08: They Say He Likes a Good Time.

Zarya was thankful when she returned to the bunker and found it empty. She took another, even hotter shower trying desperately to rid herself of the thoughts that had been creeping in. Just as she finished getting dressed and was toweling off her hair, she heard a noise. Disregarding the fact that she was only in capri leggings and her sports bra, she grabbed her revolver and tiptoed down the hall. She found a door slightly ajar and cocked her gun before busting in.

"What the actual hell are you doing?!" She exclaimed with annoyed fury when she laid eyes on Lucifer ransacking the room.

He grinned at her before tossing another book to the side haphazardly. "It's so easy to come and go from your sacred little bunker when it registers that I'm Castiel." He snickered when he saw her eye twitch slightly. "Relax, Rya. I'm looking for something that should significantly weaken Remiel. It should be here; the Men of Letters had her trapped for like, twenty minutes once."

Her eye twitched once more. "I'm seriously resisting the urge to put my gun to my head and blow my fucking brains out right now."

Lucifer shrugged and yanked open another box. "It's not like you wouldn't come back so go ahead if you really want. I'll be here to greet you when you wake up."

Her teeth grit in a little snarl, fangs extending. She boldly marched up behind him and smacked him in the back of the head with her gun. He was barely fazed by the gesture. All he did was roll his eyes and continue what he was doing. "What the fuck do you mean the Men of Letters trapped Remiel once?"

"After a few thousand years in Runa, she boldly tried her hand with someone not of Vasile blood. She learned pretty damn quick that it wasn't going to work, but before she could jump out the Men of Letters grabbed her. They didn't know what she was exactly, or who obviously, but they knew she was involved in the creation of the Vasile line. They had her contained until she exploded the vessel and fucked off to further her plots. I want to know what they used that held her for even a few minutes."

It took a minute, but Zarya eventually sighed. She then slid her revolver in the back band of her leggings. "Well you're not gonna find it in this shit; all this is is records of extreme exorcisms. The Men of Letters would have kept information like that really under wraps. Probably in the sealed records in the basement."

He arched a brow as he looked to her before tossing another thing to the side loudly. "How would you know about those?"

She shrugged. "Because I snoop when I'm here alone. It's how I found the rock that kept her shielded from the angels." Another noise startled her into grabbing her gun again. She stood with her back against the wall next to the door, gun cocked. When she heard footsteps grow closer she jumped out with her gun aimed. The barrel of her gun brushed by Dean's as they aimed at one another. "What the fuck!" She exclaimed. "You idiots are gonna give me a fucking heart attack today!"

Dean blinked a couple of times in confusion before slowly putting his gun away. "What the hell is going on? Cas? What the hell are you doing?"

"Hello, Dean," Lucifer spoke in Castiel's voice to convince Dean.

The hunter made a face. "Right, yeah. We don't hear from you for days, you show up, and you start wrecking the joint."

"Well… I'm…"

Zarya quickly jumped in. "He's looking for a spell - something to draw Amara out - but the Men of Letters doesn't seem to have jack. He scared the hell out of me when I got home and heard the ruckus. I tried to help but only made more of a mess." She grinned up at Dean in a way that still didn't show her naturally larger than normal fangs.

If he wasn't trying to keep up the Castiel facade, Lucifer would have smirked. "There has to be something, Zarya." He forgot how much distaste he had for saying her full name rather than her nickname. "How many more chances are we going to get?"

Dean sighed in agreement. "Yeah, I know. Saying you're gonna kill is one thing, but… Actually doing it's something totally different."

"What do you mean?" The ravenette questioned.

"I've had two shots at Amara, Zare… I struck out both times now."

"What are you talking about?"

"I don't even know where to start…"

Lucifer stepped closer to Zarya and put a hand gently on her shoulder. She could see the taunting, devilish look to his blue eyes but Dean was clearly oblivious. "Dean… tell us everything."

Zarya stepped away from both of them. "You know what? Why don't you two chat and I'll go look for things elsewhere."

"Do me a favor then, Zare?" She looked to him before practically running out the door. "Grab me a gold blade. Sammy and I are finishing up a case that turned out to be a banshee."

