Chapter 10

Angela awoke slowly realizing that she was on her back. The last thing she remembered was chasing their man Peña and she lost him once they got near the cemetery. She looked around and then he appeared out of nowhere. She moved her head slightly and felt the slight pang of a headache. She rightly guessed that he used the head technique thingy that she was familiar with and she was going to have a headache for a while. She knew how Sam felt.

Sighing inwardly, Angela looked upwards towards her hands. She moved them slightly and felt the familiar trappings of shackles. She studied them and gave a tug and found that her hands were suspended above her head. She gave a snort and her hair blew off her face. The locks were coming out of her hairstyle but that wasn't the problem; the problem was that her hands were tied literally.

The cold underneath told her that she was on a stone slab of some sort. Looking up at the sky she saw that she was looking at stone and bits of root. So that told her the place was underground. It vaguely occurred to her that she was in the actual tomb of Catrina or something like that. Talk about legends that are actually true. She kept her movements to a minimum to not draw attention while she thought of a way to get out of this.

At least the bracelet hadn't come off. A glance at her right told her that it was still there. She couldn't turn it to see the blue stone to see if it was up to something. Usually she could tell just be sensing it. Hell she could feel the aggressive nature of the bracelet when she saw Uriel the first time and Castiel introduced him as a specialist. It made itself known when she warned the angel not to harm Sam like it was attuned to her emotions. Then again that was the thing with objects of power that were soul based.

The Orion belt she still had apprehensions about wearing it since she was certain that she was not of the bloodlines that it supposedly was supposed to choose from. Yet it stayed on her wrist when she put it on first thing in the morning. That was what had her nervous since her movements were like habit when she put it on; like it was hers but she was certain that she was just a carrier of the belt until the true wielder was revealed to her. She was willing to accept that but it didn't make her feel better since Absolution was there first and while they got along, it felt like that antagonistic relationship she had with Kaye. They didn't fight like they did when she nearly died when Lenya stabbed her but it still felt exhausting as she was watching them and making sure that they behaved. It was one thing on top of another in this seals game.

I feel like the hits just keep on coming and I can't see where I'm going from there. It's like it is blinding me to something I should be paying more attention to. I should be paying attention to someone like Ruby.

Angela sighed. At the moment she knew that Ruby hadn't come around to be a pain in the ass. The armistice was still in place since so far she hadn't seen what Ruby intended to do. She was willing though to follow Sam's lead and she had said her piece and didn't bring it up again. She wanted to focus on trying to gain Sam's trust again. Even though they talked about it, she was unsure of the looks she had caught of him looking at her. She couldn't decipher what they meant but it was habit to think worst case scenario and it hurt in regards to Sam.

A squeaking noise caught her attention and she looked down as far as her head could look. It turned out to be one of the desert field mice that was squeaking on her chest. Most women would have been screaming their heads off but after five hundred years of crap that was more important, to be scared of a mouse was trivial… well not as big a deal as being scared of stuffed heads on a wall. She looked at it as it moved on her chest.

The mouse squeaked and looked at her. It was just doing its business and because she wasn't doing anything to get rid of it, it stayed there. She murmured, "You planning on making a nest there?"

The mouse squeaked some more. It looked at her like it had understood what she said. Angela looked at it with a slightly raised brow. She said, "You understand me?" She paused a moment and then said, "Here I am talking to a fricking mouse and I'm the one that is chained to a rock."

The mouse squeaked and then started moving. It scampered off her chest and down to her abdomen and then off to her left. She followed it and then noticed the skeleton that had been placed right beside her. She raised her brow more out of surprise than in a screaming fit. "Seriously?"

"Isn't she beautiful?"

Angela turned to look at the owner of the voice. She saw Peña dressed in the traditional garb of the native priests of the Mesoamerican gods. The detail was astounding and if she had a chance to inspect closer she would have noticed that it was authentic from the era that they were most prominent. At the moment she was focused on her quarry that had eluded her and then captured her. She replied, "I'll admit that the human form is beautiful whether alive or skin and bones. It is after all the greatest creation that the Creator came up with."

"The gods created us."

It was pointless to argue but Angela was guessing that she was to be a sacrifice of some sort and if she delayed it enough, there was the chance that Sam and Dean would pop out and kick ass. She didn't doubt that they would come. It was the matter of when and she needed to make sure that she gave them plenty of time. She replied in a similar tone that Sam would use when correcting Dean on Jesus' birth, "No the gods were created by the Creator in the beginning and along with them he created the Ancients, the first demons for there can't be light without day."

