Chapter Nine: Liquid prayer
When Dean finally turned away from Lucifer, the first thing he saw was Castiel. The feeling that seeing him brought with it drowned out any sound. Dean made his way over to the other man and leaned against him. The pain in his shoulder was searing, but it wasn't that which caused Dean to freeze. A stain was spreading across his abdomen. Dean pulled away and daubed at the front of his shirt. Bright red splotches appeared on his fingers. He frowned.
'But I don't feel anything,' he mumbled. Castiel swayed on his feet. Dean caught him before his head slammed against the bar and managed to ease him onto the floor. Dean wadded up his shirt and pressed it against the mess that was Castiel's gut. Raphael popped up at their side, startling Dean.
'I'm gonna go and get the doctor. Make sure those bodies are corpses, Dean.'
Dean looked up as Raphael stepped outside. He realised that the shooting had ceased entirely. The floor was covered with bodies, bullets and blood. Suddenly, there was movement in his peripheral vision. Gabriel. Dean got off a shot. He heard bottles breaking. Gabriel dove behind the bar.
'I'm unarmed,' he yelled. A pistol slid towards Dean and two hands appeared above the bar. Both hands were empty. One hand was covered with a filthy bandage.
'You're a lying liar who lies!' Dean yelled back. He fired another shot. Gabriel yelped and quickly retracted his hands.
'If it wasn't for me Castiel would be dead right now. Ask him,' Gabriel shouted. Dean looked at Castiel, who nodded.
'Alright. Come here,' Dean said. Hesitantly, Gabriel came out of his hiding place. The urge to simply belt him across the face was strong.
'Hold this,' Dean instructed. Gabriel placed his hands over the soaked shirt and applied pressure. Dean got to work. He checked the bodies. Most of them were either gone or on their way to being gone. The ones who weren't he helped along.
He paused at the door to the back office with his gun at his side. There were more bodies in there. No sign of Bobby. Dean exited through the back and made his way around the building.
'Dean! Jesus, I almost shot you,' Jessica shouted. She was lying on the slanted roof of the church. Rifle at the ready.
Once he'd cleared the other side of the building too, Dean shouted at her to come on down.
'Fight's over!'
Raphael was standing near the entrance of the brothel, looking at a body.
'It's Zachariah.'
'What?'
Raphael, his face contorted with pain, pointed at the body. Zachariah had fallen forward in the sand and been rolled onto his back afterwards.
'He must have followed us. Have you seen Bobby?' Dean inquired. Raphael shook his head. Jess and the doctor appeared. Dean led them all to Castiel.
'What's your name?' Dean asked.
'Leroy,' the doctor answered, taking in the carnage. 'I came to see you when you had that fever a couple of weeks back.'
He looked over Castiel.
'We'd better take him to my surgery. I don't have any of my tools here,' the doctor said, carefully helping Castiel to his feet. He slung one of Castiel's arms over his shoulder. Raphael took the other one. Castiel whispered something. Dean put his ear right next to Castiel's mouth to hear.
'Gracie's cross. What'd it say?' Castiel croaked. Dean remembered how tenderly Castiel had lifted her. Always. Not only her lifeless, little body. To Jessica's dismay, Castiel often used to throw Grace in the air. He'd pick her up as if she was fragile and then let her out of his hands for those few seconds when she flew through the air only to catch her shrieking with joy. Dean swallowed and recited the engraving on the cross. Castiel seemed to approve.
The doctor and Raphael turned towards the door and Dean moved to follow them. Gabriel collapsed. One second he was standing and the next he was on the floor. Undecided, the doctor stood still for a moment.
'Make it quick,' Dean told him. 'Jess, Raphael, take Castiel to the surgery.'
'Where'd you get shot?' the doctor asked, kneeling by Gabriel.
'In my hand,' Gabriel replied, winking at Dean. The doctor started to undo the bandage, releasing an awful smell.
'This is an old wound. When was the last time you changed the bandage?'
'He didn't. That's the one we used when Castiel first shot him,' Dean provided.
'If the infection's got into your blood, you're done for,' the doctor harshly informed Gabriel.
'I'm fine. I just need to rest,' Gabriel protested as the doctor pulled up his sleeve. A pinkish stripe, starting at his wrist wound its way up to his elbow.
'Go attend to Castiel. I'm right behind you. Please fix him,' Dean said. The doctor looked up at Dean with a determined expression on his face.
'I'll do my best.'
The doctor left. Dean grabbed two chairs and helped Gabriel onto one before sitting down himself.
'Guess we killed you after all,' he muttered. Gabriel shrugged.
'Hey, doesn't dying earn you a drink in this joint?'
Dean got up and went behind the bar. He could wait a little longer, but not much. Amongst the sticky shards, he found a whole bottle of whiskey. He rooted around some more until he'd also found two containers. He poured and handed one jar to Gabriel. They drank in silence. Dean thought about the blood that had welled up from Castiel's skin and hoped against hope. I guess this is what praying is like, he thought.
'I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I swore I'd fix this. That I'd set things straight,' Gabriel remarked. Dean gave him a look.
'I don't believe you.'
'Don't matter. Point is: I tried.'
'What do you want me to say? You done right?' Dean snapped.
'Nah. I want you to end my suffering.'
'You're a funny guy.'
Gabriel didn't reply. He grimaced and slumped in his chair. He was obviously in pain.
'Come on, Dean. Like the horse,' he urged. With a sense of satisfaction, Dean realised that Gabriel wanted mercy. You've got the wrong guy, Dean wanted to say. If you check back later, we might have some mercy, but I seriously doubt it, he wanted to say. He was trying not to lose it, but he hadn't known that it would be so damn hard. He had thought that he knew what he was doing. He had been wrong. He didn't know a thing.
The shot resounded throughout town.