Ch 14
The hunters, the psychic, the demon and Ana reconvened in Bobby's sitting room. Anna paced the floor, tucking her hands in the back pockets of her jeans, "Ruby, relax I'm not like other Angels." Ruby scoffed at her and crossed her hands over her chest. "Castiel and Uriel they're the ones that came for me?" Sam nodded. "We used to be close I guess you could say we were in the same foxhole."
"So they're like your commanding officers or something?" Dean asked.
Anna smiled, "Try the other way around."
Dean winked at her, "Look at you."
"Ok, so you were in charge and now Castiel and Uriel want you dead. Why?" River asked her.
"They're following orders. I disobeyed and that's the worst thing one of us could do; now I'm sure I have a death sentence."
"Anna, I…I can see the Angels wings…kind of…and their grace and I don't see either with you. I just see you," River told her. A brief thought of Gabriel crossed her mind and she touched the small lollipop charm around her neck. If heaven went after one entry level Angel with this much force what would they do to get their hands on a deserter Archangel?
"I'm technically not an Angel anymore. I deserted, I fell to Earth and became human."
"You chose to become human?" Sam inquired quietly.
"Yes, I ripped my grace out and fell to Earth. It kind of hurt…" Anna resumed her pacing, "My mother, she couldn't get pregnant and then…me. She always called me her little miracle."
Ruby stomped her foot, "I don't think any of you are grasping how utterly screwed we are. Heaven wants her dead and hell…hell just wants her. An actual, bona fide Angel that can bleed; that they can torture and interrogate."
Anna nodded, "I understand exactly how screwed this is. That's why I need your help to get my Grace back…if we can find it. I seem to have lost track of it."
River sighed, "Where would we look? Do you remember any landmarks on your trip through the stratosphere?"
Anna laughed, "Not really, I was falling at about 10,000 miles an hour."
"Would your grace leave a sign? Maybe something humans could see?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, like a comet or…a meteor?" Dean piped up.
"Yeah, probably. Why do you ask?" Anna replied.
"Gives us something tangible to search for ." River said smiling. She and Sam went to their respective laptops and began searching for omens reported around the time Anna was born.
"Think I got something," River called out to Sam about thirty minutes later.
"Me too," he replied back. They showed the others the two meteorite sightings; one being a meteorite that disappeared over a town in Northwestern Ohio in March 1985 nine months before Anna was born and a second at the same time in Kentucky.
"Yeah so this give us an entire state we have to search!" Ruby muttered angrily to Sam, "How are we going to find her grace in time? We are caught in the middle of a war between Mothra and Godzilla, if one side doesn't get us then the other will."
Sam closed his laptop and looked to the kitchen where the others sat quietly drinking cups of steaming hot coffee, "Look, I know the Angels freak you out but we're all on the same team. If they come for you they have to get through us first."
"Screw the angels. It's Alastair I'm scared of Sam! You have no idea what that sick fuck is capable of. You need to exorcise him and send him back downstairs."
"Ruby, I tried."
"You could do it…if you weren't so outta practice. Your getting soft, Sam. You know what you have to do."
"No, I'm not doing that anymore." Ruby glared at him disbelieving and then stomped off.
"Be safe, Pam. Mind your shins," River hugged the blind psychic as she left Bobby's with Dean to return to her own home. The psychic had given enough of herself in the struggle between heaven and hell and wanted nothing more to do with the upcoming fight. "Hurry back," River kissed Dean's stubbled cheek and retreated back into Bobby's warm sitting room to continue researching possible locations for Anna's fallen grace. She scribbled the names and locations a few likely spots on a scratch paper and dozed off at the table a while later. The low rumble that signaled Dean's return to the junkyard didn't wake her from where she slept with her head resting on her bent arm.
Dean arrived back in Bobby's quiet junkyard sometime after midnight. He saw a pale, red headed figure sitting on the hood of a junker staring at the stars. From the distance he thought it was River but as he got closer he realized it was Anna gazing up at the cold, bright dots of light. "Hey," he said quietly, not wanting to startle her.
She turned and gazed over her shoulder, "Hey, Pamela get home ok?"
"Yeah, she uh said she's sorry for leaving but this all just a little too far off the deep end for her."
"I don't blame her. You guys should do the same."
Dean smiled, "We aren't as smart as Pam." He walked around the front of the car and swung up onto the hood to sit next to her. "Can I ask you something?" Anna nodded and looked at him expectantly. "Why would you want to become human? Be mixed up in all this? A few billion selfish bastards fighting over invisible lines in the sand and table-scraps…"
"You don't mean that," Anna said quietly.
