"Where are we again?" Sam asked, head turned slightly to see Dean on his back.
"Your forest is rather huge, Sam, not many angels know it, but it was created to hide the place where Lucifer fell."
"Really? That would explain the stories in the village."
"Oh?"
"Colts and fillies are warned away from a section of the woods early in life. According to legend, the lake and the surrounding area is haunted by a demon. It's called Falling Star Lake and we're headed right for it."
The two made their way through the trees and came into the lake's clearing. Dean got off Sam's back and walked over to the water's edge. He held out his hand and quickly sliced his palm, letting the blood fall into the water, intoning an incantation in Enochian. As the blood sank into the water, it began to bubble and boil before it parted and up rose a cage of iron, wrapped in silver. Inside was the most beautiful creature Sam had ever seen.
"Hello Dean. Nice wings." Lucifer said, twitching his own, they were pure white with a gold sheen. "Now, how can I help you? I mean there must be a reason you're here, I can't imagine you just dropping by to say hello." Lucifer asked, stepping closer to the cage's wall.
"I want information Lucifer. I figure since you've got nothing but time, you've been keeping your ear to the ground."
"So bossy. I know lots of things, be more specific." Lucifer replied, eyes sliding briefly towards Sam. "Hello Sam." he mentally whispered.
"I want to know who's trying to kill me, specific enough for you?" Dean asked, sarcasm thick in his voice, totally unaware that Lucifer was talking to Sam.
"I could help you, y'know. You could help him, save him. I could help you get back into your village's good graces."
"You already know Dean, you just need to face it."
"All you need to do is take my hand Sam, and I'll take care of everything. You already care about Dean and the elders will be asking you to come back in no time. Dean will die if we don't help him, he's no match for Zachariah. He'll wipe him off the face of the Earth. Give me your hand Sam, let me help."
Sam could feel the smile that Lucifer sent him, it felt oily.
"Damn it Lucifer!" Dean growled. "Stop playing games and tell me who's after me!
Lucifer smile was a look of contempt. "I don't know Dean get down on your knees and make it lovely, maybe I'll remember something."
"All you you have to do is say yes and I can give you everything."
"Come on Dean, think about it! Someone is looking to take over since God left, you got too close and are now a threat." Lucifer laughed. "Your death is a certain thing. I can't wait to watch it, your death will be spectacular."
"Unless you stop it Sam and save him. Just think about how grateful Dean would be, how much he would appreciate the help."
Sam could feel the urge to say yes, it itched at the back of his head and he began to reach out.
Lucifer smiled. "That's it, let me in."
"Sam, no!" Dean yelled, slapping Sam's hand away from the cage and shoving him back.
"Aw, Dean don't be like that, we could of had such fun." Lucifer chuckled.
"Shut up." Dean growled, pulling Sam further away.
"He offered to help." Sam pleaded, "Said all I had to do was let him in."
"You're going to die Dean, it's a shame I won't see it in person."
Dean hissed and took his eyes off Sam long enough to say the incantation to send Lucifer back. The cage sank back into the lake, Lucifer calling all the while that Dean knew the answer, he just had to find it.
"What did he say to you?"
"That you would die without his help, Zachariah would kill you, that he could get me back into my village-"
"Wait. He said what? That Zachariah would kill me?"
"Yeah."
"Wonderful. Just wonderful."
"Who is he?"
"He's sort of my boss. He's a different class of angel, but he's higher up then me. His job is to find the evil, mine is to smite it."
"So what, he sent you into the nest as a set up?"
"Looks like. I'll need to ask him."
"But how are you-"
"Summoning spell. We need to go, things to collect."
It took a couple of weeks but soon Dean had everything he would need. Sam watched as he organized and packed what was needed in a satchel.
"When are you doing the summoning?"
"Tomorrow. For now come here."
Dean held out his hand to Sam and pulled him close, wrapping his arms around Sam's waist.
"This is nice." Sam whispered, brushing a light kiss against Dean's temple.
"It is. I can think of nicer things though." Dean tilted his head up slightly, kissing Sam's chin and mouth.
Sam kissed back, nipping lightly at Dean's lips. "Such as?"
Dean growled softly, knowing damn well that Sam was drawing this out on purpose. He felt Sam smile against his mouth as Dean moved Sam towards the bed. Sam's legs bumped against the mattress and he fell onto it, pulling Dean with 's wings, freshly healed, flared out behind him and the two landed in a tangle of arms and legs.
