Part 5

She pulled open the heavy wooden door and stepped into the church. It was an hour long drive but she hoped it was worth it. She raised her head to the high ceiling and the stained glass windows depicting angels. The walls were covered in paintings of the bible and statues of holy figures stood all around her. She walked past the stand of candles and sat in the second last row. She watched as a priest and an old woman exited the confession box. He held her hand for an exceptionally long time then placed his hand on her shoulders as she left to sit down. Stacy creaked as she leaned forward and placed her hands on the back of the bench in front of her pretending to pray. She hardly went to Sunday mass but, in the past, she was a regular visitor to this church. The priest saw her and immediately became nervous. He swiftly walked down the aisle to her. His footsteps made the slightest of noises. He folded his hands in front of him.

"I'm afraid, my child, you haven't come at a good time," he apologized. "There's been a death amongst the parishioners and Sister Bernadette was sent to visit the grieving family."

"That's okay," she smiled up at him. "You'll do fine."

He old pries nodded once and held out his hand for her to follow him. He led her up the aisle and passed the confession box. She followed him up the steps of the Alter and through to the back. They went into his office. As he sat down at his desk, she closed the door behind them and turned the key ensuring no one would follow them.

"You shouldn't be here," he quickly tidied his desk and directed her to the chair opposite. Her opened a drawer and threw everything inside leaving only a bible and a notepad behind.

"Neither should you," she sat down on the small leather chair. She noticed the wooden handles were worn down by people's hands.

He looked away nervously. "If anyone finds me talking to you…"

"I won't tell if you won't," she smiled.

He sighed. "You should really be talking to Sister Bernadette. She knows you better. She'll be here tomorrow, if you want to come back."

"It'll be too late then," Stacy pulled at a thread that was falling from the seams of the leather chair.

They sat there in silence for a moment. The priest moved some pencils from one side of the table to the other and put his notepad in another drawer. "The same destiny ultimately awaits everyone, whether they are righteous or wicked, good or bad," he leaned forward in his chair and rested his hands on the table. "Good people receive the same treatment as sinners, and people who take oaths are treated like people who don't."

"As depressing as that sentiment is," she smirked. "You're preaching the bible to the wrong choir."

He then bluntly asked what she wanted.

"I want you to pass on a message for me."

The priest shook his head. "How do you know they'll want to listen?"

"Because," she leaned forward and smiled, "I've got something they want."


They arrived at the school close to nine at night. Unfortunately the football field was still in use. Connor told them there was a game coming up and they were getting all the practice they could get. Dean was eager to start searching, so he took the EMF reader from Sam and broke into the school. Sam and Connor waited on the benches for the field to empty. The team of thirty strong began jogging around the field.

"She didn't look that scary," Connor finally spoke.

Sam shrugged knowing he was talking about the sorceress. "Appearances can be deceiving, I guess." Thankfully, he had never had the pleasure of meeting her. He knew what she looked like from pictures and Stacy's descriptions. He had to use his imagination for the rest.

The team had covered half the pitch when Connor spoke again. "How strong is she?"

Sam looked back at him. The boy was sitting one row behind him. He wasn't sure how much truth he was allowed to divulge. "She's so strong that you mom had a panic attack when she found out she was back."

Connor was slightly surprised. That wasn't the impression he got at all from his mother. She seemed so calm. "No, I mean how strong is my mother?"

Sam looked back to the field. The team had finished their jog and was doing some mild stretches. "I don't know," he sighed. "When she got to her full strength the angels took them away from her before she could exercise any of them."

Connor wondered if the angel's fear of Stacy was greater than hers of them. He asked did they ever hunt together in the past. Sam said they had a few cases together. "So why'd she stop? Was it because of me?"

Again, Sam wondered how much he could tell. "No, it wasn't because of you. She stopped after Bobby Singer died." The case involved hunting down zombies. When Bobby's body was ripped to shreds by one of them, Stacy blamed herself. She said she had dreamt of his death and blamed herself for not preventing it. "His death hit us all hard."

His memories slipped back to that night. It was supposed to be a simple case but it turned out to be an ambush. When they found Bobby, Stacy was leaning over him screaming at him to wake up. Dean struggled to hold her back when help arrived. At the hospital, when the doctor told them what they already knew, she clung tightly onto Dean. The next few days passed in a blur. They spent hours on the couch just staring into nothing. Every so often, Dean would drop his arm around her shoulders and when she slipped towards him, he would kiss the top of her head. If she started to cry, he would hold her tightly until she stopped or fell asleep. Then, one morning before the sun woke up, she disappeared cutting off all communication. Sam wiped his face with his hand. Even after all this time, he still got a lump in his throat when he thought of him.


