(Due to the length of this chapter, it was split up into 2 parts)
Part 5: Cruel (When Angels Darken)
Part 2
Meg saw Nyx slump a little, the long night finally catching up to the tired little girl. "All right, kiddo, time to go in," she muttered as she slid her hand down and grasped Nyx's. The small fingers wrapped between Meg's longer ones and squeezed. Her hand was cold and she was swaying a little on her feet.
"Tired."
"I get that. Long night?"
"Dreamed. Clouds," Nyx muttered and scrubbed at her face tiredly with her other hand. "Heaven."
Meg had never heard Nyx say that word before. "What are you talking about?" She bent down to look closely at her and Nyx's lower lip trembled. "Nyx?"
"Don't like it." Nyx burrowed a little deeper in her coat and Meg lifted the brim of her hat to look at her.
"When did you start dreaming of clouds?" she asked and saw her eyes dart up.
"Don't know."
It was too much of a coincidence, Meg thought, that Nyx would start dreaming of Heaven the same time Castiel had revived her memories of him.
"Don't worry, you're staying here with me, got it?" she said and gave her a squeeze. Nyx seemed so trusting in her; strange for a child to trust a demon, but Meg felt it from her. It balanced the demon a little to feel that faith from her and she stood up.
"She knows her future home." The too soft of voice was a sudden intrusion on the quiet and Meg turned around abruptly to face a young man. His face struck her as familiar but she couldn't place it for a second until she felt that hum of Grace crackling in the air around them. Then it came back to her and she took a step backwards with Nyx. She remembered that face from the town, and from years before when an Archangel had possessed the forgotten Winchester brother.
"Michael."
The smile he gave her was not remotely warm.
"Castiel's demon. I thought you were dead. We all wished it but here you are," he said, snapping his fingers. He made no move toward her but she knew he wasn't just going to stand there and talk her ear off. He wanted something.
More angels appeared beside him, blocking her way inside to the bunker. Careful to keep them all in her eyesight, Meg tugged Nyx closer and felt the way she clutched at her hand. Michael's watery blue eyes fixed on the girl and Meg thought she saw a glimmer of yellow in his eyes for just a moment before it cleared.
"So, there she is. The bastard abomination."
"Back off," Meg warned, aware of two angels behind her so close that she could feel their Grace just touching her. Nyx pressed up into her front and Meg quickly tried to spy a way out. They were blocked by the angels and she knew if she teleported with Nyx the chance of being caught was high.
"Or what?" Michael smiled. He bent over at the waist and stared at the child. "We are just here because we are interested in such a fascinating little girl. She is our niece, after all. Hello, what's your name?"
Meg clamped her hand over Nyx's mouth to keep her from answering. "I won't say it again."
"I may not be an Archangel any longer, Meg," his voice dropped and slowly his eyes lifted to hers, "but you will respect my power."
In the shadow of the trees as lightning cracked through the sky, tattered wings loomed. The threat of him was supposed to make her shake in fear, she knew, but she had seen greater angels, greater gods, and it would take more than just wings to get her cowering. Meg jutted out her chin and felt Nyx gripping her tighter. Unlike Meg, the little girl had never seen an angel besides Castiel and to see them like this was terrifying for her.
Meg reached down and touched the top of her head to keep her calm.
"You really have no one else to blame but yourself and Castiel. I would have thought you'd know better than to trust him. It isn't like we haven't had our eye on him and this bunker the whole time. Our little brother was acting strange. Even for him." Michael shifted his shoulders and the shadow of wings disappeared. "We're not here to kill her."
"You're hilarious. That's supposed to be a reason why I should trust you?" Meg snapped and Michael actually laughed and the sound bordered on the hysterical. The demon noticed how even some of the angels look bewildered by the way he laughed.
"Oh you shouldn't. Because I need her. I just don't need you." He snapped his fingers and Meg felt something tearing through her. It was the bitter sort of pain she hadn't felt since she had been on the rack in Hell. It sliced through her as if it knew which cracks in her revealed her soul, icy tendrils slipping into invisible gashes on her soul and beginning to pull them apart as if to look for the smoke and darkness that held her at its seams.
Meg's arms went numb in shocked agony. Her fingers slipped through Nyx's grip and she heard the girl's cry for her, felt her palm tickled by a featherlight touch as she was pulled back. Fighting back was even more excruciating as Michael's power snared at her limbs, wrapped around her inside and out before tossing her into the arms of the two angels. Their rough grip woke her numb body up just enough that she regained her control. She slammed her elbow into the angel who reached for her and he reared back, cradling a broken nose. The other angel behind her quickly looped his arm around Meg's neck and squeezed, his palm resting flat on her forehead in warning.
Meg didn't want to look away from Michael, not wanting to see how the angels had surrounded Nyx. But at the low call from her Meg squirmed against the angel's hold to see what was happening. Nyx looked tiny and frail between all of them but she wasn't crying though she was terrified. The child just shook and tried bravely to stand up to the way they loomed over her.
"Kill the demon, kill..." Michael began but something stalled him. His head tilted and he seemed to be listening to something else within. Quickly his hand lifted. "No. Don't kill her."
"Michael?" The angel restraining Meg was not holding her tight and, to Meg's surprise, his grip loosened as if he was going to free her. "Castiel will— we should not threaten her. She isn't ours to threaten. She is under his protection!"
Before he could continue, Michael launched through the air and pummelled him to the ground. He cried out as he lifted him up and shook him like a doll in his arms. The angel whimpered at the way Michael twisted him around so hard his bones cracked at the pressure. He dropped like a heavy stone to the ground, whimpering at the pain as the other angel struck him in the face.
"Do as you are ordered, Henel. I won't stand for disobedience any longer. You have all run loose for too long."
Falling away from the pair, Meg rolled to her knees and held out her arms on instinct. "Nyx!" she snapped out in a low order. Still between the other angels who had surrounded her, Nyx saw Meg's hands reaching for her and ducked the angels' reach and ran between their legs. They shouted in surprise and swatted at her but she was tiny and quick, leaping into Meg's arms for protection.
The demon squeezed her tight and Michael turned around to see them together. He moved fast, abandoning the crippled angel below him, and reaching into his coat. Seeing a glint of silver, Meg threw up her arm and deflected the first blow with her arm, ignoring the excruciating pain of the blow as the angel sword sliced through the exposed skin. Nyx cried out but Meg grit her teeth and slid the girl around her body to protect her.
"You are so disappointing right now," Michael whispered as he dug the knife in deeper, until the blade hit bone.
There was something about Michael's eyes that confused Meg more than the anger that she was being attacked. What she saw within him was twisted and bizarre. Slowly, his eyes shifted so that yellow stared back at her and the different tone in his voice sent a chill of pure threat down her spine and she realized why his face was familiar as her last memories from weeks ago came back to her. He had been the one to stab her and force Castiel to bring back her back to what she had once been.
