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Chapter Ten: Damned

"Put salt in front of the door."

Jael catches the salt container that Sam throws to her and shakes it in the direction of the door.

"No," he laughs, "Pour a line of salt in front of the door."

"Oh." She does as he asks and looks over her shoulder to see him nod in approval. There were no cases in the area where they were so Sam thought he would introduce her to a ghost and how to handle said monster. They found an old, abandoned house that was rumored to have a ghostly inhabitant. They were putting the rumor to the test.

Sam was loading shot gun shells into his gun. "Now, make a circle on the floor for us to stand in."

Jael makes a wide circle with the salt and steps inside of it. "Okay. Now what?"

He joins her in the circle. "Now, we call her. What was her name?"

"Agatha Williamson, I believe."

"Good enough." He takes a deep breath and shouts "Agatha! Come on out!"

Jael feels a cold chill come into the room and it makes the hair on the back of her neck stand up. It is quickly followed by a woman with dark ringed eyes and clothed in a tattered dress who drifts through the door.

"He'll be home soon. You need to go," Agatha tells them.

Sam watches the salt ring to make sure it doesn't break. "Sometimes they say things that they've said a lot in their life. It's not quite communication."

"Of course it is communication," Jael says. "Just because you don't understand the message doesn't make it an less of a communication. Agatha, who's going to home soon?"

The ghost's head swivels from Sam to Jael. "My husband, Thomas."

"Would he not like guests in his home?"

"I need to prepare dinner, make cocktails. He'll be home soon. You need to go."

Jael smiles. "How about I help you with your preparations?"

The ghost's eyes widen and a smile forms on her bloodied mouth. "That...would be most kind." And with that, Agatha disappears from view and the room warms again.

Sam stands there flabbergasted. "How..."

Jael smiles smugly. "I did my research before coming into the house. Her husband murdered her, beat her to death, because she didn't have dinner on the table by six o'clock. Fix the problem for the restless spirit, like offering her help with the preparations, and it puts the soul at rest. Temporarily, at least. Violence isn't always the answer, Sam Winchester."

Sam steps out of the salt circle and starts to gather up the salt and bullets. "Who did you happen to take as a vessel, the female version of Dr. Phil?"

"No, she was a nun. Well, a recently former nun."

"Oh yeah? What happened?"

Jael frowns. "She fell in love with one of the parishioners in the church her order was affiliated with. They were making plans to marry, have a family, the dream. But as soon as she left the order, she found out he's already married. Apparently he has a 'nun kink' but I'm not sure what that means and have a feeling I don't want to know. She was heartbroken, lost and unsure how to move forward with her life."

"And then you came along."

"Yes."

"What's going to happen to her when you leave? She'll still be lost and she won't have any place to go."

"Not all possessions end badly, Sam. I will make sure she's provided for."

The tension in his shoulders leaves quickly and he slings the bag over his shoulder. "Sorry. It's..."

"I know. Angels are desperate. They're scared and they're making poor choices and humans are suffering for it. But that's not our purpose. It never was."

Sam nods. "I do have to admit, the majority of angels that I've come across have been complete and utter dicks. You're not too bad."

"Well, when you start the bar that low, there's really no other way to go but up."

"True," Sam laughs and puts the equipment in the trunk of the black sedan. They were just about to get into the car when Sam's cell phone rang. He glances at the phone and frowns slightly. "It's Addison."

Jael moves over to the driver's side of the car as he puts the phone on speaker.

"Hi Addison," he greets. "Jael's here too."

"Hey guys," she greets but her voice is hushed and almost muffled. "I just wanted to call you and let you know that we've added a new angel to the posse."

"Why are you whispering? Where are you?" Sam asks.

"I'm hiding in the women's restroom at some bar. I don't know if they wanted me to call you or not and I'd rather not ask them for their opinion."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, but this new angel, it's Michael. He's a little...intense."

Jael sees Sam's face pale and she's afraid he's going to drop the phone. But he recovers quickly. "How did Michael get out of the cage?"

