Hi again! Welcome to another chapter. I'm about to start my binge of season ten so I thought I'd update before I begin! Once I finish the season I'll be able to start incorporating it into the material I have, or I'll decide if I want to go in a different direction- it really all depends on how things go.
Thanks so much for the reviews, follows, favorites and reads! I'm so glad that you like the story so far! Now, please enjoy Cas and Amriel's first date.
Disclaimer: In no way do I have any rights to Supernatural or any of the characters you are familiar with. I only own Amriel and any OCs that pop up along the way.
Chapter Eight: Self Defense
The two sat across from one another and looked over the Mexican restaurant's menu as the waitress brought them their drinks. They had both ordered frozen margaritas, Amriel choosing a mango flavored one and Cas picking one that was mixed berry.
"I drank the contents of an entire liquor store once," Castiel told her as they waited for their beverages. He wanted to be the one that Amriel had her first alcoholic drink with, and the memory popped into his head.
"Seriously? How are you still alive?" she asked, her eyes wide. Amriel had been inside of a liquor store once to buy snacks, thinking it had been a convenience store. It was filled with thousands of bottles of alcohol. How had he managed to drink all of it?
"I was an angel at the time- searching for God had taken a toll on me and when I couldn't find him, I found the nearest liquor store and drank everything in sight. I got pretty drunk," Cas laughed, realizing that it had been stupid of him to drink so much.
When the waitress returned with the drinks, Amriel ordered something called enchiladas, which seemed interesting enough, while Cas chose flautas. He had never tried Mexican food before, and he had no idea what to expect when his order arrived. Cas had only ever had burgers when he went places with Sam and Dean, and he figured it was time to branch out.
"So this is an alcoholic drink?" Amriel stared down at her glass, inspecting the orange slush with a curious gaze.
"It has alcohol in it. Tequila, I believe. You can either drink alcohol alone or mixed with something else to make it taste better. It really doesn't have the greatest flavor by itself," he mused before taking a sip of his drink and enjoying the way it tasted.
Amriel mimicked his action and sipped through her straw, her eyes widening at the texture of her margarita. It was freezing cold and tasted sweet, and as she continued to drink she felt a sharp pain in her head. She groaned and pulled away from the glass, frowning at it as she rubbed her forehead.
"I think they call that brain freeze," Castiel told her, a smile on his face as he watched her glare at him. "Don't worry, it's totally normal."
"Is the drink defending itself?" she asked, and Cas burst out laughing, unable to stop himself s his face turned bright red.
"Am- Amriel," he let out between gasps for air, trying to catch his breath. "Inanimate objects don't act in self defense."
Crossing her arms over her chest Amriel felt uncomfortable with Castiel laughing at her, even though she liked the way it sounded. She knew that she didn't understand everything that came with being human, but she knew she didn't like being laughed at. Amriel sent him a nasty look and he suddenly straightened up, tugging at the collar of his shirt.
"I'm sorry for laughing at you- it was incredibly rude of me." He nervously glanced down at his own drink and played with the napkin in his lap, totally unaware that he was participating in a completely human motion.
"It's okay, Cas. Let's talk about something else," Amriel smiled and she asked, "So do I get to kiss you at the end of this date?"
Caught off guard, Castiel choked as he tried to swallow his drink. She wasn't angry at him? Normally whenever Dean was upset he brooded for days or weeks. He wasn't used to such a quick turnaround, but he was pleased.
"You can kiss me whenever you want," he said with a smile on his face, unaware that he was beaming at her. "I definitely won't stop you."
Amriel shook her head as she picked at the things called tortilla chips that sat in a basket on the table, saying that they might have to practice later.
They spent the rest of their time at the restaurant eating their strange meals, deciding that they in fact did like Mexican food. Cas paid the bill, tossing his crumpled cash into the checkbook along with a few extra dollars for a tip. He remembered the Winchesters doing so on several occasions, and the two left just as the sun started to set.
"Is there a liquor store nearby?" Amriel asked, wrapping her scarf around her neck as they walked side by side. It had snowed earlier, and the ground was covered in slushy white powder. "I think I'd like to try different kinds of alcohol."
Cas thought about it for a few seconds, realizing that he hadn't seen one in all the time he had been in Rexford. He did know that they sold liquor at a convenience store a few blocks away. They sold it at the Gas-N-Sip as well, but he didn't want to buy it at his place of work.
"There's a mini mart down the street," he finally responded. "Are you sure about this?"
"I want to experience everything there is when it comes to being human, inebriation included," Amriel looked up at him as she leaned into his shoulder. "It seems fun, from what I've seen on television."
Castiel suddenly stopped and turned to face her, his bright eyes filled with a look she couldn't figure out and before she could open her mouth to ask what was going on, Cas leaned in and kissed her. When he went to pull away, Amriel grabbed the collar of his jacket and deepened their kiss, unaware that it wasn't completely acceptable to make out in the middle of a sidewalk.
An older woman that was passing by broke the pair apart with a loud cough. She sent a glare at Castiel, whom she had assumed was old enough to be her father. Cas stood up straight and took Amriel's hand, leading her down the street after sending a polite nod to the gray-haired woman.
He realized that yes, he actually was older than Amriel as an angel, but Jimmy Novak was 34 when Castiel had taken him as a vessel. Amriel had mentioned that Amy was 24 and could pass as a teenager, but as an angel she wouldn't age. Cas was going to grow older, and that both excited and frightened him.
On their way to the convenience store, Cas pulled Amriel down a narrow alley in order to cut through the block, and he thought nothing of his decision until he heard a pair of footsteps crunching through the snow, following them. Castiel stopped and Amriel ran into his back, not watching where she was going.