She gave a small wave agreeing to the task before vanishing down the hall. To be honest, she still wanted to put a bullet in her own brain at least once as some awful coping mechanism for her life. Every damn time she shook herself free of Lucifer he would come right back. Having not actually talked about anything like they never did, things were still rather tense and awkward between Zarya and Dean. Now she was a dhampir and keeping secrets for Lucifer. Both of those factors were sure to ruin any form of relationship she still held with Dean, and Sam too. When she reached the desired room with the gold blade, she hit her head a few times on the concrete wall in frustration.

"How the hell did I end up here?" She muttered.

"I tried to kill her," Dean explained to who he thought was Cas.

"Well, the two of you are connected somehow by the Mark." Lucifer pressed. It was then that only he noticed the soft footfalls of Zarya growing closer.

"Yeah, no, it's, uh… It's more than that."

Again, the archangel resisted the urge to smirk or grin. "Attraction?" He offered. He noticed Zarya stop before entering when Dean failed to respond. "Oh, Dean."

"I know," he huffed. "I know, okay? Whatever it is… attraction, connection, I got to tell you, man… it scares me."

"Perhaps because it reminds you of the way you would feel for Zarya? How does that factor in against Amara?"

Dean chuckled dryly. "Ah, Zare doesn't want me. Not like that. I was wrong. So trying to deal with that while Amara is almost… all consuming, it hurts. I feel like I'm betraying her for this feeling towards Amara, but how can I betray someone who never felt the same way?"

"Why do you assume she never felt the same? She has always cared for you. What changed?"

You son of a bitch, Zarya thought in the hallway. Your ego wants to hear him admit it.

"I know she cares, don't get that wrong. But she'll never love me like I love her. And I can live with that so long as I know she's here with us instead of freakin' Lucifer. If the day ever comes where she goes to that son of a bitch I just…" He shrugged. "I quit."

Not Cas put a hand on Dean's shoulder. He longed more than most things to be able to grin right then. Instead, he feigned concern for Dean. "In the end, all of this may help draw Amara out. This could be a good thing."

Zarya only entered when Dean answered his phone. She handed him the knife without more than a nod from each of them. With Dean's back turned to both of them, she snarled with her fangs out and middle finger up to Lucifer. The archangel grinned down at her. When Dean turned back around, both of their expressions changed back. "I gotta get back to Sam," he told them before pulling who he believed to be Castiel aside. "Cas, what we talked about…" He glanced over at Zarya who pretended to look curious about what was going on. "Let's just keep all of that between you and me until we know more, alright?"

Oh, even though Rya has heard literally every word? Lucifer mentally grinned. "Dean, that's not-"

"Cas, just… trust me."

"Alright," he nodded. "But the next time you face Amara, you won't be alone."

Dean returned the nod. "Thanks, Cas." He waved to Zarya who did the same before taking off out of the bunker.

When he was gone, Zarya crossed her arms and glared at the archangel. "You're a real jackass, you know that?"

Lucifer shrugged and absentmindedly looked at the various books on the shelves near him. "Couldn't begin to know what you mean, Rya." He smirked before looking at her. "Do you feel some competition with Amara? No, probably not since even Dean knows you don't want him 'like that'." He snickered.

Her cheeks turned bright pink with embarrassment and anger. "You had no reason to get that out of him! You only did it because you wanted to feed your ego."

He took a few steps closer to her, almost daringly. "I'll bet he kissed you and you couldn't kiss him back. Probably took off running without looking back, yeah? Of course I can figure that out; I know you, Rya. I know you in a way that Dean never could and not even Nick ever did."

"Shut your mouth," she growled through grit teeth at him. She knew he was doing the same to her - pushing her buttons, but she couldn't bring herself to not react. She couldn't tame herself.

"Tell me I'm wrong then."

Zarya lashed out then. Her balled fist to her right reacted without thought. It reeled back and swung. She knew it wouldn't have done much, but she was even more infuriated when it stopped before colliding. Her eyes widened at Lucifer's hand calmly grabbing her wrist.

"I told you, Rya," he continued without letting her go, "I know you far better than anyone else, yourself included. You are allowed the same of me should you just let yourself. You saw past Nick and I know you see past Castiel. You'll never have what we do with anyone else. Especially Dean."

"Stop trying to remind me," she finally exclaimed. "We are not going to happen! You are not good and I'm not good for anyone. We are not good together."

