Chapter 10

Azazel: "Better than mother's milk."

Anna had been stationed on Earth to watch and observe humanity for centuries, but never before had she felt so intertwined with them.

She watched Mary closely in her interactions with her children, wishing that she could emulate the woman's love and compassion. She saw the bond between Mary and John grow stronger each day through their shared highs and lows of parenthood, and she longed for Castiel to be by her side sharing the same joys and hardships with their own child.

Remaining silent and invisible was torture, but she knew that it was for the best. Mary could feel her presence and was comforted, in turn reassuring her children that they were safe from harm. That was all that really mattered. Making herself visible would only complicate their lives and dampen her concentration in keeping watch over them.

But she wished that she could have this woman's life. To have the love and companionship of a mate and to create with them a happy, growing family must be so fulfilling. More fulfilling by far than simply observing them from the sidelines, without even being allowed to intercede on their behalf.

Such her life had always been, and such her life would remain forever. This was her lot and her cross to bear, she knew... but that did not make it easier.

Weeks passed. Every day, the child within the child grew stronger and seemed more aware of his surroundings. Anna sometimes spoke to him when no one else was around, telling him of who he was, how much he meant to her, and the important role he must play in little Sammy's life. He seemed to hear her, though the human child merely stared at her in wonder. She marvelled at how integrated the two souls could become while still remaining independent from one another.

Many times over the course of those weeks, Anna would catch the scent of a demon nearby. She would brace herself for battle, only to feel almost disappointed when the demon would pass them by. She did not understand why Azazel had left them alone for so long, but she never allowed herself to lower her guard even for a single moment. She only wished that he would show himself and be done with it. She was growing tired of sitting around waiting for him to strike, like a mouse cornered by a lazy cat.

And then, one night, she sensed a presence she had never expected to feel again - Raguel was in the house.

She had not counted on this. There were many safety measures in place around the house and on the Winchester property to guard against demons, but any angel could come and go as they pleased.

They would, however, have to deal with her before getting to the child.

She found him in the kitchen, managing to take him by surprise and hurl a wave of energy that sent him flying out of the house and into the backyard. "What are you doing here?" she shouted angrily as she followed after him. "Has Azazel sent you here for the boy? Have you not done enough for that abominable creature already?"

"Anna, please..." Raguel held his hands up in surrender, remaining on the ground where she had thrown him. "I have come to warn you! The others have discovered where you are. They are coming for you tonight!"

Anna eyed him warily. "Why should I believe you? You have been working with Azazel all this time. Why should you help me now?"

Raguel seemed confused, but Anna knew that he could be attempting to deceive her. "I have done nothing but try to protect you," he said. "I am taking a great risk in warning you, but I believe that the charges against you are unjust. Please, Anna, you must leave now!"

Anna shook her head in disgust. "You would really deny that you brought the child here on Azazel's order? I know about the deal Mary Winchester made with him. Joining my child with hers was the plan all along, wasn't it?"

Raguel stared at her open-mouthed.

"Wasn't it??" Anna shouted.

Just then, she heard the sound of a hundred wings fluttering directly towards them. She looked up at the sky and saw a bright light in the distance, growing larger every second.

He had been telling the truth about one thing - they were coming.

Anna wasted no time.

She took to the air and headed straight towards them, veering to the right once she was sure they could see her. To her relief, they all followed, leaving the house safely behind.

Her destination lay dead ahead - an abandoned barn on the edge of an open field. She had prepared for just such an event as this, but now she scarcely dared hope that her plan would actually succeed. Still, as long as she kept the angels away from the child, she would feel as though her perseverance had paid off.

They were closing in on her as she reached the barn. Just a few more meters and she might make it. She could feel their combined energy closing in around her, but if she could only make it inside...

With barely a moment to spare, Anna flew inside the barn, the angel battalion following closely behind. She aimed straight for the far wall, where she had painted a symbol using blood from a stray lamb.

She slammed her hand on the wall in the middle of the symbol.

A bright light shot out from the symbol and catapulted the angels back to Heaven.

