Chapter 16

Apart for too long

Lucifer clenched his fists and looked at the reflection of his temporary vessel in the mirror. The human didn't look good at all; he had nasty burn marks on his face. It made no difference; he would have his true vessel very soon. Everything would happen like it was always meant to happen and Sam Winchester would say yes to him. There was nothing anyone could do to stop that. Sam's fate had been sealed the moment he had been born. In that moment Lucifer had felt his true vessel being born and he had known that his time was near, he would finally be free. It had been time to start making other preparations.

Azazel had fulfilled Lucifer's orders well with his "special children", but unfortunately he had failed with his more important task. Yes, Azazel had made sure that Mia had been born, just like Lucifer had wanted, but then he had lost her. The girl who Azazel had chosen to give birth to Mia had suddenly left from home before giving birth and practically vanished. Since Mia couldn't be tracked, Azazel hadn't been able to find her. Fortunately for him, Lucifer had still needed him. No one, not even Azazel, had known the truth about Mia.

Lucifer had been able to felt her from his cage and he had done his best to look after her. There hadn't been very much he had been able to do, except trying to comfort her when she had needed that. Things were never supposed to go like that, Lucifer had meant for Mia to be kept safe for him by Azazel. She was supposed to grow up in a nice house where all her needs would have been taken care of and she would have never had to be afraid. When the car crash had happened, it had taken all of Lucifer's strength to protect Mia's human body, but unfortunately the price had been very high. He had lost his connection to her and he hadn't been able to appear in her dreams anymore.

Lucifer wasn't concerned about getting his true vessel, he knew that he would. Sooner or later Sam would come to him. He just needed to find Mia before that in order to prepare her. Things would be so much easier if she would have indeed been raised by his demons and be prepared for him her whole life. But then again, Lucifer did like the little fire he had felt in her when he had been in her dream. She wouldn't be a part of him if she wouldn't have any fire. He could hardly wait for finally meeting her. They had been apart for far too long.

"Father?" a female voice said. Meg, Azazel's "daughter". Lucifer didn't particularly like being called a demon's father, but he was willing to tolerate it. Demons were useful tools after all.

"Yes?" he asked and turned to look at the female demon. "Any news?"

Meg nodded.

"Yes, father. We just received a message from Crowley."

Lucifer raised an eyebrow.

"From Crowley?"

"Yes. He claims that he can deliver what you lost in exchange for full pardoning and getting his old position back. He said that he had managed to track the Winchesters."

Lucifer pressed his lips together, he wasn't sure if he liked these news. If Crowley had so much as harm a hair on Mia's head…

"Does he have her?"

Meg shook her head.

"Not yet, but he says he knows where she and the Winchesters are. He wants to make a deal with you first and have a signed contract. Personally I think…"

"Yes," Lucifer cut in. "He can have his pardon, but if he dares to damage her in any way, there will be no place in this world or in any world where he can hide from me."

Mia washed her face with cold water and slowly looked at her reflection in the mirror. She looked horrible; she hadn't really slept at all. Sam's eyes… She really didn't know what to think and she couldn't understand what had happened, but the craziest part was that she hadn't been afraid at all; she had instinctively known what to do. All she had felt had been the need to protect Sam. They hadn't really talked about anything that had happened, they hadn't had a chance when Castiel and Dean had been there the whole time, but Sam had whispered in her ear that he had things he needed to tell her.

Clearly Dean thought that this was all Mia's fault, she was some kind of she-devil. Maybe he was right, she really didn't know. All she knew was that the kind and considerate man had turned into some kind of growling black-eyed beast right after making out with her. Sure she had kissed couple of men, but no one had ever touched her like that, she hadn't let them. Sam's touch had felt right and it had made her whole body tingle, she would have let him do whatever he wanted. Everything about him felt right, she wanted to be with him. Yes, that was what she wanted, but what if she really was some kind of she-devil?

The thought made her shiver; she couldn't deny that she was scared. Running sounded a good plan to her, but she knew she couldn't do that. It was time to just face the truth, whatever it would be. There were much bigger things at stake than her personal feelings. The truth was that she really hadn't even started to process the whole thought about the apocalypse. One problem at a time. She took a deep breath and marched to the door, she was as ready as she was ever going to be. Sam, Dean and Castiel were waiting for her; none of them said a word when she came out of the bathroom. She didn't say anything either, she just walked over to Sam and took his hand.

"Let's go then," Dean stated tensely.

Castiel didn't seem pleased; he had said that Sam should wait in the motel. Mia hadn't wanted that, but she hadn't said it out loud, she didn't want to cause any more trouble or jeopardize Sam's safety in any way. Fortunately Sam had firmly refused and surprisingly Dean had taken his side, although quite reluctantly.

"Do you want some breakfast?" Sam asked when they got into the car.

Mia shook her head.

