and a sound like nails on a chalkboard.
Gwen gripped her gun. Dean began to pace. Castiel glowered. Sam just stood very still. The minutes ticked by.
"Oh come on, just do it already," Dean grumbled nervously.
Castiel shifted on his feet, cocking his head. "They're coming."
The rigged explosives went off in the hallway, but a moment later fist-sized dents appeared in the metal door. Castiel continued to listen to something they couldn't hear.
"The traps and spells have taken care of most of them," he said. "There are only about thirty-five left."
"Oh, only thirty-five, thank God," Dean said sarcastically.
Suddenly a ghost appeared in front of them, wicked and see-through with blood-tipped claws. Gwen blasted it with rock salt.
"Incoming!" Samuel yelled as the door burst open and a swarm of monsters flowed in.
"Cas, there's more than thirty-five!" Dean shouted, shooting and repumping as fast as he could.
"I said about thirty-five!" Castiel snapped, laying his hands on two demons and burning them.
"Can't you just do that thing where you burn all their eyes out?" Sam yelled, slashing with the Knife in a brutally efficient manner.
"No," Castiel said, ducking under an attacking shifter and stabbing it in the heart with his angel blade. "Even if I destroy all in this room, there are still more coming. I'm more useful in this form." He laid hands on another demon, watching with satisfaction as it burned. "And I'm not leaving Eli."
"Seems like we might not have a choice!" Samuel yelled, slamming the butt of his gun into a vampire's forehead. "Too many!"
"I'm out of ammo!" Gwen screamed, resorting to hand-to-hand combat. "I need cover!"
"Honey, we all do!" Dean yelled.
Sam just kept cutting a swath through the creatures, something close to a grin on his face. It scared Dean more than all the monsters in the room.
Then he revised that thought. He was definitely more scared of all the monsters in the room. Gwen was already sporting a gash across her chest, while Samuel had blood on his face and a long cut down his side. Castiel was obviously wearing down. Dean lifted his last shotgun, only to hear it click uselessly. Damn.
"We are so fucked!" he yelled, swinging at a demon. It dodged and came back up, landing a blow to his jaw. Dean felt the world tilt; he was still recovering from being a vampire, and the punch knocked him to the ground and sent his head singing. He stumbled to his feet, only to see the demon point a gun at his chest. He was very sure he was going to die.
A gun went off. Dean instinctively closed his eyes, but nothing happened. He cracked them open again to see the demon fall to the ground, a weak sputtering of red light illuminating his body from within. Another bullet fired, pure white, hitting the vampire that was on Gwen; then another, knocking back a skin-walker struggling with Samuel. Dean turned so hard he nearly gave himself whiplash. He remembered those bullets.
Eli was standing with guns blazing. "Hey kids!" she shouted, firing another round of shots, and the clamor died down. "Ain't no more power here for you to snack on. Just a lot of pissed off motherfuckers with guns. So run for your lives, you sick pieces of shit." She aimed and blew a demon's head off. "The bitch is back."
A roar rumbled through the room, some of the monsters fleeing when they saw that their power source was no longer available, some continuing to fight out of sheer rage. Eli met Castiel's stare and nodded, then screamed: "Shut your eyes!"
All of the humans threw their hands over their eyes as Castiel finally emerged from his vessel, wiping the room clean in a shining burst of light.
The building was in shambles, beams and tables scattered on the floor, walls blown inward where the C-4 traps had gone off. The hunters picked their way through it, Samuel groaning in despair, Gwen holding her blood-soaked left arm.
"Cas'll take care of it," Dean said with attempted lightheartedness. "Just as soon as he can get back down here. I bet he'll even clean up the place too, considering that it was his ass we were covering."
"Nah, I'll do it myself," Samuel said glumly. "Get a team out here. We got places I don't exactly want God's bloodhound sniffing around, and it's mostly surface damage anyway."
