Sorry about the long wait. I've been busy and this chapter became longer that thought it would.
I want to thank for the reviews, favorites and follows. And thank you all for keep reading this story :)
I hope you also enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 14: Seven Nation Army
The rest of the Christmas was good too, just like Dean's birthday a month later. Dean had never liked holidays much, but now, it was the best.
Even with Gabriel's sometimes annoying presence. Slowly they got more used to the rebel archangel. And since that night at Christmas, Gabriel spent most of the nights in the house when he and Sam weren't hunting.
It was early February, which meant Castiel was at the beginning of the eighth month of pregnancy. And now the angel was completely human. Castiel felt a bit uncomfortable because of his big belly and sometimes he had some back pains. The baby moved more frequently, or Castiel felt him more, sometimes the baby even gave some painful kicks. Although the transition to the human state was progressive, Castiel still hadn't adjusted to it very well and he sometimes he felt tired during the day.
Today was one of those days, so after lunch Castiel decided to take a nap on his bed, between several soft pillows and a warm blanket, cuddled with Dean (as comfortable as possible) and Balthazar sat next to him caressing his head soft and steadily.
At first, when Castiel lied down, the baby was moving restlessly. It was the third time the baby did that that day, moving continuously for about 15 minutes. It wasn't usual and Castiel was getting a bit worried, although Balthazar told him he couldn't sense anything wrong about the baby. Fortunately, after a while and a few gentle rubs on the belly from Dean, the baby calmed down and Castiel fell asleep.
About an hour later, Dean had almost fallen asleep too, while Balthazar kept stroking Castiel's dark and soft hair. Then suddenly he stopped, motionless and in alert. After a short second, Balthazar got up and walked to the bedroom's window.
Dean opened a sleepy eye when he felt a shift on the bed. He looked confused at the angel by the window.
"Dean." Balthazar called, turning to the hunter, in a low voice (to don't wake up Cas) but at the same time strangely demanding, concerned and anxious.
Dean untangled himself gently from Castiel and then got closer to Balthazar. Dean looked outside the window where Balthazar was looking and he saw two men, far, partially hidden behind some trees.
"What are they?" Dean asked in a low voice. By Balthazar's tone the strangers surely weren't humans.
"Leviathans." Dean looked instantly to Balthazar's face and the angel was deadly serious. "And there's more approaching," Balthazar added.
Dean glanced back at Castiel, still sleeping, and then he pointed with his head towards the door, indication for them to get out of there. They went downstairs to the living room.
"Guys, I guess we have company." Gabriel warned them, as he and Sam approached.
Both Sam and Gabriel looked worried. And so did Dean. "Yeah, we've noticed it." Although Dean tried to sound calm. "How many?"
"Six. So far." Gabriel replied.
There was a short moment of silence. They didn't know what the Leviathans wanted, but surely it was nothing good and it would most likely end on a fight. And it was going to be a tough one.
"We're going to get the weapons." Sam said, and he and Gabriel left.
Then Dean quickly turned to Balthazar. "You're gonna take Cas out of here." He ordered, pointing a finger to the angel.
Balthazar stood quiet for a short moment. "...Dean. I don't think that's the best thing to do."
"What? We need to get Cas to safety." Dean pointed out.
"Yes," Balthazar quickly agreed. "But where do I take him?" he asked. "The safest place is here. The moment Cas leaves this house, everyone will know about the baby. Angels, Demons, Leviathans and God know what more." Besides, Balthazar didn't know the spell Inias put on Castiel when they went to talk to Gabriel, and even if he did, it was too risky; Castiel was too vulnerable.
Dean sighed, frustrated. "So what then?" Dean asked worried. "Panic room?" he suggested.
Balthazar considered it for a moment and then he nodded, the kind of nod that's almost a 'no'. Balthazar didn't like the idea of locking Castiel on the panic room, and neither did Dean, but it was necessary, it was for Castiel's safety. It was one more protection... in case they failed to protect him.
Then they heard someone approaching. Castiel took the final steps of the stairs and walked to them, slow and sleepy. But when he noticed the worried faces of his lovers he opened his eyes wide. "What's happening?" he asked.
