Author's Note: It took me awhile to get this chapter right, and to figure out exactly what I wanted to do with it. Actually the first draft of all of this had Ember living with the brothers and Cas during most of her pregnancy and running later, but it just wasn't working out right. Let me know what you think. Reviews make me SQUEEEEE!
I don't own Supernatural.
***Ember POV***
October 21, Afternoon
ONE MONTH LATER
Ember was now seven months pregnant. Over the past month, Ember had found a new way to keep an eye on her loved ones without putting herself in danger = the British Men of Letters.
She had found them completely by accident, actually. She had been highly unfortunate one night and run into a group of vampires – in fact, she'd accidentally teleported about five feet from where six of them were halfway finished drinking a young teenage girl. Just as she had been about to teleport away, however, they had been attacked.
The attack was precise, immaculate, and over practically before it had begun. Hoping that the hunter might know something about what was going on with Sam or Dean, Ember had followed them, against her better judgment. They had thrown the vampire into the back of a large semi truck, and Ember had climbed, invisible, into the back of the semi truck with the corpse.
It had been a horrible idea, but for once, it had paid off. The British Men of Letters base was brilliant, really. They were doing great work. Ember would never support the idea of joining them – they were far too bureaucratic, and the lead hunter, Arthur Ketch, frankly scared Ember to death, as did Lady Toni, the woman who had attempted to kidnap Sam awhile back.
Still, they had managed to systematically wipe out a huge chunk of the United States vampires. Ketch and Toni spent little, if any, time on the base. Instead Ember spent time there invisible watching their bureaucratic leader, Mick Davies, as well as Alton Morehead (Research and Development), and Serena Colman (Security and Surveillance).
It was the best of all worlds, as far as Ember was concerned. She knew the Winchesters, and probably Castiel, would more than likely be attempting a million ways to attempt to talk to her and convince her not to have the baby. As they began to get desperate, this might even include warding or specialized traps, and it would be increasingly dangerous to be anywhere near either her children or the bunker.
The Men of Letters, however, had no angel warding. They had demon warding, but this would never stop or trap Ember no matter how strong her child became. They had no reason to suspect her hanging around, and so had taken no steps to keep her out or trap her.
What they were doing was keeping an awfully close eye on the Winchesters. Ember was surprised how much they knew about the brothers, and even about her, though apparently they hadn't gotten word of either her ability to teleport or the fact that she wasn't susceptible to devil's traps, salt, or any of the other things that full demons were susceptible to.
Mary Winchester was with them, too. She wondered if the brothers knew that their mother hunted with the Men of Letters. She wondered how Dean in particular would feel about that, after Toni had tried to kidnap Sam. Perhaps she would see them all one last time, or write them a letter, before she gave birth, to tell them all that she had found out. For now, however, the Men of Letters didn't seem to present a threat. In fact, they appeared to be trying to figure out how to get the Winchesters on their side. It made Ember laugh.
In this way, she kept an eye on the Winchesters, from a distance, for her safety and for theirs.
Then, finally, on October 21st, Sam Winchester himself marched into the British Men of Letters headquarters. Ember was so stunned when she saw him that she almost accidentally became visible. He was with his mother. "The Brits talk like they're roughing it," she was telling him under his breath.
Ember wanted to run up and hug him, but she resisted the urge. She tried to think what to do. Of the three of them (Castiel, Dean, and Sam) the taller brother was the one most likely to be sympathetic to her reasons for having the baby. Still, it was too risky, and she wouldn't give up the one thing that had brought her any happiness this past month.
Besides, if he liked what he saw at the headquarters, he might come around more often. She felt like a teenage girl stalking a crush, but she shook off the embarrassment. Instead, he was her best friend, and she was keeping him safe by continuing to hide from him and his brother, and the children. She was keeping her nephilim child safe, too.
"Sam Winchester," said Mick Davies, coming out of his office. "You didn't tell me your son was stopping by."
"Didn't know I had to," said Mary. There didn't seem to be any love lost there, and Ember wondered briefly why Mary seemed annoyed with Mick but so friendly with Ketch, who personally gave her the creeps.
"Anyway, welcome," said Mick.
Sam looked uncomfortable. "Yeah, um, you know, I really dig the whole low-budget Mission Impossible vibe, but I'm gonna head back," he said.
"You sure?" Mick said. "You're just in time for the briefing."
"Mick," Mary said warningly.
"I mean, that is, if you wanna hear how we're gonna exterminate every last vampire in America."