Eli sidled up to Gwen. "May I?" she asked, indicating the injured arm. Gwen held it out, and Eli cupped it in her hands, scrunching up her face in concentration. Finally she let go. "Blood's stopped. If you're not opposed, Cas can finish the job when he gets back. I'm low on juice."
"Oh…yeah," Gwen said lamely, sharing a look with Samuel.
"What kind of juice do you have, exactly?" Samuel asked, side-eyeing her. "You ain't a demon, or monster, I'm pretty damn sure of that. But if I had to hazard a guess I'd say not angel either, at least not like I've seen." Dean opened his mouth as if to argue, but Samuel cut him off. "I just saved you, all of you, and put my own people at risk. So I think I deserve a few answers."
"I'm sorry, but that's just not convenient," Castiel's gruff voice said. Samuel turned and the angel put two fingers on his forehead, knocking him out. Gwen tried to run, but he appeared behind her as well, and a moment later she slumped to the floor.
"Cas, what the hell?" Dean snapped.
Castiel ignored him, instead taking a deep breath and shutting his eyes. Dean blinked, and the hallway was clean, as if the battle had never happened. Samuel and Gwen were healed and in clean clothes; another blink, and they were gone.
"Where did you…" he started.
"To their beds. So they can sleep." He looked at Dean, hard. "They won't remember any of this. We were never here."
"Why?" Sam asked, only to realize that they were back in the motel.
"Cas, stop it!" Dean said. "Enough with the angel mojo. Just talk to us."
"No one can have knowledge of Eli now. She is still weak, and the monsters know that something caused the power surge."
"But he's our Grandfather," Sam said.
"He's not trustworthy," Castiel said shortly. "And I believe that he may have contact with… unsavory third-parties that I do not want privy to this information."
"Who are you talking—" Dean started, but was distracted when Eli stumbled and put her hand on the wall, nearly sinking to her knees. He started to rush to her, but Castiel was already there.
"You have your power back for two minutes and you use it to heal someone else," he murmured to her. She grinned wearily.
"That's me."
He stared at her with an unfathomable gaze. "Is it really?"
Eli nodded. "Yeah, Cas, it is. For better or worse. I remember. I remember everything."
He closed his eyes as if offering up a prayer. "Thank God."
Then he winced, looking skyward. Eli knew immediately. "Heaven wants you."
"Yes. They felt the surge and are looking for answers. I have to make sure they don't get them. Not yet." He brushed her face with his fingertips, a move tender enough that it startled Dean, who was still dreaming patch-work memories at night. "Will you be all right?"
"I'm fine," she said, clasping his hand. "Go."
He nodded and turned to the brothers. "Thank you for your help."
"Wait, Cas, I need to…" Dean started, but Castiel was gone. "Fuck."
"He'll be back, Dean," Eli said, looking at him fondly. Dean shook his head.
"When did you go from being a pain-in-the-ass to being…" He paused as if about to say something else, but just sighed and said: "…a bigger pain-in-the-ass."
"It's good to see you again too, Dean."
"Well then," Sam said, clapping his hands together with something resembling cheerfulness. "Whole gang's back together again, just like old times."
"If only," Dean said, staring at her. Then he sighed and rolled his shoulders before moving purposefully. "I need a drink." He hesitated at the door, looking back at them; they hadn't moved from their spots. "What, do you need an invitation?" he asked belligerently before stomping outside.
"Hey, Sam," Eli said before he could leave the room.
He turned to her. "Yeah, Eli?"
"Happy to have me back?"
He grinned, but it still didn't reach his eyes. "Hell yeah."
"Good. So I'll only have to say this once," she said shortly, pushing past him and into the warm evening light. "Don't ever fucking touch me again." She closed the door in his face.
Dean was waiting by the car, which was magically back in its parking spot. "Where's Sam?" he asked, squinting at the sunset. Eli opened the passenger-side door with more force than necessary.
"He's not coming."
Dean looked, if anything, relieved. "Then I guess it's just you and me and Johnny Walker."
They pulled out of the parking lot, the setting sun throwing bloody pools of light on the Impala, painting it red.