"Sure I do. My brothers screwing a demon, River cries in the shower because she thinks I can't hear her and I'm not even gonna get started about the shit bouncing around in my head."
"There's pain and suffering but there's also loyalty, forgiveness, love…"
"Pain, loss…" Dean continued
"Chocolate cake," Anna retorted.
"Guilt, disappointment…"
"Sex." Anna said eyebrows raised.
Dean nodded, "Yeah you got me there."
"You don't understand because this is who you are. Humans. You have to ability to feel everything, every emotion, every experience. Even the bad ones. We get…regimented into believing there is only one option for us; blind obedience to a distant Father." Anna looked back to the stars, "It's why I fell. And why I would give anything to not have to go back."
"But you're perfect and powerful."
Anna smirked humorlessly, "Yeah, created to perfectly follow orders and given power we are all but forbidden to use. We are threatened with absolute obedience to our Father or death…do you know that in all of creation only four Angels have ever seen the face of God?"
"What? How do you even know if there is a God?"
"We must take it on faith or be killed. I-I was stationed on Earth for 2000 years, silent, invisible, a watcher. The pain and suffering I witnessed knowing that I could alleviate so much of it with a whisper of my grace. Constantly moving, sick for a home I never truly belonged to. Ordered to observe, never intervene. Waiting for orders from an unknowable Father…"
Dean laughed quietly, "I can relate." They stared at each other for a few moments before Dean tilted his head slowly down, just brushing his lips along the curve of Anna's jaw.
"Hey," Sam called, startling the two apart, "We might have found something."
The three walked back into Bobby's home and found River standing in front of a stack of maps and papers, "This is Union, Kentucky. Podunk middle of nowhere town with a buttload of reported miracles." She pulled a slip of paper from the pile and handed it to Dean, "In '85 this was an empty field outside of town and this is the same spot six months later." She pointed to another photo.
"Is that an Oak tree?" Dean said, looking up at her.
"Looks like it should be at least a century old, right? It would take a lot of positive mojo to make something like that. Anna, do you think your grace could've done that?"
Anna held the photo of the oak tree and inspected it closely, "Yes, definitely. My grace it's pure creation…it could be there."
Dean pulled River into a tight squeeze and kissed her forehead, "Good work, princess."
She smiled and leaned into his warm body, "We need to get to Grace Ground Zero before anyone else does."
They drove through the night, the three women sitting in uncomfortably close quarters in the backseat while the brothers rode in the front seat. "Jinkies, look at that," River said in awe as they walked up to the giant oak tree. The sunlight filtered through the great branches and leaves in a dizzying array of colors. The ground seemed to thrum with power under their feet; the birdsong louder and more beautiful then any of them had ever heard. "Gods, Dean its beautiful." River murmured quietly when they stood at it's huge trunk.
Anna stepped cautiously up to the tree, hands outstretched, "This is it. This is where my grace touched down." She laid her palms on the rough bark of the trunk and closed her eyes.
"What exactly are we looking for?" Sam asked after a few moments.
Anna let her hands fall to her sides, "It doesn't matter. It's gone, someone took it."
The group retreated a decrepit barn on the outskirts of town. "I say we go back to Bobby's and hunker down in the panic room until we figure something else out; we still got the hex bags." Dean proposed after they finished checking the barn for any interlopers.
"Oh yeah! Hex bags and a fall out shelter! Great fucking idea!" Ruby spat back. "We've got heaven and hell out for our asses. We can't fight both, not with an impotent ex-angel and the three stooges."
"You got a better idea you stuck up cunt?" River yelled back. Sam stepped between the three before the yelling turned physical.
"Wait, guys be quiet." Anna told them as she sat down on the edge of a broken crate, "Angel radio is broadcasting again." The hunters and the demon quit their bickering and turned towards Anna. "It's weird, like a recording on loop or something." She closed her eyes to focus on the noise in her head.
"What's it saying?" River asked her.
"Dean Winchester gives us Anna by midnight," she opened her dark jade eyes and met Dean's worried emerald ones, "Or we hurl him back to damnation." Dean's eyes opened in shock, his mouth moving but unable to form coherent words. He could almost feel the chains of the rack tightening around him.
"No! No, that's not gonna happen…" River said hoarsely.
"What kind of weapon works against an Angel?" Sam asked.
