Sorry I didn't post a chapter last week. Had a rough weekend that just never seemed to get any better even when it was over. Then I was having the hardest time getting this chapter to flow correctly. I'm a little nervous about it, hope everyone likes it. -JJ
Caviar and cigarettes,
Well versed in etiquette,
Extraordinarily nice.
-Killer Queen by Queen
Castiel arrived in Durango in the evening. He made a quick call to Gary to find out Emma's location. It lead him to a nice hotel. He wasn't sure how to find her from there.
Should he just wait out front? He could try calling her again. But it had occurred to him that there was the chance she had left because once she knew who he was she didn't
want to have anything to do with him.
His indecision actually paid off because Emma came walking out of the hotel while he was trying to decide what to do. Castiel followed behind her as she headed to a nearby
restaurant, keeping his distance. She was wearing a pair of scruffy jeans and her leather jacket was pulled close to protect her for the chilly evening. Castiel noticed she
seemed a bit dejected. Normally one to keep her head up and meet anyone with a challenging gaze, she was now walking a little slower, head down, shoulders slumped.
When she was seated in the restaurant, Castiel still hesitated to approach her. Was this even a good idea? It wouldn't be the first time he put his faith in the wrong person.
It was the sight of her staring at her food morosely, that made him act.
She had looked completely perplexed to see him. But not angry, which gave Castiel a boost of confidence.
Then she'd said it.
The exact words Dean had said to him.
"You can't stay."
Once again he wasn't needed because he was useless. A liability. His thoughts had gone fuzzy, his chest hurt and it felt like he couldn't get the right amount of air. He had
moved to leave when strong, warm hands had grabbed his. Emma had explained why it wasn't safe to be around her. Then she left.
Castiel had sat at the table a little longer.
She had a good point. Wasn't his being hunted the same reason he couldn't be around Sam and Dean? Those looking for him would hurt his friends to get to him. But if both
he and Emma were being hunted, wouldn't staying together be safer? They could watch each other's backs.
The server had wrapped Emma's food to go, so Castiel grabbed it as he left.
He was only a block from the restaurant when he realized he was being followed. It was easy to lose them, but it was still troubling.
He doubled back to Emma's hotel, only to find she had left. Another call to Gary got Castiel her location at an old building outside city limits.
He pulled up close enough to see the front entrance of the building and Emma's Jeep.
He made his way inside, careful to stay hidden along the outer walls. He didn't see any sign of Emma at first, then sounds of a scuffle made him look up. He caught sight of a
body falling from one of the upper levels. He worked his way over towards where he had seen the body land. A female voice shouted, "Where is the angel?!"
He was almost there when he heard the same female give a cry of despair, then an explosion tossed him backwards through an old wooden door. He found himself in a small
room filled with old boxes. The boxes had broken the majority of his fall, but he was having a hard time extracting himself from them. When he heard Emma give a pain filled
cry he scrambled up to his feet and rushed towards the sound. Only to pull up short at the sight that greeted him.
Emma was pinned to the far wall, face pained, clutching at something that was sticking out of her right shoulder. Blood soaking her shirt and jacket.
Standing just a few feet away from her, smiling, was Abbadon.
Castiel hadn't seen the Knight of Hell for over a century. But Dean had described her current host to him and he had seen a black and white video from a store's security camera.
Plus he didn't know any other being that could make his skin crawl as much as this woman could.
"I'm looking for an angel." The Knight told Emma.
Castiel was still mostly hidden by shadows and neither woman had noticed him. He used the opportunity to try and think of some possible way out of this.
Emma's voice was strained when she spoke, but she still managed to sound flippant, "A specific one? Or did you just wake up this morning with a craving?"
Abaddon was on her in a second. She grabbed Emma's right arm and twisted it.
"Aaaagggh!"
She then ripped all the bracelets off Emma's wrist, "When did amazons begin hunting again?"
"Well, we heard your ugly ass was back, Aaaagghhh!"
Abbadon dug a fingernail into Emma's wound, "The angel I'm looking for, goes by the name of Castiel." the demon said,
"You were seen with him earlier."
"No .. idea..." Emma gasped, her legs were starting to give out on her. Abaddon dug her finger in further to the wound. Emma didn't cry out this time, but her teeth were
clenched so tight Castiel was concerned they might crack. "Is this the extent of your tricks? A manicure?"
