Chapter Twenty-One

Sam was lying across Lucifer's naked chest. His head bobbed as Lucifer breathed. He was caught in the place between waking and sleeping. He was exhausted, emotionally and physically, but he didn't want to waste time with Lucifer to sleep. Lucifer traced his fingers across Sam's back, lulling him into sleep.

"You think Cas is okay?" Sam asked drowsily. It wasn't the first time he had asked. The image of Castiel's body lying on the ground kept creeping into his mind, unsettling him.

Lucifer drew a deep breath. "He's fine, Sam. I believe what happened was harder on you, Dean and Bobby than it was on Castiel himself. Angels are different to humans. We live with the constant touch of the divine on us, and we do not fear death as we know we will be rewarded."

Sam shifted so he was sitting, looking at Lucifer. "Me and Bobby were talking about that. Is there a heaven for angels?"

Lucifer raised a hand and traced Sam's cheek. "I do not know. There is no one in a position to tell us other than God himself and, as you know, he is absent at the moment. I do not believe he would have created a heaven for humans and not one for angels though, no matter how much he favors you."

Sam smiled and leaned into Lucifer's touch. "I hope so."

Lucifer raised himself onto his elbows and Sam leaned down to kiss him. They lost themselves in each other, in the moment. Sam would have been content to stay like that for the rest of the night, but suddenly, Lucifer's lips stopped moving against him and he stiffened. Sam was confused for a moment, and then he heard a throat being cleared. He looked up and his mouth dropped open.

"Cas!" He grabbed at a sheet and dragged it up cover himself. "What are you doing here?"

"Chuck is in trouble," Castiel said, staring fixedly at a point above Sam's head. "You are needed."

Sam struggled to his feet and dragged on the pair of jeans that had been abandoned on the floor. He reached for a t-shirt and pulled it over his head. He shoved his feet into a pair of boots and looked at Lucifer. "We have to go."

Lucifer nodded and a split-second later they were standing in Bobby's study.

Dean was pacing the room, running a hand through his hair. "What took you so long?" he asked testily.

Sam didn't bother to answer. It had been less than a minute since Castiel arrived in their motel room, but he understood Dean's anxiety. Their friend was in trouble.

He looked to Castiel. "What's happened to him?"

Castiel started to answer, but Dean cut him off. "Dick freaking Roman has him."

Sam's eyes widened. This was so much worse than he had imagined. "Where?"

"At a former military compound in Arizona," Castiel said. "It is warded against angels."

Sam cursed under his breath. Dean locked eyes with him and they both nodded. If angels couldn't go in to get Chuck, they would have to.

"No!" Lucifer said angrily. "You are not going in there alone. I can't let you."

Sam raised an eyebrow. Lucifer had never refused him anything before, and he had never claimed to 'let' Sam do anything.

"Sam, please," he implored. "Don't do this."

"I have no choice," Sam said simply. "He's my friend."

Lucifer waved a hand through the air and books flew from the shelves onto the floor. Bobby looked like he wanted to protest but Lucifer's scowl silenced him.

"We're wasting time," Dean said angrily. "Sam, are you coming?"

"Of course."

Lucifer tugged Sam around and cupped his cheeks in his hands. "Don't do this, Sam. You heard Castiel; the place is warded against angels. I cannot protect you there."

Sam shook his head sadly. "I have to."

Lucifer sighed and released Sam. Sam felt the loss deeply, and he felt guilty. He didn't want to hurt Lucifer, and he understood his fear, but he had to do this.

"Cas, can you at least drop us off?" Dean asked.

Castiel nodded. "I can take you there. I just cannot enter the compound."

"Wait!" Lucifer shouted. "If you are insistent on doing this, you will need help. Castiel, please rouse your garrison."

Castiel disappeared with a faint rustling sound.

"What are you thinking?" Sam asked.

"You need someone to pose a distraction. There is no knowing how many Leviathans there will be guarding Chuck."

"But Leviathans can kill angels," Sam said.

"And they can kill you too!" Lucifer said bitterly. "But you don't seem to care about that."

Sam sighed and tugged on Lucifer's arm, pulling him closer. He knew Lucifer's anger wasn't really directed at him, it was a reaction to the situation, but it didn't make it easier to bear. He leaned into Lucifer and pressed his cheek against him. "I will be fine. And if I'm not, you'll fix me."

Lucifer sighed and held Sam to him. "You cannot go through life putting yourself at risk, just because I can heal you."