Anna stuttered, "Why? To kill them?" Sam shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing-nothing that we could get to right now."
River rubbed her hands down her face, "Fine then I'm going to work on warding the shit outta this place until we come up with a better idea." She retreated to the car to grab her duffle bag and supplies. "Sam, help me with this spell!" she yelled when she returned a moment later. Dean smiled at River then Anna and headed outside.
"Sammy, I need more African Daisy!" River stood up, wiping her filthy hands on her jeans. She tentatively smelled at the strange stains on her hands and grimaced. "Horse shit, fantastic." she muttered to herself.
"I'm out. Go ask Dean if we have more in the trunk." He yelled back. River sighed and walked up to Anna where she sat quietly, listening to the repeating broadcast on Angel radio.
"Quit listening to that bullshit and lets get some fresh air," she said holding out her hand to the former Angel.
Anna grasped it and stood smiling. "Thank you, River. I mean it, thank you for…trying to help me."
"Of course, Anna. You'd do the same for us," River smiled brightly as they walked up to Dean. He stood leaning over the hood of Baby with several books open and was reading them by the light of a camping lamp. He straightened up and smiled at the two women walking towards him.
"Hey, baby you all done?" he asked.
"I wish, Sam keeps fucking up the Aramaic and I'm out of African Daisy. Do we have anymore in the trunk?" she asked walking to the rear of the car. She laid her hands on the trunk lid and muttered "Oscail." The lock clicked and she began searching through the carefully organized contents.
"You know I got the key right here," Dean said sliding up behind her. She gave him a "mmmhmm" and dug through the satchels and jars of spell ingredients they kept stashed in the trunk. Dean stepped behind her, wrapping his fingers around the soft curve of her hips and pulling her backwards. She laughed in surprise and straightened up pressing herself into his crotch, one hand was grasping a small glass jar of bright purple flowers and her other hand she reached behind her to run along Dean's check. "You can spare fifteen minutes," he whispered quietly in her ear.
River laughed again and turned around to face Dean, "Come back inside and help me finish the warding. You do the Aramaic parts and I'll get the Enochian and we can have the rest of the night to watch the world crash down around us, naked from the backseat if thats what you want."
"I'll stay out here in the fresh air and watch the stars for a while," Dean replied going back to his stack of books. Anna leaned quietly against the side of the car and looked up at the sky.
"Anna, you wanna give me a hand? Make sure I'm pronouncing everything correctly?" River asked the other woman.
Anna glanced down from the sky and back to River, "I think I'd like stay out here too if you don't mind."
"Yeah, sure. Why don't you two swap war stories or something." River walked back into the musty barn to resume the final warding. She hoped when the time came the warding would at least by them a few precious moments when angelic wrath and demonic hellfire would no doubt come raining down on them in a few short hours.
"You doin' ok?" Dean asked after a few quiet moments.
Anna looked away from the stars and met Dean's bright green eyes, "I'm trying. I'm scared." Dean nodded but kept silent as Anna pushed herself off from where she leaned against the Impala, "Dean, I just want to tell you thank you."
"For what?"
"For everything. You guys didn't have to help me."
"Look, let's stop with 'thanks for trying' speech, ok? I don't believe in participation trophies 'cause if you ain't first then you're a loser." Dean told her smirking sarcastically.
Anna shook her head, "Maybe…maybe I don't deserve to be saved anyways."
"Don't say that," Dean told her quietly.
"I disobeyed Dean. Our greatest sin is to disobey…Lucifer disobeyed and look at him. Maybe I need to pay."
"We've all done things we need to pay for…" he replied staring down at his dirty boots.
Anna crossed her arms over chest and slid closer to Dean, "I need to tell you something. Something you're not gonna like.''
Dean looked at her then over her head and back to the barn, checking quickly that they were still alone. "Okay. What?"
"I heard the Angels talking about you about a week ago…about the things you did in Hell." Dean swallowed thickly and looked back to the barn. Anna placed her hand on his cheek and he flinched, "It wasn't your fault. You should forgive yourself."
Dean shook his head and blinked several times, "Anna, I don't- I don't want to… I don't want to," he swallowed again, "I can't talk about that."
She nodded, "I know. But when you can, there are people who want to help. Your brother, River-"
"She'd run from me. She should run from me. The things I did…she'd hate me as much as I hate myself. I can't-I can't live with that."
"I don't hate you," Anna stood up and kissed Dean gently on the lips.