"I forgot how much fun amazons are," Abaddon purred into Emma's ear, "and it's been so long since I've had one of you to break."
Sweat was dripping off Emma's face as she struggled to stay up right. Castiel scanned the area around him, maybe he could find some sort of distraction.
"You are going to tell me what you have done with the angel," Abaddon said.
Emma laughed out loud, there was a note of hysteria to it, "I'm an amazon, what do you think I did with him? Poor idiot thought I was going to help him, thought I cared.
Soon as he let his guard down I stabbed him with his own blade."
"For your sake, you had better be lying," the Knight snarled.
"Nope, here let me show you how I did it," She swung her left arm up and aimed her angel blade for Abaddon's throat, the demon easily caught Emma's wrist, and Emma
slammed her forehead down on the demon's face. Abaddon stumbled backward, blood dripping from her nose. Emma tried to use the opportunity to pull herself free, but
Abaddon recovered too quickly. She grabbed Emma by the throat and began squeezing.
Castiel couldn't take it any more. He still had no idea how to get them out of the situation, but he might be able to at least get Emma out of it.
"Abaddon." He stepped out of the shadows into a little patch of moonlight. He had a firm grip on his angel blade, even though he knew it wouldn't do any good against the
Knight of Hell.
Both women turned to look at him. Emma's face reflected despair, while Abaddon looked like she had just caught sight of an old friend.
"Castiel!" The Knight stepped away from Emma, letting her drop, "It has been far, far too long."
"I thought you had been destroyed with holy fire?" Castiel noticed the slight change in her demeanor. Apparently the memory of Sam Winchester dousing her in holy oil and
setting her on fire was a sore subject.
"You should know that that wouldn't truly destroy me." She began walking towards Castiel slowly, blood dripping from her fingertips, "Just like your little angel blade there
won't destroy me." She gave him a seductive smile. Castiel felt his skin crawl again.
"It will hurt you though," he gripped the blade a little tighter.
She gave him a lazy smile, "Not enough to help you." She attacked.
Castiel brought his blade up to stab her. If he had still been an angel he would have made it, but he was just human now. The Knight was on him before he could do anything,
she grabbed the front of his shirt and whipped him around to shove him against a column in the middle of the room. She twisted his arm with the blade over his head and
pushed her whole body against his to pin him down. It happened so fast Castiel had the breath knocked from him and the back of his head hit the column with a crack. He
felt something warm and wet running down his neck.
Abaddon's face was just inches from his. He could smell sulfur and decay coming off of her in cloying waves.
"Castiel," she smiled. "I heard you were human, but it's so utterly satisfying seeing it with my own two eyes," she ran a red nail down his cheek, "how the mighty have
fallen."
Castiel kept his eyes focused on the demon in front of him, "What do you want?"
"Always so to the point," She leaned in closer, whispering in his ear, "I want the Winchesters."
"No."
Abaddon threw her head back and laughed, "I wasn't asking for permission. Just letting you know where this conversation is heading."
"I will never give up the Winchesters."
"You can't fight me Cassie," Abaddon sneered.
Castiel had no illusions that he would be able to fight Abaddon. He was only glad that he had enough residual grace that she couldn't posses him.
"Don't call me that," he growled.
Abaddon laughed again, "Oh baby, don't be that way. Don't you remember the last time we got together? We had so much fun."
Castiel kept his eyes focused on the demon, "You were responsible for causing a volcanic eruption that wiped out an entire city."
"As I said, so much fun."
Castiel didn't let his eyes leave her face, even when he saw movement just on the edge of his vision.
He couldn't fight her, but he could distract her.
A shot rang out, Abaddon jerked to the side then screamed. Three more shots hit her in quick succession.
Emma was coming towards her from the right, gun in her left hand, firing repeatedly. The bullets had to have been something special because they were causing Abaddon a
lot of pain if her screams were anything to go by. Emma's face had changed, around her eyes had turned red and her temples and cheeks had taken on a golden hue. Emma
continued firing, driving Abaddon away from Castiel. Emma tossed Castiel the archangel blade with her right hand and he caught it deftly.
Emma ejected the spent clip from her gun and reloaded. Abaddon took the opportunity to rush at the Amazon but Castiel caught her as she sped by, stabbing her with the
modified blade. Abaddon's screams increased. Castiel knew an archangel blade would hurt her more that just his regular one, but something about the way she was reacting
was off.
