Chapter 29
Serra
I walked around to Delilah's back, running the largest of my pocket-sized knives along the shoulders of her leather jacket, splitting the seams as I did. "I think we'll start with the basics," I declared, taking a handful of Delilah's rich, curled red hair. "You won't need this."
With a deft slice from my blade, I took off a chunk of curls and allowed them to fall to the dirt. Another followed, then another; Delilah remained silent, though I know it killed her to see her hair hit the floor below her. "I hear these blades are sharp," I whispered, running the tip down her scalp, splitting her skin delicately as I ran it along the edge of her ear, then towards her forehead. As blood sprang to the surface, so did an icy blue glow, proving that Delilah was all angel. She closed her eyes and began muttering in a language I didn't recognize, but I wasn't worried. There was nothing she would be able to do to me while in the trap.
As she cast the spell, a ball of dark red fire erupted in her lap, forcing me to take a step back, watching it carefully. The spell obviously was unable to do what it was meant to, and Delilah's frustration got the better of her as she snarled at me. I stared down at the fire and was consumed with the desire to touch it, so going with my gut, like I usually did, I opened my palm and pushed it physically back towards Delilah's chest.
Panic touched her face for the first time as I stared into her eyes. "Torture is too nice of a word," I whispered as I pressed the fire into Delilah's chest. "They'll have to come up with something new to describe what I do to you."
The dark red flames did as I commanded, though I didn't understand why. Maybe it was my rage, maybe it was the fact that I was still hopped up on Sammy's blood; hell, maybe it was that I was a Browning and therefore had angel blood in me, but whatever it was, the flames of the curse didn't touch me. I didn't even feel their heat.
Delilah did.
She bit back the first round of screams, refusing to make a sound as the flames connected with her skin, burning away her clothes and creating a wound the size of a grapefruit, but then I realized that the dark red fire wasn't dissipating or dying out at all. If anything, the more fear and anguish Delilah showed, the more powerful they became. I dug my heels in and pressed the fire physically into her chest and for the first time, Delilah screamed.
"There," I whispered into her ear as I pressed forcibly onto her chest, "now we're getting somewhere."
The flames disappeared into her body and in moments, I could see the damage they were causing as they travelled through the angel's body, leaving a blackened trail through her arms and neck.
"That was a helluva spell," I pursed my lips. "Shame it didn't work how you wanted it to."
Almost immediately, the blackened trail began to peel, and it didn't take me much time to realize the whole path could be pulled away from Delilah's body, causing as much damage as I chose to inflict. She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her lips together, trying to keep her cries of anguish to herself, but it was getting harder and harder to do so. I took my tiny blade and lifted the charred flesh from her arm, peeling a layer of dermis from her neck. "Wow," I muttered, licking my lips and dropping it to the ground. "I do believe I told you that I would peel the flesh from your bones."
Delilah screamed again, gritting her teeth as the ball of dark red flames continued to travel through her body, lighting her from the inside. I hoped that they wouldn't kill her, though, because I was just getting started.
I stood back, watching the fire burn slowly, and as I stared, the curse of red flames somehow made it through her chest and out through her back, suddenly igniting something behind her. Gasping, I realized that her wings were burning. I couldn't help the wry grin that slid across my face. "Really," I muttered, shaking my head, "you're doing all the work for me."
As Delilah's curse traveled through the veins of her wings, I watched as nothing more than embers remained. I hadn't been able to see her wings before, but now that they had been hit with her own cursed fire, there they were, towering above us, ashes floating down onto what was left of her red hair.
Hot, angry tears streamed down her face as she screamed in pain. "Hurts, huh?" I asked, turning towards the table of weapons. "Kind of like when you sent a tornado to kill me." I picked up the Weapons' Stone knuckles and the tiny two-inch blade. "Getting an oak tree pushed through my spine and lungs had a similar effect."
I walked up to the angel with purpose, barely slowing down as I crossed the holy flames keeping her in the circle, winding up and slamming my fist into her face. Delilah grunted in pain, doubling over and coughing blood. As she bent, I pushed the two-inch knife into her side, getting a scream of pain as a result. I smiled.
"That's it," I whispered into her ear. "Let me hear you."
…
Dean
"Should I be concerned that Serra hasn't come back yet?" Sammy leaned over to me, whispering in my ear. "I'm starting to get a little concerned."
I shook my head, patting my brother on the shoulder. "Look at Grace," I answered, gesturing to the group of angels at the front end of the church as they prepared to wipe the witches' memories. "Grace isn't worried, so you shouldn't be. It's not like Grace would let Serra into a situation like that without chasing after her if there was something to worry about." I shrugged, "Serra's fine."
Grace turned from the group and walked towards us, patting Tulley on the arm as she passed. "We can start thinking about packing it up. I'm gonna go home for a sec to make sure that Everett is okay and tell them we're on our way home."
I lifted my eyebrows, tilting my head, "Gonna go home for a sec?" I asked. "What?"
"Oh, we have some stories for you," Sam answered, shaking his head. "The stunt the girls just pulled..." Sam faded away and shook his head. "By the way, the Chevelle pulls to the right a bit," he continued, chuckling. "Looks like it needs an alignment."
Pressing her lips together, Grace made an apologetic face, "Yeah," she continued, "I can jump from place to place on command, like the angels now. Something tells me that I'm not gonna shit right for a week."
"You're starting to sound like me," I replied, shaking my head slowly as my wife's new set of skills. "Yeah, okay. Tell him I miss him and that I'll see him soon."
Grace nodded and disappeared on the spot.
Pursing my lips, I lifted my eyebrows and turned to my brother. "That's gonna take some getting used to," I muttered.