Dean and Balthazar glanced at each other and then Balthazar answered "It's just some... unwanted visits." He tried to sound like it was nothing serious.
Castiel looked confused.
"But this time it's not me." Gabriel added, partially joking, holding a black water-gun that could be mistaken by a real gun, and a machete. Behind him Sam was holding some weapons too.
"Who is it?" Castiel asked in a little scared tone, looking back at Dean and Balthazar.
They took a while to answer, only a couple of seconds, but to Castiel it seemed longer. "Leviathans," Dean answered, in an inexpressive voice, not to alarm Castiel.
"Why are they here?" Castiel wanted to know the purpose of the monsters' arrival. Maybe they wanted something from them, or maybe they were just there to kill them. Castiel gulped unconsciously.
"We don't know," Dean answered to the angel. "But we're getting prepared for everything."
They took Castiel to the panic room and sat him down on the old and squeaking bed joined to the cold iron wall. Dean put a grey blanket over the angel's legs that covered a bit of his belly too. Dean noticed Castiel was tense, his hand tightly closed over his legs, and the angel looked at him with scared blue eyes.
"Don't worry, Cas. You're gonna be fine." Dean assured him.
"It isn't me I'm worried about, Dean." the angel confessed sadly.
Dean stood staring at Castiel for a moment in realization.
"Come on, Cassie. I thought you had us in a better consideration." Balthazar intervened with a light voice. "What happened to the great and honourable soldier?" he asked with a smirk.
Yes, those were the words Castiel often used to describe Balthazar. Castiel's relaxed a bit, hearing the familiar words. And it was true, Castiel had witnessed it in the many times they fought together. If they looked really hard, they could see a little forced smile on Castiel's lips.
But soon it faded, because despite his knowledge about Balthazar and Dean's fighting skills (Sam and Gabriel's too), he couldn't help being worried and scared about his lovers' fate. It isn't easy to win a fight with such low resource of useful weapons...
"It's going to be alright." Balthazar said in a low voice and tried to sound as confident as possible. He bent down a little and kissed Castiel's forehead as he passed a hand gently over Castiel's belly, feeling their baby moving inside, also a bit anxious. Castiel leaned into Balthazar's touch, with his head rising back, and then Balthazar kissed him on the mouth, soft and deeply.
When Balthazar backed away, Castiel looked at Dean.
"Whoever opens that door next," Dean pointed to the panic room's door. "you cover them in Borax, okay?" He handed Castiel a loaded water-gun.
Castiel grabbed the gun, nodded a little and then put the gun on the bed, next to him.
Dean put the machete he was holding next to water-gun next to Castiel. "Just in case..." he started, but he didn't finish. There was not need to finish the sentence anyway, they all knew what he meant. If Castiel even had the need to use the machete, it meant Dean, Balthazar, Sam and Gabriel had failed to protect him. And it meant that they were probably dead.
Dean kissed Castiel gentle but hurried (the Leviathans were approaching), caressing the angel's face. Then Dean and Balthazar left, locking the door. And Castiel was alone.
He looked down. Well, he wasn't totally alone. He rubbed his belly, feeling the baby moving again restlessly. Castiel wondered if all the times the baby continuously moved that day, was a warning to what was happening.
Dean and Balthazar met with Sam and Gabriel in the living room. Sam and Dean got armed with water-guns full of Borax and machetes, Balthazar instead of a machete he had his angel blade and Gabriel only had the special sword to send the Leviathans to Purgatory (if he needed more weapons during the possible fight he could just make them appear out of nowhere).
By the window they saw four Leviathans getting close to the front door, but they knew there were more around. They stepped outside the house, meeting the four Leviathans. Two were women and two men, all dressed in suits.
"Is this the way you welcome a visitor?" One of the women commented confidently, looking at the hunters and angels well armed.
"The unwanted ones, you bet." Dean replied harshly, taking a step forward. "So if I was you, I'd get the hell out of here." He said in a threatening tone.
"Honestly, Dean, did that talk ever worked?" She pointed out, making fun of him. "Look, we're not here to fight, we just came to talk."
"I have no interest in talking to you," Dean replied hostilely.
"Neither do I. But fortunately I didn't come to talk to you."
