Part 7: Prey (When Angels Surrender) Part 2
Meg sat beside Death and kept her eyes on her feet. "So that's why I felt her so many times. I'm still connected to the Lethe."
"And why your daughter is such a threat. She's a sort of… siphon, so to speak, and it was effective though I doubt God or Sheol realized, in the middle of their little spat, what it could mean. Once Sheol realized she could do nothing but submit to what is, well then, as you can imagine." He looked up at the sky. "She was less than enthused."
"Naturally." Meg tried to ignore how her soul felt ready to leap away from being so close to Death. "Why me?"
"Well, if you can't figure that part out by now, then I can't help you." He nodded. "But you've done well, Meg, which is no short praise from me. Your daughter grew up more human than expected, so she has the threads of humanity that she needs. All of it went well. Castiel learned humility in human weakness, and you… you remained your daughter's protector which I admit was a bit of a wild card there. I wouldn't expect a demon to show much loyalty to her cause but you had to surprise me."
He made a face. "I'm glad I didn't bet with Him on that."
"Nyx is…"
"Very special. Keep her that way. Because if she is given to anyone else?" He waved a hand in the air and in response the leaves still remaining on the trees turned shrivelled and brown. "The world falls."
"Angel and demon kid is that strong? Surprised no one did it before then," Meg snapped caustically,
"No one could. You were unfortunate enough to be a playing piece between two entities far more powerful than you could know. And now you have to deal with the trials it brings."
He looked left, then right.
"Here comes your greatest one right now."
Meg could only stare dumbly at where Death had sat, because in the next heartbeat he was gone and she was sitting on an uprooted tree by herself. Eyes widening in confusion, because she knew that she had not been here before, she pursed her lips and stood up. A quick glance let her know that she was nowhere close to the cabin.
"Huh. Typical man. Doesn't leave me any directions." She turned around and smacked immediately into Castiel. She staggered and glared at him when he didn't even back up. "How the hell did you find me so fast?"
"I looked."
"And had to sneak up on me? Ok. New rule is you are wearing a bell, you got me?" Meg demanded with a smirk, thinking he would back off, but Castiel didn't react. There was something in the way he looked at her that made her lose her momentum. "What is it? You're looking like I just broke up with you and that's…"
"I spoke with Crowley."
She lost her smirk and her face went expressionless. "What?"
"You made a deal with Crowley!" he snapped. "Don't lie to me."
"Oh, here we go," Meg said and she threw her hands up in the air. "You found that out because he told you, right?" His jaw tightened and he looked away. "Of course he did. He couldn't possibly have a reason for telling you now of all times, right?"
"That's not the point. After all he's done, after what he did to you over the years, and you suddenly trust him?"
"I really look that stupid to you?" Meg snapped as she thumped him on the chest so hard that he looked down at her hand in surprise. "Look, our deal was that he stays off my back, I stay off his and find out what these monsters are getting up to. What Azazel is getting up to if he is magically back."
He glared at her. "You should have told me."
"Oh, there's a conversation that would go well. What with your angelic nobility getting in the way and the fact that I'm a demon, we're set to agree right?"
He raised a hand and took her arm to stop her from moving away again, stepping so close that her neck had to bend back to stare up at him. "You still don't trust me after all we've done!"
"Oh come on, zap me for another three years and we'll see if that helps the problem!" she shouted back.
A soft murmur behind Meg made Castiel look past her to see Nyx standing there. Her eyes were wide as she stared up at them, looking confused about why they were yelling. She seemed tiny in comparison to them and, feeling more than a little bit of guilt, he nudged Meg's arm to draw her attention to the girl.
But the demon was looking behind him and the sight of her eyes going to black made him forget about arguing with her.
"I didn't expect to find you all out here."
The oily smooth voice and the low threat of it made Castiel turn, instinctively knowing he had to protect Meg and Nyx. He put an arm around Meg's waist and moved her behind him when he saw Adam in all his strangeness standing across the clearing.
"Get Nyx." Instantly he felt the little girl wedge herself between them and he stepped back in unison with Meg to put more distance between them and the monster.
The yellowed teeth parted in a wolfish grin. "Hello, Castiel."
"Cas?" Meg backed up again and he reached behind himself to take hold of her wrist. But though he searched for his Grace to fling them across the distance to safety, he couldn't find the power or strength. "Who is he?"
"He didn't tell you?"
"Adam. Part of Eve," Castiel said and they backed up again. Meg's startled gasp as she realized they were surrounded made him tighten his hold on her wrist. They both turned together, Nyx still pressed between them, to see that they were surrounded by several men and women. T the sight made Meg's grip on Nyx tighten.
"They're not demons."
"Them? No. New and improved though, as the humans say." Adam waved a hand at the loose-semi circle that were slowly pressing closer and closer. "They are very hungry too."
"Get her out of here," Castiel muttered to Meg. "I can hold them."
"Oh, don't leave," Adam said before he raised a blood-spattered hand and moved so fast that Castiel couldn't block him. The hand snagged the back of his coat and tossed him out of his way like a rag doll. When Meg turned to try to teleport out with Nyx in her arms, his fingers grabbed around her neck and hauled her back.
"So, you are the demon we heard about." Drawing her closer until his nose was just an inch from hers, he squinted at her the way he would a bug. "You're a strange one. I didn't expect the angel to be around you now. The Mother wasn't clear about that."
"Meg!" Castiel staggered to his feet and ran for them, blindly charging. Without turning, Adam's hand latched around his neck and held him back like he would a swiping kitten.
"Please, Castiel." His eyes stayed on Meg though. "I'm very interested in your demon."
"Join the club," she wheezed as he lifted her up too. "I seem to be the girl of the hour for you guys."
Choking, Castiel let his spare sword slide down his wrist to his palm as he met Meg's eyes, warning her what he was going to do.
Adam looked down at the frightened little girl holding onto Meg's suspended legs. With a ghoulish grin, he bent down a little. "Hello, little girl. You are cute. But do you know what my kind does to little girls?" He snapped his teeth at her and Nyx whimpered in fear. "We gobble them up."
Castiel moved fast and slammed the angel sword into the monster's shoulder, feeling the blade strike bone though Adam barely flinched. He dropped Meg immediately. Whirling around, he still held Castiel by the neck and ignored the way the demon scrambled back away from them.