Anna panted with relief and exertion. She had gained the victory for now, but she knew that she was not safe now that they knew where to find her. She hurried back to the house, determined to take her child away once and for all. Mary would grieve, but the human child would survive without his mother now.

He was six months old tonight.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Azazel chuckled to himself as he watched Anna lead the angel army away from the house. Perfect timing.

He waited while his angel ally entered the house and disabled all the salt lines, iron bars, and devil's traps that kept him from his prize, and grinned when he received the all-clear signal. It was finally time.

Eleven years of planning had led to this moment. Eleven years of manipulations, deceptions, corruptions, and false leads. Eleven years of weaving a labyrinth of clues and red herrings so complex that not even the damn angels had the slightest idea what he was up to.

Hell, even the demons who thought they were in on his plan only knew half of what was coming in the years ahead. The ones who had died on the day the kid was born really thought they'd been part of something useful rather than a simple decoy attack. Even those working right alongside him thought he was mounting some kind of human-demon crossbreed army. No one but Lilith and that upstart brat Ruby knew that the entire plan revolved around a single child.

Genius. He was the genius of all geniuses.

And now he was about to prove it.

"Angel-proof this house, would you?" he said to the demon lackey at his side. "I don't wish to be disturbed."

The lackey quickly got to work painting angel keep-out symbols on the side of the house.

Azazel smiled. "Show time."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Anna had only been gone for a minute. One minute.

Suddenly everything was lost.

As soon as she got within eyeshot of the house, she saw the demons milling around it. When she drew closer, prepared for a fight, she cried out with dismay.

One of them had disappeared through the nursery window.

"Admirable try, Anna," said a voice from behind her.

Before she could turn around, a hood was pulled over her head and a rope tied around her waist. She struggled in vain against them, but they had been sealed with a binding chant.

"Better luck next time."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

The crimson drops fell lightly on the child's lips. Mary was awake, but it didn't matter.

She couldn't stop it now.

The angel in the child tried to resist the tempting liquid dripping into its mouth, but the human boy was thirsty. He licked his lips. That was all it took.

Azazel smiled as his blood entered the child's body. He could almost see the grace inside him being twisted and corrupted as he watched. The other children he had visited would turn ugly and evil and lose control, but little Sammy Winchester? He would be unstoppable. A lethal weapon. A human with all the power and might of an inbred angel, without any of that pesky righteousness getting in the way.

The child's eyes flashed gold as the angel began to die. It was working. Nothing could stop him now.

Not even Mary Winchester.

"Sammy!"

Azazel turned to look her in the eye.

"It's you..."

He took no pleasure in killing her. She really had been his favourite.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

If ever Anna had fought to survive, she did so that night.

Demons surrounded her, pinning her down and laughing in high-pitched shrieks as they began the rite to send her back to Heaven.

She couldn't let them win. She couldn't ever go back to that place. She had to save the child. Azazel must be stopped.

With what little strength she had left inside the angel-proof ropes she lifted her head and shouted to the sky. "CASTIEL!"

She knew that he would hear her. She knew that he would come for her.

It was just a question of whether she could hold the demons off until then.

She lashed out with all the force she could muster, sending at least two of the demons flying with well-placed kicks, but that just made the others all the angrier. They began chanting in unison, louder and louder, until she could feel her energy being sucked towards the heavens. She fought it for all she was worth, but their words were taking effect. She had failed.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of lightning bolts. The demons screamed in fright and let her go, just in time to stop the rite from taking hold.

A moment later she felt a crackle of electricity, and her ropes fell away. She was hauled to her feet, the hood was torn from her head, and she found herself standing face-to-face with Castiel.

She wished there were time for pleasantries, but she knew that every second counted. "The child," she said, hurrying toward the house with Castiel at her heels.

That was when she saw the fire.

"No!" she cried as the nursery window lit up with flames. She charged straight for it, ignoring Castiel's cries for her to stay away.

She tried to enter through the window, but she bounced off the pane of glass as though she were in a solid body. She was confused for only a moment before she saw the symbols on the side of the house.