"Who did you come to talk to?" Sam asked.
"With our dear angel rescuer."
Castiel.
Dean tried not to let his fear show. "Really? I thought he had died when you guys took a swim on the lake."
"Drop the act, Dean. We know your darling Castiel is inside."
"What makes you so sure of that?" Sam asked. He wondered how the Leviathans had known Castiel was alive and that he was with them. What else did they know...?
"We have our sources," she said to Sam.
"You should find better sources." Dean commented.
"Really? I don't know, they said some pretty interesting things. Like Castiel's alive, he became your angel boyfriend, which was expected, and - this was definitely not expected – you knocked him up." She said to Dean. "Which explains why you haven't been hunting us lately." Everyone got terrified of the things the Leviathans knew, although they tried not to show any sign that what she said was true. "So, can we have a little chat with the angel now?"
She took a step forward, but Dean got in front of her holding up the machete in a threatening way. "One more step and you're dead, bitch."
The other Leviathans tensed up, ready to attack. But the woman stepped back a little, and so did the others. "None of us wants to start a fight here, but I have an important subject to talk with-"
"You can talk to us," Balthazar said in strong voice, interrupting her. Although he just wanted to get rid of those monsters, he had to know what she wanted from Castiel.
She stared at Balthazar for a moment. "Fine," she agreed. "Dick wants to offer you deal. We leave you alone, no more fights or deaths; if we casually meet on a street, we'll just carry our own way like tolerant citizens. But, we keep the little Nephilim when it is born."
The angels and hunters looked widely in surprise and worry. Dean made a disgusted. "No way in hell. You're not getting your hands on my child! Never!" he shouted with a threatening face.
"Let's put this in another perspective; if you don't accept the deal, we'll spread the word that a new powerful, yet vulnerable, Nephilim is going to be brought into this world." She said calmly. "Now imagine the amount of Demons, Angels, Vampires and other creatures all coming after the little baby."
They all obviously tried their best not to imagine the horrible and scary possible future.
"Everyone will come after it. They'll get a weapon capable of destroying world and at the same time they bring down the most hated hunter. It'll be Christmas!" She smiled. There was a moment of silence and then she made a serious face again. "So, do you want to reconsider the deal?"
Maybe she was right... but Dean's decision was made. He glanced at Balthazar at his left, and then to Sam and Gabriel at his right; they all seemed to agree with Dean. "No. No deal. You're not gonna take my child." Dean said confidently and ready to fight for it to the end. "Over my dead body."
"If you insist..." she said.
The other Leviathans got closer, ready to attack, but Gabriel made an unexpected move; he attacked first, he stabbed the Leviathan man in front of him with the special knife and pushed him away. Taking advantage of the moment where no one was able to do anything, Gabriel showed up behind the Leviathan that was in front of Sam and stabbed him too and pushed her to the other wounded Leviathan and when the first one exploded, he took the other with him to Purgatory.
But at that point no one was paying any attention, the remaining Leviathans attacked Dean and Balthazar and soon three more Leviathans appeared. After some struggle with the Leviathan, Balthazar managed to cut off his head with his angel blade. Another Leviathan showed up in front of him right away, and by the corner of an eye Balthazar saw other Leviathan passing, contouring the house, probably trying to find a window to get inside the house and go after Castiel.
Dean finally managed to cut off the Leviathan bitch's head, after some confronts, and now he already had some bruises. When Balthazar finished with the Leviathan he was dealing with, he took a moment to look at the hunters and Gabriel that were all busy but not needing immediate help, so he went after the Leviathan he had seen running to the back of the house. Balthazar found the Leviathan getting inside the house by a broken window.
"Where do you think you're going?" Balthazar grabbed the monster, pulled him outside and threw him on the ground, hard.
"Angel." The Leviathan said with a disgusted look when he saw Balthazar, and gave him a glare. But he didn't do anything else because Balthazar beheaded him, and in the cut off head there was a strange triumphant smile.
When Balthazar turned around he was surprised by other Leviathan who shoved his hand in Balthazar's stomach. Balthazar let out a sound of pain as he felt the monster's hand touching his Grace and he tried to hit the Leviathan with Borax but he wasn't able to point the water-gun at him, so he let go of his weapons and grabbed the Leviathan's arm and tried to push him away.