The eyes held her and his grin widened when he saw her recognition.
"Hello, Meg."
The blade scraped deeper as he swung it too fast for her to see, her arm still taking most of the blow as her jacket and skin tore under the pressure. He snarled and lashed out again, this time aiming for her throat. Out of the corner of her eye, Meg saw another glitter of silver flashing downwards. The angel sword screeched as it struck another, the holy metals clashing and echoing in the night air. Michael snarled in fury and turned just as Meg was shoved backwards from him and she rolled with Nyx to protect herself.
There was the sound of a loud scuffle and Meg pulled Nyx completely under her body before she found the strength to get to her hands and knees. From behind the dark curtain of her hair, she looked up and realized who had stopped Michael.
Castiel stood just over her, his mouth bloodied to match the fading bruises that decorated his battered face. Behind him, Dean slumped against the open door to the bunker and Kevin, likely having heard the noise from inside, was fiddling with a leather satchel. He only spared Meg a glance before he handed Dean something. Castiel took no notice of them, his eyes only on Michael and the angels at his back.
Getting to her feet, Meg ignored Castiel's warning look and faced Michael beside him. Nyx all but crawled beneath Meg's coat with her, shivering in fear.
The angel smiled at her indulgently. "So you still have your weaknesses, Castiel," he said without taking his eyes away from Meg.
"Get out of here."
"You hid this from Heaven, from your own family." Michael's head slowly tilted toward him. "That's a shame."
Everyone noticed how Castiel swayed a little.
"Leave."
"Or? All I want is a moment alone with your little girl. Find out what she is really like. She must be very special for not only an angel to protect her but a demon and a hunter too."
Meg felt Nyx clinging to her neck. "Gonna have to kill me first," she snapped and Michael smiled.
"That could be arranged."
His peripheral vision let Castiel spot Dean working fast on the door of the bunker. "Meg?" Her furious eyes went to his face but he didn't look over at her. "Hold onto Nyx."
Before she could question it, the light flashed across the clearing outside the bunker and then burnt out just as quickly as it had come, taking with it the angels. The sigil Dean had drawn pulsed for a several seconds before fading into just blood stained on the door of the bunker. Meg could still feel the heat of the first blast crawling over her and she winced as the wound in her arm knitted over and began to heal.
Nyx was still shivering, the humans were talking low and excited, but now with the angels gone all Meg could feel was a cold fury.
Though who she was angry at, she wasn't sure.
"You okay?" Dean asked Meg once they were all back in the bunker. Kevin had taken Nyx to the common room to try to calm her down and Dean had been confused by why Meg, normally protective over Nyx, was almost avoiding her now. He wasn't sure if Meg was maternal at all or knew that she had an ace up her sleeve with Nyx; he just knew that he had seen her wince when Nyx had shrunk back away from her the second they were in the bunker.
"Don't act like you're concerned, Dean." Meg turned away from him. "Hand me the brush."
"You should be with Nyx."
"Now." She snapped her fingers and he sighed, passing it over to her with the can of red paint. She went to work with single-minded focus and, tired as he was, he set out to aid her.
Not wanting to bring it up again, Dean resigned himself to helping Meg paint the wards on the bunker walls, and he was aware of her infrequent looks whenever his hand went unsteady. He had to fight to keep himself upright, not wanting even a moment's weakness to show in front of her and as the boring task continued he was struggling harder and harder to keep himself strong.
But Meg seemed more preoccupied by her own thoughts now, her painting aggressive and angry. Like him, she knew her wards and she drew them sloppy but accurately. It would block the angels out for a while and there were enough traps around the entirety of the bunker that it wouldn't be hard to keep them out for a little longer.
"I haven't seen Michael in years," Dean tried as the silence went on too long but she didn't answer, still painting. The marks were now saturating the walls, the thick red paint forming gobs that dripped down the wall like clotted blood. "Then there was the hospital and the monsters that showed up."
"Shut it, Winchester."
"Just making conversation." He noticed her still favouring her arm. The leather jacket hid most of the gash, but it would take a while for her to heal completely from the mark. "Might want to get that looked at."
"Whatever," Meg hissed and she jerked the sleeve down to cover her wound.
The loud knock at the door kept him from saying anything more and he set his brush down with a thankful sigh. Meg ignored the knocking and began painting the wall beside the door instead.
Keeping one hand on his knife, Dean cracked open the spy hole and peered out. Castiel and Sam stood together, the dusk light making them both shadowy and he smiled. "Whatever you're selling, we don't want it," he shouted through the steel door.
"You're feeling better," Sam grumbled. "Open the stupid door, Dean, before we get caught out here."
Dean shrugged and yanked it half-open. Sam squeezed by and quickly noticed Meg. The demon was painting the opposing wall with such vengeance that the paint was splattering on the floor. "Hey, Meg."
She didn't answer.
"I found Cas on the side of the road coming back. Which was lucky because I'm sure some trucker thought he looked like he survived a gang war." Sam glanced at the demon again. "He told me what happened."
Castiel said nothing; instead the angel locked the door and helped Dean barricade it again with a heavier brace. When he turned away, he caught sight of Meg and nervously looked away at Dean instead."How is Nyx?"
"She's not hurt," Dean said, smiling as if consoling him. Noticing how nervous the angel was, he cleared his throat and nudged Sam in the shoulder. "Come on, we need to find something to finish this up with."
"I'll get the Holy Oil. Maybe we can line the doorframe with it."
The brothers went to the closest supply cabinet but still kept some of their attention on Meg and Castiel. They were shamelessly eavesdropping, both having noticed the immediate tension between them. Dean gestured at Meg, then at Cas, and drew a slicing motion across his throat. Sam nudged him hard in the side and he winced but clammed up anyway as they tried to find the missing bottles.
Coming to stand just beside Meg, Castiel touched one of the marks she'd made on the wall.
"This is good. This will work."
Meg snorted and slashed her paint down into another arch.
"Are you hurt?" Castiel asked though he could clearly see the healing wound on her arm. Meg set her brush down with a bang and he watched a mixture of emotions cross her face. Anger, hate, exhaustion, mistrust… he wasn't sure which was stronger. Whatever had eased between them just hours before had come back in force, throwing up a wall he hadn't expected.
"Did you know they would follow you?" she demanded.
"No."
The demon pushed him out of her way. "I doubt that."
Resigned to her anger lashing out, he followed her to the common room, hearing the Winchesters just behind them. Nyx was bundled up again within a heavy comforter, watching cartoons, and she at least looked a little less terrified. Kevin was reading his own book as he walked around and he gave them a nod for acknowledgement.
Sam grabbed the Holy Oil out of the cabinet under the sink and headed back to the door despite Dean's protest that he should stay. Castiel nearly asked him to stay as well when what he felt from Meg only seemed to continue to increase in tension.