The Enochian symbols carved on the blade were meant to expel a demon or angel from its host. Castiel could see Abaddon was trying to leave her vessel, black smoke was
swirling in her mouth, but something was preventing her from fully leaving the body. She was writhing and screaming still impaled on the blade, being driven mad by
whatever was happening to her.
"Come on!" Emma yelled at him.
Castiel pulled the blade from Abaddon's body. The demon fell to the ground, still screaming. He ran to Emma, reaching her right before she collapsed to the ground.
"What did you do?" he asked, pulling her good arm around his shoulder.
"Bullets made from angel blades, with devil's traps carved on them," she gasped.
Castiel understood, "The bullets trapped her in her body." He started heading towards the exit, "Then when I stabbed her with your blade she was being pushed out and held
in at the same time."
"I figured it would at least hurt like hell."
"We should probably leave before she calls for help." Castiel said. Emma was trying to help as much as she could, but she was fading fast.
"So that was Abaddon?" she asked.
"Yes."
"I don't like her."
"No one does."
Emma's Jeep was closest so Castiel opted for it rather than Gary's truck. He got Emma in, found her keys, then jumped into the drivers side and sped off.
"She won't be able to track us," Emma told him, "Jeep is warded." He breaths were just coming in pain filled gasps now.
"We need to tend to your wounds. We should assume your hotel room may be compromised. I'll find a motel."
"I can't go to a motel with you, you might seduce then stab me," Emma burst out laughing at her own joke. It quickly turned into a groan.
"I believe blood loss is causing you to become delirious."
"I believe you are correct."
They found a little motel and Castiel got a room.
Emma had managed to staunch the bleeding with wads of gauze from the first aid kit, she was still in very bad shape though. Castiel retrieved her tool box from the Jeep and
helped her into the room. He got her laid out on the bed then opened the kit.
"Morphine," Emma gasped, "down at the bottom, black case."
Castiel dug until he found what she wanted. It was a small hard plastic case with several syringes inside. He pulled one out and handed it over to Emma. She used her teeth
to uncap it and injected the liquid straight into her right shoulder. Her eyes fluttered and she sighed. Castiel gave her a second syringe when she asked. After this injection he
saw her whole body relax and her eyes closed halfway.
"Better," she mumbled.
"You've lost a lot of blood," Castiel pulled back her jacket to see that blood was seeping through the gauze.
"I'll make more," she waved a hand negligently through the air.
Castiel had never treated a wound this bad. He searched desperately through Emma's first aid kit. He found disinfectant and sutures, pulling them out. He also grabbed the
largest bandages there were. He laid it all out on the bed, and stared at it hopelessly. "I don't know what to do," he said, suddenly feeling very helpless.
Emma turned glazed eyes to him. "Tell me why you followed me?"
Castiel scowled, how was that going to help her? "I wanted to hear the whole story before I came to a conclusion about you," he replied truthfully
He took the largest bottle of disinfectant and began reading the label. It was a wound cleaner that was very potent, if all the warnings were anything to go by. He got a cloth
from the bathroom, wet it, then used it to start cleaning around Emma's wound.
"It's not a pretty story."
"Nether is mine." He removed the gauze from the wound, the bleeding had slowed considerably. Most likely because of Emma's monster half. He poured some of the wound
cleaner over Emma's shoulder. She didn't even flinch. Either the disinfectant didn't hurt, or Emma was too drugged to feel it. Castiel had a feeling the second reason was
more likely.
"Touché." She looked at her shoulder, "Not doing too bad for not having any idea what you are doing."
Castiel sighed, "I'm use to being able to heal with a touch."
"That must really suck, not having your powers anymore."
He paused in his cleaning to look up at her, "It does suck, actually." He picked up the needle and thread but Emma immediately plucked them out of his hands.
"No, no way," she started threading the needle. "You can clean the wound, you can put a bandage in it. But no way am I letting you sew me up."
"How do you plan on doing it yourself, then?"
"With a mirror, duh." Her speech was starting to become slightly slurred.
Castiel helped her over to the bathroom mirror since she was still very unsteady on her feet. "I'm not sure this is a good idea," he told her as she began stitching up the
wound with shaking fingers.