"Give me your cash and no one gets hurt," a rough voice came from behind them, and Amriel whipped around to see a man wearing a stained, tattered coat, jeans, and scuffed up boots wielding a knife. His dark, brown eyes were staring at the purse she had resting against her hip- it was a cross-body bag, according to Marissa, and Amriel felt that this man meant them harm.
"Get behind me," Cas whispered to her, moving to stand between Amriel and the man. "We don't want any trouble."
"Then give me the money! It'd be a shame if I had to cut up you or your little girlfriend," he sent a yellow-toothed grin towards Amriel, who was trying to hold in all of her rage towards this insignificant human being.
Cas pushed up his sleeves and dug through his pockets, fumbling to pull out the few single bills he had and he handed them over to the man, who quickly counted them.
"Eight dollars? Are you kidding me?" He glared at Castiel before looking over his shoulder to make eye contact with Amriel. "It's your turn, sweetie. Hand it over."
"She will do no such thing," Cas growled, moving towards the man to stop him from getting closer to the blonde. The man reacted quickly, slashing at Castiel's forearm with his small knife and eliciting a groan from the fallen angel.
The man pushed the stunned Cas aside easily now, and closed the small space between Amriel and himself, unaware that she had one of her hands behind her back.
"Now are you gonna give me whatever you got in your purse or are you gonna make me take it from you?" he asked, and she could smell the liquor on his breath as he stared down at her, his lifeless eyes unnerving her. He wasn't a demon, but he might as well have been.
"Neither," she hissed, revealing her angel blade and thrusting it up into his stomach, careful to miss any major organs. Amriel didn't want to kill him, after all, and she watched him fall to the ground, clutching his stomach in pain as he cried out, "You bitch!"
"Come on, let's go," Amriel took Castiel's hand, leading him out of the alley and down a few blocks as fast as they could go without drawing attention to themselves.
Once she felt like there was a safe distance between them and their attacker, Amriel pulled Cas into the back parking lot of a small motel not far from where they had eaten dinner. She pushed him against the wall gently and took his right arm, inspecting his wound with a frown. It was deep and trailed the length of his forearm. The cut was gushing blood at an alarming rate, Amriel could see that the color was draining from his face and his breath was coming out in quick puffs, creating small white mists of air, and she knew that she had to act.
"It's nothing, Amriel. We just have to stop the bleeding- it'll heal with time," he told her sadly, wishing he could just heal himself like he had always done.
"That human had ill intentions- he would've done much worse if he had the chance. Who knows what diseases that knife carried."
Amriel set her palm against his arm, as close to the wound as she could get without actually touching it, and she focused her grace and healed him. When she saw that his skin was smooth and perfect once more, Amriel smiled and she wavered, her head falling forward as she sagged against Castiel.
He could tell that she was unconscious, but that didn't stop Cas from calling her name and trying to wake her up. Healing him had drained her- why did she do that when the injury he sustained wasn't that serious?
Cas had no idea what to do besides wrap his arms around the unconscious Amriel and hold her against him. They were at a motel, so he could rent a room there- he had enough money on him. Of course he hadn't given that mugger all of the money he had, he learned from Dean to keep his cash in a safer place, like his sock. Castiel knew he couldn't carry her back to the abandoned house in this weather, so he decided that the motel would be the best choice at the moment.
Carrying Amriel in his arms like she was a sleeping child worked to his advantage. He cradled her against his chest as he walked into the motel lobby, making up an excuse of her being entirely too drunk to drive, and the woman at the front desk sped up the check-in process. The price per night was inexpensive, so Castiel paid for a few nights in advance and took the key, signing Steve Moscone in the ledger.
Once he opened the door to room 6, he flipped the light on and staggered inside, using his foot to shut the door with a loud thud. The room had one queen sized bed, an old, box set television, and a couch, among other typical motel furniture. He gently laid Amriel on the bed and sat down beside her after shedding his coat and tossing it on the couch. Cas pushed a few strands of hair out of her face, frowning deeply as he realized that this was the first time he had ever been healed by an angel.
"You shouldn't have done that," he mumbled bitterly, even though he knew he would have done the same thing in a heartbeat if she had been the one injured. Cas didn't know what to do with himself until she woke up, so he turned on the small TV and flipped through channels until he found something that seemed interesting enough.
Castiel positioned himself so he was sitting up against the pillows and headboard, wanting to stay awake until he was certain Amriel was okay. His eyes moved from the television to the blonde beside him, her hair fanned out across the pillow he had set underneath her head to keep her comfortable, and he noticed how serene she looked. There wasn't a trace of sadness or loneliness on her face and he never wanted her to feel that way again, especially since she had done so much for him.
Before Amriel showed up, Cas felt exactly how she did. Lost, alone, and hopeless. Maybe it was the presence of another fallen angel, or just Amriel herself, but he didn't feel that emptiness anymore. He was more inclined to think that it was Amriel's doing, because when he had come across Hael he felt nervous and on edge, and she ended up trying to steal his vessel. No, he knew it was definitely because of Amriel.
In Heaven she had been known throughout the angels as kind and generous. Amriel would fulfill other's duties when they could not, and she never asked anything in return. She watched over her charges as well as those born in late April or early June that were on the cusp of Asmodel and Muriel's guard.
He had heard whispers of her small rebellion but he was still surprised when she had told him. Castiel suddenly gasped, realizing that they were unprotected in this motel room and he jumped up, looking around for something to write with. He found a ball point pen, but that wouldn't be sufficient for what he needed, so he took a look at Amriel and when he was certain she wouldn't wake while he was gone, he slipped out the door and into the cold, heading to the convenience store to buy salt and chalk.