Calling All Angels

The Stars are Coming Out

"Okay, thank you for your time ma'am."

As he turned away from his latest interviewee, Sam struggled to ignore the thoughtful hum in his ears. "So that's four people now who are convinced it was a gas leak," Lucifer summarised. "Y'know Sammy, I'm starting to think it was too."

"Shut up," Sam growled.

The Devil smirked. "Ooh. Burn!" he joked, and then clicked his fingers. "Hey – burn," he said again, putting emphasis on the last word.

"Excuse me sir?" Sam said, approaching a man nearby. "Hi, my name's Andrew –"

"No it's not."

"I was just wondering if you'd be able to tell me what happened here? You see, I'm a student, and I wanna be a journalist –"

"All lies!"

"And this just caught my attention as I was passing through. I'm just trying to get some information from people, see if I can start a mock report on it or something for my class. Would you be able to help?"

"Hmm, I don't know about this guy, Sam," Lucifer said, staring intently at the stranger. "His head's too big. Not to mention his dress sense is all over the place. Seriously, that fleece with those trousers? No, he's not thinking straight."

"Um, yeah, sure," the guy said, and told Sam everything he knew – which just happened to be everything Sam already knew. He sighed in frustration as he left the man behind, running a hand through his hair. Beside him, Lucifer chuckled.

"You know," he said, "if you're looking for a headline for this report of yours, I've already come up with a scorcher: 'Baptism of Fire'!" He grinned, waiting for a response. "Don't you get it Sam? That was like three puns in a row. And also two massive clues as to where you should look next." Sam ignored him, looking back out across the crowd of people to see if there was anyone who might have had a different angle. Lucifer groaned. "Christ, it's like talking that wall again. Hey, Sam? Try thinking about what you're doing; these people are passers-by. You need witnesses – as in, people who were actually there to see how not a gas explosion it was? Now, I've tried being subtle," he continued, despite being aware that Sam was ignoring him, "and ultimately that's not doing either of us any favours. So here it goes: Sam, what happens to people caught in an explosion?" Sam didn't respond, and Lucifer let out an impatient huff. "Alright, fine. I've tried to be nice, but you've left me no choice."

The stinging on the back of his hands seemed to start from out of nowhere. Frowning, Sam looked down as the sensation increased, and when he turned his hands over he gasped in horror. The skin on his hands was blistering rapidly, the damage spreading in a raw, pink-ish wave, as if he had been severely – "Burnt!" As soon as he said it, the hot pain vanished, and his hands were as normal as they had been seconds before (only now they trembled faintly). Confused, he finally acknowledged Lucifer, who regarded him with a look of smug contempt.

"I knew you were the smart one."

Stuffing his notepad and pen back into his pocket, Sam turned and headed back towards the Impala, trying to block out Lucifer's outraged cries at not being thanked or acknowledged for his part in the revelation. Sam prayed he wouldn't be there at the hospital.

"People at the hospital said they thought they saw something, but didn't quite believe they saw a giant skeleton – some called it one of those 'near death' visions, but no-one could really say what the Priest did. So, basically, all we can say is that it hides itself well, causes destruction on a massive scale, but doesn't like archangel grace."

Lily watched as Dean and Adam digested Sam's information. Bobby was frowning at the table, chin tucked into his hand, and Castiel stood in the background looking… well, like Castiel. She still hadn't worked out the angel's apparently limited array of expressions, but the Winchesters seemed to be able to easily decipher him so she relied on them to help her understand. Right now, she could only assume he was thinking – everyone else was, anyway.

"Okay so how can we use that?" Dean asked. Sam looked pointedly at Adam.

He fidgeted under the sudden spotlight. "Uh, well I don't really know how it works," he admitted. "Sometimes it's like Michael helps me out of his own accord, sometimes I think I just make stuff happen."

"Like?"

"Like the first time we saw the Priest. I made this light that seemed to drive it away."

"That was you?" Lily asked, aghast.

Adam held up his hands. "I don't know. For all I know it was Michael." At this point, everyone seemed to automatically turn to Castiel, who now definitely looked deep in thought.

He nodded slowly. "There's a possibility it could be," he began. "Michael would certainly know how to defeat the Priests – it was he who was tasked to do so in the first place. It would also explain further why you were sent back to Earth, Adam." He frowned slightly. "The angels must have known."

"And they kept you outta the loop?" Dean asked. When Cas' frown deepened a bit, he made a noise of disbelief. "Geez, they really pushed you down the ladder, didn't they?" Lily couldn't understand the odd tone to his words, nor why Castiel guilty looked away. Perhaps it wasn't her business, she decided, and focused back on what Bobby was saying.

"We need to keep Lily safe," he stressed. She liked that idea. "Sure, she's got Adam with some kind of archangel upgrade watching her back, but how do we know it's enough? We don't even know what'll gank that thing."

"And it's close," Sam agreed.

"Which means we're short on time," Dean added.