"Shh!" She managed to slowly and carefully close the wound.
When she was finished a new problem presented itself.
"How are you planning on suturing the wound in the back?" Castiel asked.
Emma scowled. She then spent about a minute trying to reach back, see in the mirror, and stay on her feet. After the third time she nearly fell, Castiel made her sit down on
the bed again.
"I understand what to do now," he told her.
Emma eyed him skeptically, "Is this like the thing where you saw someone drive a car so you could too?"
"Yes," he carefully thread the needle. "Would you feel better sitting up or laying down."
Emma was still eyeing him doubtfully, "Maybe I should just take some more morphine and knock myself unconscious so I don't know what your doing."
"If you feel that is necessary."
Emma groaned, but she positioned herself face down on the bed, "At least it won't leave a scar." She mumbled into the mattress.
Castiel peeled off the bloody dressing of the entrance wound and cleaned it out. He used a butterfly band aid to pull the wound closed, just as he had seen Emma do. Then he
copied the small stitches she had done. When he was finished he bandaged it back up.
Emma had been very still and quiet the whole time. Castiel suspected the morphine had put her to sleep.
"It wasn't me."
Castiel started when Emma spoke, "What wasn't you?"
"The girl sent to kill Dean, it wasn't me." Emma was still laying face down on the bed, her head turned away from Castiel as she spoke.
"I don't understand, I thought each child was to kill their respective father."
"Normally yes, but these were special circumstances."
Castiel waited for Emma to continue.
"The Amazons have been dwindling in number for hundreds of years. We've survived by becoming invisible. Blending in where we can. But when it's time to mate that all gets
thrown out the window. Hard to stay invisible when your going on a killing spree," Emma chuckled, but there was no humor behind it. "Our current Queen, Madeleine, she
was obsessed with finding a way to restore the Amazons to their previous glory. She hunted through old text, talked with spirits and seers. Finally she found an oracle, don't
ask me where, she kept it to herself. But the oracle told her that during the next mating cycle one of her daughters would mate with The Righteous Man from prophecy. And
the child would be the next queen and would save the Amazons."
"Dean," Castiel breathed. "How did she find him?"
Emma laughed, "She didn't. She just had complete faith that what the oracle said "would come to pass", or at least that's how she put it. They went out and did everything
just as they always would have done. And damn if it didn't workout just as the oracle said."
"But then how did Madeleine know that Dean was your father?"
"After all the babies have been born the Queen takes each one and, I don't know how to explain it, sort of reads their soul. That's how we pass on knowledge, we can tap into
the energy of our own soul. It's like instinct, but a super charged version. So when Madeleine held me and read my soul she immediately knew I was different. And she knew
I was the child the oracle spoke of."
This made sense to Castiel. When a human creates life they are not just passing on DNA they also give a piece of their soul to create the new life. The reason Dean was
Michael's true vessel was not because of his physical body. It was because of the strength of his soul.
"Did they remove you from your mother because of that?" Castiel wondered.
"No, it was all my fault. I was only a few hours old when Dean came to my Mom's house. He had left behind Bobby Singer's flask, which turned out to be haunted, by the
way. But I was curious about him. He seemed, familiar. So I asked my Mom who he was," Emma heaved a sigh, "so stupid."
"You were relatively new to the world. You wouldn't have been able to understand the consequences of your speaking."
Emma lifted her head and looked at Castiel for the first time since starting her story, "What I really don't understand is why you're trying to make me feel better."
"Because I understand making poor decisions that haunt you."
Emma gave him a small smile, "I like you. That was the morphine talking there."
Castiel smiled.
"I like your smile too. I'm just going to look away now and finish my story." And she did just that, "Anyway, Dean heard me talk, so as soon as he left my Mom called
Madeleine. It was decided that I couldn't be put at risk. So Madeleine took one of the other children and we switched places. Dean was watching the house so they snuck me
out the back. Only Madeleine and our mothers knew about the switch." Emma got quiet, "Her name was Kate, according to Madeleine she had the least potential of all of us.
She was expendable." Emma let out a shaky breath, "I would eventually realize that. She was just suppose to keep Dean occupied while the rest of us fled. She was never
meant to survive."
For a while the only sound in the room was a clock ticking away.
"That was the first time I ever doubted the Queen," Emma whispered.
"Questioning authority is defiantly a Winchester trait." Castiel said.