"No thanks." She paused and looked up, Dean and Castiel had just got into the car as well. "Does anyone else want something to eat?"

"I don't think so," Dean murmured and started the car.

"You don't want to eat?" Sam asked disbelievingly. "Really?"

Mia saw Dean rolling his eyes through the rearview mirror.

"Funny."

"So…where's this meeting place?" Mia asked after a moment of silence.

"Not very far," Dean replied. "It's an abandoned warehouse."

"Right… And you know this archangel?"

"Yeah. He's a dick, but let's hope he can actually be useful this one time."

For some reason Mia felt the need to giggle.

"You call the archangel Gabriel a dick?"

"You'll see why when you meet him. Most angels are dicks, don't let me even get started with Michael."

"Right…"

They were all quiet again; Mia stroked the back of Sam's wrist nervously with her thumb.

"Wait here," Castiel said and disappeared when Dean parked the car in front of this warehouse. The place certainly didn't look very nice. It didn't take long when the door to the warehouse opened.

"Are you ready?" Sam asked and calmingly kissed Mia's hand.

She forced herself to nod, although she really wanted to run. All three of them got out; Mia squished Sam's hand when they headed to the entrance of the warehouse. Castiel was waiting for them inside, the whole place was empty.

"Now what?" Dean asked.

Castial looked at him calmly.

"Now we wait."

3 hours later

"Come on," Dean snorted while pacing back and forth. "Where are you, you douche?"

"Maybe he's not coming," Sam murmured. He was sitting on the floor next to the wall with Mia; her head was leaning on his shoulder. Sam really wasn't sure if he hoped for Gabriel to show up or not. His arm was protectively around Mia, carefully he tightened his embrace. Of course he was concerned because of everything that had happened last night, but honestly, minus the whole black eye thing, he had acted like any guy would have acted when someone harassed their girl. Granted, he had never been the overly jealous type, but he was with her. She belonged to him and he would… He would what? Kill for her? Yes. Die for her? Yes. She was his. Only his.

Some part of him still understood that something was wrong. These feelings weren't completely his own. So what? He still wanted her. Why couldn't he have her after he had lost so much? Her body fit perfectly against his, like she would have been made for him. With her he felt content. Happy. Whole. How could that be evil? Maybe the whole black eye thing had simply been some kind of primal reaction. He did have some demon blood in his veins; he has had even since he had been an infant. Azazel's blood. And yes, he had drunk a lot of demon blood when he had been with Ruby, but this wasn't like that. He hadn't drunk any demon blood for a while; he didn't have any of it in his system.

"Are you cold?" he asked when he felt Mia shivering.

"No, I…I feel a little strange," she murmured.

"What do you mean…"

"Hello, folks!" a familiar voice said.

Sam looked up and saw Gabriel standing in the middle of the room.

"Brother," Castiel greeted him and moved closer. "Thank you for coming."

Quickly Sam got to his feet and helped Mia up. Gabriel's eyes scanned the room and he smiled at Mia before turning his eyes back to Castiel who was now standing in front of him.

"This better be good," Gabriel huffed and crossed his arms. "My time is very valuable."

"Yeah, yeah," Dean snorted. "We all know how you use your time. And yeah, this is going to be good."

"Do tell then."

"Mia," Dean said.

Sam tensed, but Mia squished his hand calmingly before letting go.

"It's okay," she said quietly.

Gabriel grinned when she approached him.

"Well, hello there. Is she for me?"

"You wish," Mia huffed and stopped before she reached him.

Gabriel seemed amused.

"Feisty, is she? I like that."

Sam gritted his teeth, he was struggling to control himself.

"We need you to take a look at her," Dean said after giving Sam a warning look.

Gabriel's grin grew wider.

"That would be my pleasure…"

He took a step towards Mia when Dean dropped a match on the floor. The circle of fire surrounded Gabriel immediately. He looked at Dean and Castiel disbelievingly.

"Are you kidding me?"

"It's nothing personal, we just don't trust you," Dean stated.

Gabriel's eyes narrowed.

"You will release me right now or the consequences won't be pleasant."

"What are you going to do, kill me?" Dean huffed. "You already did that likes hundreds of times."

"Oh, I can do much worse, believe me." He paused and looked at Castiel. "Release me, little brother. Now."

"I will, but I'm asking you to take a look at this girl first," Castiel replied calmly. "She's carrying Lucifer's mark."

"What?" Gabriel asked disbelievingly.

Castiel turned to look at Mia.

"Please."

"It's okay," Mia said to Sam and walked over to the others.

Gabriel was staring at her intently.

"Where's the mark?"

"Please show him," Castiel asked.

Mia sighed and took her sweater off, she was only wearing bra under it. Gabriel stared at her chest when she showed him the whole mark, his eyes widened in shock.

"No…" Gabriel murmured. "Impossible…"