"So you've thought about us being together."

She let out a cry of frustration before using her strength to yank her arm away. "Why are you so fucking fixated on me?! I am not that fucking special!"

"You're right, Rya. I'm not the good guy. I'm the selfish one! I take what I want, I do what I want. Because that's who I am, Rya. And I'm not going to change. But one day you're going to realize that I'm the only one who wants you through everything. One day you'll take a look and find that the only one left standing by you, the only one you can trust, is me!"

She reacted without thought again, trying to swing at him. He caught her first hand, then her second, catching her completely off guard. She gave one struggle backwards but he swiftly pulled her flush against him. She absolutely loathed to admit it, but he had been right - she could see past Cas. Even though it was Cas' face she was staring up at, his trench coat and tie, all Zarya could see through the blue eyes was Lucifer. Castiel wasn't even a thought in her mind. The way he looked at her, held her, his ice cold hands. That's what made it different when he boldly kissed her. Should Dean have seen the way her eyes begrudgingly fluttered closed he would have lost his damn mind. Her hands gripped tightly to the lapels of his coat as she almost regrettably kissed him back.

She was getting real sick of being half vampire.

Zarya hadn't been going on many cases with the boys anymore. She'd barely been interacting with anybody, in fact. It had gotten to the point where Katia sought out the brothers to ask if she was alright. They told her she seemed okay, she had just been finding hunts for herself more often. They were a little thankful about it since most of her cases were milk runs most seasoned hunters dreaded - salt and burns, ghouls, even a couple of smaller vamp nests. Katia asked Sam about his visions, if he was still getting any, which was when she found out about their adventure to Hell. Something didn't sit right with her so she went to track down Sofia.

Zarya tossed her bag down after another ghoul hunt beside a note from Sam and Dean indicating their whereabouts if she wondered. They had recently been to see Jody which she knew she would hear about in the near future, but she just couldn't go. One of them would see right through her. Jody, the mother of them all; Alex, who formerly lived amongst vampires, including a Vasile; or Claire, who was determined to unmask a monster. She made her way to her room where she stripped the filthy clothes and showered. Once she was dressed and about to relax she thought she heard something outside. It didn't sound like Sam and Dean who shouldn't return for at least two more days. Slipping her boots back on, the dhampir made her way outside.

Everything was silent and as it should be when she looked around. She even took an extra second to really focus her hearing but nothing was out of place. That was when she began to consider Lucifer creeping around the bunker to harass her. It had been days of peace without any torment even though he was running amuck in Castiel. She turned to go back in the bunker with the thought that it had to be the archangel at last. Before the door could open, however, she was grabbed by both arms and promptly teleported away before she could fight back.

Lucifer sat on the throne in Hell staring boredly at an iPad. A demon stood shakily before him. "Ah, s-sir, would you like to hear the latest soul numbers?"

"No, because I don't care."

The doors opened and Bacchus strolled in with a pleased smile. He stood next to the other demon standing much taller and more confident with his hands clasped behind his back. "My lord, Miss Zarya has been acquired as requested."

"Z-Zarya Vasile?" The other demon whispered.

Finally, Lucifer looked up from the iPad with amusement in his eyes. With a snap of his fingers the doors opened again. That time, Zarya stood in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest and a frown on her pale pink lips. "You have got to be fucking kidding me."

"Oh, it gets so much better, Rya." Lucifer grinned as she stormed her way down, being sure to shove Bacchus and the other demon out of her way. He clapped his hands a couple of times and a demon opened a little cage near the throne. Crowley was tugged out by chains, making Zarya's eyes widen.

"I can't say I'm not amused, but what the fuck?"

Lucifer shrugged. "I thought I might try my hand at training a dog in my spare time. How are your wounds, doggy?"

Crowley's jaw was set as he stared up at Zarya. He knew that woman was no good, and he was the King of Hell! Begrudgingly and miserably he responded, "They are… no less than I deserve."

She finally looked back to Lucifer with a hand on her hip. "Ignoring the sideshow, why did you have me dragged down here?"

"Because Sam and Dean are occupied with a case and I could use your input on some things."

She scoffed, mildly amused. "What could my input possibly do for you?"