"Maybe not as short as we think," Adam said, and when his older brother raised an eyebrow at him he elaborated; "Castiel placed wards on Lily like he did with us. They must be working, otherwise it would have found her, right? So, what if it hit the library because it was guessing?"

Dean shook his head. "Look kid, I don't care if you're hyped up on angel juice right now – we are not waiting for that thing to come and smite us to the Holy Kingdom!"

"I know, but it gives us more time!" Adam insisted. "We can move around more too, right? Put some distance between us and it."

"Would that work, Cas?" Sam asked.

"If it were anything else I would be confident in the sigils' ability to hide her," Cas said. "They will, like Adam said, but only for a short while. It's like wiping dirt off a window – against an Enochian Priest, eventually the sigils will be useless."

"Wait," Lily cut in. "You mean I'll never be safe? I'll never be able to hide from this thing?"

Castiel looked grave. "Not after it finds you again, no."

Talk about painfully honest – he may as well have punched her. As his words sparked a flurry of thoughts, namely a long list of things she'd never be able to do, Lily stood up abruptly, the chair scraping back noisily. "I'm going to bed," she announced after a beat, and she turned on her heel quickly.

"Night," Adam called after her as she bolted out of the room. He sighed, dropping a furrowed brow onto his folded arms.

"Alright, there must be something we're missing here," Dean said, a frustrated determination colouring his words.

Sam threw up his hands. "Like what? We've tried everything."

"How many books did you look through?" Dean asked Bobby. "Are there no more…"

Adam couldn't help but let their voices blend into a background soundtrack as he tried to order his own, tumultuous thoughts. His task had seemed so simple at the beginning, when he'd first met Lily. Protect her – sure. He hadn't bargained on an ancient foe with few discernable weaknesses turning up in her house barely one day after he had. But Michael had trusted him with this job. That had to mean something, right? What would be the point in breaking the Cage to get him out otherwise? Adam closed his eyes. Where was the archangel when he needed him?

Grace.

Startled, Adam sat up.

Destroy its grace.

"Oh come on!" Dean shouted, his patience on its final threads. "How hard can it be to dust a heap of bones?"

"Why don't we destroy its grace?"

All eyes turned to Adam. Bobby, a sceptic look on his face, was the first to ask him what he meant. "How do you know it even has a grace?"

"Adam's right," Castiel said, eyes wide with realisation. "The Priests were made akin to angels – they would have been created with graces too."

"And how do you propose we destroy a grace?" Dean challenged, and Adam floundered. "I mean it's just energy – we can't even see it, let alone destroy it."

No body – external grace.

"Its grace is external," Adam explained. "It has no body, so we'd be able to see it."

Volatile.

"And it's volatile, so – so it's unstable!"

Dean cocked an eyebrow. "Meaning?"

"It would be like a supernova." Castiel picked up on Adam's (or maybe, he wondered, Michael's) train of thought, and after a sharp reminder to explain it as if they were children from Dean, he continued; "When the core of a star has too much energy it collapses in on itself, and the result is a supernova – an explosion that disperses that energy."

"And we can use Michael's grace to do that!" Sam joined in excitedly. Dean and Bobby shared a mirrored look of 'what the fuck?'

"Would it definitely destroy it though?" Adam asked.

"I believe the grace is all that keeps the Priests in existence," Castiel mused. "Either way, it would be severely weakened without one, perhaps to the point where it would be completely powerless."

Adam clapped his hands. "Great, so we have a plan!"

"Hold on there, Hot Shot," Dean chided. "We know – sort of – what we're doing, but that doesn't mean we have a plan. Now I'm not sure how you're gonna take this, but I was thinking bait and ambush?"

Any joy in Adam's face was wiped in an instant. He blatantly didn't like this plan. "You serious? After what you just said about not waiting for it?"

"Well there's a difference between waiting unprepared and waiting with some knowledge of what's gonna happen."

"So you wanna put Lily in danger on purpose."

"That's generally what bait's for, yeah. Look, Adam," he said, seeing the anger levels rising. "I know it sucks, baiting plans often do. But I'm not saying we throw her straight to the lions. I mean, we'll be there, and she'll have you right by her side if she wants. We just need to get the element of surprise on this thing."

"I get it," Adam said grudgingly. "I'd just… prefer it if there was another way."

"So would we," Sam said.

When Dean later suggested they go out to get some beer and pie, Adam had been tempted to join his brothers on the trip – to feel like a family, do brotherly things, get to know them better, and let them get to know him. But he knew that he would stay with Lily. He had to. She needed to be kept safe. So rather than join his brothers, Adam went back to his own room, stepping inside quietly so he didn't wake her.

There was no need to try. As soon as he opened the door (and he didn't even make it creak), he could hear the soft sniffs and hitched breaths of someone crying. "Lily?" He saw her jump in the moonlight, curled up on her bed with her head buried in her arms, knees against her chest. She didn't answer, just wiped her face on her sleeve. "What's wrong?"

"I'm scared to go to sleep," she whispered, her voice sounding cracked and broken. "It's so stupid."