"The gods created us," Peña replied in a firm tone. He gave a slight look of annoyance at Angela. "You should know that. You are the quetzal princess."

Angela raised her brow again at that. Being well versed in history and culture, she was well aware that there were different points of reference to her as Absolution. She was called by different names and it sounded different in different languages. Most commonly was her title Absolution in deference to her blade and something about the knights of old and that kind of thing. She was called the warrior princess and the earthbound angel; the latter was fairly recent since Castiel was the one that liked pointing out every supposed reference of her.

Being referred to as the quetzal princess was a new one to her. She was familiar enough with Mesoamerican cultures to know that the quetzal reference was very significant. The quetzal feathers were considered the most prized of the people and were often used to signify royalty. The birds were never killed but caught in nets for their feathers and then released. The fact that it was used in regards to royalty, Angela could put together the fact that this was a version of her association to the warrior royalty. She looked at Peña and replied, "I know that I am considered the earthbound angel by some. As to the quetzal princess… I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Don't insult my intelligence. I saw the mark."

Angela knew what he was talking about. That was the one thing that people well versed in the old texts knew what to look for. It was the one thing that would set her apart from all the others who were destined to be malachi; the messengers, not prophets, chosen to be the warriors, the whatever… the defenders of mankind. Her mark denoted her as the Malachi and was what she had given Sam as the challenge. Still she could play dumb. She had been doing it for so long to protect herself and the people that knew her it was second nature. "What mark? The tattoo on my ass that says 'Kiss my ass'?"

She expected the smack to the face. She had done this enough times to expect it. She knew how to react and how to use it to just be a general pain in the ass. She could only hope that Sam wouldn't overreact. She knew Sam was there. Even unconscious she could pick his scent and she could pick up the smells of the earth. It reminded her of one of her escape attempts and she was underground; the mining tunnels within the compound.

Peña looked at his sacrifice and merely growled. The impertinence was trying and he needed to get the ritual underway. "Your disrespect for the unique position you have been chosen for is annoying. Something should have been done to curb that defiance."

"Well attempts have been made but as you can see I just didn't make the grade," Angela replied with a heavy tone of sarcasm. Her teeth had made a slight showing. She couldn't resist since he might as well see what he was getting from her. People had the misconception that what she was in the stories was human.

"Yes the Hellenistic scroll tells much of trying to tame the Malachi."

"Yeah I know that since I lived through it. I just happened to find the sap that liked to write everything down about what happened. Old news."

"Then you must be delighted to know that the quetzal princess is destined to raise the dead."

Angela pretended to think about it some. Again she adopted Sam's tone when he was correcting Dean, "Um not really. Since I am assuming that the quetzal princess and the warrior princess are one and the same, then you would know that specifically the text says that…"

The backhand told Angela that he was not in the mood. It was pretty hard since she felt blood in her mouth. That was moot since the bastard was saying, "When I want a history lesson, I will look into it myself. I will not tolerate interference. Not on this night."

Angela ran her tongue along her teeth to clean the blood off. The sanguine taste of her own was rather invigorating in a weird sense but it wasn't like she was going to break free any time soon. That kind of crap was for the movies. She paid attention to what was being said and replied, "I know. It is the Day of the Dead, the holiday that was appropriated by the white foreign devils to coincide with All Souls Day. So am I the ritual sacrifice."

"Don't be so morbid."

"Even I know that the people then knew that to best honor life and death was to sacrifice to the gods. The heart offered to the four corners and placed in a place of honor. Though I must say that shoving the body down the stairs will be sadly lacking in this setup and one that I myself am glad that will not be done."

"Please. As much as your heart would be a prize offering to the gods that practice is sorely out of date."

"Yeah because of the conquistadors so the only reason you would need me is satisfy a requirement of possibly resurrection or freedom." Angela was pulling this out of a hat but it was the best thing she could come up with. The bones next to her said as much so that meant a sacrifice was needed to bring something to life.

"Well you are right that a resurrection will be done. Mictecacihuatl should be revered and has lamented on the lack of faith of the people that have guarded this land since they were exiled here." Peña then recited something in Nahuatl and the ghostly image of Catrina appeared.

Angela looked the spirit and watched the flickering. It showed that there were two melded in there. So the legend was true that Catrina was bound to the goddess and in turn was bound to the stone. That was some serious mojo work and could produce serious trouble. "So you intend to physically manifest Mictecacihuatl?"

"She will rise and teach those developers that the dead should be respected."