Frustrated and impatient, she threw a heavy bolt of electricity at the wall, frying the siding until the symbol was cracked.

She was inside the nursery within seconds. One glance inside the crib showed to her relief that the baby was no longer there.

Then she looked up.

"Mary!"

John was at the door. He must know it was hopeless, but he seemed to be trying to reach his wife.

Anna flew towards him just as a burst of flame erupted from his wife's body and threatened to swallow him whole. She picked him up and carried him safely to the first floor, shielding him from the fire that had started to engulf the rest of the house.

When she set him down, she could see that he was too dazed to notice that he hadn't taken himself down the stairs of his own accord. She gently ushered him in the direction of the front door and watched as he raced outside, took his children up in his arms, and ran away from the burning building.

His children... the young boy was clutching the baby like a doll.

Thank God he was safe.

"Anna," Castiel said as he appeared at her side. "What just happened here?"

She wanted to explain everything to him - this cherished friend that she had missed so dearly - but she first had to see for herself that her child was well. Azazel had been inside the house long enough to achieve whatever sinister goal he'd had in mind. She just had to see...

But when she looked over John's shoulder at the baby in his arms, she wished that she hadn't seen at all. The baby was alive and well and watching the light from the fire as though it were a string of Christmas lights, but in his eyes... there was nothing. No light of kinship, no glowing aura indicating that her child was inside. The dark grey halo around the boy's face was completely unfamiliar... almost dark and sinister.

Her child was dead.

Anna cried out and backed away from him in horror. She knew now what had happened. She knew what it had all been about. Azazel had corrupted her beautiful child and killed him, leaving his energy behind without sentience or grace so that it would turn the boy into a monster.

And yet...

As she watched, the dark halo faded and a faint glow of grace flickered into its place. Anna gasped and moved closer, reaching out a hand to lightly touch the boy's cheek.

She felt a trace of her child's energy still. Part of him was fighting to live.

Perhaps all hope was not yet gone.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

He watched from a dark corner of the street as rescue vehicles surrounded the Winchester home. What was left of it, at least. He knew it was for the best that Mary had died - they couldn't risk her piecing the puzzle together too soon, after all - but he felt as though Azazel could have handled it a lot more quietly.

"You gotta admit," the filthy demon said in self-satisfaction. "I put on one hell of a show."

"That you did. And made one hell of a mess in the process."

Azazel laughed. "It will all be worth it in time, my friend."

He ruffled his wings in disgust. "Never call me that again."

Azazel smirked. "See you at the next milestone," it said. Then it was gone in a puff of smoke.

He grimaced and went back to watching the burning building. His attention was soon diverted, however, by the scene taking place on the front lawn.

Anna and Castiel.

They seemed to be talking. He could not allow that.

"Why?"

He stopped before crossing the street when someone appeared beside him.

"Why would you ally yourself with that... thing? Why would you use me this way?"

He sighed and reached into his robe, wrapping his fingers around the weapon that was concealed inside. Then he took the other's arm and led him to a more secluded place. "Because you were convenient," he said once they were alone. "And because you were weak. I mean, look at you. Tears running down your face like a human child."

"I only cry out of pity for you, Zachariah. Your punishment will be severe when our Father learns of this treachery. It was all you, wasn't it? The two of them joining... choosing the Winchesters to hide the child... everything. You led me to believe that you were following our Father's orders, but you were merely using me to do your dirty work!"

Zachariah rolled his eyes, pulled out his sword, and plunged it into Raguel's throat before he had a chance to say another word. "Our Father is no longer with us, Raguel," he whispered as he held him there, motionless and dying. "It's time to take back what's ours. And for playing your part in the master plan, I thank you."

He withdrew his sword, scooped up Raguel's body, and flew it up into the clouds. He dropped it just as Raguel's energy combusted and died.

One less loose end to worry about.

By the time he got back to the Winchester house, Castiel and Anna were gone. He muttered a curse under his breath in frustration. He couldn't believe he had once thought them such promising recruits. Now they had just become thorns in his side.

He could only hope that Castiel would do as he always did and follow his orders to the letter.

Then at least Anna would finally die.