FORTY-EIGHT
The next few days were be filled with joy. I could only pinpoint this joy to be the aftereffects of my Brother's visit. Gabriel, sometime the morning after, left again. I do not know where.
"I was born in the area that was later called Canaan," Caleb told Sam the following Saturday. Dean and I listened in. I'm not sure about Dean, but I was curious. "And I get the feeling Dad told you what happened, right?"
"Yeah, pretty much. You were taken up to heaven around eight years old because the first Nephilim started screaming 'here's Johnny.'"
"Claudios did seem to lose his mind the older he got. And a few of the others closer to his age also began showing signs of madness. When he started killing people was when our Lord brought us to Heaven, turning our Earthly bodies to stone. Michael, our uncle, wanted to have us wiped out, but our Lord wouldn't allow it. We were some of the most devout of his children, even if we were hybrids."
"Then what about Emere? Why were they created?"
"The Emere was a post-flood idea. About a couple hundred years passed after Noah before the first Emere was born and we return by age, oldest to youngest, every generation until we fulfill our last mission. Claudios finished his last in the early Elizabethan era. And this is my last."
"Do you ever enjoy returning to Earth?" Dean asked.
"Sometimes," Caleb said hesitantly. "Heaven's way better."
"Who were your past Emere?" I ask.
"That's a very long list, but so far my best partners have been Kaito Ota, Sayid Hadi, Rajesh Pandey, Gavin McLeod, and Alexandros Sanna. All five were over the last two thousand years and not necessarily in that order."
"Gavin McLeod, haven't I heard that name before?" Bobby asked.
"You have," Caleb said, "He's Crowley's son. Or was. If I wasn't around, poor Gavin probably would have been killed in his sleep long ago. Fergus McLeod was a ruthless son-of-a-bitch in life. He hasn't changed at all since his death. Well, he has a little, but not much.
"Gavin probably would have been able to make it as the oldest Emere if not for the ship sinking."
"So…all your best partners had been guys?" Sam asked. "No girls?"
"I think someone thought it'd be a funny joke if I was assigned to work with a girl for once. Not that I mind, it's just a bit…how about this: I feel everything she feels physically on a very literal level." Sam, Dean, and I winced.
"Well, it could be worse."
"How? There's a chance she could die in childbirth, which are extremely painful enough when you're outside in the waiting room. I may have to be in there this time and I really don't want to."
"This is us, over here," Dean said, "not pitying."
The conversation continued, and though I listened and could follow, I still felt a little sick hearing that Crowley abused his son, an Emere, and therefore in a roundabout way, my son.
There are so many levels of unacceptable, that sometimes, a little smiting is necessary. But regardless of whether Caleb could defend himself or not, he is still my son and no one gets away with hurting him.
No one.
"The most annoying part about Emere, though, isn't the powers, or the crazy body switching that happens occasionally, or the going to and from Heaven at will; it's how everyone treats you like a child even though you're actually much older than you look. I know I'm in the body of a child, but I don't act like one, do I?"
"Well," Sam said, "getting treated like a child may make you act like a child anyway. Even though you really want to be treated like an adult."
"Lots of kids are like that."
"Yes. But most of them aren't reborn every few decades and have to relive puberty."
I stand and head downstairs and prepare the summoning spell and draw a new Devil's Trap on the ceiling, covering the old one with some flammable alcohol. Moments later, Crowley was standing in the Devil's Trap. He threw his hands up.
"What now?" he asked, not bothering to hide his exasperation.
"You knew your son was an Emere?"
"I suspected it, yes. I only recently found out it was true."
"You abused him."
"Yes," Crowley admitted. "Come off it, I was terrible dad. It's hard not to hate the brat when the mother's a whore." He paused, staring at me a moment. "But the spirit inside him was your son, wasn't it? That's why you summoned me. But you can't kill me. I'm still useful to you and the Winchester brothers."
"True, I can't kill," I say. "But I can make you regret the day you hurt my son."
Crowley smirked. "Really? The son was a pain-in-the-ass, and his pain-in-the-ass Dad thinks he can make me blubber out an apology. You forget what you are, don't you? You can't hurt me so long as you are a human."
I shake my head. It is my turn to smirk. "Humans are rather creative. Notice where the Devil's Trap is."
