14

"Why? Why did they come after me? Castiel?" I asked the angels later, but they didn't look like they wanted to answer. "Please, someone speak!"

"It's the angels, alright?" Gabriel finally said. "They're coming after you and anyone who is with you."

"I did not do what I was asked." Cas answered too.

"What where you asked to do?" He only eyed me and that gave me an answer. I could put it together after what Gabriel had said.

I laid down for the night, alone and waited for them to settle in. I didn't know where the boys were but I knew I had to get out of here.

I ran down the alleyway, tears stung my eyes as I cried softly to myself before I tripped and cut my arm. I knew this was best after all, but it hurt so much to leave them like this. I had no other choice or I'd be putting them all in danger. I couldn't do that to the people who'd saved my life.

I stopped when I heard something shuffling ahead of me and looked up and rubbed my eyes. Someone was in the alley with me but something was wrong. Whoever it was was bent over breathing heavily. I neared slowly, keeping a safe distance when I asked, "Hey, are you alright?" The man stood up and I could see a deep cut running across his shoulder onto his chest. "You need help. I'll call for an ambulance."

"No," he called out sounding frightened. "No, don't call anyone." He was so sure in his tone.

"You need medical attention."

"I'll be fine." He assured me with a pained smile.

"Come with me then," I took his hand and led him to the room I'd booked that morning where all my things still sat. "Sit and I'll take care of it." He sat as told in the dim lighting of the old, dusty room as I dug through my heavily packed bag. I found the sewing kit and a bottle of peroxide then knelt down in front of him. "I hate to say it so soon, but can you remove your shirt?" He did as asked and I got full view of the wound. It was angry and deep, like it was from a blade. I stitched him up quickly and cleaned it out. He didn't complain the whole time and didn't wince when I put the peroxide on.

"There, I think that'll do." I stood up, blood on my hands.

"What a strange creature you are." He said out of the blue.

"Why, what are you?" I asked looking at him from the corner of my eye.

"Smart, too." He said almost surprised.

"You're not human, well not completely."

"You're a hunter."

"Yeah,"

"But you helped me," He seemed perplexed.

"Figured you needed it." His eyes moved from mine down to my arm where the gash still rested. He reached down to touch it when I recoiled.

"What are you doing?" I almost snapped.

"Returning the favor." I let him put his fingers over the gash gently and when he pulled back it was gone.

I looked up at him quickly then backed away, "You're an angel. No, you shouldn't be here."

"Satine, stop."

"How do you know my name?"

"You don't know who I am."

"Should I?" I wanted to turn and run.

"You've met my brother."

"You're all brothers, you're gonna need to narrow it down." I looked out the window.

"Gabriel," I turned to him quickly.

"Is he alright?" After everything I was afraid for him, for might happen to him.

"He is fine." He answered almost as though he was spitting the words out.

"Then that is all I need to know of him." He looked at me surprised.

"After everything, you'd just leave him? Like nothing?"

"It isn't safe for him, or you for that matter."

"Why me?"

"Don't you know what I am? You know who I am. Being around me for too long will get you killed if you are what you say."

He rubbed the short scruff on his chin and smiled in an odd sort of way at me. He clearly wasn't going to leave.

"Well if you're not going to get yourself away from me, I'll do it." I grabbed my bag and went for the door but with a quick swipe of his hand it locked.

"No need for all that fuss." He stood and towered over me. Who was he?

"I need to leave."

He cupped the side of my face and ran his thumb over my bottom lip. "You are exactly what they say."

"What do they say?" I leaned into his hand slightly if by instinct.

"A creature of compassion, a rare form of courage."

"Why did you let me clean your wound if you could heal it yourself?"

"Because, you'd have done it anyway, knowing what I am or not." He almost whispered. There was something intimate between us like it was meant to be there or that it had been that way from the start.

"What is your name?" I needed to know why there was a connection between us, one not very different from that of which I knew was between Gabriel and I.

"What are names for things like you and I?" he was implying that somehow, in some way, we were alike.

"Please," I tried again. He was close when he sucked in a quiet breath and answer.

"I have many names, some you're people favor."

"No," I dropped my bag beneath me and almost fell back into the door, but I was stopped with a hand on my arm. I looked down slowly, my head starting to spin. "Why are you here?" I didn't look up at him now. "What do you want from me?"

"You brought me here." I wasn't sure if telling him to leave was a smart move but I wasn't sure what I could do with humans' biggest fear standing before me, holding me up. I pulled away and sat on the bed, holding my arms close to me.

"Are you stalling to bring her back? Waiting for the perfect moment to let her back in?" That made me afraid, more than the fact that the devil himself was here. Her being in control again was worse. "I know she has a bone to pick with the angels."

He frightened me when he was suddenly standing right in front of me. "Is that what you want me to do?" I shook my head. "Then I won't." I looked up slowly as I processed his words. What did he want then? He knelt down in front of me with a confused look on his face. "What do you think you are?"