He took a half step back, "What was that for?"
"Well, everyone else seems preoccupied and," She smiled again and rolled her eyes, "You know, last night on Earth."
"You're stealing my best line," he quipped leaning down for another kiss.
Inside the barn River walked the perimeter again, fixing salt lines and double checking the protection sigils. She absentmindedly rubbed at the fresh cut on her arm, she had saved the blood sigils for last. Sam snored from a far corner where he sat with his huge frame slumped over a table, head resting on his folded arm. River glanced around the barn once more looking for Ruby but she no where to be seen. "Maybe demons need pee breaks too," she muttered to no one. She stretched and checked her watch; it was a little past 8:00pm. River decided her part was done and wanted to join Dean in the backseat of the Impala or on the hood or on a blanket in the grass, "…Hi,Jellybean," her phone buzzed in her jacket pocket and she smiled seeing the ridiculous caller ID that popped up. "Handsomer than Tom Hiddleston…is handsomer even a word?"
Loki/ Gabriel laughed on the other line, "It is and I am. I'm a much better looking Trickster God than that skinny British pretty boy."
"I was joking when I said he was a better Loki than you," she said laughing. "I'm glad you called. Shit's going down later and I don't know how it's gonna turn out…" The two fell quickly into a familiar banter about movies and punk bands that they wanted to see on tour and River quickly lost track of time.
Outside in the starlit sky, Dean and Anna fucked in the backseat of Baby. The windows fogged from their mingled breaths, the car rocking occasionally from a change in their position. Anna just wanted to have one last shining memory of what it felt to be absolutely human; Dean wanted to feel something besides the growing knot of self hatred and disgust that had settled in his chest. Neither of them considered the potential consequences. The memories of Hell were always present, constantly repeating in Dean's head whenever he wasn't distracted with hunting, drinking, or fucking. He wanted to confess to his brother and River what atrocities he participated in while sentenced in Hell but feared they would abandon him. Choosing instead to continue dealing with the trauma the only way Dean Winchester knew how which was to bury it down under layers of self loathing. He honestly couldn't even remember the last time he had really looked at himself in a mirror.
Anna reached her climax crying out in Enochian with Dean following after her, grunting in satisfaction. He pulled out of her and sat up wiping sweat off his face. "Thank you. That was…fantastic," Anna stretched out on the backseat watching as Dean pulled the used condom off his softening dick and tied it into a knot.
"Yeah. I'm…I should go see if Riv needs any help." He gathered his discarded clothes and exited the car. Dean flung the used rubber into the brush and quickly pulled his layers of clothes back on. The burning knot disgust flared in the pit of his stomach and he secretly hoped River would know instantly what he had just done. That she would scream at him, call him every name he knew deserved to be called, that she would leave before he poisoned her life any further. He walked back into the quiet barn and saw his younger brother sleeping soundly. Dean stepped further into the dim building and found River fast asleep, sitting on the dirty floor her knees pulled up to her chest and leaning her back against a wall. He sat down next to her, wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. She murmured something in her sleep and moved her head to rest on his shoulder. Dean closed his eyes and within a few moments also fell asleep.
He awoke a few minutes later and found himself alone in the barn. A figured emerged from the dark shadows of the barn and stood in front of Dean. Uriel, the human loathing, angelic smiting expert smirked wickedly at him, "It's so cute when monkeys where clothes."
Dean stood up and glanced around the empty barn. "I'm dreaming aren't I?"
Uriel nodded, "It's the only way we could chat. Since you're hiding like cowards."
"Nice to see off your leash, Uriel. Where's your boss?" Dean replied, internally smiling that River's warding had kept them off the Angels sonar.
"Who? Castiel? He doesn't know about this. He has a weakness, a big weakness if you ask me…he likes you." Uriel crossed his arms over his chest and glowered at Dean, " Times up, boy. We want Anna."
Dean grinned humorlessly at the Angel, "I wouldn't try that if I were you. She got her grace back, full set of wings. Whole nine yards of Angel power."
Uriel laughed at him, "Wow, that would be a neat trick. Seeing as though," Uriel reached into his shirt and pulled out a long chain necklace on the end which had a beautiful vial containing a glowing, swirling light. "I've got her grace right here. And we can't let Hell get their claws into her."
"Then give her back her grace and let her defend herself." Dean yelled.
"She committed a serious crime-"
"What? Thinking for herself? Wanting the chance to make her own choices, to have her own life?"