"You should know... Leviathan beats Angel." The monster said with a pleased smile.
Dean had noticed Balthazar wasn't next to him, but he still hadn't had time to see where his angel was. Only when a Leviathan threw him away from the house, Dean saw, when he hit the ground, Balthazar being attacked by one of the Leviathans.
NO! Dean quickly got up, although his bruised and slightly bleeding body was sore because of the punches he had gotten, and he ran towards Balthazar, not caring if the Leviathan woman he was just fighting came after him. When Dean got closer, he threw Borax at the Leviathan and pushed him away from Balthazar before killing the son of a bitch.
Balthazar fell on the ground, weak, leaning against the house's wall.
"Balthazar," Dean said worriedly as he kneeled down next to the angel.
Balthazar was breathing fast and apparently painfully too, by the look on his face. Then Dean looked at the wound; there was black fluid from the Leviathan coming out of it, possibly mixed with a bit of red blood, and a faint blue light came from the angel's body.
Balthazar could stay there, more monsters would come soon. "Let's get you out of here." Dean looked around to see if there were any monsters around and then he helped Balthazar getting up, putting the angel's arm around his neck and lifted him as gentle as possible. Balthazar made some groans of pain, when he got up and all the way home, progressively getting louder.
"Gabriel, cover us!" Dean yelled when they got at the front of the house, so they could safely get inside.
Gabriel did his job well, and soon they got to the house's protection. Dean sat Balthazar on the couch and Dean checked the angel again. After the loud and uncomfortable groan when he fell on the couch, Balthazar started to relax after being moved and the pain had increased substantially.
Dean tried to calm himself down after seeing his lover severely wounded. "Okay, what can we do to fix you?" he asked, focusing on what was important.
Balthazar didn't say anything, probably it was hard for him to talk, or maybe there was nothing they could do to fix him.
Dean's attention was driven to what was happening outside, when he heard a scream. It was low, but he recognized it came from Sam. Now what was he going to do? Help his brother, or help his lover?
"Go." Balthazar murmured tiredly, making Dean to look back at him.
There was a moment of hesitation, but then... "Don't leave." Dean ordered, as he looked at the angel's bright blue eyes, and pointed a finger to him.
Balthazar was about to laugh inside; where would he go in the state he was? But then he realised Dean hadn't finish the sentence. What Dean meant was "Don't leave me" or maybe "Don't leave us." Balthazar focused on the green and scared eyes in front of him. He nodded slightly and Dean kissed him suddenly, hard and passionate, full of fear but also with a tiny bit of hope.
Then Dean ran outside to see what had happened to his little brother. He found Sam on the ground, Gabriel crouched next to him, and a lot of bodies, heads and black goo around them. "Sam," he called worried. Seeing his loved one hurt was definitely becoming too much for Dean to handle.
But then, Sam looked at him. "I'm fine, Dean." Because Gabriel had just healed him. He got up and Dean checked on him to confirm his brother was definitely alright. "Is it over?" Sam asked.
They looked around and they didn't see anyone. Gabriel searched for the presence of possible hidden Leviathans, but he didn't sense anything. "Yeah, Sammy." The archangel guaranteed.
Sam sighed in relieve. That meant they won. They had won but Dean only felt that he was losing. "Is Balthazar alright?" Sam asked, remembering seeing Dean carrying him to the house.
Dean took a couple of seconds to answer, to admit the truth. "No."
Dean went back inside the house, and Sam and Gabriel followed him. Balthazar was still in the same position, breading heavily, with a hand covering the wound from where dark fluid kept coming out and his sometimes got unfocused. He was far from alright, Sam noticed.
When Dean got close, Balthazar looked widely and expectantly at him, like questioning what had happened. "We're safe," Dean assured him.
Balthazar was glad to know that. Then he stared at Gabriel, who looked worried about his injured brother, and then he glanced discreetly at Dean. Gabriel understood the silent message.
"Then you should take Cas out of the panic room." Gabriel said to Dean, reminding the hunter.
