XXVII.
Pray for a Deal
Perchance God will pity a race that sought the better angels of its nature and found only its lesser demons. ~Robert Brault
The surreal feeling of being back home didn't leave Adam. They'd said their goodbyes, cleaned up, and snapped themselves to their respective places—the archangels ending up at Singer Salvage, the new humans in another time, and God off to Becky. The other seraphs had gone home to heaven at the sight of Amara's defeat, a silent order from God.
"I wonder where he sent the three of them," Dean said, downing a beer.
"Wish I knew," shrugged Sam.
"Actually," Gabriel said quietly, "I have to be their guardian. Check up on them and stuff. And . . . well . . . Mike went to Stanford. Was a freshman when you were a junior, Sam-a-lamb."
"What?" Sam spluttered. Gabriel shrugged.
"Dunno why He did it that way. Then again, he's the weirdo that wrote bad narratives on your lives, remember?"
Meanwhile people were discussing where and what they were doing next.
"I got a call from a lady named Jody Mills," Bobby admitted, "Mentioned something about strange disappearances in her county. I might go check it out.
"Well, we can't have you going alone," Ellen said, "You might scare her off."
"I certainly don't need your help doing so," Bobby replied. Jo snickered.
"I've been meaning to meet up with an old friend," Adam shrugged, "So I'd better call him, too. Should we all meet up back here or—"
"I think there's another stop on that list," Eva interrupted, "I'm pretty sure you want to visit Heaven now that no one's going to attack you at first glance? And talk with the people that didn't want to come back down?"
"Sounds like a plan," Sam nodded.
Adam gaped.
"Eva. You can't be serious."
"Your friend's girlfriend is dying. It's still stoppable, but the doctors can't do anything. She had a brain injury during the car crash and is in a coma. There's a reaper waiting for her. But archangel healing, that'll do the trick." Her eyes widened. "No . . . he's . . . the reaper just informed me there's a crossroads demon there. You'd better come with me."
"Shit, he's making a deal?!" And they snapped themselves to the hospital, Eva first since she knew where it was.
The room consisted of the girl in the bed, unconscious, a reaper standing by, arms crossed, Mark standing, shaky but strong, and a crossroads demon in a tailored suit grinning widely.
Until Adam and Eva showed up.
"Listen, Luke, not today, all right? She'll live," assured Eva first, and the Reaper walked out, shrugging.
"Fine by me."
"Mark, don't make the deal," warned Adam.
"She's dying, dammit," he glared, ignoring for a moment the fact that Adam and the girl just appeared there out of nowhere, "What the hell are you doing here anyway?"
"Stopping you from making a huge mistake. I don't know how you learned to summon a demon, but this is ending right here." He walked up briskly to her and pressed two fingers to her forehead to create a current of grace, like Castiel had instructed him. Mark surged forward angrily, but the flash of light left her gasping for breath and sitting up, eyes wide. She glanced around.
"Mark? What—what just happened?" Adam turned to the demon.
"Not a fan of demons that make deals from desperate people. Assholes deserve it—if they're greedy or whatever. But this is not okay. Don't think I won't hesitate to sic a hound on you." The demon's eyes widened and they nodded, teleporting out—Mark hadn't even put a devil's trap down! Adam turned.
"That was really stupid and dangerous, man," he sighed, but Mark was too busy gaping at him.
"Demons aren't the way to go. Trust me. My brother tried that and it wasn't pretty," he remembered how the mere mention of Alistair had, on occasion, affected Dean.
"What—what the hell are you?" he asked instead of replying.
"I'm an angel now. Technically an archangel. I was normal when we met, but things happened," he shrugged.
"Who is this?" asked Emma from the bed.
"Adam, that guy from college, the one who got us out of the crash . . . were you . . ."
"Not then, but I wasn't exactly normal either."
"So God's real?"
"Yeah, and he's sometimes an asshole. His girlfriend makes good cookies though," he said thoughtfully. Mark stared incredulously.
"You've got to be shitting me right now."
"Nah. How else would Eva and I have gotten here so fast and taken care of things?"
Emma just seemed confused. Eva rolled her eyes.
"Horseman of Death. Nice to meet you. The archangel here is my boyfriend and I'm sorry for the bluntness already of this conversation. But basically a bunch of supernatural things are real, us now included. Adam's going to kinda be your guys' guardian now, if I had to guess. Archangels don't often get charges, but you were friends, after all."
"So I can pray to the Archangel Adam in my time of need," snorted Mark.
"Yup," Adam grinned, popping the 'p'. "Or Dean, or Sam, or Castiel, or Gabriel. Dean's a bit of a jerk, Sam might bitch about me, Cas is . . . well sometimes a bit clueless but otherwise fine, and Gabriel, well, he's also Loki, so don't mess with him. But yeah."
"What about Michael, Lucifer, or Raphael?" asked Emma, finally contributing, "Aren't they the original three, with Gabriel?"
"Yeah, but it's . . . complicated with them."
"Isn't everything?"
"I'll tell you the story sometime. I'm gonna be late to dinner if I don't hurry back. But I'll see you guys around!" Adam waved and snapped, disappearing. Eva rolled her eyes.
"Really. He's having too much fun with this teleporting thing. Anyway. Don't do demon deals, kids. I can't get your souls out of hell, even if I am Death. Stay safe. Bye." And she was gone, too.
"And what is to become of me, Fergus?" Rowena asked.
"Well, you've committed treachery, completely disregarded my authority, I hate your guts, and really, I ought to just kill you so you can't do it again. But that would be a mercy. You know how a witch's trap works, mother?"
"It condenses and controls our magic power."
"And in addition makes you my bitch. So. Hop on one foot." She glared at him, but seconds later was hopping, the heel of her shoe clicking on the floor.
"So. My back is sore." He kicked his feet up on to the table in front of him.
"Give me a massage."
Raphael stared at the cross hanging in the church. After seeing his mother suffer in the hospital, he had a hard time having faith in a loving, merciful god.
"I'm not sure what to believe anymore," he sighed.
"You've said that before," observed a voice from behind him. He turned. Two people, about his age, were standing in the aisle.
"No. This is the first time I've admitted anything like that," he argued, and it was true. He'd had his doubts with his somewhat-religious parents' beliefs for a few years now, but he'd not said a word.
"Maybe. Maybe not," smiled the girl. "I'm Ambriel. This is Samandriel. And you're Raphael."
"How'd you know? Are you a parishioner, or a friend of Luc's?"
"Neither, really," shrugged the guy with the ridiculously long name.
"You might say we're just an errand-girl and her considerate boyfriend," she smirked a little, pushing her glasses up her nose. Raphael snorted at the little apologetic grimace the blonde guy gave. Being a freshman in high school with two older brothers enlightened him to the way relationships worked much quicker than the average kid. Especially with Luc. This guy was whipped. He probably hadn't had a choice to come.
"And what's the errand?"
"To let you know that God is watching you and your brothers."
"You're not Jehovah's Witnesses?" he glared.
"No. Really. Believe me, there's a God. He's a little less perfect than humans claim, has a drinking problem, but he's not forgotten you three."
"Why us?" She smiled.
"Not allowed to tell yet. But He figured you'd need a pep talk."
"What?" but they were gone. He blinked. No one else was in the church. Huh.
He looked up the names Samandriel and Ambriel when he got home. Angels were mentioned. A relieved little smile crept up his face.
Thank you for watching. Thank you for telling me that you're here.