"You annoying little bird," he growled as he drew the angel close. Castiel's eyes widened as he saw a bloody fist pull back at the same time that Adam lifted him until his toes just brushed the ground.
He barely had time to brace himself before Adam slammed his fist into Castiel's face, repeatedly punching him until the angel's face was a mess of blood and bruising. Satisfied by the weak way that Castiel's head fell forward, Adam tossed him away and into the waiting arms of two of his creatures. He growled low, agony making his voice pitch deep, as he pulled the sword out of his shoulder and then twisted to throw it in a perfect arc. The shining metal spun in the air before it sank into the angel's belly, not deep enough to kill him but enough to send him falling back limply into the monsters holding him.
Startled by the agony tearing through his vulnerable stomach, Castiel struggled to breathe and Adam smiled as he watched the blood and light start to spill from the wound.
"You angels are just like birds. Just rip off the wings and you fall."
"Any more bad metaphors you want to toss out?" Meg demanded from where she crouched, arms protectively wrapped around Nyx. Adam shrugged and turned back towards her.
"You see, we don't really need him. But I think for controlling you it will be for the best if you see what I can do just to an angel." He bent at the waist. "We want you and that little brat; the angel is just a bonus."
"I think I'll pass."
Before he could reach for her, Meg sprang up to her feet. Her angel sword, the one Castiel had gifted her with, flashed to her fingers, and Adam's eyes widened just before she stabbed up into his eye with the angel sword Castiel had given her. He howled in pain, leaning back just enough that the metal didn't pierce him to the brain, and backhanded her to the ground.
Castiel grasped at his own stomach to try to close the wound, light leaking out of his bloody shirt, and he watched Meg as she fumbled on the ground. Nyx stood between them all, too terrified to run.
"Get the damn girl!" Adam shouted as he ripped the sword out of his ruined eye-socket and reached up to stem the blood flow with his palm. His head reared back and he hissed and growled, more animal than man now. But Meg wasn't aware of that or of Castiel struggling just behind her. The only thing she focussed on was the little girl starting to cry.
"Come on, baby girl, hide. It's a game. Go on. Hide really well." Meg weakly smiled at Nyx. "Don't let anyone find you unless you know them and you'll be safe, got me?"
Nyx's eyes welled with more frightened tears.
The monsters swarmed when Adam bellowed at them to move.
"Hide!" Meg shouted and the closest monster reaching for her daughter jumped for Nyx. Another slammed its fist into Meg's jaw and sent her down to her stomach in the dirt.
In a bright flash of light, Nyx was gone and Adam stared at the empty air where she had stood just seconds before. Dumbfounded, the other monsters looked at one another and then at him for instruction. His breathing came fast and harsh, anger making his face mottled between the peeling scabs, and he turned to look at Meg.
The demon remained on her knees, holding her bruised jaw with one hand. Through a mess of tangled hair, she looked up at Adam and then glanced at Castiel. The angel was fighting to keep his weakness hidden but she saw the way he clutched his stomach and fought to keep his eyes open. He caught her staring and shook his head, just enough to warn her, and Meg felt Adam's shadow suddenly spill over her.
The monster looked ready to kill, his wounded eye rebuilding within his ruined face. Meg flinched as his hand outstretched towards her and she felt his fingertips just graze her temple. But suddenly, his head twisted to the side; he began twitching as if he was listening to something only he could hear.
When his attention fixed back on Meg again, she felt something cold course through her body at the look on his face.
"I bet you thought that was smart." He crouched down across from her, eye still leaking pus and blood. "Hiding her from me. From us."
Meg's bloody mouth twisted into a grin even though it sent a throbbing pain through her jaw. "Don't see you catchin' her."
"She won't come back either, will she? Smart girl." He leaned close and she felt his breath on her mouth. "All you just did was keep her alive another day. Because, once I'm done with you—."
Like a threatening caress, his fingers dragged up her violet shirt before he tugged at the collar to draw her near. Meg's eyes rolled to the side and she winced as he leaned close and breathed in her ear. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Castiel being held with the bloodstained angel sword at his neck, struggling to fight back as blood and light leaked from his body.
Adam's grip tightened on her shirt and Meg felt his lips brush her skin. "—You'll give us everything. Even her."
Dean frowned out his window as he saw the van pass by him on the dirt road. Confused, he glanced at the people in the front but they were all dressed in camouflage, clearly game hunters. Shrugging, he focussed back on the road as he took the turn for Rufus'. He had bigger concerns anyway than a few hunters who likely couldn't catch a deer. With Benny safe in the spot they had decided on, they now had eyes on the ground that could maybe get the inside scoop on what the hell Eve was up to.
Hopefully it would do them some good, Dean thought to himself as he put the car in park and grabbed a bag from the trunk.
When he came into the cabin, Sam was walking through, looking confused and annoyed.
"You lose your keys or something?" Dean asked as he set a bag of groceries down. Muttering under his breath, his brother pushed his hair out of his eyes as he bent over to look under the table. When he found nothing, Sam slapped his hand on his thigh and straightened up.
"Meg and Nyx are gone. Cas isn't anywhere either."
"What?" Dean glanced around and saw Meg's duffel bag still on the couch. "Like they took a family trip?"
"I don't think so. It's just a feeling I had." He nodded outside. "Plus Meg's car is out there and I doubt she'd let Cas just wing her out right now."
Dean rubbed his cheek and shrugged as Sam went downstairs to check the basement. Closing his eyes, he thought it over and began to pray, "Cas? It's Dean. You okay, buddy? Wanna give me a sign that all's okay?"
But when there was no answer, not even the chirp of a text message, he knew something could be wrong. Joining Sam, he searched for anything that would give a hint to where they might be. How secluded the cabin was meant that they couldn't get far on foot and Dean knew the demon wasn't stupid enough to teleport when she was likely being hunted.
"Nyx's unicorn is still here!" he called out the moment he spotted the plush toy on the table. "That's weird, the kid never goes anywhere without it." He picked it up and crushed the toy a little in his arms. "Must have been in a rush."
"Must have been. Let's see if there's anything outside at least. Hope Meg left her keys." Sam eyed the unicorn Dean was holding against his chest. "You can leave the toy, Dean, I'll keep you safe."
The glare he was shot made Sam grin cheekily back and follow his brother out, the unicorn left on the table.
