2.
Much later, the boys had managed to track down the footage they needed, and brought it to the angels.
"It's not much," Sam told them, bringing up the black-and-white, grainy images on the laptop. "It's from the streets outside, just before the murder."
They watched. A woman, just recognisable as Lailah, walked toward the building in the dark. She went inside. For a while, nothing happened.
"It goes quiet. But if I skip ahead..."
Sam moved the footage forward. A blinding flash of white light filled the warehouse, spilling out into the street, then snapped back, as if it had never been.
Zoe choked back a small sob, her hand over her mouth.
"Poor Lailah."
"Is that everything?" Castiel asked.
"Afraid so."
Sam reached over to turn off the film, but Castiel intercepted his hand.
"Wait."
"What is it?"
"There."
He pointed to the warehouse door, which had opened and closed, seemingly by itself.
"I can't see anything," Dean spoke up.
"Me neither," Sam added. "Cas? What is it?"
"I don't know. Let me see it again."
Sam ran the footage back, playing it from the flash of light that signified Lailah's murder.
As the door opened once more, the angels leaned forwards, both frowning in concentration.
"Stop."
Sam paused the playback, but neither brother could see a thing.
Then Zoe gasped in horror.
"My God. No!"
She turned sharply, walking away, clearly upset.
Castiel was looking grim again, anger starting to bubble under the façade of calm.
"Cas, what is it? What can you see?"
Dean was starting to get worried. What the hell could this thing be?
"I don't know."
"What do you mean, you don't know? Can you see it or not?"
"I can see something. It's... unclear."
"Then what's her problem?" Dean jerked his head to indicate Zoe, crying in the corner.
"It's not an angel. But... it is something like an angel. It's hard to explain."
"Try."
"Look..." Cas hesitated, clearly uncomfortable.
"There are rules about what we're allowed to do, when we take human vessels. I don't know if they could be enforced now, but they're pretty well ingrained within us. It's... taboo."
"What is?" Dean's frustration was spilling out into his tone.
"Procreation. Specifically with a human."
There was a brief moment while that sank in.
"Wait, I've read something about that," Sam spoke up. "Nephilim, is that it?"
"That is the name for a human/angel halfbreed," Cas agreed. "But that-" he pointed at the screen.
"Is not a Nephilim. I don't know what it is. But is something unnatural, and it does have certain aspects of an angel."
"Oh, great. Yet another new kind of monster." The sarcasm was back in Dean's voice. "Like we don't have enough of those."
"Could it be the stolen Grace that gives it whatever aspect it is you can see?" Sam asked.
Cas shook his head.
"No. It might be using the Grace to boost whatever bastardised powers it has, but that wouldn't transform something into an angel."
"But what about the warding?" Dean asked.
"That wouldn't work on an abomination like this. It's not an angel. I - I've not seen anything like this before."
Cas got up, abruptly, going over to Zoe. The two angels conversed rapidly in low, hushed tones. Zoe appeared to be crying again, Castiel just looked grim.
Eventually, Zoe nodded and Castiel patted her shoulder, reassuringly before returning to the Winchesters.
"Zoe and I agree that this needs to be kept quiet. I do not want any more angels to learn about this, but... I would appreciate your help."
"We're gonna need more to go on," Dean pointed out. "Like, how can we kill it?"
"I'm not sure. An Angel sword might be enough, and Zoe is far more proficient in sigils than I am. She may be able to create a trap that would hold it."
"And how do we get it into the trap?" Sam asked. "Dean and I can't even see it."
"If the warding is successful, then we should be able to render it visible. But you're right, we will have to draw it out."
"Please tell me the next words outta your mouth aren't gonna be 'Zoe and I will use ourselves as bait'." Dean shook his head. "Cos that's never ended well for us."
Castiel seemed taken aback.
"It is the most logical step to take."
"Yeah, if logic means 'gets you both killed by something we don't know how to gank," Dean snapped back. "Come on, man. There's gotta be a better way."
"You know, we weren't planning on just hanging around here until the abomination showed up again," Zoe interrupted, appearing suddenly at Dean's elbow.
"I thought we might try something a little more public first, just to get her attention."
"Her?" Sam echoed. "You're sure it's a her?"
Zoe looked confused.
"Of course. Couldn't you tell that?"
"Uh, we can't see it. Isn't making yourself invisible an angel thing?"
Zoe visibly recoiled, wrinkling her nose like there was a bad smell in the room.
"Ugh. Don't call her that. She is not an angel. And other things can do that too."
"What do mean public?" Dean cut in, no patience with Zoe's obvious distaste.
"You gonna out yourself as an angel and see if she comes running?"
The little punk angel looked up at him, and grinned.
"Fear not, my brothers and sisters!" Zoe declared, climbing up on the bench.
"For I am an Angel of the Lord and I am here to tell you now that he has not abandoned you!"
For such a petite vessel, she had a surprisingly loud voice, and it carried right across the square. Heads turned in curiosity, and though most continued about their business, a small crowd quickly gathered as she declaimed her message.
"I have heard the word of God, and it is good!" she hollered, waving her arms in the air.
Most of the crowd didn't seem to be paying much attention to what she was saying, more interested in taking pictures or filming her on their phones. One young couple, dressed rather like Zoe herself, even stood right in front of her and took a selfie as the angel continued her speech, relishing the opportunity to tell the absolute truth to humans, knowing they wouldn't believe a word.
It was a full five minutes before the cops got there, and, dispersing the crowd, politely asked her to get down. The brothers weren't sure if it was angelic influence that caused such mild treatment, or if they were scared she was about to go postal on them. Or maybe they'd seen "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo."