When he chanced another look at her, he noticed Meg's hostility just in the faint quirk to her eyebrows and lips. Castiel watched the defensive way the demon had crossed her arms over her chest. Every movement now seemed jerky and yet too controlled, and he knew that it was a bad sign. When Meg's head lifted, he had to look away from her and focus on Kevin instead.
"She'll be fine?" he asked as the prophet came close to him. The young man shrugged.
"I think so. Nyx was just startled. They couldn't get a good grip on her."
The accusing way Meg's eyes were now focussed on Castiel made him stare even harder at the prophet instead of her.
"She's a smart kid," Dean agreed. "Was she hurt?"
"Well." Kevin shrugged.
"What?" Meg and Castiel asked in unison.
"Whatever Michael was going to try, it scared her and she saw a few angels come down and threaten her. I mean, it's a lot for a kid to absorb."
"So we wait. See how she is," Castiel began.
"It's not hard to figure out, Cas. She's a kid. She's scared," Dean said.
Meg opened her mouth to answer when she felt something tug on her hand. In their discussion, Nyx had moved from the couch to stand just below her, her eyes wide and staring. Instead of the fear she'd seen there before, now the trusting child was back. Meg dropped to a knee and gave her a wry smile.
"You okay, baby girl?"
Nyx nodded. "Hungry."
"You're not hurt?"
Castiel noticed the gentle way Meg was touching the child but he could hear from the tone in her voice that she was barely controlling what she wanted to lash out with. So could Dean and the hunter gave Nyx's hair a ruffle.
"I can get her something. I'm actually hungry too," he offered, sensing the line of fire he was in.
"Thank you, Dean," Castiel said. "I think Meg and I have to talk."
Meg's eyes caught and held his, and Castiel moved forward a few steps towards her. Dean noticed the looks and cleared his throat. "Come on, Nyx, we'll watch cartoons and I'll get you something."
With still remarkable trust, she put her tiny hand in his and let him lead her away to the kitchen. Feeling as if he was going to an execution, Castiel followed Meg out of the common room but she never looked back at him. As they passed the table, he noticed Kevin watching them both with obvious confusion. But no one came to save him and it was clear by the way Meg was walking that she expected him to follow her.
When Sam came back and noticed Nyx sitting with Dean, he raised his eyebrows. The loud cartoons were being watched by his brother and, perched on his knee, Nyx was steadily ripping apart a package of crackers and popping them into her mouth. Tired as he was, Dean managed to grin up at him.
"You got stuck on babysitter duty?"
"Meg and Cas had to have a talk," Dean said, emphasizing the word by making quotations in the air. "Figured it was better to let them fight it out and stay out of their way."
Noticing the lights flickering, Sam shrugged. "After the night we just had, what's the worst they can do?"
Castiel noticed how Meg didn't even look back at him as she walked away from the common room, through the hall to where the basement doors still were propped open. He followed close behind, realizing where they were going with a crawling apprehension. Meg made her way to the holding cell where years ago she had been put to make sure she didn't cause trouble. Castiel could remember vividly everything that had happened within these walls and he wondered if she did as well. When he made it in and closed the door, he wondered why she would come here of all places.
"Meg."
She kept her back to him for one more moment, as if deciding what next to say, before she spun and slammed her fist into his jaw hard enough that he fell back. Shaking out her hand, Meg moved into a defensive pose as if ready for him to spring back at her for the blow.
"You son of a bitch," she whispered. "You knew they were going to do that, didn't you?"
Castiel cradled his jaw, stunned by the strength behind that blow, by the way everything about her seemed to crackle with fury. "I…"
"Did you know they could be following you?" Her hand lashed out and caught his tie, wrenching it so hard he felt the pressure of material cutting into his throat. She yanked him in close and he stared down, not wanting to bend to her. "Did you?"
"I knew they had followed me earlier but I didn't expect the angels to come here. They have too much to worry about in fixing Heaven." He flexed his hand and she was pushed back a little by his Grace to give him breathing room. "They aren't interested in her. I know they aren't."
"Doesn't look that way! They knew she was here! That I was here." Meg's voice rose in a shout. "They held me down and they nearly grabbed her! If you had come a second later, I'd be dead again and they'd have her!"
"I thought she would be safe here."
"You're not that stupid, Castiel. There is no safe." Her lips were a flat line of anger. "Why did I think maybe it would be? I'm stupider than you. ! I'm not about to die for this shit."
His fist caught hers when she moved to go past her and he spun her close. "Stop, I don't - " Her elbow caught him in the throat and he gasped as he went down to a knee. "Meg."
"I am so, so sick of all of this!" She ran her hands through her hair and paced a quick few steps. "Of the angels. Of being some goddamn puppet on your God's strings. What has he done once that is right?"
Castiel flinched and knew he had to try harder to reach her through the bloodlust and anger he could see plain on her face. The loathing there wasn't directed solely at him. It was also at herself.
"He gave us Nyx."
He had hoped that would throw her off, make her retreat, but all it did was make her scream in anger and fly at him until his back met the cement wall and his head smacked into the iron post. Meg's slight weight pressed against him to keep him pinned and he stared down at her in surprise, so stunned that he thought his vision was swimming and causing her to blur. Her eyes went black when he muttered at her and her nails dug like needles into the shoulders of his coat before she yanked him forward by his collar. Not caring that he wasn't fighting back, Meg shoved him up higher against the wall until his toes just grazed the floor.
"Get it through your stupid angel brain, Castiel. God doesn't care and he never will. Even if he did, he's a sick bastard to do that to a child and give her nothing to know of what she is." Meg's voice had dropped from a shout to a low husky growl and that was somehow worse than if she had screamed at him. "He's the sort of fuck up my Father called him."
"Meg, stop." Knowing that she actually believed that blasphemy, he grabbed at her shoulders and shook her. "Stop this."
"What is the best thing your God ever did, Castiel?" She pressed her knee up between them and he felt it crunch into his stomach, causing him to bend over and chortle in surprise. Seeing it rise again, he caught her leg and tried to prevent her from kneeing him in the groin next. Meg continued to spit out her rage at him, "I'm telling you that that little girl isn't one of them!"
Temper pricked by her scalding words, Castiel shoved her back so hard that she fell to her knees and he was instantly horrified by what he had done. Meg's nails scraped on the cement floor and he watched her head tilt back to stare up at him, mouth curved into a sneer. Panting for breath, he looked at her and swallowed down what he wanted to say. That he understood her anger, her helplessness when the angels had come because he felt it towards himself. That they both should have known what could happen.
"Don't do this," he ordered instead. He could see the line of blood where her teeth had cut her lip and he splayed his hands out in supplication. When she jumped off her feet and came at him again, he grabbed her arms and held her still away from him. "Please, Meg."
"You ruined my life! I was better years ago and…." She struggled and the grip on her arms tightened.
"I never meant to."
