Chapter 31

Grace

"Please," Nasir gestured gently to the chairs around a make-shift wooden table in the back of his shop. "Please sit. Can I please make you food?"

I smiled and shook my head, "Thank you Nasir," I began, glancing at Cas. "But we need to gather some information if we're going to make our move on Lucifer."

Nasir nodded slowly, searching for the words he wanted in English. "The devil," he stuttered, "he is on Earth?"

"He is."

Almost pained by this news, Nasir sat suddenly in the chair behind him and held his face in his hands. In Arabic, he continued, "This is the end, then. We have suffered for ten long years, and now, the final fight will be among the living and creatures from beyond. They will finally win with The Dark One at the helm."

I was already shaking my head. "No, they will not win. You are giving him too much credit," I answered, speaking a language I didn't know I could speak. "We are the Warriors that Earth needs to survive. We just have to figure out how to defeat him." I glanced at Castiel. "That is why we are here. You said…you said you had information that could help us."

Standing up suddenly, Nasir seemed to be energized by my statement. "Yes!" he said, moving to the back of his shop. "This is my daughter. She works at the Archaeological Museum and many other holy sites around the area as a curator, trying to preserve what we have left from the apocalypse." He stood, holding a glossy photograph of a young woman with red lipstick and coifed hair, most likely taken before the apocalypse began. There was a great amount of pride in his voice. "She has mentioned to me many times over the last few months that things are different or missing. Important historical and religious artifacts, she believes, have been stolen and replaced with forgeries."

I glanced at Cas and he nodded, feeling that this was the lead that we might need. On the other hand, it could all be nothing and we could have just stumbled on a ridiculous, end-of-the world-art thief. "Can we speak with her?"

"Yes," Nasir agreed. "We will have to travel to the city to see her."

…

Grace

The people here in Jordan were different that I was used to seeing. There was much more comradery than I was used to, more people eager to help others in this bleak time. Americans tended to be much more selfish when trying to survive, but that was just who we were. I sighed, thinking how much easier it would be if we all banded together the way these people had. Cas nodded, agreeing with my thoughts.

"These cultures are so much older than what we are used to," he muttered to me, leaning close. "They know what it takes to survive long periods without what we know as civilization. They were here before it all."

Nasir was leading us through the crowd of people, heading towards where his daughter worked most days. Cas had taken the lead and transported the three of us to where we needed to be, and though I assumed that Nasir would have a hard time jumping the way we did, it seemed the opposite was true. He loved it and was almost energized by our abilities.

"My daughter is Maja. She will not believe that you are here," Nasir exclaimed as he turned back to speak to us as we walked through the crowd. He was giddy. I smiled at his excitement and took a deep breath. There was hope.

We entered the museum and were plunged into reverent stillness. A woman, around my age with dark, flowing hair and full lips approached us with a smile on her face. She took my hand without hesitation and shook it with both of her own. Upon closer inspection, I could see that this woman had been through some terrible times. Though she was absolutely gorgeous, her face was scarred and pitted, looking like she had survived an explosion. I hurt for this family, who had obviously suffered losses. Both Nasir and Maja carried grief with them like a suitcase.

"Hello, Grace Winchester," she greeted in excellent English. "I am so pleased to meet you. I am Maja. My father has told me about his conversations with you. I hope that this helps you find what you are looking for." She led us down one of the silent halls. Our footsteps echoed off the walls of the corridor and I glanced at Castiel, hope building in my chest for the first time in years.

"This is incredible that you've been able to preserve what you have here at the museum," I commented quietly. "After all that has happened, I would think people's priorities would have shifted."

Maja turned to smile gently at me. "Many people here only have their beliefs. When the monsters came and the apocalypse began, many turned inward to their religion to get them through the fearful times. It was a priority to save what we had kept for millennia, hoping to share the same hope with our own children."

I nodded. "That's understandable. It's so different here."

"Americans are new. They're experiences only include their own families and the new land around them. History here is deep and engrained in our very livelihood. It's a part of our existence."

We turned another corner and Maja and Nasir stopped momentarily, bowing their heads respectfully. Without a comment, they both continued into the room and Maja gestured at the cases of artifacts that lined the walls. "These are our holiest of objects," she began. "They have been discovered after archeological exploration for decades and have been returned back here, where they belong. The only problem," she turned to the first case in line, "is that this is not the artifact that belongs in the case."

I leaned forward and took a deep, slow breath. The inscription read, Horn of Salvation, 600 BCE. I glanced up at Maja and lifted my eyebrows. "Horn of Salvation?" I asked. "I don't know what that is."

Maja gestured to the room. "This is the Bible Relic room. In all these cases, there are different artifacts that we have returned to the museum after the monsters came to Earth. We wanted to protect them, but having them all together in the same place seems to be a problem. There is a man," she stepped towards me, holding out a small tablet, resembling the kids' iPad from before things went sideways. "Who has come in multiple times, always heading to this room. We have old security, enough to record on our devices, run by a generator, so they are not as dependable as they could be." Maja brought up a video and it began to play.

I gasped, watching Sammy walk across the room as if he was enjoying the art display. His hands were behind his back and he walked slowly, looking at each artifact and reading its inscription. In front of the display where we were standing, Sam bent and read the writing, then held out both of his hands over the horn and closed his eyes, almost as if he was listening.

"I take it, that is your Lucifer?" Maja whispered.

Nodding, I couldn't tear my eyes from the video. "Yes," I answered. "What's he doing?" I asked, mainly to Cas.

Cas shook his head, still watching the video carefully.

Suddenly, the screen went black and the video ended. Maja sighed and lowered the display, and took a deep breath. "That happened every time he stops in front of a display. He lifts his hands, closes his eyes and the video will stop. After he comes, the artifact feels…" Maja stopped and took a deep breath, shrugging as she searched for a word. "Different. Lifeless."

I could feel the confusion seep through my chest. What would Lucifer want with ancient relics from the Bible? I wondered, turning to Cas. Again, he shook his head. He was at as much of a loss as any of us.

Staring at the Horn of Salvation, I reached out, feeling what I could about this particular artifact. It didn't feel any different from the tablet or the books on display next to the case. Maja was right. It seemed lifeless. Turning on the toe of my boot, I wandered to the other displays in the room, listening to the feel of the other relics. Maja was right: there were certain artifacts in the room that just felt more powerful than the others. They seemed to have souls and almost breathed in a cosmic way. I turned back to the relics that Lucifer had affected: they didn't do anything for me. They were just objects.

"Lucifer is somehow sucking out their power and taking it with him," I turned to stare at Maja. "Or, when the video goes out, he's taking the entire relic and replacing it with something that doesn't mean shit."

Maja and Nasir looked away, suddenly uncomfortable. I shook my head.

"I am so sorry," I held out my hands. "When I get going, I swear a lot," I pivoted again and pointed to the cases. "Somehow, Lucifer needs these to do something. The question now, is what is he harvesting that kind of power for?"