Defend Us in Battle

The half a dozen figures were almost hidden in the dark, staying in the shadowy region outside the circle of light cast by the streetlight. Castiel stood, watching the figures hover in the dim light. Jane followed his example, trying not to show fear. She fumbled for the knife at her belt. It felt flimsy and insignificant in her hand, but she clutched it and prepared her muscles to strike.

"Jane. Get out of here," Castiel said quietly, not taking his eyes off the figures.

"What? I'm not leaving you here!" Jane hissed back. She could see his point, however. Six demons, maybe more. They had an angel and an untrained girl with a knife. She could probably get away, if they didn't follow her. Maybe.

Castiel shot her a look out the corner of his eye, but he seemed to realize there was no point—or time—to argue. One of the demons stepped into the yellow glare of the streetlight.

The demon had taken the body of a young woman with pretty blond hair. It made Jane sick to think of the girl trapped inside there, screaming silently and powerless in her own body. The demon's black eyes darted from Castiel to Jane, sizing them up or just marveling at their poor odds, Jane couldn't tell. She guessed this demon was their leader, as the others seemed content to shrink in the shadows, waiting their signal.

"It never ceases to amaze me how stupid the good guys are," the blond demon said, locking eyes with Castiel. Her tone was even, but there was a bitter undercurrent of hate and fear as she addressed Castiel. He met her gaze, not backing down. "You should know better than to trust a demon's word. But you still came. It's nice to know we can always count on you."

Muffled chuckles came from the ranks of demons lurking on the outskirts. They were getting restless, inching closer to their prey. Still they were afraid to come too close, but they were ready for the word.

Castiel did not respond to the demon's taunts. A bleak determination had set in over his face. He stepped slightly in front of Jane, shielding her from the blond demon's view.

The demon scoffed at him, derision clear in her expression. She took a step closer, a thin smile that was both leer and snarl curling her lip.

"What, no witty banter? No professions of power? Don't you have any insults for your murderers? Or is it that you already know you're defeated?" she said, hissing at the word.

She grew angry at Castiel's continued silence, glowering with impatient fury as he merely stood her down, like a carven image. The demon threw her head back in a profoundly scornful gesture. The other demons watched, some now close enough to make out features. They looked like ordinary people, except for the black, empty eyes.

Jane didn't see the blond demon give any signal. She didn't even move, locked in some mental showdown with Castiel that was beyond Jane's understanding, but at that moment the demons struck. Two of them darted forward, clearly coming towards Jane. She felt the adrenaline pumping through her veins as she clasped the knife, feeble though it felt, and drew in a hard, shaky breath. These two were the youngest in the group, a man and a woman—or at least in their bodies—and they didn't look in the least concerned at attacking Jane. They darted in from the side, away from Castiel, still locked with the blond demon. But not for long. Three demons moved in towards Castiel, flanking their leader for a moment before stepping in front of her. Castiel watched them, waiting just a moment for their move, preparing for battle. The blond demon surveyed the scene with cool nonchalance.

One of the demons—a big, middle-aged man, strong looking—broke the line suddenly. He jumped out at Castiel, who was almost caught unawares. Castiel took a quick step back and dodged the big demon's blow, twisting away from him and hunching down. He maneuvered quickly behind the demon and delivered a blow to his neck. It sent the demon staggering, but Castiel did not wait for it to recover. He hit it again with the heel of his hand, hard and vicious, and the demon went down. In a second Castiel was crouched on the ground beside it, palm to the demon's forehead. Before the other demons could act the white light was shooting from the demon's once black eyes, and it did not even have time to scream. One down.

The other two were there an instant later, a young dark-haired man and an older man going gray. They attacked at Castiel's crouched form, aiming kicks and blows that Castiel could not completely escape. It was a wild tussle of fists and teeth, so chaotic that only pure instinct was of any use. Castiel threw them off and staggered away from their grasp, eyes dark. They watched each other for a moment in silence.

Jane could only catch a few glimpses of them. She had her own problems at the moment. The two demons who had gone after her jumped in brutally, leaving no time for debate about what to do. The female one got to her first, a cruel smile highlighted by the harsh streetlight. Jane didn't think. Fueled by hot adrenaline she rushed in, taking the demon momentarily by surprise. She dodged the demon's grip, knocking a super-humanly powerful fist away, and barely realizing what she was doing, plunged the spelled knife into the demon woman. She got her right in the gut. It was a sick feeling as she pulled the knife out.