"Her vessel. The only one she can thrive in."

"Is that what my brothers have told you?" I nodded.

"What else could I be?"

"Oh, the power that you hold inside of you." His hand was on my face again, but this time making me look at him. "If only you knew."

"Then, tell me." He shook his head.

"I cannot. That is for him to tell."

"I can't go back to him. There are too many people out there looking for me. He said the angels were out there too." I looked at him carefully. "I doubt you're one of them."

"What makes you say that?"

"I figured you'd have done it by now." He said nothing. "What are you doing here?"

"I needed to see what all the commotion was about. I can hear everything that goes on around here, and you're the talk lately."

"Now you've seen, then what?"

"So many questions."

"Then I'm guessing, like your brother, you're not going to answer." He almost looked offended that I had compared him to Gabriel.

"No, I'm here to make you they don't get a hold of you." His words snaked around me.

"Why, am I of some use to you?" I was sick of being used by everyone. "I'm not just a walking shell waiting for someone to fill me up, to give me direction!" I shouted and stood up, pressing my space into his. "If that's all you want, get away from me." I snarled then realized who I was snarling at. He smirked and started to clap.

"Well done." He said as if I had just passed a test.

"What?"

"Do you have any idea what you just did?" I started to feel sick with fear. Was he angry with my actions? "You just asserted yourself to me." He made a motion to move forwards and I closed my eyes and braced myself but when I expected pain I felt something else. Something warm spread around my shoulders. I opened my eyes to find my lips struck with his, while his hands griped my shoulder tightly. I pulled back quickly and growled.

"What was that?!" He reached forward and stroked my cheek just as I pulled away but I turned to see that we were no longer in the motel room but instead a dark field. The night was heavy and the mist covered the grass below me. Ahead I saw a larger open field. He gently directed me towards the field but I pulled away and started to run, heading directly into the trees.

"You can't escape me. I know you feel it too." His words called after me and that stopped me in my tracks. He felt whatever I did. I turned back and slowly came into view from the trees.

"You feel it?" I skulked in the shadows while he stood in the moonlight.

"Every bit that you do." He held out a hand towards me. I stood still before deciding to oblige him. I grasped his hand slowly. "I won't ever hurt you." He said softly and pulled me close to him.

"What do you want?"

"I already told you," He meant it? "I'm here to make sure that they never get their hands on you."

"Why?" I whispered.

"Never mind, why." he mumbled and held me to his chest, his lips brushed the top of my head. I wanted to pinch myself to see if this was real. Was I really standing here with the fallen angel Lucifer, who not only wanted to protect me from the angels that wanted me dead, but also had some deep connection to me that he might act on.

He made me look up at him and said, "No matter what they tell you, don't ever believe you're like her. You're not." He directed.

"I don't understand." I said.

"If you're ever in danger call for me."

"How?" He answered with his lips on mine but this time I returned the kiss slightly. I could feel something new inside me. He had shown me something with this kiss, something I would use in dire time of need.

"Get off of her!" a familiar voice howled in the darkness. I opened my eyes and turned quickly to see Gabriel in the field with us.

"You shouldn't be here." I said to him.

"Lucifer, let her go." He commanded and his brother listened, surprisingly. He took his arms from around me and let me run to Gabriel. He pushed me behind him as if Lucifer was going to attack. "Don't ever touch her again." He snarled.

"She's as much a part of me, brother, as she is you." And with that he was gone.

Gabriel turned to me and looked me over. "Are you hurt?" he asked, a pained look in his eyes.

"No,"

"Why did you run?" he had his hands on the sides of my face, looking me in the eyes.

"I couldn't see you or Cas get hurt. Not for me."

He sighed, "Don't worry about us. We're here to protect you, no matter what."

"Apparently, so is your brother." He breathed heavily through his nose with an angry look.

"How the hell did you get mixed up with him in so little time?"

"He found me, I think." That made me remember what he'd said, that Gabriel hadn't told me how I was, not really.

"Stay away from him." He kissed my forehead. I opened my eyes and found us back at the lodge.

"No, I don't want to be here!" I shouted.

"This the only place that we can make sure you're safe!" he fought.

"Then don't, don't make sure I'm safe. I can take care of myself."

"Not from them."

"Them, you've never even said what it is they want from me. Why I can't be out there alone. Or why me." He looked sick and sighed.

"Satine. It's time I told you."

"Told me what?"

"Everything," I looked at him. "This whole thing started a long time ago, years before you were born. Your mother, Elizabeth, was one of us."

"What do you mean? She was…"

"An angel, yes. A very low ranking angel but an angel none the less."

