Chapter 36
Dean
Cas and Lucia reappeared in my living room as I handed Sammy a loaded gun. I nodded my thanks to them and spoke to my brother, "Are you ready for this?"
He nodded, his face set and serious. "Are you?"
"This is the most prepared I have ever felt when it comes to this shit," I replied, laying out another three of Serra's blades. "I called Jody and Emery. They're on their way."
"Do you really want to risk them?" he asked, tucking two blades away, into his boots.
I glanced up at Sam, tilting my head. "It's not a matter of me wanting to risk them. It's that they would both have my hide if they knew I left them out of this."
Sammy nodded, smiling lightly. "That is the truth," he said. "I just hope they know what they're getting into."
"They do," I answered.
Minutes passed, then close to an hour, and nothing happened. Lucia and Cas were frozen in their positions, listening. Jody and Emery had arrived about ten minutes ago and they both had been briefed on what the angels knew and the fact that the girls and the kids were safe.
"Have they heard anything about what Ouriel's plan was?" Emery asked. "If I know him, and I do," she said, taking a deep breath, "he will attack alone. He's very prideful."
I chewed the inside of my cheek. Waiting was the worst. "What does that mean?" I asked, turning to stare at Emery. "Does he think he can take all of us on at once? By himself?"
"If he's not alone, I would be surprised," she answered quietly. "He has a thing with being the only one to take a job. He wants all of the credit. If he does share an assignment, he shares with only one or two other angels."
I glanced at Sam. The longer we waited after such a sudden and desperate appearance from Cas and Lucia, the more on edge I was. It didn't seem right that it was such an emergency when they appeared, but now, we were left waiting.
"Cas, what've you got?" I asked, pacing around the room. "This is weird, right? The waiting? You guys came in here like he was hot on your tail." I watched Lucia and Castiel exchange a glance and without realizing what I was doing, I was walking up to them and speaking in a low and dangerous voice. "Cas, what do you hear?"
"We hear the same thing that we have been listening to all night. His followers are wondering where he is and how the Winchesters will continue after tonight," he replied, speaking calmly. "We responded as if he was already in motion. Ouriel moves in the shadows, using demons and angels alike. We have no idea whom to trust."
The answer slammed into my brain harder than I was ready for. It was too obvious, too easy. Flicking my eyes to Sam, I could see that he had made the same connection that I had and Emery wasn't far behind. I stared back at Cas, willing him to put the pieces together.
I watched Castiel's blue eyes widen as he read my thoughts. "How can that be?" he whispered. "Grace would have known. Grace would have heard."
"Put me there, now," I said, grabbing my gun off the table.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Jody was saying from the corner of the room. "Get us in the loop. What's happening?"
Sam turned to Jody as he loaded his pockets with extra ammunition. "Lailah," he said simply. "Lailah is the only angel we didn't already know." He stared at me as he finished his thought process. "Lailah is the variable."
"Now, Cas. Zap me there now."