Sam wasn't sure why when they headed outside that he went to Meg's car first. A mere feeling, maybe left over ESP or angelic stress, brushed against the back of his mind and made him feel like he needed to be there. It even made him ignore Dean's request for help to check the woods out the back. The car still had that faint smell of smoke from the fire weeks ago, and he wrinkled his nose as he crouched down to see if Meg had left a spare key on the tire. It was when he stood up, empty-handed and irritated, that he noticed something moving inside the Cougar.
It was such a slight movement he would have missed it if he hadn't been searching for something.
"Dean?" He pointed. "Something's in here."
Coming up beside him, Dean squinted through the window. He cupped his hand to block the light's glare and pressed his nose against the glass. "Is… Is that Nyx?"
Sam copied him and saw her at once. Nyx was squeezed between the back and front seats, wedged tight with her car seat at her back, and a spare blanket pulled over her head. Even her face buried in her arms, it was obvious that she was crying by the way she was shaking.
"Nyx?" Dean called out and he tried the door to find it locked from the inside. "Damn it. Nyx! Nyx, what happened?"
She refused to move and the rest of the doors were locked when they tested them.
"We can't leave her in there," Sam said.
"Yeah, I got that." Dean eyed the car and then made a face as he tested the glass with his hand. "Well, Meg will be pissed anyway."
Steeling himself against the pain, he slammed his elbow into the window and watched as Nyx crawled away to the opposite side of the car. The glass crumpled after four blows and he brushed it away to get to the lock. Still favouring his now aching arm, he opened the door and Sam crouched down in front of him.
"Nyx?" They could hear her murmuring away in between big, gulping sobs. "Nyx, come on."
"It's us," Dean offered gently as he leaned in over Sam. But the way she was shaking when she looked up at them with wide-eyed fear made him swallow. He smiled and tried to ignore her watery blue eyes. "Come on, sweetheart."
"Scared."
"It's okay," Sam said, holding out his hand. "It's us. You know how you know that? We would never hurt you."
"Monsters." She refused to come out and the awkward placement of the car seat made it near to impossible to get over to her. Dean patted Sam's back and ran back to the cabin.
"Nyx, what happened? Where's your mom?" Sam asked as he slowly crept his hand towards her leg. Nyx flinched backwards and he put his hand on the seat. "Nyx?"
She sniffled. "Told me to hide from monsters."
Sam lowered his voice more to keep from spooking her. "What kind of monsters?"
"Gonna hurt me," she whispered and she crouched back against the door. Sam felt Dean suddenly pat his back, passing him over the plush toy.
"Nyx, you know us. You left Clarence here, remember?" Sam held it out to her and she snatched the toy out of his grip, hugging it close before retreating to her corner. "It'll be okay. We're the good guys."
She looked at him and then up at Dean with open hostility. "It's all right," the older Winchester muttered, kneeling down beside Sam. "You can stay there if you want. We'll wait."
"Nyx, what happened? Your mom wouldn't leave you."
"Monsters!" she snapped and Sam winced, touching his jaw as he tried to think of a way to wiggle her out without scaring her. But he didn't like the thought of forcing her out because it would only scare her more.
"Nyx, remember when that big dog attacked you?" he asked and her eyes went directly to him. "I promised you I wouldn't let anything hurt you. Giants don't let little girls get hurt."
He had the odd feeling that she was seeing under his skin as those blue eyes stayed on him, something that reminded him of how Castiel would stare at them sometimes.
"I promise," he repeated and Nyx suddenly launched across the seat and into his arms, pressing her face into his neck. Startled, Sam sat back down on the dirt and Dean slid down as well to watch as Nyx wrapped her arms around Sam's neck and hugged him. Stroking the back of her head, Sam held her and let her cry against him.
Dean listened to the mumbling way she told Sam she was scared, her words garbled by tears and sobs.
"What happened to your dad, Nyx?" he asked and he saw her confusion for a moment before she shook her head and poked Sam's belly hard. He realized instantly what she was telling him. "He was hurt?"
She made a sound and nodded.
"Monsters." Dean stood up and looked around. "That means Adam and Eve. Great."
"We both saw how Cas was around him. Whatever that thing was, it wanted his blood." Sam patted Nyx's back as her crying slowed down and held her tighter. "We have to find them."
Castiel woke to pain. Everything ached from his chest down and he groaned as he stretched out. His stomach burned and when he shifted it felt like the skin was stretching and ripping. Vague flashbacks of monsters and flashing silver reminded him of being stabbed by his own sword and he opened his eyes.
"Don't move too fast," a woman's voice warned him and he jerked up immediately.
"Meg?" He tried to roll to the left and his head slammed into the wall as something tightened around his arms and snapped him back. He was tied up and even snapping his fingers didn't release him. Castiel wriggled his arms as he squinted to see through the darkness of the room. "Where are you?"
"Right here."
He heard the jangle of metal on concrete beside him. "Where are we?" he asked the shadows.
"Not sure. They beat me down so I wasn't really able to see. After that, it was just easier to play dead for a while." He heard her sigh. "So this is where the monsters have been hiding out. Classy. Smells like a ball pit of little kids in diapers."
Groaning, he moved to get up and found himself stuck, tethered in his place.
"What's wrong?" Her voice seemed closer and he swivelled as far as he could.
"They've bound me."
"That's possible with you?"
"With the right sort of metals and sigils, yes. They were prepared for me to some degree." He grunted as he yanked hard on the cuffs. The binding wasn't what worried him. The strong odours of earth and blood weren't enough to mask what he could smell underneath it all, a smell that let him know that they were more than a little prepared for him. The entire room had the suspiciously fresh scent of Holy Oil and he didn't even want to consider how they knew to use that.
"Are you hurt?" he asked when no amount of tugging could set him free. He felt a brush of fingers against his trapped hands and realized that the hollow room had thrown her voice around. Meg was beside him.
"Nothing I can't handle."
He turned his head and squinted down as he tried to see her. "They knew where we were."
"Not sure they did. I think they were pretty surprised to see us." He heard a thump and the sound of material scraping on the wall as she lowered herself. "Been trying to get myself out but I'm just as bound up as you are."
Straining to reach her, he forced his hands down deep in the cuffs until the metal abraded his wrists and ripped at the skin so that blood dripped. His thigh just brushed hers as he sank to his knees beside her as far as he could go. Blindly reaching out, he brushed his bloody fingers over what felt like her cheek.
