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Chapter 10

Guardian angel

"Please…"

Lucifer crossed his arms and looked outside through the window of his hotel suite.

"Please…"

"Enough already," Lucifer snorted and turned to look at the pathetic human sitting on a chair. He was in a bad shape, but he could only blame himself.

"So, Mr. Ludlow," Lucifer said smiling. "What have we learned today?"

"I'm sorry," the man sobbed. "I'm sorry."

"Yes, you should be. You see, no one touches what's mine."

"I'm sor…"

The man didn't have time to finish his sentence when Lucifer broke his neck with the wave of his hand. That had felt good, for a moment he had almost forgot his anger and frustration.

"Someone clean up this mess!" he demanded. "And I want some news!"

Two demons came in as quickly as they could, one of them started to drag the dead human out. The other one was clearly nervous, which meant that he didn't have any news.

"We…we're looking, sir, and we have a lead."

Lucifer raised an eyebrow.

"A lead? Really?"

"Yes, sir. The Winchesters have been spotted in South Dakota."

"Just them? Not Mia?"

The demon shook his head.

"No, sir, just them."

"Do you know where they are now?"

The demon looked even more nervous.

"No, sir, but I'm confident we'll…"

Lucifer had absolutely no patience left, no more than a second later the demon's meat suit was lying dead on the floor. Furiously Lucifer marched towards the second bedroom, which was next to the master bedroom, he needed to calm down. The second bedroom had been decorated with same colors and style than Mia's apartment, her clothes and personal things had been brought here. The dream catcher had been hung above the king-size bed and the tiger was on the bed waiting for her. She would like the room, he was sure of it. Now he just needed to find her.

Human feelings had always been more or less a mystery to Castiel. Most of them were very illogical and therefore impractical. Castiel had tried his best to learn how to understand them in order to make the communication with humans easier. It wasn't that angels wouldn't be able to feel, they did, but their feelings were different than humans'. They were clearer, unembellished and most of all, they made sense. Humans allowed their feelings to affect their actions all the time, angels didn't. At least most angels didn't. Castiel had always considered himself as a good soldier, but he didn't believe in blind obedience.

Rebelling against Heaven had no doubt been the most difficult decision he had ever made and he had to admit that he probably wouldn't have done it if he would have never met the Winchesters. He had countless of brothers and sisters, but he had never before felt that he would have a family. Of course these were disturbingly humanly thoughts. He concentrated on observing the girl who had curled up on the sofa under the blanket. She was watching television and she seemed much calmer now, not emotional at all. Perhaps she was too tired to be emotional.

He understood that some of the things he had told her had upset her, but she had asked for honesty. As far as Castiel could tell, she was a nice person, but that didn't change the fact that she could be a threat. Right now it was Castiel's first priority to find out what she was exactly and why did Lucifer want her. There was a small chance that she could be indeed used against Lucifer to end the whole apocalypse before it would even get started. Lucifer didn't have many weaknesses, but was it possible that she was one?

Still Castiel had no intention to let the other angels get their hands on her; they would no doubt use very brutal methods to find out what was hidden inside her. She didn't deserve something like that. They had both been quiet for a long while, but that didn't really bother Castiel. What bothered him was the uncertainness; he had no idea what he was supposed to do. She didn't seem upset, sad, angry or anything like that, but there was something wrong with her.

The sun had risen hours ago and the girl hadn't slept at all. Instead she had cleaned; although the whole place already looked more than clean to Castiel. Now she was staring at the television, but it seemed that she wasn't really watching it. Fortunately Sam and Dean were already on their way back. Dean had called few hours ago to make sure that everything was alright; apparently someone had tricked them to go to South Dakota. Finally Mia glanced at Castiel and sighed.

"Okay, enough," she huffed. "Just come and sit here."

"Why?" Castiel asked, he was sitting on the armchair.

"Because I don't want you to sit there and stare at me. Sit here and watch the TV. Please."

Castiel couldn't really understand her request, but he still stood up and sat down on the sofa.

"Thank you," she muttered.

"You're welcome."