He waved her closer to him, but she hesitated. There was the smallest shred of hope in Crowley that she would be defiant to him, but when Lucifer motioned for her a second time Zarya rolled her eyes and walked closer. As soon as she was within reach he swiftly pulled her down to sit on his lap. She frowned with annoyance yet did nothing. "Crowley made the demons so… needy," he explained quietly enough for just her vampiric hearing to pick up. "They want actual leadership. I don't care what they do."

"So, what?" She whispered back. "You want me to care what they do? Have you lost your fuckin' marbles now?"

"What can I say?" He grinned. "You make me crazy, Rya." She took her only opportunity to slap him upside the head to which he only snickered at. "I'm practically giving you a slight of hand. You give them all things to do and if they don't want to listen then you drag them in to me. Though I think most are afraid enough of you already." He shrugged.

"S-sir…?" The more timid demon stammered for the archangel's attention.

"See how pathetic they are?" Lucifer continued to speak to Zarya. "Bacchus and maybe three others are the only ones that have brains and know how to utilize them. You can keep them from killing off your little hunter buddies if you really want. I really don't care. C'mon, Rya, please?"

Maybe I've finally cracked, she thought. I mean, there's no way I'm mildly forcibly sitting on Lucifer's lap in Hell being requested to take command over the demons. That's not real life.

"Fine," she finally groaned. "Just tell me you have some kind of idea about either Amara or Remiel and you didn't just haul me down here for that."

He grinned and snapped his fingers. The doors opened once more to a small handful of low level demons bringing in various medieval looking weaponry. Zarya sweatdropped at the sight. She was beginning to feel like her life had become a circus. "That's all of it?" Lucifer asked with a small frown when they finished.

"Yes sir." One of the demons replied. "The requested weaponry from your crypt. Does it please you?"

He rolled his eyes. "Spare me. From now on, all of you will report to my lovely Rya." He smirked as he started playing with a lock of her hair. She smacked his hand once, but not again when he resumed twirling her hair around his finger. "I have bigger things to deal with and surprisingly she has more patience than me."

The looks on some of the demons' faces were astonished, baffled, and confused. Crowley, in the corner, was trying not to react at all lest he wanted to be punished again. Zarya Vasile in charge of all of the demons in Hell? What the hell was Lucifer thinking? Crowley wanted nothing more than to fume and scream but it wouldn't do him any good; Lucifer was already stronger than he was, let alone with Zarya at his side. Or rather, on his lap.

Bacchus raised a brow with a smirk. "Interesting decision, my lord. Perhaps I could discuss with Miss Zarya about things to be done and how to go about things?"

"Sounds great to me." Zarya tried to leap off of Lucifer's lap only to be yanked back down by the belt loop on her pants. She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. "Can you not manhandle me for five seconds?"

He looked past her to Bacchus. His elbow was propped on the arm of the throne and his head in his hand. He held firmly to the back of Zarya's jeans, partially wondering if she would be daring enough to use her vampiric strength and speed to get away while risking ripping her jeans. "Hm, I don't see why not, but not right this second. Rya and I have more important things to discuss right now. I'll summon you when I'm done."

Bacchus gave a bow. "Of course, my lord."

"What else could you possibly want with me?" Zarya half groaned. "Must I remain sitting on you?"

He chuckled. "Act like you're not perfectly content sitting here, Rya." They both heard the shuffle of Crowley's chains and looked over which made him flinch. "Awh, you're scared of your master. That's a good doggy." He grabbed the end of the chain that had been placed near him and forcibly yanked Crowley over to sit at their feet. "But it's an act. I broke you, but uhm…" Zarya made a face when he dramatically sniffed the air. "Yep, I can still smell it; you've got that delectable little whiff of defiance. You're just playing, huh? Waiting for your moment to retake the throne, am I right?"

Crowley looked at the floor. "Yes, sir."

"Well, then. Tell me, once and future King of Hell, you've been watching my role; what treasonous thoughts do you have brewing in that little head of yours, huh?" When he failed to respond, Lucifer gave a kick to Crowley's head. "What are you really thinking? Hm?"

"The truth, sir…?"

Zarya rolled her eyes. "Duh?" Lucifer snickered.

Crowley bit the inside of his cheek for a moment because of Zarya's input. "You're not strong enough. You had your weapons delivered, you realize they won't be enough. If you thought you could beat Amara you'd be taking the fight to her! Right now."