"Did you see anything that could let us know where we are?"
"We didn't travel that far out. Ride was bumpy, smells like pine."
Castiel inhaled but all he could smell was blood and sulphur now. "We need to get out of here."
"Well, I'm open to suggestions." Another jingle and he felt her shift against him. "But I'm guaranteeing you it won't be easy."
He looked around but even with his ability it was near impossible to see. "No one else has been around?"
"Dumped us here and left us." Her legs shifted across and he felt her fingers move against his coat. "You're not packing another sword, are you?"
"No. They don't just appear, you know."
"Damn." Her body leaned into his.
"Nyx, was she…"
"Kid's smart." He heard her cough and groan. "Plus she's a whiz at hide and seek."
"She was scared." He exhaled, pulled hard. "I'm sorry. I should have made sure she would stay at the cabin"
Meg didn't speak for a moment before she sighed. "I don't think we could have guessed monsters would be out for us so soon."
His fingers brushed hers. "We can try something. We can think of something."
The lights snapped on, letting him see her, and Castiel stared, horrified, at the sight of Meg's bruised face. The demon's one eye was so swollen and bloody that all he could see was red and the purple outlining it. Meg blinked at the harsh overheads, glanced at him, and then looked away as if embarrassed by the damage.
"Well, this is just cozy."
Meg abruptly shrank back against Castiel's arm as if to hide behind him.
It was Michael, Castiel thought at first, until he saw his eyes. They were a sickly yellow that seemed to swirl in their sockets. Of all the stories, he knew of only one Yellow-Eyes. He had never faced Azazel before, they had always been ordered to leave him alone, but he had heard the stories. Every angel knew the stories; for a fallen, he was one you did not trifle with no matter how he acted so flippant. There was pure corruption in just the look of him; it twisted the youthful face and Castiel had the sudden urge to try to break free and run.
But Azazel was only staring at the demon beside Castiel. "Meg. It's been a lifetime."
"Why are you in Adam Milligan's body?" Castiel demanded, trying to deflect as he felt a physical sensation of fear coming from Meg now, one he had never felt so strongly. But Azazel simply stepped forward, a lanky human that seemed out of place in the dirty surroundings.
"Still hanging around an angel, Meg? I heard the rumours, even where I was. Never thought it would be true. I thought when I woke you back up you would have learned your lesson." Ignoring the threatening way Castiel was staring at him, he crouched in front of where Meg was tethered and leaned forward. "You remember me? All those years, all those lives."
His teeth gleamed when he chuckled. "And we're back together again. Father and daughter."
Meg stared into his eyes. Watching them, Castiel realized that whatever was being said without words was something he was not privy to. Azazel reached out to stroke his thin fingers down her neck, lingering on her collarbone. He sighed heavily, like a father might with a child who annoyed him, and his fingers wrapped around her throat the way Adam had done before.
"You disappoint me."
Meg said nothing and Castiel felt the way her body arched back as if to shrink away from Azazel. The yellow-eyed demon smirked and then looked at Castiel, reading the question on his face.
"I'm a gift, angel. From the Lethe. A sort of… unexpected side-effect for everything going to and from it three years ago."
Meg flinched and her head turned away from him though he pushed hard on her throat. Finger shaped bruises started to appear on her skin and he never broke his gaze from Castiel, as if he was seeing if Meg being in pain affected the angel.
"What are you doing here?" Flanked by two strange creatures that maybe once had been human until they were twisted beyond compare, all misshapen and scabbing skin, Adam stepped into the room and stared down at the demon.
"We struck a deal in return for my help in locating her," Azazel said without moving. "I'm taking my payment now."
Before his hand could yank Meg forward, something threw Azazel to the side and into the wall. He crashed into the concrete and it broke under the impact, leaving him to curse as he moved to his feet.
"Deals were made to be broken, freak." Adam stood between him and his prey, teeth bared. "Consider it payback for what your kind did to the Mother. Both angels and demons. Or did you think I wouldn't recognize what you could be?"
Azazel's head bent at an awkward angle and he did a visible twitch, eyes diverting back to a pale water colour. His voice became strangely toneless. "The demon was to be mine, the child yours."
"The child escaped and we're taking the demon as compensation." Adam snapped his fingers and the monsters at his back stepped forward. "Leave."
"You'll regret this. It is because of me you even can exist in this world without the angels interfering," Azazel threatened but Castiel heard a drop in his voice, to a more noble voice that was familiar. Michael's voice. Though it was the same voice out of the mouth of the Winchester's brother, there was such a difference in just the slightest tic and rise to it.
Castiel had thought his brother was corrupted but he hadn't realized how far.
"Would you like the Mother to try her latest experiment on you?" Adam asked, stepping forward with his guards. "Even if the experiment fails, it would be hilarious to see you struggle."
The two creatures stared at each other and from the floor Castiel dug his wrists deeper into the cuffs to try to force himself free. But he could feel both his injury and another's power actually preventing him from doing anything but stay. It felt like the diner years ago, when Eve had stymied his power and made him 'limp' as Dean had called it.
"Does she know?" Azazel tried and he glared at Adam. "What you're doing?"
"We operate as one mind, freak. Run. We'll let you have her when we're done."
The tension between them escalated until Azazel backed off, a casual grin on his face. "Leave something for me then."
"She won't be dead. You can have bits of the angel too. An added bonus." Adam stared as Azazel passed one of the larger monsters and it snapped its fangs at him. "Don't let the door hit you on the way out." His orange eyes flickered and he looked at Meg.
When Azazel was gone, the demon lifted her chin bravely. "That's it?" she demanded
"Not really. Where did your child go?"
Castiel stiffened and stood up, Meg joining him though she had a hard time moving as fast. "We'll never tell you."
"I've thought about that. Together, no, you won't. Some things are stronger together, but cut one leg off and the rest of you fall." He snorted. "That was a terrible metaphor."
Noticing how Meg seemed to be recovering from her shock, Castiel protectively tried to crook his body towards hers.
Adam noticed as well.
"So. The child. She ran from us but we saw her following you, Castiel. Almost as if she wanted to be with you. Now the Mother left some details out about this child's parentage and I can't think of why. The child did feel so strong, as small as she was." He took a single step closer, bringing with him an oppressive air like a weight of heat. "What was her name again? It was something… short."