That got Sam's attention, and it made Ember smile. Mick was a good leader, and very charismatic - Ember knew that there had been no such briefing, as they had already done it a half hour ago. This new briefing was mostly for Sam's benefit.
Mick wasn't so bad, really. He was systematic and militaristic, but he was also generally kind-hearted. He made decisions that Ember might not have made, such as killing all monsters without exception, however Ember knew he had never been taught otherwise. He was a paper-pusher. Still, he really did seem to want to know more about American hunters.
After introductions, Mick gestured Serena to begin giving a bit of information (again, mostly for Sam's benefit). "As most of you know," said Serena, "Phase One of Project V is nearly complete. Over the past months, we've focused our efforts on the NWR. When we started our operation, there were 241 vampires active across 12 states. We've killed all but 11."
"Wait, what?" said Sam, who had refused to sit. "Seriously? How?"
"You American hunters tend to see vampires as criminals, rogues," said Serena. When one gets out of line, you show up, lop off its head, and leave town. We treat them more like terrorists."
"Vampires may typically hunt alone, or in small nests," said Alton, "But scratch the surface, and they're all connected, from the lowest drone all the way up the chain to the top."
"To the Alpha," Sam confirmed.
"When we find a nest, we don't just charge in a la John Wayne, guns a-blazing," said Mick. "We wait, we watch."
"We determine the size of the nest, and it's relationships to other vampire groups," said Serena.
"They tend to trade amongst themselves," confirmed Alton. "Information… victims."
"We're constantly expanding and refining our intelligence," explained Serena. "And when we've learned all we can, we go, we assemble a team…"
"And wipe them out," said Mary.
Ember could tell Sam was taking this all in, and that he was impressed.
"Now all the remaining NWR vampires have bunkered up in an abandoned building near Wichita – the Morest Hotel. They think they're safe."
"We've got the AVD locked and loaded," said Mary.
"AVD," Alton explained. "Anti-vamp device."
"Tomorrow, we ship out, raid the compound, terminate the colony, and complete Phase One."
"And then we move on to the rest of the country," said Mary. "By the time we're done, there won't be a single bloodsucker left in America."
-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-
"So," Mick said. "Thoughts on our little operation?"
Sam gave a look that was clearly trying not to be impressed.
"Mm-hmm," Mick said, not missing the look. "And our team?"
"Serena and Alton seem smart," Sam admitted, but Ember stopped listening. Sam was impressed. Would he be coming here more often? Would Dean come here as well? Maybe even Castiel? Not likely. This group might consider him another monster, and angels in general had done nothing to dissuade that feeling.
Suddenly, Serena screamed, and everyone gathered around the security camera. Ember couldn't see what they were looking at, and didn't want to get too close by gathering around, so she waited for someone to answer her unspoken question. Finally, Serena said, "It's the Morest vampires. They're here."
***Sam POV***
October 21st, Late Night
Sam was pissed, and impressed, and annoyed, and worried. He was pissed because this idiot group of British Men of Letters had gotten their own headquarters attacked, and now he was having to help defend them. He was both impressed and annoyed, because once he successfully killed these vampires, that would be the end of all of the vampires in the Northwest Region. The systematic wipe-out of all vampires by the British Men of Letters was impressive, but also annoying because he had underestimated them. And, of course, he was worried for his mother.
Ember was the last person whose voice he expected to hear, particularly here, particularly while he was in the middle of defending a door from a vampire attack. Still, the voice calling to him was definitely hers, and he was so surprised that he almost let the vampires get the jump on him. Almost.
"Sam! What do you need?" she yelled.
"What are you doing here?!" he yelled back at her, slicing off a vampire's hand.
"Premonition!" she yelled back.
This didn't surprise him. "Down the hall to your left! Get them out!" And he didn't have the chance to look back to see if she had followed directions.
***Ember POV***
October 21st, Late Night,
Ember hadn't had much time to think, which had been annoying. First, it had occurred to her that she shouldn't let herself be seen if she ever wanted to come back here. Therefore, she had started by taking out every vampire that had stepped outside of the security camera's line of fire, which was about half of them. She was invisible, but an invisible force killing vampires would still be suspicious.
She had also told Sam that she had had a premonition, so that hopefully he wouldn't expect her to hang around the Men of Letters headquarters after he left. This was a lie – her premonitions, she knew, involved only Lucifer, and now Castiel.
Ember sprinted off down the hallway as fast her pregnant belly could go, though it felt more like a waddle. She turned left, where she found Mick, Serena, and Alton. It looked like they had been in the process of making bullets. Without thinking, she put a hand on both of their shoulders and teleported them about five miles away.