Cheerfully, Zoe hopped down and scampered away, back to where Dean and Sam were waiting for her. Castiel was standing around the corner, waiting a safe distance away to avoid immediate detection, and the three of them headed over to him.
"Think that'll do?" She asked. "We could try again someplace else soon, make sure we get maximum coverage."
But Sam was already checking his phone.
"I don't think we need to."
He turned it around so the others could see; one of the crowd had uploaded the video of Zoe's speech already.
Zoe's face lit up.
"I look awesome!"
"I don't pretend to understand humanity," was Castiel's contribution. "But it would appear that the current obsession with this kind of technology does have its uses."
"Now what?" Dean asked. "Hope whatever this monster is, it uses YouTube? Then what?"
"I suggest she remain visible for much of the day," Cas replied. "From what we already know of what happened to Lailah, the abomination will make the next move."
"Great." There was more than a hint of sarcasm in Dean's tone. "Maybe at the next show, you should try announcing you like hanging round in old empty warehouses. That'd speed things up."
"I don't mind going again!" Zoe chirruped. "This is fun!"
They tried a park next time, with similar results, then outside a bar as the light started to fail, but this time got little interest. Passers-by just assumed she was drunk, or crazy and the boys were about to intervene when a note was shoved into Zoe's hand.
She looked down at it, surprised, and the Winchesters hurried after the deliverer, grabbing him as he rounded a corner.
"What did you give her?" Dean demanded, shoving the startled lad against the wall.
"What?"
"That note!"
Castiel caught them up, staring intently at the young man.
"It's not him. He's human."
"Human? Of course I'm human! Who the hell are you people?"
"The note," Sam repeated. "What is it?"
"I don't know! This guy just asked me to give it to her, said they were friends and he wanted to surprise her! What's wrong with that?"
Dean released him.
"Smart monsters. This keeps getting better and better."
The young man looked at the three crazy people confronting him, and took the opportunity to leg it. They let him go, and went back to Zoe.
"It's an invitation," she told them, waving the slip of paper.
"Let me guess - meet me at a dark, abandoned building at midnight?" Dean snarked.
Zoe pulled a face.
"Pretty much. I mean, they managed to make it not sound sinister, but..."
Sam took the note, reading it aloud.
"I also hear the voice of God. If you are really an angel, I need to speak with you. Meet me at San Andreas church tonight, 11pm."
"It's a trap," Castiel stated.
"Of course it's a trap." Sam raised his eyebrows. "Wasn't that the whole point of doing this? We just have to make sure we're there first."
"I'm free now." Zoe took the note back. "Can we get coffee first?"
The church seemed perfectly normal. The brothers did a quick circuit around the outside, checking for exit routes, while the angels looked for sigils or signs of anything angelic or demonic.
They met inside, talking quietly on a pew.
"Nothin' suspicious so far," Dean reported. "Everything looks, you know, like a church."
"So at least we know it's not likely to be a demon," Sam added. "If it chose hallowed ground for a meet point."
"I find this choice of location disturbing," Castiel replied. "As if the abomination is mocking us."
"But it's such a pretty church!" Zoe piped up. "And the people here are all nice; I can hear it in their prayer."
There was a short, awkward pause.
"Um, that's great. Why don't you stay here with them until the - whatever this thing is - turns up?" Sam suggested.
She nodded, eyes sparkling with excitement and practically skipped toward the altar, candles spontaneously lighting around her as she went.
The boys watched her, puzzled.
"Well, it's a good job the plan doesn't involve her being inconspicuous," Dean sighed.
"Is she - I mean, was she always that way?" Sam asked Cas.
"Not originally," the trench-coated angel replied. "Zophiel... Zoe was tasked with a number of undertakings in the past that she now has difficulty in dealing with. She can be... changeable."
"Is she up to this?" Dean asked, bluntly. "Cos we are using her as bait for something that kills angels, which seems like the stupidest thing we've done in, oh, weeks?"
"I'm sure she can handle herself. And the abomination is not expecting us to be here as well."
"Let's hope not."
They concealed themselves around the church, and settled in to wait.
For hours, nothing happened. People came in to pray, or speak with a priest, and they left. The church had almost emptied entirely by 11pm, and Zoe, having drawn out her wardings in chalk on the ground, was amusing herself by sparking candles alight, then snuffing them out without touching them. Then all of a sudden, she leapt to her feet, alert and wary.
"They're coming!" She gasped, causing her three companions to also switch from waiting to active.
Sam went over to the priest, leading him to a side door, asking him to stay out of the way until it was over. Confused, the man did as Sam asked
- and narrowly avoided being set on fire as the first bomb came shattering through the window. It exploded on impact, an immense fireball engulfing the first few rows of the church, knocking everyone inside off their feet.
"Get out! Go!" Castiel shouted, striding through the flames toward his fellow angel, who was sitting on the floor, looking around in utter bewilderment.
Sam followed the priest through the side door, ushering the other man out through the emergency exit, while Dean sprinted for the main doors. He barely made it when a second bomb burst through a different window, on the other side of the building. Feeling a wash of intense heat on his back, he threw himself down as the flames shot out of the building, reaching greedily for the sky.
He glanced back, just about making out Cas and Zoe as they battled the flames - did angels have power over fire? he wondered.
Then the booted foot made painful contact with his skull, and everything went black.
Sam and the priest made it to the emergency exit before the second bomb hit, avoiding the flames but the smoke followed them and the two men were forced to stop before they could get far, coughing and choking. That was enough of a distraction for them to get the drop on Sam, and though he gave it his best, they quickly overwhelmed him and he joined his brother in unconsciousness. The priest they had no need for, so they killed him, knifing him quickly and leaving him behind as they dragged Sam away.