Crowley arched an eyebrow. "I'm standing on it."
"That one is ruined. Look up." Crowley did, noticing the new trap. I take the lighter I used to light the candles for the summoning and threw it on the ground.
"You and your whole family—what is this obsession with fire?" Those were his last words before he himself began to burn.
FORTY-NINE
The door slammed open and the room echoed with pounding feet.
"What the hell are you doing?" Sam asked, grabbing a bucket of water. He doused the flames, but Crowley still shrieked.
"Holy water? You bloody sadist! Do you get kicks out of this?"
"I think it has more to do with that you abused your kid while simultaneously abusing his," Sam said. "That'd make any parent crazy. Hell, if I was him, you'd already be dead."
Crowley glared at Sam. "How can you stay so chipper when saying that?"
Sam shrugged, "After effects from the surgery, maybe. I have been happier lately."
"Yeah, that happens. Relax you're angst will come back little by little. Dad, did you remember the acid?"
"We don't have acid on hand."
"Oh come on, there's always acid somewhere."
"Yep, they're sadists," Sam said, still a bit chipper.
Crowley growled, glaring at Caleb and me. In the depths of his hatred, there was a little fear. "Fine! I'm sorry for being a…a…"
"Honestly, there is no word to describe how much of a douche bag you are," Caleb said. "And 'sorry' won't do a thing. Gavin was a good kid, you low-life buggered son of a bitch. He was lucky to have gotten away when he did. Any longer with you, he'd have been killed. You didn't even have to sell your soul to go to Hell. You already had your name down on long before Gavin was born."
"So you thought you'd whine to Daddy?"
"Actually, I didn't expect him to snap."
"That's why it's an unspoken rule for children to tell their parents nothing. It's guaranteed they'll snap," Dean said. Four pairs of eyes stared at him. "That was from a parenting magazine my ex had…Leave me alone, I got bored."
"Regardless, it was years ago."
"To you it may just be years!" I shout.
"What's done is done. The past cannot be changed. How I treat my kid is my business. I hadn't the slightest that your kid was in the mix also."
"I doubt it'd have changed anything!"
"Please! Stop!"
The room again went silent. Where Caleb had been sitting was now Sarah. Her eyes were closed tightly and her hands pressed her head in tightly. A few tears streamed downed her face.
She must have heard us and was frightened. I inhale deeply and let it out.
I looked at Crowley. The burns he received from the fire and holy water were healing quickly. Despite his appearance of still maintaining some sort of control, he looked pathetic.
He's not worth my time.
I walked away, ascending the steps and walking around Sarah.
Dean followed me.
"I know you're upset, but—Cas, stop and look at me."
I turn around.
"You can't act rashly. It's never done any of us good. Crowley's probably got a list of things he plans to do to get back at you now. Probably as long as the one he has for Caleb."
"He won't dare go after Caleb."
"Okay, say you're right and he's not going after Caleb. That makes you his target."
"I've no reason to fear Crowley. Demons are too beneath me to worry about."
"Cas, you not an angel," Dean snapped, seizing my collar, slightly pulling me up. "You don't inspire fear in demons anymore!" his grip slackened. "If you won't fear for yourself, then I will fear for you."
What does one say to that? I am unsure.
Another person emerged from the basement. Sarah. Her arms crossed and head bowed. She didn't look at either of us as she passed by. Before walking up the stairs, she glanced up at us.
"What you did down there," she said to me, "that was barbaric. We're supposed to be better than they are and you go ahead and prove to Crowley that we're not. What you did was not human."
She raced up the stairs, not daring to look back at us.
Dean and I watch the stairs, expecting Sarah to return to say something else. She did not.
"Since when do demons get pity from Emere?"
"They don't," I say. "I suppose Sarah just has a big heart."
"Right place, wrong group of creatures."
"Precisely." I look at the stairs again. "I should go talk to her."
Dean shook his head. "No, bad idea. She's a walking time bomb right now. I'd give her a bit of time to calm down before talking to her."
Another two pairs of feet stomped up the stairs. "Well, we let Crowley go," Bobby said. "He won't be back for a while unless we summon his sorry ass here. Where's Sarah?"
"In her room," Dean said. "Being a girl."
"Balls," Bobby muttered. "I liked it better when we didn't have to walk on eggshells here."