-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-
It was a full thirty minutes later before Ember returned to the Men of Letters headquarters. She couldn't afford a return trip, not after she had taken Serena and Alton to safety. She could've teleported directly in front of the vampires, which, invisible or not, would've been dangerous with as slow as she was moving these days.
Half an hour later, she reasoned, whatever would've happened would be over. Apparently signal was back up, and the raid was over, with no human casualties. Dean was across the large room talking to his mother, and seeing him for the first time in weeks put a smile to Ember's face.
Still, the conversation between Mick and Sam occurring in the corner was more important, and Ember stepped closer to listen.
"If you hadn't been there tonight," Mick was saying.
"Yeah, we got the kill. That's what mattered," Sam said.
"Hardly an advertisement for the British Men of Letters, though," said Mick. "Or my leadership. Caught unawares with our proverbial pants down." Mick sighed. "At least Serena and Alton were saved. They both called to say they were… I don't know, teleported to a spot five miles down the road at the last possible second. Could it have been-…"
"You know, Mick," Sam said, quirking a smile. "I've been thinking I really like what you're doing here."
Mick looked startled. "Yeah?"
"On one condition," said Sam.
Mick raised his eyebrows. "The being that got your comrades out… we know it. It's helped us a lot. But it's under our protection, and we're under it's protection. And it needs to stay that way."
Mick nodded. "Under the rug, then… and if it turns on you, or on us?"
"It won't," said Sam, looking around and shaking his head sadly. "I very much doubt it'll be coming back here at all."
Ember smiled to herself, a very bittersweet smile. Sam was right… she could never come back here now, not after teleporting Serene and Alton to safety. It was just too risky.
***Castiel POV***
November 6, Evening
"So how are things in Heaven?" Castiel asked Kelvin.
He didn't often see angels much anymore, so he had been happy to respond when his brother had reached out to him. He missed Heaven desperately, almost as much as he missed being with Ember… not that either one of them was speaking to him.
"Functional," said Kelvin. "You know, there's the usual infighting, but… let's just say that Lucifer having a baby on board has brought us all together. What you've done was incomprehensible, Castiel."
"You must know I've tried to rectify-…"
"Not hard enough," said the other angel. He fixed Castiel with a hard glare. "Look, I know you're working with the Winchesters. And I know you're in love with the mother, Ember whatever-her-name-is."
Castiel flinched. Now he remembered why he didn't hang out with angels.
"You ever miss it?" Kelvin asked. "Upstairs? I mean, don't get me wrong. I love Earth. It's quirky. It smells like hay. But it's not home, is it?"
"I don't believe I'm welcome in Heaven," Castiel said, fixing Kelvin with a glare.
"No, you're not," the other angel said. "They're very angry, I won't lie. But what if I told you, you could come back? That all your sins could be forgotten? Forgiven?"
"I would say that you're lying," Castiel snapped.
"Oh, but I'm not," Kelvin said. "Let's face it, if Lucifer wanted to create a nephilim, he'd have done it with or without you, and he'd've probably even chosen Ember."
Castiel balled his fists up.
"This child will kill her without your help," said Kelvin. "You must know that. Birthing a nephilim would kill a normal human, but Ember's not normal, is she? But even so, it'll still take the powers of an angel to heal her fast enough to compensate for the birthing."
"I'd guessed as much," Castiel admitted.
"I figured you had," Kelvin said. "And I expect you planned to do the healing yourself… considering that if she dies, she won't be allowed in Heaven."
Castiel flinched, and Kelvin did not miss it. "Surely you knew that?" asked Kelvin, adopting a fake sympathetic expression.
"She earned her way to Heaven," Castiel protested bitterly.
"True," said Kelvin. "But this is as unforgiveable for her as it is for you. But, if you help us, and send her upstairs for us – or, if you're feeling sentimental, even if you just send the child upstairs - you'll both be welcome there."
"Right," Castiel said sarcastically. "And you have the power to do that."
"Oh, no, I can't," said Kelvin. "I'm just the messenger. But Joshua can."
"Joshua," said Castiel, remembering the Garden. "I thought he stepped aside."
"He did," answered Kelvin. "But like I said, all hands on deck situation. Imagine it, Castiel - free to come and go as you please, part of your family, your true family, again. And Ember will be there too. She'll come to terms with it, once she knows the stakes. Because we'll track her down either way, and she will lose the child."
Castiel was unsure.
"Look," said Kelvin, relaxing in his seat and taking another drink. "The Gardener's got a plan. All we ask is that you hear us, hear him out. For the greater good."