Meg chanced a look at Castiel and the second her eyes were off of Adam he leapt forward, fingers grabbing her arm. The sigil-laden cuffs that bound her and Castiel snapped instantly and she stumbled forward. Castiel moved forward to follow and one of the monsters at Adam's back lit a match and tossed it down. The snarl and hiss of fire lighting up made the angel stop short before he hit the barrier.
"Ah ah ah." Adam wrapped an arm around Meg's shoulders and she twisted under the grip. "Don't fight me. It makes it worse when you fight me."
"Let her go."
"I'm sure the demon doesn't need your help, Castiel." Adam nuzzled her neck. "Tell me, demon. What is your name?"
"Meg."
"Mm. Cute name. You smell of the angel, Meg. How strange. Do you taste like an angel as well or is that just a cover to hide what you are?" he asked as if it concerned him and she made a face, eyes locking on Castiel's face. His own eyes darted around the sparse room, looking for escape or something to use as a weapon.
"You know, you're going about this all wrong to get any information from me," Meg muttered as Adam hummed in her ear. "I don't go for monsters."
His grin was awful as he turned her around and brushed her hair back, fisting his fingers into the dark tresses. "Who said it was for your benefit, parasite?"
His gaze went over her head and he smiled at Castiel, standing at the edge of the fire and still searching for a way out. "Castiel?"
The angel turned to look at him.
"Be sure to keep your eyes on this." Adam kept his fingers tight in Meg's hair and pulled so hard she yelped as she was dragged upward. Toeing to the edge of the flame, Castiel watched as the monster's fangs came out. Nothing like a vampire's row of teeth, they still shone in the firelight and the wicked curve to them made even him swallow nervously.
Adam chuckled as his head reared back
Meg's scream came out sharp and high as Adam buried his teeth into her jugular. His mouth suctioned around the wound and Castiel heard the tearing of skin as the fangs sank deeper and deeper. Dark black vines appeared over Adam's skin as he held Meg steady in his arms and venom began to pump into her body. Castiel came to the edge again and again as he tried to cross over, forgetting his safety as he listened to her scream.
But when he stretched his arms out, immediately the flame snarled and crackled until it struck his hands and the fire licked across his skin. Recoiling backwards with a startled cry, he cradled his hands and looked at the bubbling tucked his arms close to his body and watched helplessly as the fire receded.
Meg still twitched in Adam's grip and he murmured her name, seeing the way she stared blindly at the ceiling. Then, suddenly, Adam's eyes opened and Castiel saw Adam's open disgust at the taste of Meg's blood. Where an addicted human would find it sweet, it was clear that the monster didn't find it even close to sweet. Adam snarled and pulled free from her, spitting out her blood as if he couldn't get it out of his mouth fast enough.
Meg fell to his feet when he dropped her down and he wiped his lips before looking at Castiel.
"Now, you angel."
Behind him, Meg's short weak chuckle caught everyone's attention. "That's it? Venom?" Meg weakly got to her knees. "Baby, I've been given worse."
Frustrated, the monster turned and hauled her up. "You deserve death."
"Come on, where's the fun in that?"she taunted, eyebrows arched in obvious challenge. "I've seen scarier from a poodle that tried to bite me."
Adam raised his hand to strike and then put it back down slowly. He smirked. "Bring the demon, leave the angel in his cage. I have to have a little chat with him later."
Meg was dragged by the arms between the monsters, letting them support her weight. She wrinkled her nose at the rotted smell coming from their bodies that reeked of death long coming. Behind her she could still hear the crackle of fire as the Holy Flame encircling Castiel still burned fresh. But her brain wasn't on the struggle going on behind or even what was she was being led towards. There was something much worse about to happen inside of her.
How the hell had Azazel found her? Why did her neck hurt so badly?
Though she couldn't feel any real effect from the bite, something in it kept the spot he'd bitten into sore and burning, so that even her power couldn't heal it.
"This place smells like a bad zoo," Meg muttered and one of the monsters cuffed her.
Walking in front of her, Adam pirouetted about.
"Would you be more comfortable if it was a torture table in Hell?" He grinned. "The demon I'm riding remembers a certain little spot. A certain little place where a teacher loved to put his pupils on the spot."
His face contorted and, horrified by the thin features he displayed, Meg barely managed to hide her shock. "Your favourite teacher, perhaps?" His voice changed to a strange, underbite-addled one that she had heard in every one of those meatsuits Alastair had worn.
Meg merely planted a cocky grin on her face.
"Come on, baby. Shapeshifting? I've seen better."
"Maybe." His face distorted again, broadening and going younger than before. His voice went from a jaw-clenched tone to gravelly smooth and he ran a hand through his now dark hair as if admiring the change. "What if my face was prettier?"
Meg looked away from this new doppleganger of Castiel.
"Do you like this face?"
He chuckled and kept the face even when she looked away. His voice deepened when he came close and grasped her jaw between his fingers. "Now that's a girl. You be good and it'll be just like old times for you."
His eyes went from blue to a glowing orange. "And I'll make sure you stay awake through all of it." When Meg didn't fight his hold, he looked at the guards. "Take her."
Sam rubbed at his jaw, watching Nyx as Dean held her close to his side while he drove. A terrified child was something neither of them had dealt with much before and she kept shaking and clutching whoever was close enough to hold her. Neither of them could get it out of her where Castiel and Meg might have gone and they had tried everything.
"Well, we know they'd have to be kidnapped or something," Sam said and thumbed through his phone. Calling their cellphones had only led them a few miles out from the cabin and finding them in a mixture of blood and dirt. Dean had found the tire tracks and following them had led to the main strip of concrete. That led to winding roads and all sorts of possible ways to go.
"How do you figure?" Dean asked as he slung an arm across Nyx's shoulders.
Sam pointedly looked down at Nyx. "Because they'd never leave her alone, either of them."
"Yeah but who can kidnap an angel that easily?"
"If Cas was trying to protect her, he'd let them take him. If these monsters are smart, and judging by what we've seen they are, then it will be nothing for them to figure out how to trap an angel. Eve, remember? And whatever that Adam is." Sam sighed and pocketed his phone. "Garth texted. Apparently something killed Em and Dave up near Bobby's old place. He's having his guys investigate but he said it was pretty brutal. His text was pretty short for him; he's upset."
"Damn." Dean thumped his hand on the wheel. "We got a lot of problems now don't we?"