Uriel smiled again and looked Dean up and down, "Well look at you, boy, seems like you cut yourself a slice of mighty fine slice of angel food cake. Didn't you?"
Dean balled his fists and shifted his weight, "What do you care?"
The Angel raised his hands in disgust, "You mud monkeys and fornication. It's all you think about isn't it?" He took a deep breath through his nose, "This is your last chance. Give us Anna or-"
"Or what? You gonna toss me back in the pit? You're bluffing."
"This is so much bigger than you, Dean Winchester…you can be replaced." The angel said dangerously.
"What the hell? Do it then!" Dean raised his arms in surrender.
Uriel walked around Dean in a tight circle, Dean had the uncomfortable feeling that Uriel could see straight into his thoughts. "You're just crazy enough to do it. Aren't you?"
"Well, what can I say? I don't break easy."
Uriel stopped his circling and stared into Dean's green eyes, "Oh yes…you do. You just need to know where to apply the right pressure." Dean stood quietly listening to just what type of pressure Uriel was willing to apply to get what he wanted from him.
The three hunters woke when Anna returned to the barn, startling an owl which let out an indigent screech as it flew from the rafters. River glanced up at Dean and smiled sleepily, "What time is it?"
Dean glanced at this watch, "Almost 11:30."
River smirked, "Well…to die by your side is such a heavenly way to die…" she started singing as she stood up and stretched. Dean pulled his flask out of his pocket and took a few deep swigs.
"Isn't a little early for that?" Anna asked crossing her arms and looking down at Dean.
"It's 2:00 am somewhere," he replied darkly.
River paced the barn nervously, glancing at her watch every few minutes and singing under her breath, "Where's your Girl Friday, Sam?"
Sam shrugged his shoulders worriedly, "I don't know." The wind suddenly gusted outside the rickety old barn causing the door shake on its rusted hinges. The birds and bats in the rafters flew up and out through a small opening in the roof with startled cries. The hunters and Anna gathered in the center of the barn.
"They're here," Anna said quietly.
"Riv, how long are those sigils gonna hold?" Dean asked eyes darting to the different markings littered around the walls and floors. Some of them had started to glow a bright, angry red.
"Not long," she answered. They watched as minute by minute more of the sigils flared and started smoking. The building shook again and the door was pulled off it hinges by an invisible force and thrown into the field beyond the barn. Castiel and Uriel strode into the barn glaring angrily at the small group huddled together, the hunters hands twitching subconsciously towards their guns.
"Hello, Anna. It's good to see you," Castiel said smiling sadly.
Sam moved his large frame in front of Anna as River stepped forward. "How did you find us?" she asked. Castiel's eyes shifted ever so slightly to Dean's guilty face. Anna, Sam and River turned towards Dean disbelieving that he had sold them out.
"Why!" Sam yelled at his brother.
Anna turned back towards her former subordinates, "Because they gave him a choice. They either kill me or kill you…"
"I'm sorry," Dean murmured not meeting any of their eyes.
Anna gave Dean's arm an affectionate squeeze and kissed his cheek. "You did the best you could. I forgive you," she told him quietly. She stepped forward and met the gaze of the other two angels. "Ok, no more running. No more hiding…I'm ready."
"I'm sorry," Castiel told her.
Anna shook her head, "No, you're not. I know you Castiel and you want to be sorry but you don't know the feeling….just make it quick." Castiel nodded again and raised his hand towards Anna.
"Don't you touch a hair on that poor girls head!" a shrill, nasally voice yelled behind them. The hunters spun on their heels and found themselves face to face with Alastair, two of his goons and Ruby who was bleeding profusely from a wound on her abdomen.
"How dare you interfere you necrotic wound?" Uriel spat at the demons. Alastair sneered at the angels. Ruby was cast aside where she crawled the relative safety of a pile of hay bales.
"Name calling? Now don't stoop down to my level; you sanctimonious, fanatical prick."
The air shifted and grew colder as the angles anger flared. "Turn around and leave. Now." Castiel growled at Alastair. The three hunters and Anna scrambled away from the slowly advancing enemies
"Oh, we will. Once you give us the girl. I'll make sure she's punished good and proper don't you worry." Alastair sneered.
"You know what we are and what we will do. This is your last warning to leave in peace or we WILL lay to you waste."