"And what then? Turn her against the people of this town?" Angela raised her brow as she studied the spirit that was flickering between the two images overlaying each other. "They have been loyal in their own way by celebrating this day. They may not remember her but they follow what she asks. That's what happens with time and tradition."

"Which is why this will make them remember."

Angela pursed her lips together and looked up at the ceiling. She was piecing together pieces of this puzzle and she didn't like the fact that she might be used to manifest a bound goddess. She had done it before and that was willingly and for a goddess that was more like how Lord Onigen meant to her. This was another story. "So you mean to separate Catrina and Mictecacihuatl? That takes serious mojo and not to mention willing participants."

"Which is why you will be willing. Catrina will be back in her own body and the goddess will be set free."

"Free as in you have complete control over her with the stone," Angela shot back. "I can tell you for certain that this won't bode well for you."

Peña shot a glare at Angela and pulled out a stone tablet that had hieroglyphs on it. He began reading it in the Nahuatl. Angela narrowed her eyes slightly as she watched the spirit of Catrina separate and flow right into the bones. The skeleton jerked with life and Angela felt her eyes widen slightly. She then turned to see Peña over her. He said in Nahuatl, "With this spell you will bring the lady to life and I will have my vengeance."

It was hard work trying to find the Mictecacihuatl statue with a bunch of dead people coming after you. To Dean this felt like a B-movie or one of those cheap horror flicks. It was rather comical to see Castiel and Seraph occasionally backhand one and send them flying. Most of the time, they were using their angel mojo to put them down, and they were nothing but a pile of skin and bones.

He really didn't want to shoot them and there wasn't a point really since it didn't take them down. For once he wished he had a bit of Angela's mojo with the whole tele- whatever thing she did by moving things with her mind. At least he could help better Castiel and Seraph who were just blowing through and covering their flank. "How much further Doc?"

Robbie had been running as fast as she could to stay ahead of the dead people chasing them and to try and find the stupid statue. It felt like she was in a movie being made to go through all these hoops and stuff and it was with things that she previously thought didn't exist. She seriously was considering getting hammered after this was over.

As she was running and making sure that she didn't miss anything crucial in terms of direction, she heard Dean and replied, "You wanna take the lead?"

Dean took that to mean that she was still working on a few things. Patience was not a virtue for him even though he learned to work with it hanging around his favorite girl. He replied, "Patience is not a virtue right now."

"Then you try it."

Dean rolled his eyes, "Yeah like I can read squiggles."

"Your sister can."

The banter was helpful in alleviating the situation and Robbie became more confident in what she was looking for. She was ready to jump for joy as they rounded a corner and said, "There it is. The statue of Mictecacihuatl." She paused to look on the statue with awe.

It was made of blackened stone. Robbie knew it wasn't obsidian since that was like glass. More likely it was basalt since that seemed to be the common material used in things like this. She could remember with glee how much she liked viewing the Olmec heads a few years back. Just to see to scale the size compared to humans… it made you wonder how they actually did it since modern methods failed to copy the exact methods as before.

"Are you going to find whatever it is you're looking for or just stand there?"

Robbie snapped out of her appreciation reverie and cast a look at Dean. She then approached the statue and started looking. She touched the glyphs and read the inscription. Had she been on a normal excavation, she would have taken her time and did her best at preservation. As it were, there was a case of life and death and she got the feeling that it was going to be a lot of that stuff that belonged in fairy tales.

Dean decided to get practical and used the shotgun that he had handy. He swung it like a club at the dead guys and knocked them over. They didn't want to get back up after that. At least he thought so. He checked to make sure that he still had a few other odds and ends that he brought along since it seemed like a good idea at the time and because the owner would be glad to have them. Plus he would like to see his brother in action.

Seraph covered Dean since she was the closest and she was pleased at the ingenuity he had against this strange sight. At least they hadn't done anything to get a more serious punishment from the goddess. As to the machinations of these things… that was another story and one that she caught in time.

She hadn't noticed the booby trap until one of the dead things hit a lever when it went down and she noticed the blade coming at Dean. Seraph was quick on the draw as she gave a palm thrust to Dean's chest to knock him back. She barely retracted her hand as the blade swooped by. She looked at Dean and said, "Sorry about that." She abruptly turned and gave an elbow to another dead body that tried to grab her.

Dean hadn't expected the shove and would have said something if he hadn't seen the blade. Fricking booby traps now? Seriously I think we stumbled onto a cheesy movie set. Out loud he replied, "No problem."

"Need a little help here."