The next morning Sam woke up to an empty bed.
"Dean?" he called, looking around. His hand brushed something that crinkled and he picked the note up.
Dear Sam,
I can't let you go with me. I'm most likely going to die and I don't want you to be hurt during the fight. I love you too much to see that happen, stay home.
- Dean
"Son of a bitch! You bastard." Sam snarled, crushing the note in his fist. Sam got out of bed, flinging the sheets away, causing several feathers to flutter to the ground. Sam gathered his spear and dressed in his leather armor. Selecting a feather from the floor, Sam shifted into his centaur form and intoned a basic location spell. It was one of the first he had learned and was used mostly for finding lost children. but the result would still be the same. The feather began to glow a light blue and hovered in Sam's hand. It spun and pointed in the direction that Dean had left.
The alter had been set up and Dean drew a circle on the ground, stepping inside it before completing it. Tossing a lit match onto the bowl of herbs, they began to smoke and fill the air with their scent. What was in the bowl was a mix of graveyard moss and fragments of the roof of Sam's house, since it had been touched by divine power. Dean drew out a knife and quickly sliced his palm, adding his own blood to the mix. He put the knife down and began chanting in Enochian.
Nothing happened. Waiting for half a fucking hour and nothing happened.
Dean was about to call it quits when a wind blew through the clearing he was in. The alter fell over from the force and the sound of clapping filled the air.
"A summoning spell Dean? Really? Have you sunk that low?" Zachariah appeared out of thin air.
"What the hell took you so long?"
"You didn't really think that I'd not show up without reinforcements did you?"
At that moment the field was overrun with more monsters then Dean had seen in quite awhile. Apparently Zachariah though to bring a small army with him. From where he was, Dean could see vampires, werewolves, wraiths, and was that a banshee, no it was a Jenny Greenteeth. What the hell was a Jenny Greenteeth doing here?
"I had hoped for it." Dean replied.
"If wishes were horses, Dean." Zachariah motioned with one hand and the monsters attacked.
The werewolves came first, and Dean unsheathed his sword, willing it to burst into flame. There was a crackle and the sword flared into purple fire. It wasn't as bright as holy fire, this fight would be Dean's alone, but it was something.
"Feeling a little left out there? Running on empty?" Zachariah asked snarkily.
"Shut up." Dean hissed, grateful that his sword had responded at all, and that it was still a bane blade and could still bring down monsters even without divine power. The first werewolf charged head on Dean obliged by decapitating it. The second had moved to a flanking position but Dean was prepared and had already spun into place and disemboweled it cleanly."Werewolves," Dean thought "so damn predictable. There was a third one. Where is it?". A growl behind him and Dean ducked as the were lunged at him, shoving his sword up into the wolf's body and gutting him open.
Zachariah clapped condescendingly. "Bravo Dean! Nice to know you still got it. As for the rest of you idiots, what are you doing? This isn't a kids story, go at him, don't wait your turn."
The rest attacked as one.
"Four vampires, two wraiths and one Jenny Greenteeth. Hope I can do this." Dean flexed his wings hard and shot into the air, letting the group collide into a pile beneath him. The vampires recovered first leaping up at Dean. Swinging his sword down, Dean lopped off the head of one vampire on the way up and twisted to avoid another, but two managed to grab onto his legs, weighing him down enough that he was starting to fall. Dean thrust his blade down into the mouth of one of the vampires holding onto his leg that was about to take a bite out of his shin. The vampire fell off his leg, but it was too late, Dean hit the ground hard. He stood up and prepared to get airborne again, but something hit him in the back and a set of teeth bit into his wing. Dean growled at the pain, but he didn't have time, one of the wraith's was coming right at him. He lashed his blade out and took off both of the wraith's hands at the forearm.
Dean snapped his wings open hard, spinning to the left and throwing Jenny off. Dean realized one of the remaining vampires was pinned beneath his foot and he slammed his blade through its throat.
"That just leaves one vamp and wraith."
The wraith and vampire charged at once, but the wraith reached Dean first. Dean grabbed the wraith's wrist as the bone spike slid out and using the wraith's own momentum, jammed the spike up through the chin into the brain of the vampire. He then kicked the wraith away, where it fell to join Jenny. Dean stared at both of them.
"Who wants to be next? Either one of you wanna be my bitch that badly?"
Jenny and the wraith looked at Dean, looked at each other, looked at Dean again, and took off running as fast as they could.