Emma looked at him again, "Yeah?" She sounded a tiny bit happy at that. Then she sighed again, "It's gotten me into a lot of trouble though."
"It's gotten Sam and Dean into a lot if trouble," Castiel admitted. "But it was their questioning authority that led to the halting of the apocalypse."
"Well it led me to running away from my tribe, going into hiding then meeting you. Not all bad I guess." Emma suddenly furrowed her brow in thought. "Um, you said you
read my journal, right?"
"That is right."
"All of it?"
"Yes."
"Um, even the last two entries?"
"Yes."
Emma groaned and planted her face down in the mattress.
"I assume you are wondering if I read the part about your first impression of me."
"Nngh," was the reply.
"I understand why you would have that reaction to me. As a former angel I still have a trace amount of grace left in this body. You would read it as a strong soul."
"Nnngghh!"
"I can't understand you when you talk into the mattress like that."
Emma woke up feeling fuzzy. It was the best way to describe the hangover from morphine. She could feel the ache in her shoulder still but it wasn't too bad. A few heavy
duty painkillers would take care of it. Castiel had left her a bottle of them next to the bed, along with a glass of water. She shook a few pills out and swallowed them down,
not caring if they gave her a stomachache. She rolled over to check on Castiel, he was still curled up on the other bed, fast asleep. Emma couldn't help smiling, the drugs had
a lot to do with it, but it made her happy to see her friend there.
They weren't in Durango anymore. Once Emma had stabilized they left the motel, with only minimal blood stains left behind, and headed further south into New Mexico. They
stopped in a little town called Aztec near the Navajo Reservation. Emma called and had Gary's truck towed to a train station in Durango. They would have to go and pick it
up, but hopefully by then Abaddon and any cronies would be gone.
Emma was still miffed that she had been ambushed. She had let her self get distracted, a nearly fatal mistake. Not just for her, Castiel could have been tortured and killed.
As soon as Castiel had made himself known back at the warehouse, Emma knew she had to do any and everything to get them out of the situation. She hated pulling out her
monster half, but there had been no choice. With Abaddon focused on Castiel , Emma had pulled herself off of the rebar, then she let her inner darkness consume her and
give her strength. She was glad she had loaded her gun with, what she liked to refer to as, her over-kill bullets. Even with those, she was surprised they got away so easily.
Maybe Abaddon was off her game. Or maybe all those stories she had heard about how demons feared Amazons were true. And Abaddon had been wary enough that it gave
them time to escape. Who knew.
Emma finally decided she needed a shower more than she needed sleep at this point. As she rolled out of bed and grabbed her duffel, Castiel's eyes opened.
"I'm just taking a shower."
He nodded then closed his eyes again. Poor guy had gotten even less sleep than Emma because she had been unable to drive.
The shower took longer than normal because Emma had to be careful not to get her right shoulder wet. This resulted in her awkwardly trying to lean her upper right side out
of the shower. A lot of water ended up on the floor as a result.
She finally emerged from the bathroom and was greeted by the smell of a McDonald's breakfast. Castiel had several of the fast food bags on their room's table. Emma
actually moaned at the sight.
Castiel was already eating a Mcmuffin, "I figured you would need food. I had your food from the restaurant last night in the truck, but that's gone now."
Emma had sat down and was trying to inhale a sandwich. Chewing is for wimps. "It's ok," she told him around a mouthful.
"I just don't like to waste food."
"I think being attacked by a Knight of Hell is a legitimate reason for wasting a little food," Emma replied, already reaching for another sandwich.
Castiel thought about that for a moment, then nodded, "You're right. It would be a legitimate reason."
Emma tried to hid her chuckle. She had read about Castiel in the Supernatural e-books, but they hadn't quite done him justice. She supposed it was hard to describe a
persons presence in words. Or the small nuances in the way they carried themselves and their facial expressions. No wonder she hadn't figured out who he was. The flesh
and blood Castiel was a lot different from the book Castiel.
After breakfast they discussed their options and decided to lay low for another day. That way Emma's shoulder could finish healing and if any demon's were watching Gary's
truck they would hopefully get bored and leave. They checked out of the hotel and drove further south into the Navajo reservation.
