Careful What You Wish For
Chapter Twelve
Misstep
"You've gotta send us back!" Dean lurched to his feet with an empty bottle in hand, only to be stopped a step later by Bobby's outstretched arm.
"Dean, he can't. He's out... wiped..." Bobby's voice was a soft warning, telling the boy to step down. Dean swore, and chucked his cowboy hat to the ground, pacing a short distance before turning back around, mouth open to start up on a tirade once more.
It was Sam who beat him to the punch. "What the-? Why the hell is Kayla tied up?" The younger Winchester dropped to his knees beside her, tracing the ropes to find the knots that held her tight. She breathed shallowly, her head slumped forward. As Sam freed her from the ropes, Castiel edged forward slowly on the couch, until he could reach out and touch her hands with his. He never wanted to subject either of them to that trauma again.
Sam loosened the last knots, just as Kayla's eyes fluttered open. She took a second to focus on Castiel's face, before glancing to her side to see Sam. A warm smile spread across her face, and she nodded slightly, letting Sam know she was fine. Cass felt her fingers squeeze upon his, and knew he was forgiven for causing her so much pain. She got to her feet long enough to decide that wasn't a good idea, and managed to turn herself around so she could collapse on the couch beside the angel. Cass started to edge over to give her more room, but she laid her head on his shoulder, stopping him midmotion.
Cass looked up, wide-eyed and confused, to find the Winchesters and Singer watching him. Dean smirked and elbowed his brother.
"And here I thought she had a thing for giants... Looks like she goes for feathers." Dean chortled, trying to take his mind off the empty bottle on the counter. Just as he was about to get back to business, just as Sam picked up that same bottle, the doorbell rang. Sam fixed Cass with a look before he ducked out with Bobby to answer the door.
Dean gestured to Kayla half-heartedly. "She gonna be okay?"
Cass didn't answer; he couldn't answer for her. Kayla moved against his shoulder, nodding slightly. "I'll be fine, as soon as my guts stop playing Bouncy House." She lifted a hand to poke lazily at Castiel's arm. "You may want to rethink the this may not be pleasant line..."
Cass blinked, trying to look down at Kayla before turning a helpless expression to Dean. Dean gave the chair a shake to knock the last few coils of rope to the floor before he sat in it.
"Just what happened?" he pushed, raising a brow at Cass.
Kayla waited a moment for Castiel to give him the answer, and in that span discovered that she was making the angel uncomfortable. Rolling her head off his shoulder, she leaned it back against the couch, effectively freeing him. "He played hockey with my soul," she mumbled.
"What?" Dean coughed, a very unwanted, and unholy image popping into his head. At that moment, Sam poked his head around the wall, calling for his brother's attention. "What?" Dean repeated, this time pushing himself halfway around in the chair.
When Sam held up a dusty bottle, filled with some kind of gray powder, Dean blinked, squinted, and then let out an explosive sigh. "Is that what I think it is?"
"Special delivery from 1861..."
"So now we wait again?" Kayla held the bottle delicately in her turn. It was far heavier than she had expected it to be, but she wasn't sure if it was due to the bottle itself or the contents. Handing it back to Dean, she wiped her fingers off on her shorts unconsciously.
"Yeah, until Cass comes up with some kind of location, or something." Sam watched as Kayla shifted uneasily from foot to foot. She was watching Dean as he set out the materials to load shotgun shells. "Y'know, why don't you get changed or something, and I can give you a few lessons... just in case.."
Tearing her eyes away from Dean, Kayla blinked twice, and processed what Sam was asking. "Yeah. Changed." She tugged on the edge of her tank top and heaved a sigh. "I'll be right down."
Sam watched her climb the stairs, before turning away. Glancing at his brother, he decided not to bother Dean, and instead skirted the study to join Bobby in the kitchen. Bobby held out the 12-gauge and a box of shells, as soon as Sam crossed the threshold.
"It ain't a bad idea, getting some practice in with her. Who knows what's gonna go down when we finally find Mom." Bobby nodded his support, in response to Sam's mumbled thanks.
"Do you really think she's okay?" Sam asked suddenly, leaning the shotgun down against the counter, and setting the shells atop. "I mean, she was just kidnapped by a demon; she can't tell us what it wanted, or what it did to her while it had her. We didn't know until it was too late, and Cass had to end up rescuing her. Dean and I promised we'd be able to protect her."
Bobby sighed, stuck his fingers under his cap to scratch at his head a little while he pondered that one. "Son, the way I see it, there're two kinds of people in this world: those who protect, and those who need to be protected. We just gotta teach her to be the first kind, so she can look out for herself."
Sam pulled a shell out of the box, and turned it slowly in his hands. On some levels he agreed with Bobby's assessment of people, but he also worried about shattering that refreshing innocent quality Kayla had. Even after less than three days in their presence, her brightness had been dulled somewhat. It was never more apparent than today. Hearing her trotting down the stairs, he took care to wipe the pensive expression from his face, and picked up the shotgun again. He met her by the door, and was relieved to see her looking marginally better. At least she was smiling at him again.