They were both quiet again; it was no problem for Castiel to sit quietly for hours or longer if that was necessary. The whole concept of time was very different to him than to humans. He observed the perky looking smiling woman on the television screen; she was telling how much better her life was now when she had found Easy Slim. Castiel had no idea what that was and the matter didn't really interest him. Mia seemed absentminded; she was staring at the television with sleepy eyes. Clearly she was very tired, but for some reason she didn't go to sleep.

"Can I ask you a question?" she muttered.

"Sure."

"Is there Heaven?"

"Yes."

She was quiet for a brief moment before continuing.

"What's it like?"

"Home."

"You live there?"

"I did," Castiel replied, he kept his voice free from emotion.

"Did?"

"I rebelled, so I am not welcome there anymore."

Mia got into a sitting position and looked at him.

"But… I thought that God is forgiving…Is there God?"

"Yes," Castiel replied.

Mia's eyes widened.

"Really?"

"Yes."

The whole subject was more sensitive to Castiel than he had realized, but his face remained stoic.

"Is He…"

"I have never met Him, so I can't answer any of your questions."

Apparently Mia picked up the tension in Castiel's voice.

"Oh. I'm sorry."

Castiel didn't say anything; he really didn't want to think about his creator or his father, who had abandoned him and all his siblings.

"I didn't mean to be nosy," Mia continued. "I just… Angels have always interested me."

"What do you mean?"

She shrugged.

"I guess I've always wanted to believe in angels. When I was a child I pictured them as kind and loving creatures who were always watching over me when nobody else was." She paused and huffed. "Yes, I know that's pathetic. Sometimes I just…"

"What?" Castiel asked when she didn't continue.

"Nothing, it's ridiculous…"

"Please tell me."

Some instinct told Castiel that this was something important.

"Sometimes I felt that I really had a guardian angel." She paused and let out a nervous laugh. "I know it sounds stupid, but... My mom wasn't a very caring person and I spent a lot of time by myself when I was a child. Whenever I was sad, lonely or upset, I had these…dreams."

"Dreams?"

"Yes, in my dreams my guardian angel picked me up and comforted me, I felt his arms around me. He always made me feel safe."

The memory made her smile, but Castiel certainly wasn't smiling.

"You only had these dreams when you were a child?" he asked, his voice sounded perfectly calm.

"Yes, before the…car accident. I met my brother after that, so I guess I didn't need an imaginary friend anymore."

She yawned and stretched her arms before leaning back on her seat.

"I hate shopping channels…"

Castiel didn't say anything when she picked up the remote control; he had more important things on mind. Was it possible… No, Lucifer couldn't have appeared in her dreams from his cage. That wasn't possible. Or at least it shouldn't have been possible. And even if it would have been, the thought of Lucifer wanting to comfort a child was simply…absurd. What was this girl to him? She yawned again; it seemed that she was almost asleep. Her head leaned back, but slowly her body started to tilt towards Castiel. The next thing he realized was that her head was on his lap. She was already fast asleep, judging by her content sigh and her hand fluffing his leg, she thought that she had a pillow under her head.

For a moment he was unsure of what to do. Perhaps he should simply allow her to rest, humans needed to sleep. She did too, even though she wasn't completely a human. He held still and concentrated on making a clear plan. Her father could be the key; they needed to speak to her grandmother as soon as possible. They could be there within seconds, but according to Castiel's experience, humans didn't like to be "zapped", as Dean had called it. Patiently Castiel waited, he was aware that humans could sleep for hours. He wasn't sure how much time had passed when he heard the front door opening.

"Mia?" Sam's voice called before he entered the cottage. He froze when he saw her and Castiel on the sofa, she was still asleep.

"Hello, Sam," Castiel greeted him.

The look in his eyes was strange, for a fraction of a second Castiel could have sworn that he saw something very dark, almost animalistic.

"No one touches what's mine," Sam murmured.

Castiel stared at him.

"What?"

Sam blinked his eyes.

"What?" he asked.

"What did you just say?" Castiel asked.

Sam looked confused.

"I didn't say anything. How's Mia?"

Sam walked over to the sofa before Castiel managed to say anything.

"I think I better take her to bed, she looks uncomfortable." Sam paused briefly and carefully scooped Mia up; she sighed, but didn't wake up. "Could you go and help Dean?"

"Help him with what?" Castiel asked, he was still trying to understand what was going on with Sam.

Sam sighed tiredly.

"You'll see."