Fallen Angel – Chapter 10

Stacey was shaking uncontrollably by the time she pulled into the drive of the salvage yard. She brought the car to a stop; throwing open the door she got out, ignoring Zara's worried call as she rushed into the house, darting quickly up the stairs and into her room.

Slamming the door closed she stood in the middle of the room, her heart racing painfully in her chest. They had been half way home when she had felt it again, stronger this time. The feeling of evil rippling through her until if felt like it was inside her, like ants crawling through her veins, consuming her, and then as before it was gone. It was all she could do to keep in control of the car and get them home as panic and fear began to overwhelm her.

Dropping to her knees she closed her eyes tightly fighting against the torrent of emotions flooding through her, hot tears streaming down her face.

She felt strong arms wrap around her, pulling her against a hard muscular body. Screaming she struggled; twisting and pushing in an effort to get free.

"Let me go. Let me go!"

"Stacey, Stacey it's me." Dean said urgently. "Calm down I've got you. I've got you."

As her struggling subsided he tightened his arms around her, pressing his lips to her forehead. He had watched her rush past the kitchen, heard Zara's worried call. He had been out of his seat in seconds, passing Sam on the stairs as he headed towards a sobbing Zara. God Dammit! It was easy to ignore the fact that she was suffering when he was at the Impala, but stepping into the room and seeing her curled into herself on the floor sobbing had ripped through him, pulling him to his knees and her into his arms.

Stacey sank into Dean's arms; her hand came up to rest on his chest, the thrum of his heartbeat instilling a feeling of comfort, replacing the overwhelming anxiety and panic which had coursed through her. She sat for a few minutes absorbing the comfort that being with Dean brought; reluctantly pulling away when her breathing returned to normal.

"Stace?" Dean said questioningly, releasing his hold on her as she pulled away.

"It's okay Dean, I'm feeling better now ..." she said quietly. She rolled to her feet and moved further away from him needing to put some distance between them. He'd made it clear that he couldn't be there, that her issues were her issues and not his. "I'm sorry-" Her eyes dropped. "—this isn't what you wanted."

"Stacey what happened?" Dean asked, ignoring her statement for a moment. He didn't think that now was the time to be confessing how much of a dick he had been and to beg her forgiveness.

"I thought I felt a demon in town or near town, it was faint but..."

Dean stiffened. "A Demon, are you sure?"

Stacey brought her eyes to his, brown eyes filled with confusion. "Yes...I thought it must have been passing town and I was feeling a glimmer of its essence, but then on the way home I felt it again, it was—"she said. "—it was stronger, more pronounced as if it was much closer, then like before it was gone—"She shook her head.

"-I guess I just panicked." She said with a wry smile.

Dean walked over to her; he lifted her chin and looked into her expressive eyes. Eyes that he loved to see flash with fire, but now just looked haunted. "Give it time." He said gently. "I'll get Cas to do a sweep of the town, make sure that whatever was about is gone. Okay?"

"Okay." She replied softly.

"Why don't you get cleaned up then come downstairs."

She began to pull away and then stopped, her eyes drawn back to his. "Why are you here Dean? You said-"

"And I was wrong." Dean said a self depreciating grin on his face. "We need to talk, but I don't think now's the time.

Stacey gave a small nod. "Yeah... oh God I need to apologise for scaring Zara half to death."

"She'll understand Stacey." Dean said then leant down, placing a whisper of a kiss on her lips, his heart pounding as he expected her to pull away. Instead her lips clung to his for the briefest moment, before they parted, both of them a little flushed.

He had been tempted to deepen the kiss, every fibre of his being screaming at him to drag her into his arms and show her how sorry he was, but that would be a mistake and he had made enough mistakes with Stacey. Right now he had to find out if there was an evil son of a bitch lurking about his home town and he had to get Cas down here to do that.

Instead of acting on his first instinct he stepped away from her. "I'll see you downstairs."

Stacey watched him go, she didn't understand Dean one minute he was pulling away, the next he was being sweet and gentle. It was confusing. Heart hammering she lightly touched her lips, she could still feel his kiss, the soft brush of his lips against hers full of tenderness and promise. He had said that he was wrong, that they needed to talk, but could she trust him? He had hurt her and she didn't know if she was strong enough to survive if he decided to pull away again. Sighing, she walked to her dresser, pulled out a change of clothes and headed to the bathroom, hoping that a hot shower would wash away any lingering feelings of panic rippling under her skin. She would deal with Dean when the time came.

xxOOxx

"God dammit Cas." Dean swore. "You didn't find anything?""

"There were no signs that there was or had ever been any demonic presence in Sioux Falls." Castiel replied. He had come as soon as Dean had called, unhappy that his friend's home was once again being tainted by Hell. However, he had found nothing, no signs in his search of the town and its surrounding area.

"Dammit. Stacey was sure there was something Cas." Dean insisted, rubbing his hand over the back of his neck. He refused to believe that Stacey had had a panic attack that severe over nothing.

"I can only tell you that there was nothing there Dean. Perhaps Stacey's recent trauma—"

"Stop right there flyboy." Stacey interrupted Castiel's comment as she walked into Bobby's study fresh from the shower "I did not imagine it. It was there."

Dean turned to stare at her, his mind going blank for a second as he inhaled in the rich smell of summer berries emanating from her. She was dressed in a simple white tank and black pants, her damp hair loose on her shoulders. She looked a million times better than she had when he had left, but he could see now the dark shadows under her eyes and nothing could disguise the weight that she had lost. He would need to work on that, he thought remembering the feel of her curves in his hands.

"Stace maybe—"he said, forcing his mind back to the conversation.