Stacy got back to the house close to midnight. She pulled her Lincoln up alongside the Impala and rushed inside. The three men were in the front room sharing past cases. "How long have you guys been home?" she asked throwing her keys on the side table.

"About two hours," Sam replied turning around.

Dean stood up when she asked did they find anything. "I thought I smelt sulphur until I realised I was passing the chemistry lab." His eyes flashed a smile.

Connor stood up only when Sam did. "What's wrong?" he asked noticing her nervously glance toward the window.

"It's not just angles who want Connor," she sighed. "It looks like demons got a whiff of what's happening and wants first pickings. I've been out of the loop so long I didn't notice the two following me until I was too close to the house." Connor gave a Sam a worried look. "Of course, there were three waiting outside when I arrived so they must have followed you guys. So much for Cas's cloak."

Sam asked did she know anything that would get rid of them quickly. "Yeah, but it's kinda bright. I might attract the wrong attention."

"Then we'll fight the old fashioned way," Dean declared pulling the knife out of his jacket.

Stacy looked to Connor and told him to go to his room. "I'll call when it's safe to come down."

"No," Connor was scared. "Let me help. I can help." She looked to Sam who duly obeyed her order.

When Connor was about to be locked in his room, he finally spoke. "She's never been out of the loop," he declared. "She knew she was being followed. She led them here. She wants me to be captured."

Sam quickly looked down the hall and closed himself in the room with the young man. "You've got to stop thinking like this. Your conspiracy theories are scaring you more than what's actually chasing you. We're here to help you, all of us, especially your mother. Whatever fears you have about her, get them out of your head before you do something that will get yourself, if not all of us, killed!"


Dean wiped his bloody hand on the shirt of one of the demons. The fight had been surprisingly quick. Dean and Sam held the demons back while Stacy exorcised them. When she got knocked down, Sam took over. "We can't stay here," Dean held out his hand to Stacy and helped her up. "It's too dangerous now that demons know you're here."

"I know a church nearby we can hide out tonight," she thought.

Sam was slightly reluctant. "Isn't that... kind of like… sending out a beacon?"

Stacy wiped the blood away from her lip and joked. "You'd be surprised how little time God has for churches."


Dean pulled the car in front of the white painted stone church. The windows were dark and the streets were empty. Sam checked the front door and announced it was locked. He pulled his kit from his inside pocket and ducked to start work on the lock. But Stacy put one hand on the handle and with a little magic, she opened the doors. Dean's jaw dropped. "You have got to show me how to do that," he said following her inside.

Stacy found the light switch and brightened the aisles. Dean asked her how often she'd been there noting how quickly she found the switch in the darkness. "Once or twice," she smiled.

"Do you smell that?" Sam raised his nose in the air.

"Sulphur?" Dean wondered if there was going to be another fight on their hands.

But when Sam turned round, his eyes were fearful and his face drained. "No, it's blood!"

They followed Stacy as she quickly pushed passed them and ran up the aisle. She jumped the steps of the Alter and through the back door, down a narrow hall and into the back room. As she pushed open the door, a gust of wind blew passed her. The office was completely destroyed. The table and shelves still sizzled in their charred remains. The wall behind the desk was gone as well as the back of the church. Even the trees behind the church were burnt.

"What the…? What did this?" Sam stepped over books and roof slates. "Was it a twister?"

"How many twisters do you know that only take out half of a building," Dean grumbled stepping into the room after him. "Anyway, there haven't been any twisters recorded in these parts before." He looked at the debris under his feet. "I don't what could have done this."

"It was angels," Stacy still held the handle tightly. She was afraid that if she let go, she would collapse.

"Are you sure?" Sam asked. "How do you know?"

But before he got an answer Dean called them over. He had found a body of a man and noted his white color. He reached out for a pulse but the way the body was contorted, he knew he wasn't going to find one. Connor found a body too, a female. Her legs were trapped under a roof beam and her head was back to front.

"It's Father O'Brien and Sister Bernadette," Stacy revealed. "I came here earlier… and spoke to him…" Her legs felt weak. They didn't even know anything, she thought.

Sam apologised and asked were they friends of hers.

"Not exactly," she sighed and turned to leave. She wanted to get away from the smell. "They were angels."