"And I can't go through life refusing to help my friends because I might get hurt."

"You are infuriating!" Lucifer said.

Sam looked sad. "I'm sorry. But it's what I have to do."

Lucifer closed his eyes and seemed to summon patience. "Okay. If you insist on doing this, you will do it my way. We will not leave until Castiel has the garrison in place. You remember the angel banishing sigils?"

Sam nodded. He had learned them in one of his many lessons with Lucifer in the cage. He took a pencil and paper from the desk and drew one to show Dean. "They look like this. We need to cancel them out. Bobby, do you have some cans of spray paint?"

Bobby nodded. "Plenty in the panic room. I'll get them."

"Your first job is to cancel the sigils," Lucifer said.

"What about Chuck?" Dean asked.

"We will find him, but first the sigils. Without us, you will be walking targets to the Leviathans. The more sigils there are, the worse we will be weakened. Find all that you can and destroy them."

He pulled Sam against him and whispered words of love in enochian in his ear. Sam smiled and relaxed for a moment, just taking comfort in his angel's presence.

There was a fluttering sound, and they pulled apart to see Castiel standing at the door. "The garrison is in place. Are we ready?"

Bobby came back into the room and held out cans of paint to Sam and Dean.

Sam nodded. "We're ready.

Sam stood and stared around him in awe. They were standing outside a slate grey building with a heavy metal door. The air was warm against his face, despite the lateness of the hour, and cicadas sung. None of that was what Sam found awesome though. It was the sheer number of angels materializing in the air that took his breath. There were so many of them. More shocking than the number of them was the way they watched Lucifer. Sam had thought after everything Lucifer had done as the Devil there would be some residual bad feeling, but they looked at him with reverence. Sam was oblivious to the fact that it was the changes he had wrought in Lucifer that they were responding to.

Dean seemed oblivious to the angels; he was staring at the door that they had to get through. "We're not going to be able to pick the lock on this one."

Lucifer sighed and looked at Sam. "You know what you have to do?"

Sam nodded. "Get rid of the sigils."

Lucifer kissed him gently and Dean averted his eyes. Sam felt Lucifer smile against him and guessed Lucifer was amused by Dean's reaction.

"If you two aren't too busy, we've got a friend in there that needs our help," Dean said.

Lucifer deepened the kiss. Sam wasn't sure if Lucifer was doing it to annoy Dean or because the reality of what Sam was about to do was settling over him. He pulled away reluctantly and brushed a hand over Lucifer's cheek. "I'll be right back."

"You better be."

Sam shouldered his duffel and turned his attention to the door. Dean was right, there was no way they would be able to pick the lock.

Lucifer seemed to come to the same conclusion. He walked to the door and tested the handle. The lock didn't budge, but Lucifer had another idea. He wrenched the handle down and yanked. The door swung open with a creaking sound.

Sam gave Lucifer a look of longing and then he and Dean crept through the door. There was the sound of pounding footsteps, and they ducked into a recess in the wall as countless Leviathans pounded down the corridor and out into the sunlight. They heard Lucifer's shout of rage and gasps of many people as they caught sight of the horde of angels waiting for them. Sam thought of Lucifer and what he was facing, and he felt a pang that they weren't facing it together, then he turned his attention to the mission at hand.

Dean peered around the wall. "I think we're good."

They both drew their guns and made slow progress down the hall. Sam expected to be met with a Leviathan at any moment, but there were none. It seemed they had all been drawn outside.

Sam looked up and down the hall and he saw the first sigil at the door. He tapped Dean's shoulder and pointed to it. Dean nodded and they crept back along the hall to the door. They could hear shrieks and shouts from outside, and Sam tried to ignore the fact Lucifer could be one of the people making those noises.

"Focus!" Dean hissed.

"Sorry." Sam raised his paint can and sprayed a cross over the sigil, cancelling it out. The hiss of the can seemed exceptionally loud, and Sam thought someone else had to hear it.

They turned and continued down the hall. When they came to a heavy wooden door, they paused and Dean pressed a finger to his lips. He pointed at Sam's gun and whispered, "Cover me."

Sam shook his head vehemently. He wasn't going to let Dean be the first into that room. There could be Leviathans waiting inside, and he couldn't bear the idea of Dean getting hurt.

Dean's brow creased with confusion.

"We go in together or not at all," Sam hissed.

Dean looked like he wanted to argue, but he satisfied himself with a scowl and muttered, "Stubborn ass."