He held up his fingers and counted off. "Our angel is missing, the demon we both know we need to keep an eye on is missing, we have no leads, can't even get Garth on the line which means Kevin won't talk to us either, and to top it off, we've got a scared kid with us." He thumped the wheel again. "I wasn't cut out to be a working parent, just fyi."
"Yeah, I got that." Sam glanced down at Nyx to see her watching the radio's dial as Dean's AC/DC tape reached its end. "You okay, Nyx?"
She nodded and he sighed before a thought hit him. "What about Benny?"
"Won't do any good. I took him a long ways south and he was with me the whole time this went down I think. He'll be getting comfy with some new nest down there by now and if I blow his cover now?" Dean shrugged and glanced out the window. "We don't even have a way of tracking them."
Sam looked down at Nyx again and began to think. "Yeah, we do. Not the best thing we've got though."
Dean looked at him and nodded in understanding. "You thinkin' angels or demons?"
"I doubt the monsters would know enough Enochian wards to keep an angel out. I doubt they'd even expect it. So angels."
"Let's just hope we get the right one this time."
"Yeah." Sam looked up at the sky as Dean pulled off the highway towards a small town.
As his hands healed over, Castiel continued to look around the room for anything he could use to pull himself free. But with the two monsters standing in the corner, anything he did would be noticed. They were watching him so closely that it was obvious that he wouldn't get free without them attacking. He noticed slight nuances to them that were strange. Their necks kept twisting to almost breaking point and then they would shudder and moan, claw at their faces and then give up just as fast. It was clear that they knew their skin wasn't their own and they were trying to get free.
Pacing the interior of the circle, Castiel sighed and tried to think of another way out. No angel would come to his call, and with Adam's power stalling his, he was stuck. And even if he managed to get free, then he still had to get to Meg.
He wouldn't leave her here.
"Alone at last," Adam said from behind him. Castiel turned abruptly to face the voice and inside the circle with him was Adam. His scabby skin shone in the firelight and he smirked. "Hello, Castiel."
The revulsion he had felt when they had first met crawled up his spine once again. But he kept his hands at his sides and tried not to look intimidated.
"Adam."
"The Mother, Eve? She is very particular. She wanted to be here, and maybe that is why she didn't tell me everything." His lips curved in a smirk. "But she has her own brood to care for, like any mother. So she needs me. So nice to be needed, isn't it?"
"What did she tell you?" Castiel demanded and Adam walked closer to him. He couldn't move away as the monster stepped closer and closer, like a snake weaving towards its prey.
"Only that she wants answers. To take the first step in finding a solution to a problem."
Adam didn't know why Meg and he were important, Castiel thought for one hopeful second. He then realized how stupid that was. He had to be ready for the worst judging by how violent and unstable this incarnation of Eve's power seemed to be. The angel flinched back when Adam reached out and touched his face. His touch had a warm but clammy feel to it and Castiel realized he was subtly threatening him.
"I never thought much of angels, not even when I was part of the Mother," Adam admitted, stroking the back of Castiel's head as he circled him. Castiel stared ahead of himself, not liking the thought of what Adam could do to him when he clearly knew his power was blocked. "You don't create, sometimes you don't even die. You are just… there."
Adam stood in front of him. "Stagnant. That is what you are."
Warily, he looked up at the monster and Adam's eyes lazily lifted as well. "But you… you, Castiel." His cool smile widened. "You've created life. You are something new."
"I don't know what you mean," Castiel whispered and Adam laughed.
"You try to hide it but I'm too old for that, angel." He leaned in close. "Eve is the part of me, the violent and powerful defender, but she and I can both see the same things. Maybe she didn't tell me but I can see it now what has changed about you. You've created. You were a father. Are a father."
Horrified by that insight, Castiel looked at the monster.
"It shows in your eyes. In the way you would try so desperately to distract me. You have a child. Tell me about your child, Castiel, and I will let you go," Adam promised, holding up a hand. "I swear."
Nervously, Castiel glanced at the monsters still standing guard but Adam snapped his fingers, sending them away. Like an eager high schooler about to get juicy gossip, Adam moved closer to him. His eyes darted over Castiel's and tiny flickers of orange began to circle within dark depths, hypnotically focussed on him.
"Tell me."
"I have a daughter," Castiel admitted, not sure why he felt compelled to answer. "She's… she's mine."
"You are so proud of that. Other angels of your rank would be horrified. Only an Arch would take such pride but I can't tell if you are one." Adam eyed him. He looked away and the monster grabbed his face, holding him still. Reaching down, he dug his fingers into the still healing wound on Castiel's stomach and he ripped at the new tissue until blood leaked from it. Before he could jerk away, Adam popped the bloody fingers into his mouth. "Mm."
He pulled back and started at him wide-eyed, as if Castiel's blood on his tongue let him know some great secret.
"The demon and you... you were the father. The child that creature told us about; she's yours as well. You were the angel he spoke of. You, the most righteous and rebellious of your damned kind, took a soul like that… and you found her and … loved her." He frowned. "You are such an unusual creature, Castiel."
The angel shuddered and recoiled as far as he could against the wall, but Adam stepped outside the flames again.
"That demon's scent is on you, just barely but it is there." He grinned. "You see, Castiel, when a creature like you is with a demon, the smell, the taste, lingers to one like me."
Adan rolled his head back on his shoulders. "You and a demon. Sinful. Your child is a born abomination."
"What you're doing is wrong. You're becoming no more than Crowley was," Castiel tried and the monster smiled. His skin seemed to grow sagging and loose, as if it were peeling, but Castiel held the look even though the sight disgusted him.
"Nice try, really. I know exactly what I am doing. I am making my children stronger, making this world theirs." He extended his arms out to the side. "It will serve you well to remember that when they devour you, Grace and all, for their very first kill."
The large sigil painted onto the tree trunk was ready to ward off the wrong sort of angel, the circle of Holy Oil was already poured, but even with all that protection neither Winchester felt confident in what they were doing.
Nyx was huddled in the backseat of the Impala as Dean had told her too. Scared and tired, she wasn't putting up much of a fight with them. Only cried that she wanted her mother and wanted to be safe. Dean hadn't the heart to tell her that if they didn't find Meg or Castiel soon, then whatever had taken them was likely worse than they expected.
Sam swayed a little on his feet as he flipped an angel sword into his hand and nodded. "I'm ready."