The demon looked stunned for a moment as she looked down at her bleeding abdomen, but pain barely registered on her face. If anything, she only looked angrier. Jane stopped in her tracks. What did she expect? Castiel had told her the knife couldn't kill. All she had done was stab an innocent girl's body and made the demon wearing her a lot more annoyed.

Jane didn't know how the hell she as planning to get out of this alive, but the blood was dripping down her hand and she figured she was already in this, so she might as well make it count. Castiel was engaged in his own battle with two more demons now, one lying dead—she hoped—on the ground. He was laying down blows on the two and getting more than a few himself. It was a sight to see, three ancient immortals beating each other to a pulp. Jane spun around and saw the other demon behind her, a young guy with a buzz cut. She didn't pause but slashed the knife at the closest thing she could find—which turned out to be his face. A red line cut across his cheek and nose. Jane knew it had gone deep, and she knew it wouldn't stop him.

She ran. Castiel was looking like he was on the loosing end and Jane didn't know what she could do, but it felt right that they stick together.

The older demon hit Castiel in the jaw, a blow hard enough to fell an ordinary human. Castiel staggered and pushed back, his eyes hot and avenging. He got the demon in his grip, prepared for the exorcism that would send it back to Hell—

The other demon shot behind Castiel and kicked him behind the knee. Castiel fell to his knees, prone before two demons. The younger one grabbed his throat, fingers white as he pressed in and smiled hideously. And then Jane was there and she rushed at the demon who was choking the life out of the angel. The knife was in her hand, raised and ready to strike. From behind him she brought it down, aiming for the demon's chest. He turned his head suddenly, an instant before she brought the knife home, and raised his arm to block to blow.

It was too late. Jane couldn't stop the strike, even though she knew she had this one chance. She missed her target and the blade sunk into the young demon's forearm, nothing more than a distraction. The demon hissed at her in pain and fury, but his face twisted into a smile as he clutched the knife in his hand, the blade sinking into his fingers until Jane felt it hitting bone. He still did not let go but pulled it from Jane's grasp, who let go, horrified. He slung his arm back and hit her in the temple, hard. Jane staggered, but the demon let Castiel go. He sucked in breath to his starving lungs, but there was no time. The demon with the buzz cut struck out at him and Castiel was forced to engage him, swapping blows with intensity. But he was weakening. There were too many of them, too few on his side. The woman and the graying demon were there, beating him at every turn, too strong….

Jane had few seconds to act. She remembered the vial of holy water in her back pocket, praying this was the right time to use it. She fumbled with the cap for a moment before coming to her senses. Still dizzy from the hit to her head but not caring, not thinking, she smashed the bottle on the closest demon available. It was buzz-cut, blood dripping down his face from the knife wound she'd inflicted earlier, now howling and rubbing frantically at his skin as the blessed water seeped in to do its damage. Jane grinned, the broken bottle-neck in her hand.

It was the relief Castiel needed. In an instant he had the screaming demon under his hand, blue eyes blazing until the demon was shot with light and crumpled to the ground. He knew he was dead. He dodged a swipe from the female demon and shot Jane a look, a look of gratitude and solidarity.

Short lived. The dark-haired demon who'd had Castiel by the throat stepped in front of her, blocking her from Castiel and cutting off aid. He smirked, and then Jane felt like she'd been hit by a bus. A gust of something solid and intangible struck her so hard the wind was knocked out of her. The next thing she knew she was pinned against something hard and rough, like an impaled butterfly stuck for display. The dark-haired demon had his hand out and that cruel smirk on his face, and Jane realized he was pinning her against a tree trunk with just that hand stretched out in midair. She also realized she could absolutely not get free.

It was looking bad. Castiel was visibly weakening, each lunge slower, every blow coming with less force, and the two remaining demons fighting him were showing no mercy. Still the blond demon looked on, content to let the lower orders do the dirty work while she had fun watching. The black haired woman punched Castiel viciously in the side and he looked like he would fall, back arched in pain. Jane tore her eyes away from him as she saw the dark-haired demon approach her. He had death in his eyes.