"Then you took away what I was. Almost four years and they could have come at any time! Did you fucking think of that?"
His teeth clenched as he realized that the fight she had threatened him with was about to erupt. "Stop." Feeling her hands digging into the top of his own arms, he yanked her around and planted her hard against the wall behind them. "Stop this!"
"Or what?" Meg's eyes went black and as her darkness attacked him his Grace roared to life defensively. He could feel the telekinetic push of her, yanking at him and trying to throw him around. His insides actually burned from the force of it. Tightening his fingers on her arms, he pushed her back and felt the wall crack under the force of his Grace as it warred with her own power.
He was pressed close again to block her from moving and stared down at her. "Stop."
"Come on, Castiel." Her eyes were still black, still impossible to read. "You can't tell me you still have faith in God."
"I still have faith… in all of you."
"Let me go find those angels or give me a fight, Cas. I'm tired of this shit."
"I told you. I can't," he warned and he felt her nails dig into his arms again in warning. Her forehead slammed his chin and his teeth cut into his cheek. Annoyed that she was still not listening, he pulled back and let her arms go.
"Why do you want to do this?" he asked, spitting out blood. A fine line of blood on her nose showed and he blinked through the surprising sparks of pain. Her darkness still pushed at him, thorns scratching and biting into his Grace and, damn, he wanted to fight with her now the more the demon threatened him.
"Why? I saw your precious family nearly snatch the one thing I care about." The hold he had on her didn't lessen though he looked away to try to regain his concentration. "You're lucky I don't have an angel sword on me or I'd be hunting down every last one of them."
His eyes gleamed with anger. "This is my fault then.
So because they aren't here, you want to fight me to punish them."
"Gets everything into the open, Castiel." She worked a hand free to wipe at her mouth. "Better than us dancing around how it is going to be."
"I have no intention of hurting you."
"Can't get any worse than what happened." Her grin turned feral. "Newsflash, Castiel. You can't hurt me that bad."
He dodged the fist aimed at his chest and tripped over his own feet when she kicked them from under him. He debated on keeping his arms down, on fending off her blows, and letting her tire herself out. What answering shoves he returned were half-hearted at first, his hesitance to fight the weaker demon making it difficult to do more than that... until he lost himself in the fight. In the heat and darkness of it. Suddenly he wanted her to feel what he felt.
They rolled on the ground and he latched his arm around her waist to keep her close so she couldn't nail him again. When he saw her moving, he put his hand around her throat with his fingers tightening to the point of bruising grip when she actually went to head-butt him.
Meg struck at his chest instead but he didn't feel it, staring at her face in surprise as he realized that she didn't care that he could kill her. He'd forgotten how unafraid Meg was to fight someone much bigger than her meatsuit and under his anger and frustration he felt something strangely like admiration. Taking advantage of him, Meg's power curled around him and she swung him up into the wall. Small as she was, she was faster than he and her power was still strong enough to pin him for a few moments. Cursing, Castiel caught her hand and twisted hard to the left. She ducked a swing and he used her momentum to turn her around with him.
The crush of his weight against her forced Meg to stop trying to hit him. Heaving for breath, she stared at him and his breath caught in his throat with what he saw in her face.
What he felt radiating from her.
"Meg..."
Her head leaned back and she watched him with the wariness of a cat about to be struck. "I just want to hate you," she said finally, as if it was the simplest thing she could think of. Even the way she blurted out her next words was calm. "I want to."
Letting her hands go, Castiel leaned close and his hand touched her cheek. Her eyelids drooped a little and he felt her relax, just slightly, into him.
"Meg," he breathed out and he lowered his head. Wanting to show her some sign of affection, of comfort like he might have years ago, he grazed her cheek with his mouth.
She jerked her head to the side before he could kiss her, but didn't move away. He looked down between them as he braced his arm on the wall over her head, judging the damage they'd done to each other and trying to guess what he should do next. Physically, he should have felt like he was trapping her but instead he felt like she was holding him within her power again.
"I could hate you so easily," she whispered against the curve of his neck and shoulder. "And I still want to…"
"I know." Part of him even wanted that hate even though he was slowly feeling that need in her tangle with his own. He hadn't felt this way in years, when he had wanted something much more from this demon, and it was like a reminder of that night years ago. He hadn't needed like this in so long that the sensation was overwhelming.
His fists clenched when she looked up at him and Meg let him see that familiar look in her eyes. He'd not seen it from another person, another demon or angel; never with the same force of emotion behind it. There was something about it that made his stomach turn over nervously and he murmured her name, only to see her eyes darken even more than before. He tried again to kiss her, wanting to show her something gentler but she moved her head away again and instead he felt her mouth brush his neck again.
When her moist lips, still sticky with blood and saliva, touched his sensitive skin, he knew exactly what was going to happen.
"We can't do this."
"Doesn't make any sense to," Meg agreed but her hands were betraying her as they slid down his chest. He shuddered, all of those memories springing back to life within him, and he knew he was as lost as before. Suddenly his Grace and his own mind, once fighting her, were trying to get close to her in furious desire. He pressed closer and touched her neck with his mouth, opening his mouth against the curve of her throat. The familiar taste of her skin made his eyes close and he let his tongue rasp gently over her skin, feeling the way she swallowed hard in reaction.
"You know we can't do this," he said when he lifted his head a little. Meg only turned her head to his neck and treated him to the same rough mixture of tongue and teeth he had given her.
"We can," Meg murmured.
He felt her fingers undoing his belt, tugging at the leather, and her mouth grew more demanding at his neck, sucking a red mark that would bruise if he was human. Her teeth bit into his collarbone and he groaned as he reached between them to catch at her hands. Knowing what she wanted and terrified how easily he was going along with this because of his own desire, he let her hands go and moved his own over her shoulders. He braced his arms on either side of her head and leaned into her, kissing her below her earlobe when she refused to turn her head to let him touch her lips with his.
It sent warning bells off in his head but it didn't stop him from kissing what skin he could find. Meg's head ducked and he heard her moan against his chest as her teeth dragged over the material of his shirt.
"We can," Meg repeated before her hands went to his waist. Her nails dug into the small of his back to pull him closer. "Because it is either this or we let it all build up, then fight and kill each other eventually. I want to hate you so badly and you… you..."
Castiel's mind was dizzy with want and confusion, not sure if Meg even knew what she wanted. She just wanted and he was pulled into her dizzying orbit of darkness and lust. He could feel that need radiating off her and it was déjà vu to how she had seduced him on the night that Nyx had been conceived. But this time lacked the hesitation of two people new to one another. They were running on memory alone and Castiel crooked his head into her neck as he pushed at the sides of her coat. The garment slid off when she shrugged her shoulders to remove it and he nudged her shirt down over her collarbones with his lips. He felt how warm her skin was now under his mouth and heard the rush of her gasping when he sucked on her pulse point.