"If we get thirty angels down here at once, you better be hitting that sigil, you got me?" Dean warned.
"Got it." Positioning himself between the car and the circle, Sam moved into a more defensive stance.
Dean stared up at the sky. "Calling all flying monkeys. You guys know I don't pray often but this isn't for me. Your brother's gone missing and I think whatever was causing hell in, well, Hell has him. You might want to help us get him back before he reveals some back door into Heaven. Unless you want another war. I'll even owe you a favour, under conditions."
There was silence following his half-assed prayer and Sam gave him a look.
Dean glared at the sky. "First angel down here gets a cookie."
"Come on, Dean," Sam started when there was a whoosh behind his older brother.
"Seriously? A cookie worked?" Dean turned around and blinked at the newly arrived angel. "What the hell are you doing here?"
The Metatron, a bit bruised and battered, glared at them as he fixed his cardigan over his portly body to get rid of the chill in the air. "I'm the answer to your prayers," Marv said. He thought it over. "The first one, that is."
"You?" Dean eyed the rebel angel. "No offence, Marv, but I was thinking more like a Gadreel, Raphael, or Castiel warrior-style of angel."
"The other angels won't answer your prayers. Anyone with half an ear out for the Angel Radio was told to return to Heaven immediately, to stop hunting something they've been scouring the earth for." Marv took several steps towards him. "I heard the rumours, you know."
"Rumours?" Dean reached into his pocket and fished his lighter out. But the angel took no more steps towards the ring of Holy Oil, as if he knew it was there.
"Rumours. That the demon Castiel was with a few years ago returned, all of a sudden alive and well. That his child was still alive too. Every angel in existence felt that moment when she came back into that wavelength." Marv looked around. "I haven't felt anything like that since Father left us."
"So why are you here? You and Cas were on outs, weren't you?"
"I don't want war. I know you all like to think of me as some great evil but I work out of necessity. I do what I believe is what the Father wants. You want help finding Castiel, I'm the only angel available. The rest are hiding in Heaven for some reason."
Dean looked over at Sam and his brother shrugged.
"Fine. Get your angel radar out and find us Castiel,"
"First things first. I do this, what do I get from you?"
"Well, we won't try to kill you. We might think about getting the angels away from you too."
Marv's face tightened. "I want something more."
"Such as?" Sam asked.
"My niece, as she'd be called by you humans. I want to speak to her."
"She's three. She doesn't do much talking," Dean said dryly and Sam gave a rude snort. "Okay, she does, but it's nothing too insightful."
There was something wistful about the Metatron's smile. "If only it was that simple. I just want five minutes to talk to her. Then I won't have a problem finding Castiel and I can throw myself head on into this mess with the same vaguely martyr-like desperation my brother would show."
The phrase was so puzzling that Sam shot his brother a wary look but Dean nodded. "Five minutes. But you go to do any fluttering off, I'll summon you back and kick your little ass, got it?"
Marv looked almost insulted. "I don't kill children. I am not my brothers and sisters."
They drove to the closest restaurant, a puzzled Nyx sitting between them as Marv sat in the backseat of the Impala. His presence made everything so much more awkward but the angel was content to just watch the scenery go by. He seemed happy with being a passenger and making the odd comment here or there about the town they were coming into.
Dean just wondered why he didn't put up much of a fight and he kept an eye on him even when they all went into the pleasantly friendly diner.
Marv didn't say much as he sat across from Nyx at a table and stared at the little girl. Dean and Sam took seats close by to watch, giving them just enough privacy but not enough freedom for Metatron to try one of his tricks. For once, Nyx wasn't drawing or even chattering. She just stared at the Metatron with an expression oddly familiar to how Castiel would stare at a suspect.
Even when the waitress brought the angel a crepe and cooed over Nyx as she handed her a stack of pancakes, nothing seemed to break the tension between the three year old girl and the aged angel.
Dean watched, puzzled, as their eyes stayed locked.
"This is really creepy," Sam muttered. "I've never seen Nyx do that."
"It is Metatron. He can do creepy well," Dean agreed as he sipped his coffee.
Marv gave no sign that he was even paying attention to them. His eyes were solely for the little girl who stared at him.
"What is your name? Nyx?" Marv asked her curiously and the child shrugged. "I'm a friend of your father's."
Nyx seemed puzzled by that and then realized who he was talking about. "You hurt him."
"I hurt many angels. Something I am still paying for every day of my life."
She eyed him as she scooted to her knees on her chair and leaned across the table. Her tiny features pulled into a stern expression. "You were bad."
"I was." Marv cut up his crepe and offered her a bit. Still eyeing him, she popped the warm piece into her mouth and made a face. "I'm trying to be good. I did what any brother would do when his family was fighting. I'm going to help Castiel one more time and then I hope for peace."
She studied him as she chewed on a bit of blueberry.
He eyed her almost nervously. "If that's possible anymore without the Lethe."
Nyx simply nodded. "You're scared."
"A little."
She looked at him again and then suddenly smiled so brightly that the angel was startled. Slowly, he smiled back as their eyes stayed connected and she laughed as if he had told her a joke. Marv still watched as she sat back down, the conversation over, and began to eat her own pancakes with the vigour of someone who was starving for food. That the Metatron was absolutely fascinated by her was obvious and it made Dean a little uncomfortable. He looked at Nyx the way someone would a last hope.
"We're done, boys," Marv said suddenly and looked back over at them. "That was all I wanted."
"I don't get the point of any of that," Dean said as he protectively sat close to Nyx in the other chair.
The angel smiled and for once there was no strain in the smile. "You're not of our kind. You never will understand." He looked around the restaurant, at the people, and then out the window. "Give me an hour or two. I'll find them."
He left quickly and Dean looked down at Nyx to see tears falling down her face. "Hey, what's wrong?"
She sniffed hard and looked down at her pancake stack. "It's gonna hurt."
"We'll protect you. Nothing will hurt you," Sam said, trying for a winning smile. But Nyx only shook her head and poked the pancakes with her fork.
"Not me."
Adam's mood turned worse as the decay of his meatsuit became more and more obvious in the glass reflection. The weight of too many souls in one vessel meant that his power was constantly having to repair the damage, constantly having to work harder and harder at becoming something new and strong. It would only be a matter of time and the twisted mess inside of the human meatsuit would have to leave and find another host.