Dean went to the basement to release the angel, but on the way he thought, how was he going to tell Cas what happened to Balthazar? He was going to be devastated; Dean could already picture Castiel's face. But he carried on.
When Dean got out of their sight, Sam looked down at Balthazar that trembling in pain. "There must be something we can do," he said to Gabriel, hopeful.
"There is," Gabriel admitted. "But..."
"Do it." Balthazar forced to say as he grabbed Gabriel's jacket sleeve tightly. He knew what had to be done... although it would be painful.
Gabriel looked surprised at Balthazar's pleading look.
When Dean opened the door of the panic room, he was splashed with something. He frowned at first, but when he saw Castiel pointing a trembling gun at him, he smiled, glad for Castiel remembering what he had told him to do.
"Dean...?" Castiel asked in a hopeful low voice when he saw there was no reaction to the Borax.
"Yeah, angel" Dean got closer with a smile on his lips and Castiel quickly dropped the gun and ran to Dean's arms.
Dean hugged the scared and trembling angel, caressing his hair while Castiel relaxed a bit in his arms. "The Leviathans are all gone," Dean told him.
Then Castiel pulled back and looked closely at Dean, at the bruises on his face and imagined the others Dean surely had on the rest of his body.
"I'm fine, Cas" Dean assured him, watching Castiel's distressed face. He kissed the angel gently to prove it, but Castiel still noticed a small trace of blood on Dean's lips. Dean wished he had asked for Gabriel to fix him before he went to release Castiel.
"And Balthazar?" Castiel asked when they pulled away. "Is he okay?"
Dean should have expected that question, but he didn't. Part of him wanted to say it was nothing serious, to protect Castiel from the truth, but he was going to find out soon it was a lie. How was he going to tell their lover had been attacked by a Leviathan and that was probably hanging between life and death now?
"Ahhh!" They head a scream. A scream from Balthazar.
They immediately rushed to the living room, but Castiel had some difficulty in moving, so he got a bit left behind, while Dean ran quickly. When Dean got closer, he saw Gabriel bent down on Balthazar with his hand full of the black fluid from the wound, and Balthazar with his head thrown back on the couches' backrest, unconscious.
Rage and fear hit Dean, who rapidly grabbed Gabriel and pushed him away from Balthazar, furiously. "You son of a bitch! What did you do?!" Dean shouted angrily as he pushed Gabriel backwards until he hit a wall.
"Dean." Sam tried to make his brother stop.
"I had to!" Gabriel explained while Dean gripped him tight with a death glare. "The Leviathan's fluid was infecting him. He was dying!"
Castiel was at the entrance, completely still, watching Balthazar in shock. Then he walked in, slowly, almost in trance, with eyes focused on Balthazar. Sam saw Castiel getting close to the couch, and then he stopped, let out a trembling and desperate sight as his body shivered. No, it couldn't be happening. He couldn't lose Balthazar again.
Sam walked to Castiel and put a comforting hand on his back, rubbing it gently. "But now he's going to be okay. Right?" Sam asked to Gabriel, alerting him and Dean to Castiel's presence.
"Yes. He just needs to rest." Gabriel confirmed.
Seeing Castiel, Dean let go of Gabriel and went to his lover. Sam backed away to let Dean comfort the poor angel. Dean pulled Castiel to him, hugging him tight and making him stop looking at Balthazar's unconscious body. After a while, Castiel started crying on Dean's shoulder and Dean kept holding him and telling Balthazar was going to be alright (to Castiel and to himself). But it wasn't easy to believe when Castiel's senses couldn't find any sign of life in Balthazar; he couldn't see or feel Balthazar's warm grace anymore and by looking at him, Balthazar seemed dead.
When Castiel stopped crying, but still sobbing softly, he sat on the couch and grabbed Balthazar's cold hand, feeling the slow and fainted heartbeats on his wrist. Dean sat next to Castiel, turned a bit to the side, and Castiel leaned his back on Dean's chest. And they stood there, for hours, not bothering in eating or sleeping; Dean had his arms around Castiel's belly, rubbing it gently, and Castiel stared at Balthazar's wound, watching the blue light coming out of it, and waited for some change. A change that Castiel already knew what it was going to be; whatever was Balthazar's fate, the light would disappear.