Reaching between them with one hand, he unbuckled her belt at the same time she began to unzip him. Castiel crouched lower as his mouth moved over her, feeling her fingers tighten in his hair as he took her clothed breast between his lips, and then the pull of her fingers in his hair when he sucked harder, not caring about the taste of fabric. Meg groaned in response and he let her covered nipple go when she pulled harder on his hair to move him. Castiel leaned forward; his lips ghosted over her shirt as he pulled her up with him with his arm bracing under her thighs. Meg's fingers shoved on his coat and he awkwardly let it drop from his shoulders before he stood up with her legs moving to wrap around his hips.
Every tension he felt was now coiled in his stomach, his desire warring with the knowledge that this was wrong.
This wasn't how it should be.
What was he doing? Why were they doing this?
Turning his head to the side, he tried to pull back but her hand caught him by the back of his neck.
"Old times sake," she snarled against his throat, biting at his jaw, and he shuddered while his shoulders hunched forward at the pain of her nails digging into his skin. Distantly, he heard himself say yes to her and her own muffled words of agreement. He heard the snap of his belt falling, and then her legs dragged higher up his hips.
Mind stuck in a fog, Castiel grabbed her jeans and bent to force them down, catching one pant-leg on the heel of her boot. He yanked, leaving one side of her jeans and her panties dangling from her ankle, but before he could pull back again to help her, her legs slid up his waist again. He knew he was lost when he felt her body grind against his and he couldn't stop himself from pushing up at her movements.
Even after the three years apart, she still had a way of making him feel like he was going to drown in her.
He tried to kiss her again but Meg kept her mouth away, letting him only feel her panting breath and her teeth just barely brushing his lips when she outmanoeuvred him. Determined, Castiel opened his eyes to see where she'd moved to but caught her watching him just as warily. It was the misery in her eyes that made his breath catch in his throat; misery and anger.
Castiel had forgotten what it was to see such beauty in her anger.
"Meg."
"I want to hate you. It's the only thing I can feel between us, Cas, that makes sense. So put up or shut up."
The ferocity in the words made him believe it and he had been human for two years. He heard what she meant under the bitter words. He knew what she wanted and why she wanted it. The last time something like this had happened he'd been giving in to her need for reality; this time it was because he wanted her to feel something towards him that matched how he felt now.
Even if he wasn't sure how he felt now.
Lowering his head, he rested against her shoulder as he gripped her legs and kept them tight around his waist before he moved into her. What desire and pleasure he should have felt now, what joy because Heaven it should and did feel like he was where he wanted to be, was lost now that he suddenly felt cold and infuriated instead. He wanted her, so badly, but the feeling of happiness that he was here with her was an emotion now buried. He felt anger towards her now: for forcing his hand and not believing in him.
Meg felt the change in him as the power that had coiled in his body unleashed and the arms wrapped around her waist tighter. The lights in the room slashed off and plunged the room into total darkness. It only made their muffled groans and breathing seem louder than ever before as they thrust and shifted against one another.
She reached down to grip his shoulders and his power pushed her hands off, singeing them with hot Grace that for a second dominated her demonic power. The fury between them was something they had both forgotten. Now, uncaged, her darkness snarled as his own light warred with her.
The old iron pipe she was against collapsed when Meg tried to use it to hold herself up and she sank down hard into him. Grunting with effort, Castiel's knees buckled at the sudden extra weight and he swung her down underneath him onto the cold floor and ignored his open clothing as he moved to his knees. Noticing the look he shot her, she slid halfway across the floor before he pulled her back up into him, his teeth biting at her shoulder in an effort to keep his moans in.
Meg's hips arched within his grip and she took him deep again, her hands crushed between them as he held her close. He palmed her breasts and stroked her skin, trying to keep up with her. Meg made low sounds, some encouraging, some angry, and he tried to slow down, tried to bring about that passion they had managed to find before. An angry sort of passion that had eventually softened from savage need to a sense of belonging.
He was trying to rekindle something as he tried to remember what she needed to feel that way again.
Something was wrong though, he could sense it, because no matter how he tried she refused to go over the edge before him. No gentle strokes, harder touches and bites, and no whispered moans in her ear seemed to help bring Meg to climax. Where years ago sex like this had been a release, Meg's anger was too visceral, too real. It made her so tense that, while it was pleasurable for him, she seemed to only be going through the motions.
It was too fast, Castiel thought. It wouldn't last and he wanted it to last so much.
Even knowing that didn't slow his long thrusts into her body, nor did he stop her from using her body to torment him with what he wanted.
It made something about this forbidding and less meaningful. He'd hoped….
Her legs clenched harder around his waist and he felt her inner muscles give an unexpected squeeze around him. It had been so long. The sudden realization that he was going to lose control made him try to grapple for it, his body aching as he tried to bear down and force himself to calm down. But when he felt her skin quivering under his touch as he tried to pull away, he moaned and leaned down to give her another deep thrust that made her breath intake sharply.
"I'm going to - " he breathed out in her ear and she dug her nails into his hips before she scraped them up his back. He knew she wasn't close and he felt the strain in her from fighting him whenever his touches tried to coax her to follow him. His thrusts grew more staccato, losing rhythm as she tugged on his hair and bit hard into his neck when the rhythm of their movements became nearly painful. He was close, they both could feel it, and try as he might she kept her head turned from him so he couldn't kiss her. His arms tightened around her, his breathing coming out in hoarse pants as he thrust harder into her. A sudden vicious need to lose himself in her, the kind that had brought on this strange relationship in the first place, made him put his head on his shoulder and chase that release.
He heard her breathing quicken, and he kissed her neck, the touch almost begging her to remember how it once was.
"Meg, please," he whispered on his last broken thrusts.
But just as he lost all control, Meg suddenly shoved him off with her demonic strength and Castiel went flat on his back beside. The shock of losing her warmth didn't stop his body from what it wanted. He came into the empty air, hips jerking and finding no pleasure in the release. Even as his body throbbed and burned, endorphins exploding within, he began gasping for breath and was unable to help the low keening moan from escaping his throat.
Too quickly it was over, nothing lasting after that bittersweet bite of euphoria. Castiel stared at the ceiling with nothing short of dazed confusion, thrown off by the violence of his release and the disappointment that he hadn't felt hers.
Meg sprawled beside him, her body aching with need. Wanting what she'd denied herself with a force of will she'd forgotten she had. Beyond the tension that still throbbed inside of her, she hadn't come thanks to the abrupt way he'd slipped out of her.
When Castiel managed to recover enough from the startling way she'd shoved him away, he looked over to see her crawling over to the nearby cot and using the bed sheet to wipe at herself. Like him, she was still mostly clothed but he could see the sheen of sweat on what skin was exposed.
Meg's head turned a little and he saw from her profile that she was quickly recovering from what had happened. She set the sheet back on the bed and turned to face him.