He held out the gun for her, indicating how she should hold it for now. As she accepted it from him, he launched into his lesson. "This is a Winchester 12-gauge, pump-action shotgun. It's modified, meant for fast firing... Spray-n-pray.." Sam suddenly stopped and blinked, looking down at himself for a few moments.
Kayla waited for the rest of the lesson, but when it didn't come, she leaned forward slightly. "Sam? You okay?"
The corner of Sam's mouth quirked into a smile, and he let out a soft, almost sad chuckle. "I sound like my dad."
Kayla waited for more, again, but Sam shook himself to break out of that line of thought. With a push, he held the back door open for her, escorting her out into the junkyard. Once the fresh, crisp air hit him, his senses cleared again, and he was able to start back in on his lesson.
"Until we get a chance to teach you on the other guns, you can consider this one yours... "
"How's Annie Oakley doing?" Bobby had followed the sounds of gunfire down to the back of the lot, where Kayla was getting comfortable with the pump-action. Sam was sitting on the hood of a rusted-out Pinto, beside him were lines of empty shells, collected from the ground after each of Kayla's four-round bursts. It wasn't a waste, as far as he was concerned, they'd reload each shell with rock salt when Dean was done with the press. He'd already considered it to be their next lesson.
"She's a quick study. Picks up on it faster than anything I've seen." Sam commented, moving over a little so Bobby could have a seat as well. His eyes followed Kayla as she checked to be sure the gun was empty, before leaning it up against a tire, and heading down-range to reset her hubcap targets once more.
"She should be." Bobby grunted as he took a spot beside Sam. "Been doin' some reading on her dearly departed daddy."
"Oh?" Sam glanced away from Kayla then, genuinely interested in what Bobby had to say.
"Yup. Seems like he was a real hoarder of info as far as angels go. A keeper of forgotten lore, as it were. He did visitations and stuff like that too, but his main thing was secrets. He gathered 'em, and kept 'em."
A clatter of sound brought Sam's eyes back to Kayla. She had attempted to set one of the targets higher than the others, but it had fallen as she climbed back down the pile of old cars. She ran a few steps to retrieve it before starting up the climb once more. Satisfied she was safe, Sam looked back at Bobby. "And what's that mean for her?"
"I dunno." Bobby admitted with a shrug. "But whatever it means, we can't rule it out as a reason that everybody'd be after her. Maybe she's got some sort of cosmic memory stored in there that could be bad if it got out." Both of them mulled that thought over for a few moments, watching Kayla as she climbed back down from the pile a second time. As she hit the ground, she spied Bobby had joined Sam, and offered a cheerful wave, before headed over.
Bobby cut off whatever question she had about to surface, by gesturing back to the house. "Dean's about done. It's high time we found out where we're at."
On the way back in, Sam showed Kayla where to store the shells until they were ready to reload them. She leaned the gun in the corner of the hallway, and joined the rest in the study where Dean had been working diligently.
"I got five shells. That's it." Dean muttered, looking up from the press.
"Think it'll be enough?" Sam's natural worry came out through the question. Five shells for four of them. The math didn't work out well.
"It's gonna have to be," Bobby countered. He didn't manage to sound optimistic, but it was the best he could do.
"Maybe." Dean muttered.
"Maybe?" Kayla added her voice to the chorused echo. She reached out to pick up the now empty bottle. Yeah, the bottle was surprisingly light, which meant the phoenix ash had been ridiculously dense.
"Maybe meaning..." Dean cut himself off, instead working with a demonstration. Dipping his finger into the small cup of remaining ash, he rubbed it on his skin.
Kayla could feel the tension rising in the room. Dean felt like he would nearly burst with the stress, and Sam's explosive sigh just hid the fear that everything would be for naught. She tried desperately to find something clever and insightful to say, something to break the tension. But it was Sam who found the words first.
"Maybe it's like iron, or silver... works on them, but not on us?" The first glimmer of hope flickered through the room, and Kayla latched onto it, for fear it die terribly.
"Do we have any idea where to find her?" she piped up, but immediately bit her lip, uncertain if she should have spoken, or even included herself in that thought.
"Not a clue." Dean thumped the chair into place as he stood up to stretch. "I can hear, Bobby; those phones have been dead silent today." Three steps brought him into the kitchen, where he pulled four shot glasses down from the cupboard. "We need to take the fight to her. We gotta find where she is." He poured a shot of whiskey for each of them, filling three to the brim, but only pouring half one for Kayla.
He gave the nephil a meaningful look as she opened her mouth to protest the lack of liquid in her glass. Wisely, she shut her mouth and held it delicately between two fingers, waiting for all the others to be armed with alcohol.
"Maybe it's time to call Cass." Bobby supplied before tossing back his shot.
Dean immediately looked like he swallowed something sour and nasty, only to chase it with his own shot of whiskey. "Why does it always have to be me? It's not like Cass lives in my ass!"