They got lunch at a roadside stand run by a Navajo woman with high cheek bones and hair so dark it was blue. She was making Navajo tacos by hand, to order. She gave
Emma a basket of the fried dough covered in cinnamon sugar, for free of course. It was a mild winter day so they ate at the little picnic tables nearby.
In between bites they asked each other questions.
"So I'm assuming Dean told you about me," Emma asked first.
"Yes," Castiel said, "he told me while we were in purgatory. I think he was hoping to see you there."
Emma snorted, "So he could make sure I was dead."
Castiel thought for a moment, "I don't think that was it. He was truly sorry for what happened, he blamed himself."
Emma paused, a forkful of food halfway to her mouth, "Why would he blame himself? Wouldn't .. wasn't he angry?"
"He was angry at your mother and the other amazons, but not at you. He felt you were more an innocent victim that he should have been able to save." Castiel continued
eating, he didn't notice Emma staring at him until he looked up again.
"What?"
"He wanted to save me?" she didn't like how small her voice sounded.
"Of course," Castiel gave her a puzzled look, "you're his daughter."
Emma processed this information. She had thought all this time that Dean would be angry at her. It had never occurred to her he might have thought of her as his daughter.
Castiel was still studying her, head tilted and brow furrowed in thought, "Is this why you never approached him once you left the amazons? You thought he hated you?"
Emma shrugged, "It's one of the reasons, the other is that I figured the first place Madeleine would think to look for me is with Dean. I wouldn't be surprised if she still
watches them. Make sure I haven't gone to the dark side."
"Why would Dean's side be dark?"
"It's from the movie Star Wars, they referred to the bad side as the dark side."
Castiel's eyes brightened with understanding, "Oh, I see. The Queen would see you being with males, specifically your father, as having turned against your tribe."
"Exactly."
"But I'm a male, or my vessel is at least."
Emma frowned, "You still think of your body as your vessel? Is that poor guys still in there with you?"
"No, Jimmy Novak's soul was sent to heaven after Raphael destroyed me." Castiel looked down at himself, "I guess I've become so accustom to thinking of it as a vessel. I
suppose since I'm human now it truly is my own body."
Castiel seemed troubled by this. Emma couldn't stand seeing him troubled. She leaned across the table and put her hand over his, "If it's any consolation, it's a very nice
body. I mean, have you looked in a mirror?"
"Quite often, I found it is necessary for most grooming."
"Exactly, and as for you being male, I never meant to stay with you for very long. It just sort of happened."
"What about my being a former angel? Wouldn't that upset the Queen even more, since we are at war?"
"How do you know about the war?" Emma asked, completely shocked.
"Merlin was surprised that I was with an amazon. He asked me if the war was over." Castiel frowned, "I didn't know what he was talking about."
"Man," Emma sighed, "I need to go back and kill that guy again. You wouldn't know what he was talking about, only the archangels knew about the amazons and where we
come from. Which is directly related to why we are at war." Emma started in on the dessert, "I can tell you if you want." It was better than talking about Dean.
"Castiel nodded, "I would appreciate that."
Emma swallowed down her bread, "Once upon a time, way, way, way, way, way,"
"I get the idea."
"Way, way, way back when the earth was young and angels walked the earth freely and openly."
"I know this part, I was there." Castiel grumbled.
"Stop interrupting. The angels saw that the daughters of men were fair to look upon and desired them. So naturally they got them knocked up. Thus the nephilim were
created. A race of super humans, not to be confused with super heroes, that had the soul of a human and the knowledge of an angel. Of course the archangels being the
absolute dicks that they are, saw the nephilim as a threat. For you see the archangels had taken over the rule of Heaven due to a certain deity's absence."
"Wait, how do you know that?"
"If you stop interrupting you will find out."
"Sorry"
"Now the nephilim could come and go from Heaven so they knew about the absent father figure. And they also knew the archangels were plotting something. They spoke out
against the plan to jump start the apocalypse. So the archangels ruled them abominations to be destroyed. They had all the other angels minds reprogrammed so they no
longer remembered they had fathered any children. And apparently none of these angels questioned who had fathered the kids. Maybe they thought they just sprung into
existence. Or maybe they were just so use to not questioning anything they were told no matter how ridiculous it was."
"Can you move on?" Castiel asked.