"No offence. I didn't want you knocking me up again. Nyx may be a one off but I don't want to risk it anymore than we just did," Meg said and he braced up onto his arms, ignoring how sticky he felt as well. There was something off in the way she was casually throwing this aside.
Meanwhile, it felt like Castiel's world was thrown off its axis with the strength of his disappointment and longing. It had happened too fast, too quick, for him to take the time to actually show her how much he'd longed for her. How much he wanted to prove that of all things, that hadn't changed.
"Meg, I…"
"Thanks for the warning though." She made a face as she pulled her panties and jeans back up her legs. The wet feeling and still swollen sensation between her legs made it uncomfortable to move. "Fuck."
He closed his eyes and tried to think of a way to explain. "It has been over a year since I… since I touched another. I lost control."
He regretted it the instant he let her know that tidbit of information. It would do no good to hide it but the urge to hurt her was so strong. The demon didn't answer for a moment but then she shrugged and looked at him. "So. You… and a few others? Well, cookie for you."
The flippant way she said that made his own sarcasm, learned mostly from her and Dean, flare. Castiel lay back and reached down to fix his pants, arching his back and making a point of not looking at her. "Are you jealous?"
She snorted. "Yeah right. I'm a demon, Castiel, and never forget that. You think I wasn't screwing others after you mind-wiped me? Please."
His head turned but she had her back to him, making it impossible to see if she lied to him. An unnatural cruel streak, that he'd learned he had even as a human, came back to him in his annoyance how she was trying to brush him aside. He had wanted her to know just how lonely he had felt and what he had suffered through, but now what he truly wanted was to hurt her as badly as she was hurting him.
So the words came tumbling out with no warning.
"There were times when I turned human when I needed others. I wasn't prepared for biological urges at all. That first night between you and I, that was… different. What I felt then was different."
Meg said nothing and Castiel didn't care.
"The first was a woman that I met when I was on the street. She was lonely. Like I was."
He pillowed his head on his forearm and decided not to tell her everything about that night that had ended so badly. He still didn't like thinking how easily that rogue reaper had deceived him. Exhaling slowly, he thought about the past three years as he looked at the ceiling.
"There were other times. Even a pair of hunters I met. Forceful and I — well, they seduced me and I let them. Happily because I could feel something with them. The others were here and there, but after a while I gave up caring what was right, what was wrong. I stopped trying to care. When I regained my real Grace, I stopped searching for comfort because I didn't think I needed it."
Meg still didn't respond and Castiel stopped talking, thinking that she just didn't care. But what he didn't see was the way her face shuttered up as she thought about his words. Demons were possessive on the whole; loyal at times, cruel mostly always, and possessive to the point of war over things they wanted. She'd die before admitting that she had that streak to her.
The thought that he had erased her memory and then managed to continue on, as if she hadn't existed, stung badly to nerves already rubbed raw.
Castiel saw the way her muscles tensed and bunched as she shifted around, and he finally guessed what she was thinking, sensing that she wasn't as uncaring as she was pretending to be. That need to be cruel faded a little when he thought about how wrong her thoughts could be about him. Beyond that first time, Castiel had never told Dean or Sam the extent to which he had submitted to his loneliness, or about his struggle to fill the void with sex, alcohol and mindless attempts at sin.
He reached out, fingers just brushing her back, and he saw Meg flinch. "But there were times when I tried and I only thought of you. It made everything seem unsatisfying."
"Yeah, don't try to whitewash it, Castiel." She stood up from the floor and finished buckling her belt. Castiel watched her and Meg stared down, for once looking so large and ominous to him.
"I didn't like how being human made it necessary to seek another's company," he admitted. "I thought to be content to wait until there was a chance to see you again but somehow becoming human changed me."
"I swear to Hell if you start blaming male biology," she ground out and he caught her ankle in his hand. He kept her from moving as he sat up.
"Are you—?"
"Fine."
"I hadn't expected to tell you right now. It just came out." He winced at the annoyed look on her face.
"Not like I didn't do the same thing. The ones I with were good enough though," she said just for cruelty's sake, deliberately misunderstanding him. "Helped me forget that something was wrong with me. That I'd been robbed of what I was."
She saw the way his eyes narrowed at her and glared back. "Well, that was fun for you I'm sure. But we won't be doing that again. Guess this just doesn't live up to the memory of it, huh?"
That gave her the visible hurt she had wanted; she saw his eyes widen and then his mouth droop, an almost kicked-puppy look overtaking the stoic angel. Before he could stop her, she kicked her leg free and stalked out of the demon cell.
All of his self-loathing boiled over and Castiel did a supremely human thing by slamming his fist into the concrete floor. It cracked under the powerful blow, several fingers on his hand breaking and then resetting automatically, and he rolled to his stomach next. Focussing himself took longer than usual and he zapped himself to the dorm's bathroom to put himself to rights. He took a few minutes to fix his button-down shirt and his trousers, trying to wipe the smell of sex off his skin. His Grace did him no good in cleansing him of her. He even scrubbed at himself with hot water; no matter how it scalded and how hard he scrubbed, it didn't seem to help him.
Damn it, he could still taste her skin on his tongue.
Despite his affairs, nothing had ever lingered on him like this. They'd been faded memories. This strange imprint of sex and tension persisted and refused to be wiped clean from him.
Why was this demon still so hard to get out from under his skin?
Why did he still want to keep her so close again?
When Castiel came out after a long time of trying to get clean and calm, he forced himself not to just fly out of the building. Instead he headed for the common room stairs but a glance into the spare room let him see Meg trying to repair the damage done to her shirt with pins. Knowing he should keep moving, Castiel stopped and leaned against the doorway anyway. Meg's hair was still damp with sweat and her clothing patchy was with it, but on the outside she seemed calm.
When he saw her shaking hands, he wondered if something deeper was wrong.
"I'm sorry."
Her head turned a little. She took a deeper breath and relaxed, her hands going still. "Yeah. Me too."
"You're right. We can't go back to how we were or how we could have been. But for Nyx, we need to protect her together. So for the sake of that, I will stay away from you. I think we know that being around each other... well, it is not a good idea." He shifted onto his heels and turned to go. Meg didn't move and he looked over his shoulder at her. Castiel struggled to think of his time as a human, when he had learned to express himself so much better. But anything he thought of came up short.
"I only— I missed you. Badly," he said softly. She said nothing to that, just began to fix her shirt again. It made him uncomfortable just to watch her and he repeated, "Just let me try to protect Nyx and I'll stay away from you."
Her head lifted a little. "Fine."
She dismissed him with just that curt snap and he sighed. It served him right, he thought in self-disgust, to expect things to be healed with just a few words. Suddenly tired, he headed out to the common room and tried to ignore how disjointed he felt because of what had happened.
What had just happened?