"We think it was Metatron's spell. It released all the imprisoned angels, including the ones the cage. Does this make any sense to you? I'm starting to feel like I'm talking gibberish."

"No, it makes sense. It's just not good news."

Addison actually laughs. "Not for me but it is good news for you. Michael is convinced that Lucifer is going to come after me since you kicked his ass last time."

Jael jumps into the conversation. "He can't possess you if you're the anchor. He'll have to wait until Heaven is open."

"And that'll give us some time to think about how to handle this," Sam adds. "No need to worry just yet. You stay safe, keep in touch."

"I will. You too."

Sam hangs up the phone with a sad, resigned look. "She was damned from the start of this, wasn't she?"

"Even the damned can be saved, Sam. And that's what we will do for her."

It takes Metatron's angels three days to find them outside Los Angeles. They are jumped leaving some local bar by a group of five angels. Addy is getting better at using a blade but still she could only defend herself, not assist in the fighting. Michael is still healing from his time in the cage. It is only Gadreel who has one hundred percent of his strength.

So when a gun goes off and he drops to his knees, Addy knows something is wrong. Michael rallies enough strength to beat their attackers back when he saw Gadreel go down. Addy stands over him until the last angel retreats but when she starts to bend over him to see his injury, Michael pulls her upright.

"We'll look at it somewhere safe."

He helps Gadreel to his feet and shoves him in the back seat of the car. Addy climbs in the back with him as Michael takes the driver's seat and heads north on the nearest interstate. Addy starts tugging at Gadreel's leather jacket until he hisses in pain.

"Back of my shoulder," he said. "Feels like a piece of angel blade stuck in there."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Wait." He leans his head against the car window. "Just wait until we stop for the night."

Addy looks up at Michael who gives her a rare smile. "He'll live, Addison. No worries."

They drive for almost two hours before Michael pulls into an almost hidden roadside motel. Addy jumps out, books a room, grabs the key and walks down to the room. She has the door unlocked just as Gadreel stumbles through the door. He's pale, with a sheen of sweat on his face. She grabs her bag with an angry yank from Michael.

"No worries?"

"Get the shard out and he'll heal up before the sun rises," Michael instructs her before heading back out the door.

"Where are you going?" she calls after him.

"Someone has to watch the perimeter in case we were followed. Work on him."

Addy closes the door and locks it, drawing the sigil on it. She turns around to see Gadreel has his jacket off but is struggling to get his t-shirt off. Her brother tore ligaments in his shoulder one time and she had to help him every once in a while with getting dressed. She goes over to Gadreel and pulls the shirt over his head for him much as she had done for Micah what seemed to be a lifetime ago. She grabs the first aid kit from the hunter's bag and goes into the bathroom. The lighting isn't great but it is the best in the hotel room.

He leans over the sink and she can see the circular puncture just above his shoulder blade. "It looks like a bullet wound."

"Yes, I remember from my time with Sam that demons have melted down angel blades and made bullets out of them. I didn't think my siblings would think to use such a weapon."

Addy pulls out cotton, alcohol and tweezers. "Yeah, well, this is Metatron we're talking about. I have a feeling he's not too concerned with where an idea comes from as long as it works." She's sterilized the tweezers and soaks the cotton ball in alcohol. "This is going to sting."

He braces himself but doesn't show any reaction when she cleans the wound. In fact, he laughs briefly. "I forget that human's view of pain is different from angels."

"This doesn't hurt?"

"Not at all. The bullet, that hurts."

Addy picks up the tweezers and sets to work trying to dig out the bullet. If she's hurting him, he doesn't show any sign of it. She feels the tweezers connect and carefully she eases the slug of metal out of the wound.

"Ah ha! Not bad for my first time." She drops the piece of metal into the sink and looks back at the entry point only to find the skin closing over already. Fascinated at seeing the wound healing itself, she reaches out and gently presses her fingers against his shoulder blade. That does cause a groan to issue from him and his head drops forward.

"Hm," Addy grins. "Finally found your off button, then."

"Addison..."