Sam reached for the door handle and he turned it slowly. The door creaked as it opened and they both held their breath.

The room was empty. It looked like some kind of storage space. Scrawled on three of the walls was angel banishing sigils.

"They sure covered their bases," Dean said quietly.

Sam nodded and moved across the room to cancel out the sigils. When they were done, they went back into the hall. Sam looked at the row of doors lining the walls, and he knew what they had to do.

"We're going to have to split up. There are too many places to cover and we're short on time. Who knows what they are doing to Chuck."

Dean nodded reluctantly. "You take the left side."

Sam made his way along the hall, opening doors carefully. At every turn he expected to see a Leviathan waiting for him, but the rooms stayed clear. Strangely, the lack of obstacles made Sam more nervous. It was as if the Leviathans knew they were there and were biding their time, waiting for the right moment to strike.

Once he had cleared five rooms of the sigils, he came back into the hall and waited for Dean to come out. There was one more room on this hall to be dealt with, and that was the one Sam was sure would be heavy with Leviathans.

Dean stepped out into the hall and nodded at the door. "Last one's the charm, right?"

Sam shrugged. "Or the trap."

"It's no good standing here like dicks. We've got to go in."

Sam knew he was right, but he was nervous. They had seen no sign of Chuck so far, and he couldn't help but worry it was because he was already dead. He hated to think it, Chuck was his friend, but he couldn't keep the thoughts away.

He gripped the handle and turned it slowly. The door swung open and they were met with a sight that stopped them dead in their tracks.

Sam had been right. The Leviathans knew they were there, and they had laid their trap. Chuck was held in the corner of the room, with a Leviathan's arm wrapped around his throat.

He smiled wryly as he caught sight of them. "Hey, guys."

Sam couldn't help but smile. "Hey, Chuck."

In the centre of the room was a polished, wooden table, and set on it was a hunk of rock, papers scrawled with writing and—Sam had to admire Chuck's balls—a glass of whiskey. On the walls there were two sigils.

Dean stepped closer to Sam so their shoulders were touching. In unison, they raised their guns and pointed them at the Leviathan holding Chuck. They knew they couldn't take the shot, as Chuck was poised to be used as a human shield, but Sam felt better having some kind of weapon ready.

The Leviathan laughed. "Bullets can't kill me!"

"No, but I bet they hurt," Dean said, clicking back the safety.

Chuck looked terrified, and Sam tried to reassure him with his own calmness. His eyes tracked the two sigils on the walls. If they were lucky, and he had no reason to believe he would be, they were the last two holding Lucifer and the other angels out of the building.

"One each?" he said to Dean.

Dean nodded. "Good odds."

Chuck looked terrified, misunderstanding their conversation. He closed his eyes and screwed his face up as if he didn't want to see the bullet that would kill him.

Sam grinned at the Leviathan and then twisted so his gun was aimed at one of the sigils on the wall. He pulled the trigger and the bullet impaled itself in the wall, directly in the middle of the painted sigil. He heard Dean's bullet hit the opposite wall, and he prayed that it had hit its mark.

"Lucifer!" he bellowed.

Chuck's eyes opened again, just in time to see Lucifer appear beside him. Lucifer broke the Leviathan's grip on Chuck and he shoved him at Sam. Sam caught him and pushed him behind him, out of harm's way. Lucifer raised his angel blade and swept it through the air. The Leviathan's head dropped to the floor and its body followed.

Lucifer disregarded the body on the floor and stepped up to Sam. He cupped his face in his hands and asked, "Are you okay?"

Sam nodded. "I'm fine. Are you?"

"I am completely unharmed. We all are. None of our number was lost."

Sam sighed his relief and leaned into Lucifer's touch.

Behind them, Chuck cleared his throat nervously, and Sam turned to face him. "Are you okay, Chuck? Did they hurt you?"

He shook his head. "No. For monsters, they were surprisingly nice, even if they were terrifying."

"What did they want from you?" Dean asked.

Chuck smiled enigmatically, as if he was hiding a delicious secret. "They needed me to translate this." He picked up the slab of rock from the table.

Lucifer sucked in a breath between his teeth. "But that's…"

"The word of God," Chuck said with satisfaction.

"And what does God have to say?" Dean asked.

Chuck's smile grew wider and he clutched the rock to his chest. "It tells us how to kill Leviathans."

So... What do you think?

Thank you all for the support you have shown the story. It's much appreciated.

Until next time...

Clowns or Midgets xxx