In the common room, Dean raised his eyebrows at him from where he sat on the couch with Nyx and Sam, helping her eat the animal crackers as they watched cartoons. Castiel ignored his questioning look and sat down in another armchair to watch his daughter. She ignored them all and was muttering to some imaginary friend that the cartoon was out of order.
Castiel focussed on her, trying to keep from going back to Meg. He wanted to talk to her, fight with her, force her to see why he had done everything. Everything for her, for the angels, for Nyx, and for the Winchesters. He wanted to go back, trap her in the room with him and try to understand why they hadn't been able to simply slide back to normalcy. He had wanted to cave in, beg for her mercy, give up his control just so he could feel that she was with him again.
But he had his chance to earn her trust and he felt as if he had lost her for taking such a risk.
He realized he was wearing his emotions too openly when Sam suddenly cleared his throat and he looked up to see the Winchester staring at him.
"Come on, Cas, we have to take a look at some things and Dean needs his rest." Sam stood up, stretched, and then reached over to ruffle Nyx's hair. "Keep an eye on Dean, okay?"
Nyx sleepily nodded and then shyly looked up at Castiel as well. Her expression was curious and the angel hesitated, but Sam's tug on his arm made him turn around and follow.
She watched them go before turning to look at Dean skeptically. He looked back just as seriously at her and resisted the urge to smile at the way Nyx stared at him.
"You sick?"
"Yeah but it's not contagious," Dean said calmly and Nyx looked confused.
"Con-tay-jess."
"That's a girl." At least she was learning some words from him. He nodded back to the TV. "You like this cartoon?"
"Boring. Don't like this. Boring, boring, boring. Needs mud monkeys, my friends say."
The absurd term, one he hadn't heard in years and never would have expected from her, made Dean look at the little girl thoughtfully. "What friends?"
Nyx beamed at him. "Angels! Not bad angels that hurt. Nice ones."
"That's not a nice word to say, Nyx."
"Why?"
"Because a bad angel said that to me once."
"Why?"
"Because he wasn't nice and I'm not a monkey."
Nyx poked him in the stomach as if testing him. "Not a monkey?"
"Well if you believe…" He remembered he was talking to a three year old. "No."
"Good." She leaned back. "Don't like monkeys. "
Dean sighed and flipped the channel to another cartoon channel. "Oh man, is your dad gonna have fun with you when you get to questioning everything about humans," he muttered and as he listened to Nyx talk to her 'friends', he started to wonder if Nyx's 'imaginary friends' were something far more than imaginary. He dismissed that as absurd. Kid had to have imaginary friends, he figured, since God knew she didn't have many others.
Castiel wearily followed Sam to where Kevin was at the long table table. The two men began talking the second the prophet spotted Sam but Castiel's thoughts were still revolving around what had just happened with Meg. He worried over it even as he stood behind Sam. Eyes on the door, he thought about leaving and going back to her.
"It's the cure. We used regular demon blood but I think we needed something more," Kevin was explaining. The word 'demon' caught his attention and Castiel blinked, glanced at Sam and realized he had missed the start of it. "Something… more powerful."
"Like what? Crowley?" Sam asked. "Abaddon?"
"Like Meg. When we did those initial experiments years ago, we used Meg's blood. Her blood balanced the holy water perfectly. We were surprised but we thought it meant every demon. Maybe it didn't."
"So we get Meg to donate."
Castiel said nothing as he looked up at the stairwell.
"Cas? Earth to Cas? Think you can talk her into it? Or is she still pissed?"
Not at you, Castiel thought. "Meg will do what she wants to do."
"That's a good point but that doesn't tell us anything," Sam said. "Still, we got bigger problems than me and Dean."
Kevin looked at him. "Thought you two dying was a bad thing."
"We've got monsters. Lots of 'em by my guess." Sam took a seat and reclined back. "I thought Dean was kidding when he said he saw a demon getting infected by a monster."
"I was attacked by something like Eve." Castiel shook his head. "I think. There was a demon in there with it."
"God, that's… not expected." Kevin stood up and quickly grabbed his book, flipping through it. As Castiel took a seat beside Sam, he noticed the curious look he was being given.
"What?"
"How close did that monster get to you? Looks like he bit you," Sam said, leaning in close and tapping Castiel's skin where neck met shoulder. The angel nervously flipped his collar up to hide the tiny bruise.
"Something like that."
Sam stared at him. "Cas?"
"What?"
"I didn't see him bite you."
"Then it must have happened when…"
"Meg tripped and fell on your neck teeth first?" Sam asked sarcastically but he saw the anxious way Castiel swiped at his neck as if to rid himself of the imprint. "Whoa, wait. Seriously?"
"Shut up, Sam."
The hunter looked impressed. "That was sudden, that's all. When did it happen?" The way Castiel fidgeted and his eyes darted around made Sam's jaw drop a little. "Just now? God, we can't leave you guys alone for a minute, huh?"
"It was hardly planned," Castiel snapped. "I do not want to discuss it."
Sam grinned. "You didn't do it in the archives again, did you?"
"What?" Castiel's gaze snapped to him but Sam had already turned to Kevin, who was holding up a new book.
"So what are you thinking?" Sam asked, eyes twinkling as Castiel continued to fidget beside him and touch the bruise Meg had left on him.
"You said that Eve could infect humans. But Cas said the monster was riding alongside a demon in a meatsuit."
"Yeah, so?"
"Then why was this 'Eve thing' infecting a demon? They never bothered before."
Angel and human looked equally confused. "I… that is something I don't know," Castiel admitted. "I never thought they would even attempt it unless they've evolved."
"Which means they evolved in Purgatory."
"It explains why they were invading Hell as well. It wasn't just to get Eve. Eve was there and maybe she wasn't really dead. The monster souls were learning how to adapt to what demons thrive in. Hell," Castiel said.
"Means she's got some hardcore vengeance planned for the demons, I bet," Sam finished. "I can't think of anyone who would know an answer to what the hell goes on in Purgatory right now."
"So maybe we need answers from Purgatory's side," Dean's voice, now strong, cut in and they all turned to see him walking in. Castiel glanced behind him and he shook his head. "She's okay, Cas. Meg said she wanted to spend some time with her." He ignored the way the angel looked irritably at the stairwell. "So what do you think?"
"Purgatory is almost impossible to get into. Unless you pull a soul back out." Castiel looked up at the ceiling struts. "And I don't think that that is the most viable idea. If a monster comes back out, they may work for Eve or this Adam."
"Then we chain 'em down. Or we get one out that we can trust."
Sam narrowed his eyes a little. "Dean."
"Sam, I'm just thinking aloud, is all."
"We can't bring him back. It's not what he would want."
"We're running out of options on what people want, Sam. We can send him right back if we have to."
"This is a bad idea," Castiel said, catching on.
"Who are we talking about?" Kevin asked curiously, looking between them all.
"Benny. Dean's vampire buddy who—," Sam began.