"So now there was a price on the nephilim's heads. Which the demons and the monsters of the world were all too pleased with, because the nephilim had worked to hunt
down these creatures and protect humanity from them. But now that the angels no longer supported them the demons and monsters banded together to hunt and kill the
nephilim. Now the nephilim themselves had had children. And while these children were not as powerful, they still possessed a lot of their parents strength and skill in
fighting. The children came to the aid of their parents, fighting the armies of monsters and demons. Unfortunately they were not enough of them to hold back the tide. Soon
only a handful of nephilim remained, scattered and hunted. While of their children a small band remained, all females, lead by Hippolyta, who was not a hippo by the way."
"Why would I think she was a hippopotamus?"
"So Hippolyta realized that their demise was immanent so she went to one of the lesser deities, the Greek goddess Harmonia, who has nothing to do with harmonicas."
"Oh I see, its a play on their names."
"Hippolyta promised that she and her people would always worship Harmonia if the goddess would help them. Harmonia agreed, and with the help of the war god Ares, she
turned Hippolyta and her band into what the amazons are today. Because they were now able to procreate very quickly, their numbers grew and the amazons hunted down
the monsters and demons until they were the ones running and hiding. And that is the amazons origin story. And the explination of why angels and amazons do not get
along."
"Why don't the amazons still hunt?"
"I'm not sure, at some point one of the queens had us stop. With the modern age it became easier to kill an Amazon. Mortal wounds will kills us, like a direct shot to the
heart. So our numbers started to dwindle and we went into hiding."
"So why did you start hunting?" Castiel asked.
Emma shrugged, " It just felt right, like I had found a purpose. Maybe it's just leftover instinct from when amazons did hunt."
"Or maybe it comes from Dean," Castiel pointed out, "you should meet him."
"No."
"We could go to the bunker, the amazons wouldn't be able to find it."
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because."
Castiel glowered at her, "That's not a valid reason."
"Because I said so." Emma grabbed their finished plates of food and threw them away. "We should probably start heading back, Sheila will have my head if we miss
Thanksgiving."
Castiel got up and followed her to the Jeep, "That reminds me, Sheila wants you to get her 5 pounds of yams."
"Yeah, so I've heard."
Sheila woke up early the day before Thanksgiving. She had a lot to do and not a lot of help. Usually she had a bunch of house guests by now who could be given tasks. But all
the available hunters had gone up to Montana to help out with the wendigo. They had received a call last night from Fred telling them the hunt had been successful and they
had even found 3 of the 4 victims alive. They were going to start heading down this way sometime this morning.
Which was why Sheila was surprised to hear voices coming from the kitchen.
"But she said she wanted yams."
Sheila relaxed when she recognized Steve's deep voice. Then she smiled when she heard Rina as well.
"I know, but she meant sweet potatoes."
"Why would she say yams, then?"
Sheila peeked into the kitchen. Steve and Rina were standing at the counter. A large bag of yams between them. Rina looked a little beat up but both looked comfortable with
the other. Sheila hoped this meant whatever had been going on between them was resolved.
Rina looked a little exasperated, "A lot of people call sweet potatoes, yams." She was telling Steve.
"Sweet potatoes and yams are two different things." Steve scowled down at the bag, "Yams are much larger and have a
pale flesh. Where as sweet potatoes are usually small and orange colored."
"I know. If it makes you feel better some states have laws against labeling sweet potatoes as yams."
"Why would there need to be a law against calling something it isn't."
"Because this is America."
Sheila tiptoed away. It was shaping up to be a good Thanksgiving after all.
Castiel had never taken part in any modern human celebrations. Unless you count the St. Valentine's Day he spent with Sam and Dean, fighting Famine. Castiel was pretty
sure it hadn't been a good representation of the holiday. Thanksgiving at Gary and Sheila's was quite a different story.
Castiel didn't think he had ever seen so much homemade food at once. And still Sheila was apparently worried there wouldn't be enough. She had had Castiel helping her in
the kitchen ever since he and Emma had gotten back. Emma tried helping but Sheila kept sending her out again whenever Emma started critiquing Sheila's cooking
techniques. After a particularly bad argument about toasting pecans, Gary took Emma outside with him where he was setting up a contraption to fry the turkey.
The number of hunters at the house made Castiel a bit nervous that he would be recognized. Emma had told him not to worry since none of the hunters had ever met Castiel
when he was an angel. And Timmy and Ned had spread the story of him being a hunter that Rina pulled out of retirement.