"Don't you dare Dean, don't you dare suggest that I imagined it! That it's some kind of Post Traumatic Stress thing." Stacey hissed indignantly, anger flaring. "I can feel and see anything in the supernatural realm Dean and I felt it, I've felt it before and it was real—"

She turned to Castiel. "—do you know what I see when I look at you Castiel? I see you, not just your vessel you. Your essence is Holy of God and shines with the light of his grace. Even now I can feel its purity, it's comforting, good... but a demon is all darkness and its evil crawls under my skin and courses through my blood, even from a distance. It's worse if I open myself up to it."

"Cas are you sure?" Dean asked, rubbing his face in frustration. "You couldn't have made a mistake?

"I sincerely doubt it."

Stacey couldn't believe what she was hearing. "There's no spell or sigil that can conceal a demon from an angel? It would make sense right? Any demon out there is gonna know that you're part of the family around here. They're gonna want to be angel proof before even tiptoeing into this town."

Castiel frowned, head tilted as he considered Stacey's statement. "Perhaps." He replied, turning to Dean "I will return."

Dean stared at the space which had been previously occupied by Castiel.

"Freaking angel, I hate it when he does that." He said, gesturing angrily at the empty space. Turning to Stacey "He'll be back."

Stacey stood quietly, her expression tense. "Dean do you honestly think I imagined it?"

"No Stace I don't but Cas is usually pretty good at weeding these things out and if he didn't find anything then the demon son of a bitch went to a lot of trouble to cover its tracks."

"It wouldn't have known about me, so didn't take the same precautions... whatever it did may partially work on me too. Maybe that's why I only got a glimmer of it?" Stacey said calmly, her eyes meeting his. "I guess the bigger question is if it went to all that trouble to conceal itself from Castiel then what's it after? What or who's in Sioux Falls that it wants?"

"Son of a Bitch!" Dean swore, pacing angrily. "The baby? The damn thing could be after the baby?"

Stacey's paled, her heart stuttering; her stomach sank at the thought of Zara and the baby being in danger, of being hunted by demons. "That makes sense. The Winchester bloodline will still play a part in any apocalypse." She said. "Whichever side controls the blood line, could turn the tide of the apocalypse."

Striding to the door Dean shouted "Sammy!"

"Are you sure that you want to tell them this Dean?" Stacey said, cautioning. Walking to him she placed a hand on his shoulder. "You could be panicking them for nothing."

"If there's even the slightest possibility that the baby's at risk then they need to know now and we need to take steps to keep Zara and the baby protected." Dean insisted, his mind racing. The house was like a fortress and there was no way a demon could get in unless they were summoned and even then they would have it secured in a devil's trap. So they could only get to them outside the house. Christ Sammy's gonna freak he thought.

"Dean I know I'm not in the best shape just now but you do know that I'll do all I can to protect Zara and the baby?" Stacey said quietly with conviction, slight tremors racking her body. "I mean the thought of going up against demons just now scares me... more than scares me, but Zara and Sam are my friends...I won't let anything happen to them or their baby."

"I know." Dean said, his gaze roaming over her face, the temptation to press his lips to her intense. "I know."

"Dean?"

Startled Dean stepped away from Stacey and turned sharply to Sam and Zara who were standing in the doorway to the study, expressions filled with concern.

"We might have a problem Sammy."

xxOOxx

"So son, you staying the night or going back out to hide in your car?" Bobby asked gruffly.

Dean frowned. "I'm staying."

They had spent the last few hours ensuring that the house was locked tight. Sam had taken Zara upstairs a couple of hours before; they had been understandably upset and Dean could see the effort that Sam had put in to rein in his temper, not wanting to upset Zara more than she already was. He had taken great pains to stress that they didn't know for sure, but until they could find out what had sparked of Stacey's spidy sense then they were taking all and every precaution.

Castiel had come back a short while later and confirmed that Stacey had been right, that there were angelic blocking wards and sigils all over Sioux Falls. Whoever the demon was they didn't want Castiel picking up on them. Castiel had said that he would stay and stand guard over the house until they could locate and eradicate the demon responsible.

"I'm staying." Dean said again, this time his voice was barely a whisper. His thoughts on Stacey, he hadn't had a chance to speak with her before she'd gone upstairs. His stomach was in knots at the thought of her turning him away.

"Good." Bobby said his voice gruff. "You can be a real idgit sometimes do you know that?"

"Bobby?"

"Do you think I was born yesterday? It was obvious back at that motel that something happened between you and Stacey and it ain't none of my business—" Bobby said. "—you're both grown adults...but Dean hurt her and I will take my shotgun and—"

"Woah Bobby." Dean interrupted a flush rising over his cheeks. Stacey was his niece for Christ sakes and here he was giving a douche bag like him his blessing. "I've been a dick these last week's I don't even know if she'll..."

"That girl's had a torch for you since she was fourteen son and I don't see nothing different now." Bobby laughed. "Just don't tell her I told ya or she'll pull a shot gun on me. That girls the feistiest little thing, hurting a little just now, but she's strong she'll bounce back. Quicker with your help I reckon—"

Dean stared at Bobby for a moment before standing. "Thanks Bobby."

"Don't thank me son. You still need to convince her... but just don't forget what I said about my shotgun."

Dean nodded and without another word headed upstairs, stopping outside the door to his former bedroom. No time like the present he thought. Knocking on the door he waited until he heard Stacey's shout softly "come in" and stepped nervously inside.

His eyes were immediately drawn to where Stacey was sitting on her bed, a book open on her lap; she was dressed in the same sleep shorts and tank that she had worn on the night she had arrived.

"Can we talk?" He asked.

TBC