"I'm impressed you're still alive Dean. Great job on not dying, it gives me the satisfaction of killing you myself." Zachariah pulled out his sword and it erupted into flame. Leaping into the air, the two angels began to fight in earnest. As far as sword fighting went, they were evenly matched for the most part. Where things began to fall apart, was speed. With divine power flowing through him, Zachariah was just that much faster then Dean, and wasn't feeling any fatigue. Dean was able to block the vital blows, but he was still getting nicked and hit with smaller cuts. It was becoming a war of attrition and Dean was losing. He couldn't heal and he was getting tired fast.
Zachariah twisted his wrist and knocked Dean's sword out of his hand. "Aw, Dean getting tired? That's alright," Zachariah sheathed his sword and cracked his knuckles. "I can do this the old fashioned way. It's going to be so much more satisfying breaking your neck with my bare hands."
Zachariah launched himself at Dean, all six wings flared out, teeth turning to fangs and nails into claws. Dean was mildly amused at the fact that Zachariah was using his lion head to kill him. Dean dodged out of the way, Zachariah's claws raking along his side, Dean's blood beaded up on his skin.
"You know that those fangs and claws suit you Zachariah!" shouted Dean, "Makes you look like the monster your really are."
Zachariah growled and tried again, this time punching Dean in the ribs and kidneys. Dean groaned and did his best to block the punches that Zachariah was throwing. but he was simply too fast and wasn't feeling the fatigue of extended fighting. Zachariah then delivered a devastating uppercut to Dean's jaw, knocking his head back. Dean's vision went black.
As his eyes opened, Dean realized he was falling and Zachariah was coming down at him, this was it.
"I'm gonna die." Dean thought.
Zachariah caught up to Dean, grabbing him by the throat before he could hit the ground. Now the two angels hung a few feet in the air, Dean totally limp and being held by both of Zachariah's hands around his neck. His vision spinning, his blood pounding in his ears, in a few seconds he would black out.
"You see Dean," chuckled Zachariah as he lowered Dean and himself down the last few feet so they were on the ground. "you can't win, this has all been an exercise in futility. Now you're going to die and so is every one of these pathetic insects that infest this..."
Zachariah was cut off as a spear tip poked out of his chest right through his heart. Zachariah looked down.
"What the.. Who the hell did this?" Zachariah released a hand from Dean's throat, snapping the head of the spear off, pulling the rest of the shaft out. Zachariah turned around, dragging Dean with him, looking at Sam who stood with a very confused look on his face.
"You think this can hurt me?" roared Zachariah. "This is nothing you pathetic little insect! You are nothing but a mosquito, an annoyance, a pest. You are..."
"A great distraction." Dean coughed out as he yanked Zachariah's blade out of it's sheath and thrust it into his chest.
Zachariah looked down in shock at his own blade sticking through him. looking at Dean. "You think this is over?" coughed Zachariah, a bit of blood running down his chin. "I was just middle management. Higher powers want this to happen Dean and you're going to be crushed in the process. You and every one of these pathetic sacks of meat."
Dean glared at Zachariah, "Fuck off." growled Dean, as he pulled Zachariah's blade out of his chest and rammed it up through his jaw, into his brain. As Zachariah's body crumpled to the ground, the last of his grace burned out, leaving the image of six wings forever burned into the Earth.
Dean collapsed to the ground, the smell of ash and ozone filling his nose. He could hear Sam calling his name and looked up as Sam came running up.
"Are you alright?" Sam asked, kneeling down and running his hands over Dean's body. He hadn't even bothered to shift to two legs. He helped Dean stand, cataloging the wounds he could see.
"I think so Sammy."
"Can you walk or do you want to ride on my back?"
"I'll ride. And why didn't you stay home like I told you?"
"If I had, you'd be dead Dean." Sam helped Dean onto his back and began to walk out of the clearing.
"True. Thanks by the way." Dean said, reconsidering Sam's words.
"You're welcome." came the quiet reply. "Sorry I wasn't faster."
"You were here, that all that matters." Dean put his hands on Sam's shoulders to steady himself.
Sam squeezed Dean's hand lightly. "About what Zachariah said, who do you think it is?"
"I don't know. You wanna help me find out?"
"Seriously?"
"Yes. Why, do you have something better to do?" Dean laughed.
Sam snorted. "I'll come with you. But only after you've healed up and we've got supplies. I get the feeling that we'll need a lot of medical supplies."
"Alright then, we've got work to do."
The End