"That makes me-…"

"Shh, I'm getting to that part. Your mother fell in love with your father, now he was human and that pissed off a whole bunch of them. She fell from heaven and lost most of her grace. They got married and you were born. She'd hoped that after everything, especially with you in the picture, everything was be alright, but it wasn't. There was a group of higher ranking angels that found out about her and needed to end it. You see, not only did she have some grace left, but she was also using it to aid demons. He was making them more powerful to get back at heaven. When you can around she vowed to stop it and she did, but the angels didn't care. Her grace was too powerful and she needed to be eliminated. They didn't know until the accident that her grace was gone."

"Wait, they set up the accident?" He looked at me and finally nodded.

"They needed to get her alone and away from your father but he ended up being a side causality. You would have been too if it wasn't for your mother. In her last few months she was able to slip the rest of her grace in you. That's how you survived. She knew they were closing in on her and she did everything in her power to keep you safe."

Tears bubbled in my eyes. She sacrificed her power to save me, to make sure I'd live. "How do you know all this? Cas didn't."

"I was part of her plan. You wouldn't remember because you were so young, but I was there."

"I remember you in the crowd."

"That it?"

"Yeah,"

"I watched it happen, the whole wreck. I was the first one down there in the snow. I pulled you out and made sure you were with your uncle."

"It was you? This whole time you'd been the one who saved me. I can remember the accident. I have dreams, but I can never hear your voice or see your face. Why did you save me?"

"Your mother asked me to protect you before she died. To hide you while you grew up. We were friends and I had to help her."

"So you've been watching me all these years, and never came to tell me any of this. You couldn't bother to tell me that I was half angel. Why have you never showed yourself to me?"

"You made it alone for 20 years before Nora. They didn't know who you were until she showed up. You were safe."

"If I have grace, does that mean I can't die?"

"No, but you are stronger with it, and traceable. That's why I need you to stay here." He ordered.

"Why do you keep protecting me? After all these years you kept your word and I grew up. But why still?"

He was hesitant to answer. "I have to."

"Why?"

"Because, after all these years… because I watched you suffer… because I fell in love with you." He finally answered. "I'm connected to you and no matter how far I run I still feel you. That's how you were possessed. I turned my back on you and she got you. But not again. I won't ever leave you to the angels, the demons, to the god damned hounds of hell." I took his shaking hand and held it.

"What is this connection?" I changed the subject, catching Gabriel off guard.

"It's a connection. I don't know. Just something that makes me—"

"You belong with me?"

"Yes," he sighed happily, know that he wouldn't have to describe the whole thing himself.

"Then I belong with you." I leaned forward and put my lips on his. He didn't pull back like I half expected but he didn't lean into it either. "What is it?" I pulled back. He wasn't looking at me and it looked like he wasn't going to. "Gabriel?" I cup his face and made him see me.

"You're not mine alone." He pulled away from me.

"I know that. I can feel it. But I want to be with you." He turned back to me, with surprise in his face. I had chosen him because I knew somehow that he loved me more deeply than anyone ever had. And he was something familiar, something I could hold on to. "Somehow I know you. I've always felt you, deep down."

At this understanding he reached for me and pulled me to him. He kissed me quickly then held me hard against him, as he rested his cheek on my head. My arms wrapped around him and I dug my fingertips into his shoulder blades. At this he seemed to purr and squirm. I think I'd hit his spot because he then pulled me back and his lips collided with mine. I messaged his shoulder blades and he continued to squirm and purr.

"Gabriel, I feel it to Lucifer."

"You would," he sighed. "We are from a closer parentage than most angels. Yes we're all from dad up stairs, but we were made with something the same."

"Wait, if you're all related, then my mother was your sister. That makes me…" I paused. "I'm your niece." I felt grossed out.

"Yes, in your human, technical terms. But with angels it's different. We were made so far from each other it's like we aren't related at all." That made me feel a little better.

"You told me that I was Nora's vessel. The only one that can hold her for any length of time, was that true?"

"Yes, you're part angel, making your body stronger, more durable. She is a powerful demon and you're a powerful human. You were a fit for her." I felt less afraid than I had in a long time.

I looked at him and he suddenly pulled away and started to cringe.

"Gabe, what's wrong?" I asked, scared suddenly. He didn't answer. He was clearly distracted like he was hearing something I couldn't. "Gabe, you're scaring me." I admitted.

He stopped and looked at me quickly. Pain was in his eyes. "Satine, we have to get you out of here."

"But you said I'd be safe with you."

He cupped my face I swear I saw tears building up. "Satine, I'm not safe anymore. They can find me and they know I have you." He kissed my forehead.

"No, please." I grabbed his arm as he stood. "Don't leave me alone."

"Satine, I promised I'd protect you. That's what I'm going to do." He pulled me to him and kissed me deeply before I heard something that sounded like a snap.

She was gone and he was left in the motel room alone. He wanted to sob then and there for her. She was in so much trouble and it was all his fault. If only he'd never turned his back on her, she'd still be safe and undetected. But now both angels and demons were closer than ever.