Lucifer was quiet for a moment which put even Zarya slightly on edge. "Amara is hardly my concern. She takes second place to my actual purpose for getting Castiel to give me use of his body. I requested my weapons because I knew what I needed would be among them."

"Which would be what and for why?" Zarya asked, her tone low and brows furrowed.

He looked her in the eyes with a devilish smirk before giving her a light tap on her hip as if to let her know she could stand again. When Zarya did hesitantly stand up, he followed suit and took her hand to walk her by Crowley, being sure to give the King of Hell a swift kick to the ribs. Part of Zarya wanted to rip her hand out of his, but a slightly stronger part didn't mind the gesture as he led her over to the weaponry. He started muddling through the collection and talking to her casually.

"When Dad made Remiel, it was volatile energy He picked from Oblivion. And I know you know what that is."

"Yeah, I do. A whole other astral plane right up there with Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, and the Other Side."

He nodded, his fingers trailing across some of the objects absentmindedly. "He didn't have control when she came to be, but she took to my light. So I took her under my wing. That opened a drastic weakness to Remiel."

"You were her guardian, but also what could take her down because you were her guardian. You held the power to subdue her if necessary."

He turned to give her a small, proud smile. "You always have been smarter than her, too."

"So Remiel doesn't even know that what can weaken her and take her life is you?"

"Nope. Utterly clueless. She knows she's stronger and once protected around me, but she was also so focused on herself that she never considered having a weakness. She always believed us archangels were invincible; immortal. We're just a lot harder to kill, much like yourself. We each have our angel blades, but the five of us also had other weapons at our personal disposal in case of emergency. They had been used against Amara, a couple of other times, and I may have drawn one of my blades on Michael before I was kicked out." He smirked.

"But Remiel didn't have an angel blade I thought. Her arrows were her angel blade."

"That is true, yes, but Remiel was a special case through and through. She had her bow and arrows, and her stone. I have my angel blade, dual wielded scimitars, and two different swords. One of those swords…" He smirked when he found what he wanted, taking out a white and gold sword that had to be at least the size of one of Zarya's arms from shoulder to finger tips. "Is what we can use to kill Remiel."

Her eyes widened at the sight of the sword. Lucifer really was trying to help her kill his own sister. After everything he did, he never did want Remiel to use her. She took a minute to shove down the emotions trying to come forward and turn her cheeks pink knowing the truth she knew. "You're serious…?" Her voice almost shook.

Lucifer rolled his eyes playfully. "Of course I'm serious. Don't you think I should know how to kill my own sibling?"

"You're serious about killing her though…? She was your favorite sibling. You showed her the ropes. You-"

"Are you still on this, Rya? Remiel is a disaster. What control I did have to keep her from being bat shit psychotic is long gone. She wants to hurt you, so I want her dead."

From his place on the floor, Crowley's eyes widened with horror. Lucifer had turned his back on his sister for a human girl. Wait, was she even human anymore…? Was it figurative or literal when he said Zarya was also difficult to kill like the archangels? She had turned into a dhampir, hadn't she? He would never admit it to anyone, but Crowley had never felt such fear in his bones. Zarya Vasile a dhampir and teamed up with Lucifer who was visibly pining for her affection so much so he sought his sister's death. There was no way the Winchesters knew what was going on, they didn't even know about Castiel! Part of him wanted to smoke out, but he knew they both would find him. What would happen after they did he didn't want to think about.

Zarya's cheeks had turned a light shade of pink as she slowly lost control of her erratic emotions. Her vampire blood felt so incredibly strongly it was increasingly difficult for her human blood to keep it in check. "You don't even call her by her nickname anymore…" She muttered, unable to meet his eye anymore. "What the hell makes me so special to you?"

The hand not holding the sword slowly reached up to gently caress her cheek. She jumped at first, prompting him to slightly take his hand away for a second to let her adjust. When she didn't move and instead let him touch her face, he smiled and spoke quietly for only her to hear. "Oh, Rya. That is what makes you special to me - that you don't understand why and feel unworthy and afraid of it. You're so much more special than she ever dreamed of being." Castiel's phone in his pocket rang just then, Dean's name on the screen. He put a finger to his lips before answering in Castiel's voice. "Hello, Dean."