But at the very least he had something to distract himself with. The demon hadn't said much though the monsters had worked her and the angel over with methodical brutality. There was something in Meg's constant mockery that irritated the monster. It annoyed him even more than the way the angel would look the other way rather than scream, and Adam found himself hating the demon.
So naturally he started devoting more of his attention to her.
Adam crouched down in front of Meg's feet, shackling them neatly into the cross bar. The large frame had been converted to the specifications of his demon's memory and still smelt of fresh iron and wood. Adam hummed in his throat as he worked and he felt the demon twitch when his fingers brushed the soles of her feet.
"Inside this demon's memories," he began in a conversational tone, "is something about that Alastair. He broke you all, eventually. So I think torture won't do much to you."
"Got that right," Meg grumbled.
Adam flicked a bit of dirt off his shirt and stood. "So I have to explain something to you."
The monster closest to Meg yanked her hands overhead until they were flat to the board and handed Adam a knife.
"I don't care if it does or doesn't get me want. But this will be slow. The Mother wants the child and she wants you. I can't bring just you, demon. That'll have her angry and I just can't have that." He smiled. "You are going to scream, as loud as you can, so your angel hears it. And he will tell us how to call her back."
"You really don't know him that well, do you?" Meg asked.
"And if that doesn't work, that venom you can feel in your blood? Just a taste of what will be. I'm giving you the option of telling us before you become something so foul and twisted you will never recover. You aren't strong enough, are you?" he finished. "The angel? Icing on a cake to us. The Mother wants new creation to test, to learn from, and you will be very interesting to pull apart. You were God-touched, demon. And we want to know why."
Meg chuckled. "Come on. You don't think that this was just some twisted joke of God's to fuck me over?"
"It is possible." His head twitched down and to the left. For a moment, he listened to something and then smirked. "Either way, we're going to have such fun finding out, demon."
The knife he held began to drag down her neck, pressing so that a line of blood began to follow it. Meg kept her eyes on him as the blade dug deep into her.
"So what was it about Castiel, hmm?" Adam asked, his constantly damp skin sliding against hers as he leaned against her shoulder. "You're a demon, baby. He couldn't have been that good in bed."
Meg turned her head, repulsed by the monster.
"Or was he? Maybe it was because he made you moan and beg for more that you let him fill you with such abomination."
Almost teasingly, he ran his blackening fingernails down her shirt and slid the knife between her legs, ignoring the way she tried to clench them shut. "I could do the same. For different reasons, of course. You'd forget all about him with me."
"No faithful in the monsters too, huh?" Meg asked, trying to shut out the feel of those slimy fingers.
"My mate is very demanding. At one time she didn't need any male when she had me already inside of her. And now it isn't just me that she needs. She needs others to mate with to create other lives, so our kind can survive." He shifted a little. "Your angel? In our world we would have considered him yours in the same way. She has expressed some interest in him though it hardly worries me. She always returns to me." Adam's tongue snaked out and slowly changed to a forked appendage, wetly sliding up her neck. "You taste like the angel. You and he must be together again? Or at least delving into that old demon sin?"
Meg closed her eyes.
"No need for shame. Smells and tastes like that linger for days and days. Lust and sex leaves a lasting… residue." His head bent just a little closer. "You could always pretend I'm him, if it makes it easier. I'm wondering why you both fucked in the first place."
Before she could squirm away, he forced his mouth on hers and she almost threw up at the taste of rotted flesh. Adam's fanged teeth bit into her lips, causing blood to burst through the cuts he created, and she growled angrily at the forced kiss. It was when she felt his tongue worm its way into her mouth that her self-control snapped.
He howled as her teeth snapped through the tip of his tongue and he pulled away, letting her spit the disgusting piece on the ground. Cradling his bleeding mouth with one hand, he smacked her across the face with the other hand, and she coughed as she bit her own tongue.
Meg coughed, stars spotting before her eyes.
"Oh, we are going have such fun if you don't submit," Adam murmured as his face slid into a distinct copy of Alastair's, and he moved the knife up her body to press into her side. The wound in her neck began to pulse harder and harder as her blood began to pound through her body, her adrenaline rising in preparation for torture. "Are you scared?"
"Got a long way to go yet," she whispered. Her body twitched as the knife sank a few inches into her side.
"What a pretty little girl," the Alastair vision murmured and she rolled her eyes forward again.
Her mouth was filling with blood and she spat a gob of it at his face. He snarled and slammed his fist into the side of her face. The fracturing of her jaw was a loud crack and she groaned in pain.
"Do you know why demons are stripped bare to torture?" he asked. Meg blinked because she knew she wore clothes still and he'd not once hinted that he wanted her naked. "This demon I ride knows. It's about humiliation. Easier access too. But I think the way the clothes will fool your body into thinking it is safe will be just as fun. For a while anyway."
Leaning away, Alastair's face seemed to blur as he picked up another knife, this one etched with demon marks.
"You know what I like about you?" The disguised Adam wrenched her head back using her hair as a lead. "You fight. Not always openly. Oh no no no no." He tapped her cheek. "You fight smart. You wait. Like a viper in a nest. Sweet little girl who lost her faith so young I bet. A demon your age doesn't find faith often. You were so eager to get it back too."
His teeth glinted razor sharp close to her mouth. "You are willing to fight anyone and anything to protect that bastard of yours. That's …"
The knife buried deep into her side.
"So noble. In the way only a demon could make it something so wrong as well."
He twisted it a little, listening to the smoking sound of the blessed blade carving into her flesh with almost clinical precision. Meg's eyes blurred at the painful pressure, until his face swam before her and white eyes matching equally white teeth stared back at her.
"You'll call her back to you, Meg. You know you will." Alastair's face faded to Adam's decaying visage. "And how will that feel do you think?"
"M-might as well k-kill me," she managed when the burning cut of the blade moved up her sternum. "I'm not giving you what you want."
"Mm. I don't have to kill you. You're going to make a beautiful monster when that venom finishes its work. Maybe I'll even have it so new life springs inside of you." He dug in harder. "You'll have a new family and just for fun?"
His teeth gnashed close to her ear. "I'll make sure you rip apart your own daughter first and you'll just be aware enough to know that her blood is on your hands when you've promised to protect her. The only thing you have left in this world, destroyed by you."
Meg shut her eyes and shuddered at the voice in her ear.
"Won't that be fun?"