He sounds pained and she immediately starts prodding the area of fresh skin again fearing she only managed to get some of the bullet out. If there is another piece, she's going to have to cut him open again.

"Where does it hu-"

He spins around so fast she can't register the movement until she feels the wall against her back. His hands have her wrists pinned on either side of her head and his face is buried in the side of her neck. She can feel the slide of his nose against her jawline, the briefest brush of his lips on her neck right under her ear. Addy has learned from being around him that angels tend to run cold but at the moment he feels like a furnace.

"So," she laughs and tries to make it sound light, "more of an 'on' button then an 'off' one then."

He comes back to himself and lifts his head. It's just as Addy expects, he looks horrified with himself. He lets go of her wrists as if she's burned him and he won't look her in the eye. She knows it was a reaction to...something she had done. He had never been threatening towards her, always gentle and kind, and strangely enough even now she isn't afraid of him.

But he starts to open his mouth, starts to apologize and she doesn't want to hear it. He's apologized for far too much and she will not let him add this to the pile of shame he carries on his back. He doesn't listen to her words so she acts without thinking things through completely. Grabbing his head, she pulls him down and kisses him firmly on the lips. Now it's his turn to be stunned into inaction. When she releases him, his look of horror changes into complete confusion.

"I didn't want to hear you say you were sorry," she blurts out.

"Addison-"

"I think you can call me Addy now."

A brief smile catches the corner of his mouth before disappearing completely. He starts to say something but it never makes it out of his mouth.

"I'm sor-" She doesn't get to finish her sentence because he's kissing her now. She tries not to smile at the realization all he's doing is mimicking her own hasty kiss.

"I didn't want to hear you say you were sorry either," he tells her and if she doesn't know better she would classify his expression as bashful.

He grabs his shirt and pulls it over his head. "I should have told you, warned you about this."

Addy's legs are still shaky and her mind slightly fuzzy. "About what? You've got smooth criminal skills and were holding out on me?"

"Uh, no. That just as angels feel pain differently, it is the same with pleasure."

"And let me guess, shoulders are a hot zone for angels? Why?"

"Because it is where our wings are."

Addy feels like an idiot for not realizing that sooner. Her mind is starting clear and embarrassment is starting to settle in now. Before she can think too deeply on what has just happened between them, her cell phone rings. She pulls it out of her back pocket and looks at the caller ID before answering the call.

"Sam?"

"Yeah, Addison. How are you?"

She looks at the clock and sees it's almost two in the morning. "I'm fine but I guessing you're not."

"No, we're fine. We just wanted to pass along a message."

"Okay."

"Metatron wants to have a meeting."

She turns the speakerphone on. "Metatron wants to have a meeting. With who?"

Sam sighs. "With all of us apparently. How close are you to Kansas?"

"Two days drive. Day and half if I can convince one of the angels to do the driving."

"Alright, we'll see you in a couple days. Gadreel knows where the bunker is and how to get in."

"Okay." Addy disconnects the call and tries to ignore the scowl that Gadreel is sending her way. "This might be a good thing."

"This might be a trap."

"Then it's a good thing I have you and Michael." She tosses the first aid kit into the hunters bag and throws it over her shoulder. "Let's find him and get on the road before Metatron changes his mind."

"You need to rest."

"I'll sleep in the car." She leaves the hotel room and makes a beeline for the car. Michael steps out of the darkness towards her.

"Are we going somewhere?"

"Kansas," Addy answers. "Metatron wants a meeting."

Gadreel has followed her out. "I don't think we should go. If we do, then Addy shouldn't be there."

Michael looks back and forth between them and Addy tries not to squirm under the archangel's gaze. It didn't escape her notice that Gadreel called her Addy and not Addison and she's certain Michael is privy to what has happened in the hotel room.

"Fine," he says at length. "We'll work out a plan in the car."

Addy climbs into the backset of the car and lays down on the seat. Gadreel must have taken the driver's seat because it's Michael that climbs into the passenger seat and into her line of vision. It's for the best, really. As she starts to fall asleep she finds she has to place her hand over her neck to keep it from tingling.