The day of Thanksgiving saw even more guest arrive and even more food made. Emma and Gary had set up a latter with a pulley on it to lower the turkey into the boiling hot
oil. Emma had also roped of an area around the latter that she informed everyone not to step over or they would be shot. Castiel wasn't sure if she was kidding. From the
way all the other hunters were avoiding the area maybe they didn't know if she was kidding either.
When it finally came time to eat several long tables were set up end to end for everyone to sit at. They went from the dinning room out to the hall. Castiel was sat down
between Emma and Timmy, with Ned on Timmy's other side.
"So you'll never guess what blade that was that Merlin pulled out." Timmy was leaning over Castiel to talk to Emma.
"Excalibur," Emma deadpanned.
"It was Excal .. hand on, how did you know that?"
Emma started scooping mashed potatoes onto hers and Castiel's plates. "Because Merlin had it and you look like you're
about to wet yourself, you're so excited."
Ned laughed, "I told you she would figure it out." Ned leaned over Timmy now to talk to Emma, "We figured that was
why it worked so well to kill Merlin. Enchanted blade and all."
"Excellent for killing dragons too." Emma replied, "Who has it now?"
"The coven of course," Ned accepted the potatoes from Timmy, "though you have a pretty good claim on it if you go with the spoils of war angle. They'd probably give it to
you if you put up a stink."
Emma flashed a mischievous smile, "Oh I'm sure they would."
The rest of the day passed with much gluttony. Castierl realized why Sheila had been so worried about not having enough food, the hunters had veracious appetites. Emma
was determined that Castiel try a little of everything. Including every kind of pie that Sheila had made. Timmy and Ned laughed at Castiel's reaction to the first bite, which
was wonderful.
"Do we need to leave you alone with the pie?" Timmy had laughed.
Emma shoved a piece of pie in Timmy's face.
In the evening Gary prepared some eggnog. Castiel loved the rich creamy taste of it, but Emma cut him off after only two cups.
"You'll thank me in the morning," she told him when he complained, "you're already getting buzzed off it."
The next day Castiel had to admit she was right, he had a slight hangover, mostly because he had sneaked some more eggnog when Emma wasn't looking.
Most of the hunters left that morning, heading out to different hunts. Some had been planned before hand, others were ones Gary and Emma had found and assigned out.
Come evening the house was once again empty. Castiel was out at the barn feeding Buttercup some raisins when Emma came out to find him.
"You're spoiling that goat."
Castiel rubbed the little goats flank, "She is a very sweet creature."
Emma leaned against the paddock, "Do all animals love you this much?"
"I've always had an affinity for the smaller creatures of the earth. Buttercup seems particularly fond of me though. I suspect it is because I bring her raisins."
Emma laughed, then sighed, "I have to leave tomorrow."
Castiel stopped petting the goat and looked up at her, "Why?"
"I made a commitment a few weeks ago to visit a friend after Thanksgiving. I would take you with me but he hates strangers and would probably kill you on sight." Emma
smiled at him, "I promise I'm not trying to ditch you. I'll be gone for just over a week, then come back."
Castiel nodded. He wanted to believe her, but it was hard not to doubt her sincerity.
Emma reached over and cupped his face with her hands, "I promise on my blade, I will come back for you."
Castiel looked into her green eyes, eyes that were the same color as her father's, he only saw honesty there. And something else he couldn't identify but it felt like something
good.
"Are we good?" Emma asked.
"Yes, we are good," he replied.
"Great," she let go of his face, "I'm going running, want to come along? You can work off some of that pie you devoured yesterday."
"You are the one who insisted I try every kind." Castiel reminded her.
Emma chuckled, "Yes, but I didn't make you try them the second time round."
"I suppose that's true," Castiel sighed, "let me change into my sweat pants."
They went running until the sun went down and they had to make their way back in the dark using the flashlight Emma had brought along.
The next morning Emma left to go see her friend. She wouldn't say who her friend was, just that he lived in the woods of Maine.
On Sunday Gary told Castiel about the slaying of an entire biker gang. They had had their eyes burned out. Castiel borrowed Gary's truck again and headed out to Caribou, Wyoming.
So did you like the reveal about Emma? If you go back and watch the episode you will see, during the branding scene, one of the girls has brown hair with blonde highlights. :) -JJ