"He saved Sam's life and mine, and even Castiel's," Dean cut in, glowering at the angel when he saw him looking ready to say something. "And we need help to figure this out."
"You guys don't have any other monster buddies?" Kevin asked, confused and Dean gave him a weak smile.
"None that are alive anyway."
The prophet gave a low whistle. "Nice."
"I do not like this," Castiel reinforced and something hardened within Dean's expression. To Sam it looked like he was assuming command.
"You worry about angels, I'll worry about monsters. Capiche?"
Angel and hunter glared at one another for a while until Castiel finally looked away. "Very well."
Maine…
Eve walked slowly over the pathway through the forest, revelling in the soft soil beneath her feet and the way it felt to be... well... alive once again. Death hadn't come easy for her and she didn't quite understand why he hadn't reaped her fully. Maybe an answer like that would come in time.
A religious human would claim it was God's will. Eve merely laughed at the notion. It was not God who had raised her.
It was her children.
"Mother." The call caught her attention away from the sight of the trees and the campfires in the distance and she spun slowly on her heel. Her body was still healing, her stomach nearly completely closed now so her unborn could stay protected until she could call them to life. Two of her most recent converts, variations of werewolves who were born of demon-possessed humans, knelt. What caught her eye though was that between them was something very new to her newly claimed home.
An angel inside a female vessel. Battered and bruised but oh so righteous. She could smell its cleanliness like a tang in the air.
"The last time I saw one of your kind," she said for a greeting and she knelt in front of her. "I was tasting Phoenix ash."
"Mother, we caught her for you," one of the monsters growled.
Maybe she had been a bit too liberal in her creation. She didn't like how needy these ones were for approval. "Caught her? Where?"
"Searching for the angel Castiel, she said. She said she was to wait for him to return here. She killed the others." They were copies of real monsters but the slow decay of two souls in their bodies was forcing the bodies to change faster, distorting the voice so it kept rising and falling in pitches. The ear-grating sound made Eve promise to perfect them further.
"Was she now?" Reaching down, she lifted the angel's chin so she could look in her eyes. "What is your name?"
"Malel."
"Why were you searching for your brother? I want to see him as well," Eve said, stroking her face. The angel was shaking in fear. Eve was not as powerful as she had been years ago but it was still enough for such a small soldier as this to feel the sheer threat of the Mother of All. She couldn't even disappear when in Eve's presence.
"We have our orders to survey him."
"Why?" Eve traced her jawline. "Answer me."
The angel's shaking was steadily getting worse. "Please, no."
"Mm." Her oddly coloured eyes fixed on the Malel's face. "You are hiding something from me. That is unfortunate."
Before she could continue, Eve's own body did a visible jerk. She could feel her other self moving through the South, looking for prey and conveying emotion and knowledge to her. The Winchesters would pay and her other self would see to it, she knew he would. It would be so easy to let him loose to find the angel as well.
Eve felt the change in the air and shook her head to clear it of her other self's mind-link.
"Maybe you should ask me," said a new voice, male and low, "why I asked her to hunt Castiel."
The monsters growled and she lifted her eyes to see a young man standing in front of her. His face shifted between two looks, one of age and one of youth, but his eyes were what held her. She was used to even stranger sights than a face that could be both old and yet young. But she had never seen such yellow eyes before.
"Who are you?"
He shrugged. "There's no real answer to that anymore. One of us will win, eventually."
The riddle didn't stop Eve from studying his face. She could see the lines of Grace but woven just as tightly around them was the twisted darkness of a demon. The sort of thing she had never seen before and she dismissed it as a trick of the forest shadows. That he didn't fear her at all was enough to make her unsteady nature threaten to erupt. But instead she took a deep breath and kept herself calm.
"I could kill you for the answer."
"There's no fun in that," he countered neatly and leaned forward. "I'm sure you've felt it. Smelt it even." She stood and he walked around her. The lack of concern he walked with, as if he knew he had something she wanted, should have been goading but she simply stood, absently smiling at the shadows instead of showing him how he already annoyed her. "I'm merely here to offer you an opportunity for you and your kind."
"Are you?" Eve turned a little towards him. "Why would I need the help of an angel?"
"Because I am far more than that, Mother of All. I'm like you. Two in one. It's a tragedy." His smirk was cool and he arched his eyebrows at the two monsters close by. "I see you are already infecting the demons."
"Sooner or later, all of them will be with us." Eve reached out and touched his face, feeling the ice cold texture of it. "So why shouldn't I do the same to you?"
"Because you can't touch the angels the way you can the demons. You can only use things with full souls with this new trick of yours. The venom can turn humans but I think you are using monster souls to warp the demons further. Making something new. So here I am. I can offer you a deal." He grinned at the way she finally looked interested. "Have any of your children told you about a demon bearing a child?"
"A Cambion? Hardly unique. They are nothing more than mutated demons," she said, waving her hand as she walked away from him. The angel still on the ground was watching the interplay with confusion.
The other one watched Eve walk away. "No. Not a Cambion. Something far more blasphemous. This demon's child is sired by an angel. I think you know him, don't you? Castiel."
That stopped her in her tracks and she turned around. "That is impossible."
"Anything is possible. This is a brand new creation. Something only God himself would have a hand in. Can you imagine the possibilities?" he asked and her eyes glinted, making him grin. "I want the demon called Meg. She has other names but that is the one you'll find her by. I can't get to her myself, with Heaven lingering over my head and Castiel now anticipating my moves. I failed the last time and I can't summon her either."
"What is the deal?" There was no mistaking the eagerness in her voice.
"I want the keys to the Lethe and I am sure that the demon has them inside that mind of hers. You can kill the whelp for all I care. An equal trade. You take the child, I take the mother."
Eve stared at him. "I have no reason to trust you."
"Imagine what you could find," he offered, wheedling her, "if you learned what was in that child's blood, her soul? Failing that, it would at least give you the opportunity to get your revenge on Castiel."
He grinned and tried to hide the open treachery behind that statement. He wouldn't let her have Meg or her daughter, not really. But he needed her power and her ability to distract.
Eve, on the other hand, had no intention of letting him have the demon if she had created Life. She had learned from her last dealings to never trust something that smelt of angel or demon. This one was a perverted twist of a creature and he smelt of infected Grace. He wasn't natural.
"Deal," they said in unison and she smiled, backing off.
"Brother, what have you done?" the angel kneeling begged and he smiled, crouching down. An angel sword came to his hand and he stroked it down her chest.
"I'm fulfilling God's will, one way or another. Can you imagine how it could be? If we turned his will, his divine plan, into something for us?"
Her mouth opened in shock as he slipped the blade deep into her body and twisted hard to the left. Buried to the hilt, the sword vibrated the instant it struck her heart and her eyes turned white as light poured out of her eyes and mouth. He hummed as the Grace burned out of her and watched her slump over.
"No, I guess you can't."