Dean turned to see Robbie throwing a rock at some more of these undead things or people or whatever. They were coming in the other way. This guy really wanted them distracted enough to do what he wanted. He swung the shotgun he was holding and barreled the few that were there down like some twisted comedy. "You okay Doc?"

"Fine I just need…" Robbie pulled the sword out of the halter slung over Dean's shoulder and jammed it into the line for an opening that she found. "Perfect." She shoved the tip into the crack she had found.

"Hey that's not a toy," Dean retorted trying to reach for the sword. Having gotten a surprise at the Academy he wasn't going to tempt fate regarding the sword even though it/she said she liked it. Besides, he didn't think that Angela was going to like how Absolution was being used.

"Relax," Robbie replied, "It's made of Spanish steel, stronger than blades forged in England and perfect balance." She kept jiggling until she got out enough to grasp with her fingers. "Besides I only needed to get a little bit out. See? No harm, no foul," she replied motioning to the blade and she tossed it back at Dean.

"Absolution is not a toy and it's not mine," Dean said unnecessarily as he put Absolution back where it belonged. He then moved to help her pull the stone slab away.

"Right and you're just carrying it along for your brother who is probably the gamer in your family," Robbie teased as she pulled on the came out, the stone grinding upon stone until it popped open. Robbie fell to the ground as the slab landed nearby and gave a slight blow of air to get her bangs out of the way. "At least it wasn't bobby trapped. That would have made a bad day worse."

What could Dean say to that? Nothing at the moment since they needed to get what they needed and get a move on. He replied, "Now you're thinking about that? That's just perfect." He took a swing with his shotgun at one of the dead people that managed to get past Castiel and Seraph. "Come on Doc."

"So pushy," Robbie muttered as she reached in. She pulled out a box made in the elaborate styles of the wealthy in Mesoamerica. She could make out the glyphs to the gods, primarily Quetzalcoatl since he was the patron god of the arts, crafts and farming. She pulled the lid open and saw nestled in there the scroll writings that were thought to be myth. "The Quetzal scroll," she breathed out.

"We haven't got all day. Is that the right one?"

Robbie knew that Dean was right. She carefully pulled it out and was surprised that it didn't crumble in her hands. She tucked it against her. "It's the one. Now we got to get to where the ritual is going to take place."

"That won't be a problem," Castiel said in his gravelly voice as he fell back to where Dean and Robbie were.

"Really? You got a plan?" Robbie looked at the angel with a quizzical expression.

Seraph finished by making a sweeping gesture with her staff and the line of bodies that had been advancing were pushed back. She ran to join them and held her weapon ready. "Anytime you want to surprise us Cas, now is the time to do it."

Castiel had waited until he was certain Dean and Robbie were close. He looked at Dean and said, "We will hold them off. Find Angela and Sam."

Dean started to protest, "Wait Cas…" It was lost though as the angel put his hands on both him and Robbie and he found himself in another room that was dead people free. He looked around and only saw Robbie standing near him holding the scroll and the bag. Castiel and Seraph were nowhere to be found. "Great."

Robbie heard something and smacked Dean on the arm to indicate that he should be quiet. She started towards the voices that she was picking up and kept to the shadows. She came upon the source and her eyes widened slightly. "Okay. A couple of years ago, this would have seemed really gross to me," she whispered.

"Welcome to my world," Dean replied as he leaned in to see.

He saw a complete skeleton on the table and next to it was Angela and she was shackled to it. He saw the guy dressed in robes that were old and holding a stone knife and next to him was a ghostly apparition that looked like the statue of Mictecacihuatl and it was fading in and out. The skeleton was moving. There was movement that caught his eye and he saw his brother Sam struggling.

Always liked getting tied up didn't ya Sammy?

Dean couldn't help the thought as an idea came to mind. He started motioning to Robbie and whispered out a plan. At the same time there were dead people that were actually priests from that time coming out and surrounding the altar table. Dean gave a slight movement and said, "Looks like they want to make the goddess manifest and they're gonna use Angie to do it."

"That's ridiculous. How do you know?"

"Angie's… special," Dean replied for lack of a better term as he peered around. He took one last look and then back to Robbie. "Okay so you got the plan?"

"I still think I should be the one," Robbie countered.

Dean made an annoyed look and slid out and started moving leaving Robbie in place to do what he came up with. He got to where he had the high ground, sort of, and as loudly as he could, he shouted, "Look Angie, I found one of those books you like to read."

A/N: Plot sound familiar? Looks like the fight is on. Stay tuned for the next thrilling chapter of Day of the Dead...