Kayla almost choked on her shot as Castiel appeared behind Dean at that very moment. She barely managed to swallow it, half-coughing, half-laughing, as Dean jumped with the realization that Cass was standing so close by.
"Jeeze, Cass! Personal space... remember what we talked about?" Dean's shotglass clattered on the counter, as he sidestepped away from the angel.
Cass just looked confused as Dean moved away from him, putting the counter between himself and the angel. "But... I..." Castiel tried to find words, but they escaped him, as they always seemed to when he was uncertain of what to do. Dean shot him a glare, while he poured another shot of whiskey for himself. Right, Cass realized. Back to business. "Have you found her?"
Sam swore softly. Dean did so more loudly. "Dammit. No, we were hoping you had."
Castiel frowned so intently that his face hurt, then he took a long, slow breath, digging deep into his well of patience and holding on. "No. She's hidden from me. From all angels."
"So where does that put us now?" Bobby took his hat off, smoothed back his hair, and pulled his hat back down.
Kayla watched as the three of them settled into a strange sort of brainstorming session. Across the room, she caught Castiel watching her. Dropping her gaze, she could hear the soft brogue of Crowley whispering in her ear, a replay of their deal. Her stomach churned at the memory, so she concentrated on breathing. Unfortunately, she lost track of the conversation going on around her, until Sam touched her arm lightly.
"Kayla?"
Wide-eyed and startled, she blinked a few times at him, before realizing that everyone was waiting on her. "Huh, yeah, what?"
Sam glanced at the others, concerned. Before he could voice it though, Castiel stepped forward, placing himself directly before Kayla. "I would like you to accompany me. If I am called away, you can bring our quarry back here." He lifted his hand, palm up, for her, and she mutely accepted.
Before Sam or Dean could protest, they were gone.
Between one blink and the next, they were elsewhere. Castiel allowed his hand to drop, freeing Kayla from his grip. She looked around the small house while Cass concentrated on honing in on his senses. A thick layer of dust lay over everything; the kitchen table leaned precariously on two broken legs. Kayla moved sideways slightly, noticing the footprints that they both left behind.
"I don't like this," Kayla murmured softly, giving voice to the rising bad feeling in her stomach.
Castiel glanced over his shoulder at her, pausing to see if she would continue to give voice to that feeling. She did, but not how he expected. Instead of continuing to speak, she crossed the room to him, and reached out for his hand. He didn't resist as she twined her fingers into his. She was shaking.
"Are you afraid?" Castiel asked gently, pausing in his search. His brows rose as Kayla shook her head negatively.
"Something here is." she clarified when she caught his expression. "It's... overwhelming.."
Cass didn't answer, but he squeezed her hand in what he hoped was a reassuring way. She moved beside him until they came to a narrow hallway, lined with shelves. A few remaining canned goods hinted that this was once a pantry. As she slipped into single file behind Cass, the taste of fear in her mouth was so overpowering that she wanted to drop to her knees and hide from it. Castiel stopped before a door recessed slightly into the pantry wall.
One glance at Kayla told him what he needed to know. She wouldn't be accompanying him down the stairs into the basement. He pondered her overwhelming, irrational fear of going underground, but could find no understandable reason for it. Turning in the hallway, he took hold of her shoulders to draw her attention directly to him.
"Meet me back at Bobby's in five minutes."
She nodded mutely in agreement, and watched him push open the door slowly. As his footsteps receded down the stairs, Kayla shivered, bit her lip, and peered around the empty, abandoned house. She counted time slowly to herself, closing her eyes as she retreated step by step away from the basement wall. When she opened her eyes again, everything was different.
The walls were pristine white, except for one which bore sigils painted in blood. Castiel was there, standing before the wall, but so was the rest of the gang. As she watched, the circle around which the sigils were drawn dissolved to reveal a dark hole, and out of that hole emitted a brilliant stream of white light. For a split second, Kayla thought she could see faces within, screaming, angry faces. Castiel reeled for a moment as the light slammed into his body.
Just as quickly as it began the white light ended, the door closed, and Castiel stood still and silent. He drew a breath. His body rippled like oil on water, and as he raised his eyes, and turned slightly to look at the Winchester brothers, he suddenly exploded into a thousand meaty gobbets.
Kayla screamed. She stepped backward, and tripped, over the table with two broken legs. Sitting in the dust and broken wood, panting hard, she wondered what the hell was happening to her. Closing her eyes, she pictured herself at Bobby's and was there with a flicker of a thought. She appeared just a few feet behind Castiel.
A lot was going on at once. The brothers seemed to be interrogating whatever it was Cass brought back for them. Cass himself turned halfway to acknowledge Kayla's arrival with a slight nod. Bobby was loading guns nearby.
"We have to move this along," Cass said softly, as he laid his hand on the head of the captive. Bright light emitted from her eyes and mouth, and in moments, her body slumped over, a smoking husk. He turned to look over his shoulder, and locked eyes with Kayla for a moment.
Dean grinned and accepted the shotgun from Bobby. Chambering a round, he found a bitter laugh on his lips, and gave it voice.
"Let's go take this Mother out."