Alastair rotated his head on his neck, smiling at the loud pops, "Think I'll take my chances." With no further warnings the demons and Angels charged towards each other. Uriel taking on the two goons while Castiel battled Alastair. Uriel easily threw the first demon over his shoulder and into a wood pillar. While Castiel landed three strong punches into Alastair's face, causing the demon to stumble back in a daze. The trench coated Angel took the opportunity to grab Alastair and laid his palm on the demons forehead, willing his grace to smite the demon. The Angel knew instantly that it was ineffective. An unfamiliar feeling surged in the Angel, it was pure, cold fear. Alastair smiled, "Sorry, kiddo. Maybe you should run home to daddy." Uriel on the other hand easily smote the first demon he was fighting, the demon screamed as it was it's burned out of it's vessel. Alastair sneered, showing small tight yellowing teeth and grabbed Castiel by the throat and squeezed. The Angels eyes began to weep, his face turning a dark red all the while Alastair was chanting, "Potestas inferma, me confirmas."
"He's gonna kill him," River muttered shoving herself forward.
Dean caught her by the arm, "Who cares? We stay out of it."
"If he dies WE are dead, either the demons or that fuck Uriel will kill all of us," River told him pulling her arm free. Dean muttered angrily under his breath and picked up a fallen plank of wood. Dean swung the board at the demon's head causing him to loose his hold on Castiel.
River grabbed the angel under his armpits and drug him a few feet back, "Get up! God damn it! Get up!" She yelled angrily at him. Castiel looked up at her, her red hair framing an angry, worried face. "Some fucking warrior you are!" she muttered dropping his arms.
Alastair wiped a small trickle of blood off his nose and glared at Dean, "Dean, Dean, Dean…You had such promise. Such…Potential! My favorite student…" River looked at Dean and met his eyes briefly before he steeled his jaw and turned back to Alastair. "What a disappointment! So many decades wasted on you." He raised his hand towards Dean and balled it into a tight fist. Dean doubled over, grunting in pain and spit up a mouthful of blood. River and Sam pulled their guns out and each fired a few quick shots into Alastair's chest. The demon laughed, showing his blood covered teeth and turned his demonic powers on them in payback. They instantly fell to the ground, grabbing their abdomens and coughing up blood.
In the opposite corner Uriel finished off the second demon goon and wiped his hands disgustedly on his pants. He turned and found himself face to face with Anna, she quickly grabbed the chain around his neck and snapped it off. She spared a quick look at the ethereal, swirling blue light within the ornate vial before smashing the whole thing on the grace escaped its prison, swirling and expanding on the floor by Anna's feet.
"NO!" Uriel bellowed. The grace swirled up Anna's legs, her chest and finally up her neck and into her open mouth. She shook violently as her grace took hold of her human vessel. "Shut your eyes! SHUT YOUR EYES!" Anna screamed as her grace glowed a brilliant shade of lilac that emanated from her skin. The humans and the demon covered their eyes with their arms as the blinding light filled the barn. Castiel, Uriel and Alastair watched in awe as Anna became a screaming flash of light. Alastair ran towards the angel and disappeared in the light, leaving only the demon killing knife clattering to the ground.
Dean picked up the knife and stared at the two remaining Angels, "Well, what are you guys waiting for? Go get Anna, unless your scared."
Uriel took a menacing step forward, "This isn't over mud monkey." Castiel put a calm hand on his brothers shoulder and stared wordlessly at the three humans standing before them. They were gone in a flutter of invisible wings leaving the hunter and the wounded demon.
Ruby limped towards them, weakly grasping the bloody cuts on her abdomen. "What took you so long? Those sigils barely held long enough," River asked brushing Ruby's hands away from the wounds and trying to inspect them.
"Yeah, sorry about that. I guess your next demon delivery is free."
River hissed through her teeth when she saw the flayed pieces of skin on Ruby's flat stomach. "Can you heal yourself?"
"Yeah it'll just take a bit." River helped the smaller woman sit on an overturned crate and rest.
Dean looked down at the two women then back to his brother, "Gotta hand it to you Sammy. Hell of an idea bringing Angels and Demons together."
Sam stood up straighter and smiled, "Yeah, well when you got Godzilla and Mothra on your ass it's better to just get outta their way and let them fight it out."
River turned her attention from Ruby and looked at Dean, "You think she's gonna be ok?"
"Anna? Yeah, she's some big time Angel now."
"I was kind of starting to like her…I hope she's happy, wherever she is." River said quietly.
Dean glanced down at his shoes and took a deep breath, "I doubt it. She ran away for a reason."