"No it's not," he told her quietly.

"But it is," she insisted. "I mean, why should I stop feeling safe just because I close my eyes?"

What Adam did next was purely instinctual. It felt right, and had nothing to do with Michael or angels or anything supernatural. He made his way over to Lily's bed, sitting behind her and tapping her shoulder. "Lie down," he said gently, and after she had repositioned herself on the mattress he pulled the covers over them both, staying close to her.

"Adam?" Lily murmured. "What are you doing?"

"Keeping you safe," he returned, and rested his arm around her waist. "Now you don't have to worry about closing your eyes."

His charge stayed motionless. "What…"

"Go to sleep, Lily. I'm right here."

There was a moment of perfect stillness, where Adam could take in the circular shape of the pristine moon, shining like the sun against a rich navy-blue sky and bathing the motel room in a crystal-white glow. Lily shifted in bed, surprising him; she twisted round until she was facing him, burying her face against his chest and wrapping her own arms around him tightly. As her breathing eased, he stroked her back softly, watching the moon over her head and not really thinking at all.

That night, for the first time in what could have been centuries, Adam slept.

Somehow, Dean had been blessed; here he was, alone in the motel room at two in the morning, beer in hand, watching a re-run of Dr Sexy. He was still pleasantly full from the pie earlier – and it had been good pie – and for the first time since driving out to meet his half brother and the new prophet girl, he felt truly relaxed. With Sam back investigating the library, Castiel taking Bobby home, Lily asleep and Adam possibly not asleep in their room, Dean found he was enjoying the solitude.

"Bobby is safely home now."

Make that temporary solitude. "Great. Thanks Cas." Dean quickly refocused on the television, hoping Castiel would get the message.

"Dean?"

Farewell solitude. "Yeah Cas?"

"You're still angry at me."

In all honesty, it wasn't what Dean had expected, and the blunt statement caught him off guard. Slowly, he picked up the remote and switched off Dr Sexy, fiddling with his beer for a few seconds to stall (hoping Castiel didn't realise what he was doing, too). "What makes you say that?"

"What I did, with the souls… to Sam… You warned me not to, and I ignored your advice. Your brother is now suffering unnecessarily, because of me. I betrayed your trust." His words were heavy with regret, and Dean didn't need to look to know the angel's shoulders would be slumped unhappily, his eyes downcast and shamed.

"You screwed up Cas," he said finally. "And I'm not gonna lie – the whole demotion thing? I think the angels were being pretty generous there." Castiel shifted, looking like he was going to respond, but Dean held up a hand. "But everyone screws up royally sometime in their life; and in the end I guess your plan kind of worked, so…" Trailing off, Dean took a deep breath, glancing back down at the beer bottle. "I can't forgive you for what you did to Sam, Cas, not just yet. But you better try to do something for him once this is all over, capiche?"

"Of course Dean. Thank you." The relief and gratitude from Castiel was practically palpable, and if Dean didn't know him better he would have expected a hug. "How is he?" Cas asked instead.

Dean frowned. "Honestly? I'm not sure. I don't think he sleeps, and I get the feeling he hallucinates too. Funny thing is, we never seem to want to talk about it at the same time." He nodded. "I told him to learn to cope on his own. Perhaps I shouldn't have."

If Castiel was going to respond, he never got the chance to; the soft creak of the door caught their attention, and they were surprised to see Lily step tentatively into the room. Dean sat up straight. "Hey. Everything alright?"

"Adam's asleep," she began, "and I needed to…"

Dean took in the anxious set of her eyes, the way she hugged the door as if it would prevent anything from touching her, the slight waver in her voice. "What's wrong?" he asked gently.

"I had another vision."

"You did?" Dean and Castiel exchanged a glance. "So what happened?"

Lily came further in, sitting on Sam's empty bed, still the picture of worry. "I didn't see much," she began in a small voice. "Just the… the Priest. It looked like it was about to attack something, but before it could do it there was this light from somewhere. It sort of flinched, and then the orb thing on top of its staff… um, shattered, kind of." She glanced up, eyes wide. "That was it."

"The orb on top of the staff shattered?" Dean echoed, and Lily confirmed it.

"Its grace," Castiel said. "It must be the energy used to power the staff."

"So what I saw was its grace being destroyed?"

He nodded. "I believe so."

"Lily," Dean said, leaning forward. "Where did that light come from? Can you describe it in any way?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. It was just like this pure white glow that got more and more intense, but it came from something I couldn't see – like, if it was a picture, then this light source was beyond the frame. Does that even make sense?" she asked with a shrug.

"Yeah, we understand," Dean said, and shared another look with Castiel. The angel now seemed to have a renewed sense of hope about him: his shoulders were no longer hunched, there was a glimmer in his eyes, and Dean thought he met his gaze with more confidence, too. It wasn't quite the haughty, superior look he used to get once upon a time, but it was different from the Cas of late, who couldn't look Dean in the eye for some time. Maybe, he thought, just maybe, things were starting to take a turn for the better.