"Yeah," Sammy replied, "and she can reappear in a moving car, doing about eighty."
"What?"
Sam held up his hand, closing his eyes and shaking me off, "We'll talk."
Tulley, Santiago, Cas, and Lucia began taking the twine sigil apart from around the women, who were passed out in a neat arrangement on the carpet as Chuck looked on. The angels had done what they needed to, erasing memories and easing them into sleep so that we could put them each in their own location, separating them enough to hopefully not interact once they woke up. We couldn't be taking any chances.
…
Serra
Delilah was bleeding profusely from a wound on her back and two more in her chest, and apparently, the fire curse that had backfired onto her own body was still burning her from the inside, because now, the bright red hair that was left from my brutal hair cut was blackened and burnt, leaving a charred scalp underneath. She was out of breath, panting slightly, but refusing to make much more noise than she had before.
"Now," I sighed, walking towards the table where my knives were laid out neatly. "I think we're about even for the tornado, but," I pursed my lips and tilted my head, thinking. "There's still the matter of taking my son and nephew."
Delilah's pale eyes flicked up towards me, though she still remained silent.
"Taking the boys…well," I paused and picked up my favorite kukri blade. I held it up, admiring the gleam of the silver, haunting and deadly in the torch light. "That was kind of what put me over the edge, you know?"
I lowered the knife under Delilah's chin, using the blade to push her head up so she was staring back at me, under heavy-lidded eyes. Ever so slowly, I drug the blade along the edge of her jaw, bringing out the blood and blue glow that I expected. Squeezing her eyes shut, for the first time, Delilah let out a gasp of air and a single word.
"Please," she whispered.
Freezing in place, I lowered my head, closer to the angel. "I'm sorry," I replied, mockingly. "What was that?"
"Please," Delilah repeated. "Please just kill me."
"I told you I'd make you beg." Pressing my lips together, I tilted my head and narrowed my eyes. I turned, lifting an eyebrow towards Crowley. "Well," I began. "That was a lot sooner than I expected."
Crowley nodded slowly, narrowing his eyes. "I wouldn't trust her," he answered, putting his hands in the pockets of his trousers. He smiled lightly, making eye contact with Delilah, "I should have told you, I know," he continued, approaching the ring of Holy Fire. "But Serendipity and I, we have a bit of a history." Crowley glanced at me and grinned, shooting me a roguish wink. "I spent quite a bit of time inside her."
"God, I need a shower," I muttered, shaking my head. "Don't say it like that." I turned my attention back to my prisoner. "You want me to what now?"
Delilah seemed limp; leaning to one side and hardly able to hold herself upright. "I want you to kill me," she whispered, coughing once for good measure. "You've had your fun. I've been betrayed by everyone I know, so you might as well end it."
I leaned closer to Delilah, still holding my kukri blade under her chin. "If you think I'm ever going to feel sorry for you, guess again."
Using my free hand, I reached out to Delilah's shoulder, planning on righting her position in the chair, but instead of being able to push her shoulder back into position, my hand went right through her, almost as if her shoulder was ash. Pulling my hand back quickly, I gasped and turned to Crowley. "What's happening?" I asked.
He narrowed his eyes once more, staring at the mark I left on the angel's shoulder. "I have no idea," he whispered. "I suppose this is what happens when a spell rebounds onto yourself."
More out of curiosity than anything, I reached out to Delilah once more, this time my hand went for her arm. Just as before, my hand met no resistance, and the rest of her arm collapsed into ash. "You're already dead," I whispered. "You took all the fun out of it."
Delilah forced her eyes to stare up at me once more. "Just because I'm gone doesn't mean there won't be another," she whispered. "They will force the Gates open at one point or another." She coughed again, looking pathetic. "I was just the first wave. Your family will never be safe."
Setting my jaw, I took the kukri blade by the hilt with both of my hands and pressed it into Delilah's throat, more easily than it should have been. Immediately, Delilah's head fell back, sending white light from ever remaining orifice. I forced myself to keep my eyes open and watch her die, and finally, she collapsed into a heap of flesh, bone, and ash. I pushed on the top of her charred head and her entire body exploded into a burst of gray powder on the ground, outlining her body and what was left of her wings.
"That bitch killed herself so I wouldn't get to torture her as long," I muttered, shaking my head. "I'll bet that curse wasn't meant for me, even."
Crowley shrugged from where he stood. "Perhaps," he cautioned. "Perhaps not. I'm just happy to see her finished."
"So, she is, right? She's not going to make it back by some spell or miracle?" I asked, still clutching my kukri blade. "The Big Bads always seem to make a comeback."
"From where I stand," Crowley sighed, "it's finished."
Nodding, I turned back towards the table of knives and began to pack up my things, intent on getting back home to my babies. Crowley's voice caught my attention once more.
"She's right, though," he cautioned. "Delilah."
"About what?" I asked, turning towards him, glaring.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, as if considering what he was about to tell me. "If it's not Delilah, it will be someone else. Then someone else." Crowley shrugged. "Then someone else. Your sister's children are talented creatures, as you might have already guessed. Having that kind of power tends to bring out the ones who want to control it."
"I guess that's why I'm a Warrior of Fucking Heaven," I replied, shrugging.
"It'll be bigger than that, you know."
"How?"
Crowley approached me, "Controlling the Gates is controlling the ethereal plane, on multiple levels. It's the beginning and end of all mankind. It's having the ability to imprison or free the very creatures that could destroy entire universe." He pursed his lips. "That's a lot of power for a group of children."
I considered him for a moment, then tied the leather strap around my roll of blades, shrugging. "They won't always be kids," I began, "and they're Winchesters."
"That's what I'm afraid of."
