Chapter 3

The mark

"Stay away from me you creep!" Mia shouted, trying to fight against panic. The dark-haired man who was wearing a suit and a beige trench coat took a calm step towards her; there was no expression on his face. "Someone please help me!"

She was trapped and her hands were tied, but she wasn't going to let anyone touch her without a fight, no matter how terrified she was.

"Hey," Sam said and stepped in front of the dark-haired man. "Stop it, Cas, you're scaring her half to death."

"Yes, I can see that she is very emotional," he replied.

"No kidding?" Dean huffed. "Most women probably would be if a stranger would tell them to take their clothes off."

The man whose name apparently was Cas turned to look at Dean.

"How else am I supposed to see her skin?"

"That's not the point," Dean responded. "She's scared because she thinks that you're going to do much more than just look at her skin."

Cas seemed confused.

"What more?"

"You know, what people usually do when they're naked."

"Oh, I understand." He paused and looked at Mia. "You can calm down, I have no intention to have sexual intercourse with you," he stated calmly. "Now please remove your clothes."

She stared at him disbelievingly, he was crazy. They all were crazy.

"No!"

"Alright, how about you let me handle this," Sam said to Cas and turned to look at Mia.

"I apologize for him; he's not really… a people person."

She didn't say anything; her mind was desperately trying to find a way out.

"What's this mark she should have?" Dean asked.

"I will recognize it when I see it," Cas replied.

"Listen, Mia," Sam said. "Do you have any birthmarks or anything like that?"

She did have a birthmark, but there was no way she was going to tell them that. Who knew what twisted game they were playing.

"No," she muttered.

"She is lying," Cas stated.

"No, I'm not."

Unfortunately she had never been a very good liar. They all knew that she was lying and they had her cornered.

"Don't…" she pleaded when Sam stepped in front of her.

"It's okay," he said and raised his hands in surrender. "I'm just going to untie your hands, okay?"

She looked at him cautiously; he was giving her a calming smile. Slowly he picked up a pocketknife and freed her hands.

"There, all better."

"Thank you," she muttered and rubbed her wrists.

He took a step back.

"You're welcome. I know you must be scared right now, but no one's going to hurt you. We just need to see that birthmark."

"Why?" she murmured and wrapped her arms around her.

"Please, just let us see it. We're not going touch you, I swear."

"What if I refuse?"

"You don't want to try that," Dean responded. "Trust me, sweetheart. There's no need to make this more unpleasant than it has to be."

She took a deep breath and looked at Sam; he seemed like the safest one of them.

"If I do this, will you let me go?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't promise that," he replied. "What I can promise is that we're not going to touch you, we just want to take a quick look at the birthmark."

"Why?"

"We are wasting time," Cas stated. "I can…"

"No," Sam cut in, keeping his eyes on Mia. "Please."

She really wouldn't have wanted to do this, but she didn't see much choice. The last thing she wanted was them to tear her clothes off. With shaky hands she started unbuttoning her dark blue work shirt. She wore a white top under it.

"Where do you have the mark?" Sam asked, apparently trying to sound calming.

"On my chest," she muttered, trying to stay as calm as she could. "You…you'll just look?"

"Yes, we won't touch you."

None of this made any sense to her, why did they want to see her birthmark? Because they were crazy, that's why. Okay, she could do this… Her hands were shaking even more and a tear rolled down her cheek when she forced herself to lift the top, revealing the scars on her belly. The birthmark was above her left breast, it was mostly covered by her floral print bra.

"No," she muttered and tried to get away when Cas stepped in front of her. He was staring at her chest and reached towards her bra. "You promised…"

"Cas…"

"I need to see it," he stated.

She was shaking when he lifted her bra, but he didn't touch her skin. There was no expression on his face when he stared at the mark.

"Well?" Dean asked.

"She has the mark. She is the right girl."

"What?" she muttered when he took a step back, she didn't waste any time to pull her top down.

"What is she?" Dean asked.

"I am not sure," Cas replied, his eyes were still observing Mia.

"You're not sure? Really?"

"Yes, really."

"But you know something?"

"I do."

Dean and Sam looked at him expectantly, but he didn't continue.

"Feel free to share," Dean said after a brief moment of silence. Mia wasn't looking at any of them, but she felt Cas staring at her.

"As I said, I have no certain information, but according to the legend, before Lucifer was caged, he hid something on Earth. Something very precious to him."

"What something?" Sam asked.

"No one knows that, not even Michael."

"Wait, wait, you're saying that she's that something?" Dean asked disbelievingly.

"Yes. She has his mark."

"But she's human," Sam argued.

"Yes, so it seems."

Mia stared at them all in turns; they were more than crazy.

"What are you talking about?" she muttered before she managed to stop herself. "Lucifer? As in…the devil?"

Were they some kind of devil worshippers? Oh dear Lord, were they going to sacrifice her or something?

"Why don't we sit down…" Sam started.

"I don't want to sit down," she snapped. "I want to know why I'm here. What is it that you want from me?"

"We want to keep you safe," Sam replied.

"Safe from what? From the devil?" she asked sharply. She was starting to be too annoyed to be scared.

"You don't know anything else?" Dean asked.

"No," Cas replied. "Nothing certain. I wasn't even sure that she exists before yesterday."

"What are we supposed to do with her?"

"That's a good question. According to what I found out, Lucifer will do everything in his power to find her and I would imagine that so will the angels. They will want to use her against Lucifer."

"They don't even know why Lucifer wants her, do they?"

"Not exactly, but…"

"Hey!" Mia shouted. "I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but I don't want any part in it. I want to go home, take a shower and have a good night sleep."

"Sorry, but that's not going to happen," Dean replied. "Can she be tracked?"

"It seems that she can't be," Cas replied. "I find that interesting. I need to study her more."

"No!" Mia snapped. "Stay away from me!"

These people were damn nut jobs…

"Cas," Sam said. "I think you should show her what you are." He paused and looked at Mia. "Castiel isn't a human, he's an angel."

"Right…" she muttered. "Of course he is."

"Show her."

Mia gasped when Castiel suddenly disappeared in front of her eyes.

"What…"

After few seconds he returned, appeared out of thin air. Great, she was losing her mind… Did he… It seemed that he had wings. She was so stunned that she couldn't get a word out.

"I know this is a lot to digest," Sam said. "Angels are real and so are demons."

"And vampires, werewolves, witches, ghosts and so on," Dean added.

"What…"

Mia had no idea what to think, her mouth floundered open and closed.

"Would you like to have a drink?" Sam asked after a moment of silence.

"Yeah," she muttered. "I think I would, thanks."

She rarely drank any alcohol, but right now a drink sounded good.