"So you're the girl the angels rescued," he said softly, very close to her now, staring at her with curiosity. Jane could barely move her head and hands—the rest of her was stuck fast. The spelled knife lay useless on the ground. She'd dropped the broken bottle somewhere, not that it would do her much good anyway. The demon leaned in close, sniffing out her essence, it seemed. Jane shrunk away from him as far as she could. "I wonder what they see in you," he said with a smile.

Castiel hit the older demon hard in the head, the sick wet sound clearly audible, but the female demon launched right on him and he staggered like a drunk, already breaking. He could see Jane there, trapped against the tree, but he could not get to her. They were all around, never relenting. He summoned up the words for an exorcism, but all he heard was laughter. The blond demon, their leader, had stepped in, ready to get in on the action now that she saw their prey fading. He twisted around and tried to make contact with one of the demons, but instead he felt their hands grip him and land brutal blows. Castiel felt his vessel's arm break; it hung limp and useless at his side. He was bleeding inside, he could feel it, could taste the blood pooling in his mouth. The blond demon was in front of him and another one was holding him still, sapping his strength and power. She smiled dazzlingly. Ah, this one he knew.

It was too late for him. He knew that. Help wasn't coming. He was foolish and he was paying for that. And he was alone. That hurt more than anything, the knowledge that he was abandoned, that God was watching him but would not step in. It was too late.

But maybe not for Jane.

Castiel called up the last of his strength. He was an Angel of the Lord. He had fought these kind before, and he did not despair at their hands. In one quick motion he threw off the hands holding him and struck the demon's face, feeling the cartilage in his enemy's nose shatter. He pulled free and felt something in his own body break, pain shooting through his arm and shoulder. He was blazing and he cut through the vile creatures, spurred on by adrenaline in this body he was not used to and his own fiery will and power that he knew very well.

The dark-haired demon turned from Jane, as if he knew what was approaching. There was no fear on his face, only dry hate. He stabbed his arm out, each now spread in opposite directions, one at Jane, and one at Castiel. Castiel stopped in mid-charge, horribly pinioned to thin air. The demon had his hand clenched like it was wrapped around Castiel's throat, even though they were separated by at least fifteen feet. Castiel's eyes were wide and pained, his breath coming in choked gasps. He locked eyes with Jane.

"I'm busy here, Norah. Keep this one contained," the demon said. The blond haired demon smirked back sardonically and hit Castiel over the head. He fell to his knees for the second time, and the demons converged on him.

The demon turned back to Jane. "You know, I've heard about you. I heard what Eliul did to your family. You want to know how it went down that night?" He leaned in conspiratorially and whispered into her ear. "They begged for their lives. They would have done anything. I heard Eliul got your sister to bargain for her life. She promised that they could kill her son if they would just let her live." He smiled at the look on Jane's face. "Then he killed her anyway."

"You—you—" Jane said impotently, hatred shaking her voice, but there was nothing she could say that would hurt him. He was going to win. She was going to die, and they already were dead, and the demons were going to win. And a tiny part of her soul asked if maybe what he said was true.

He smiled at her impotent rage, true joy lighting up his face. The graying demon and the black haired woman savaged Castiel in the background, kicking and attacking his prone form just inside the circle of light cast by the streetlight. He did not move. The blond demon—Norah, he'd called her—was crouched by his motionless body, muttering something dark and terrible. Jane lifted her tear-filled eyes from the scene and looked at the black eyes of the demon in the shape of a young man. There was no trace of mercy in the black.

"You know, I'm a little annoyed about this," he said casually, flexing his sliced and bleeding fingers in front of her face. "I think maybe I should let you know what this feels like."

Norah stood over Castiel, looking down at his fractured body with a soft smile. The black haired demon gave him one last kick, but Castiel did not recoil from it. Jane didn't know if he was unconscious or dead. Didn't matter, really. They would both be dead soon.

"Iranax. We're leaving," the blond demon called.

"I'm having fun with this one," he called over his shoulder, eyes not leaving Jane's face.

"Fine, just kill her. We have a job to do," Norah said testily.

The dark-haired demon sighed. "Work, work, work." He looked at Jane appraisingly. "I think I might leave you alive. Until I have a little more time for all the things I have planned." Jane would not look at him, her head hanging down in silence. Iranax grabbed her chin with his bloody fingers and wrenched her head up, angry now. He smiled, cold and crooked, and hit her hard in the temple. She was out cold before she hit the ground.