Chapter 16: Dummy With The Rapture
It happened shortly after the Winchesters, already emotionally beaten and scarred, lost the brother they never knew they had to a ghoul. Eli had decided to give them some space, even staying in a separate room so that the brothers could hash out their issues in peace.
She was sound asleep when a knock sounded at her door.
She rolled over, confused. "Whaizzit? Whatsgoinon?"
"Eli," a voice hissed on the other side. "Get your ass out of bed!"
"Dean?" she asked blearily, stumbling in the darkness to unlock the door. She opened it, feeling a chill breeze raise the fine hair on her arms. "What's going on? Is everything okay?"
"I got a message from Cas," he said shortly, crossing his arms and looking around as if paranoid. Eli was instantly awake. The angel had been conspicuously absent the past few weeks, and she found that she missed him with an ache that almost tangible. "He's got something big to tell us. We're going to meet him now. You in?"
"Of course," Eli said. "Give me three minutes."
"You have two," Dean said. "Meet us at the car." He shoved his hands in his jacket pockets and walked away.
Eli pulled her uncombed hair into a messy knot at the back of her neck and jammed a hat on her head. She threw on pants and shoved her feet into her boots without lacing them up. Her leather jacket went on over the huge, ragged t-shirt she slept in. She grabbed the duffel bag with her guns and was out the door.
The building at the address Dean had was a mess, the dimly lit corridors lined with twisted metal and smashed bulbs. Inside the large room, steam rose from broken pipes, and the electrical lines were still sparking.
"What the hell..." Dean muttered, looking around the room.
"Looks like a bomb went off," Sam said.
"There was a fight here," Dean pointed out, a little redundantly, stepping over wreckage. Eli hugged her arms to her chest.
"Yeah, but between who?" she whispered, a knot of fear building in her stomach.
She wandered away from the brothers as they investigated an angel-repelling sigil found on a wall. She felt a shiver of fear. What had happened to Cas? The whole place felt so strange, charged with old, powerful magic. Dangerous magic.
Something moved in the wreckage.
"Guys! Here!" she yelled, nearly twisting her ankle as she bounded across fallen beams. She reached the body first, gently turning it over with her hands. "Oh my God, Cas. Cas!" His eyes were closed, faint stubble on his jaw and a thin gash along the side of his cheek. He looked strangely fragile.
Then he opened his eyes and looked at her, and Eli knew something was horribly wrong.
"Cas, you okay?" Dean asked, crouching by his side. Eli shook her head, grabbing Dean's leather-clad shoulder and jerking him back.
"Dean, that's not Cas," she said frantically.
"What?" he asked, staring at the dazed man. "What are you talking about?"
"His light, it's gone," she said, trying to keep her voice from shaking. "That's an empty vessel. There is no angel inside of that body."
The man moaned. "What's going on?" Sam helped him sit up; he lifted his hands, staring at them unsteadily. "I'm…I'm me?"
"Who's 'me'?" Sam asked. The man looked up.
"Jimmy," he said carefully, as if he really had to think about it. His voice was lighter than Castiel's, more clear and innocent, almost like a boy's. "My name's Jimmy."
"Where the hell is Castiel?" Dean snapped. Jimmy looked confused for a moment, then shrugged.
"He's gone."
Jimmy ran back home before Eli got a chance to really speak with him, leaving her to ponder Castiel's disappearance on the long ride to Jimmy's house. Still, nothing could have prepared her for seeing him with his family, even if at the moment his family was in life-threatening danger.
They burst into the room just in time, Dean slicing the demon's throat with the Knife and Eli leaping at the female, knocking him off of Jimmy. They struggled for a moment, but right when Eli was about to lay her hand on the demon's forehead it opened its mouth and streamed out in a cloud of black smoke.
"Come on!" Dean was yelling frantically, ushering the terrified family outside. "Go go go!"
They rushed to the car, Eli's hand on the wife's back. "Get in," she said tersely, opening the door. The wife, Amelia, climbed in first, sliding to the other side with her little girl on her lap, followed by Jimmy and finally Eli.
"Let's go!" Dean yelled as she squeezed in and slammed the door behind her. The Impala peeled away from the curb with a screech and began speeding down the road.
Time passed. Eventually Amelia and Claire fell asleep. Eli just sat there nervously, highly uncomfortable, squished between the door and the human vessel of the angel she was fooling around with, while that vessel was sitting next to his wife and daughter.
Eli felt like shit. She always knew that Castiel's appearance was merely a vessel, but she had never really stopped to think about who that vessel might be in real life. She never even stopped to think that he might have a family. He was always just Castiel, not Castiel-in-Jimmy, but now she could see how separate they really were. Jimmy looked young and fragile, his brow unfurrowed, forehead smooth, mouth almost pouting. His emotions shone so clearly through his eyes. Even the way he moved was different, more clumsy, lacking that angelic grace and power she was so used to.
Eventually the car rolled to a stop. The four of them got out, leaving Amelia and Claire asleep in the backseat.
"You were right," Jimmy said in a defeated voice, staring at the pavement.
"Sorry we were," Dean said, really meaning it. Jimmy sighed, glancing back at his wife and daughter. He turned to the hunters.
"I'm telling you, I don't know anything."
Dean's voice was pitying, almost gentle. "To demons, trivial details like that don't matter."
"I'm gonna tell you once again," Sam said, his tone ice cold. "You're putting your family in danger. You have to come with us."
"How long?" Jimmy asked, sounding broken. It was a strange sound coming from a voice that was usually so strong. "And don't give me that we'll cross that bridge when we get to it crap."
"Don't you get it?" Sam snapped harshly, and there was something different in his voice that caught Eli's attention. "Forever. The demons'll never stop. You can never be with your family. So you either get as far away from them as possible, or you put a bullet in your head, and that's how you keep your family safe, but there's no getting out and there's no going home."
Dean glared at him out of the corner of his eye. "Well don't sugar-coat it, Sam."
Sam glared right back. "I'm just telling him the truth, Dean. Someone has to."
Jimmy nodded, defeated, and walked over to the car to speak one last time with his wife. The three hunters stepped away to give them privacy.
Eli stared at the couple. She could feel the love and the hopelessness radiating from them, and the guilt she had been feeling all day rose up inside her again. She wondered where Castiel was. She had tried to push the thought from her mind but it kept rising up, stronger and stronger, until it was the only thing she could think about. Were they torturing him in heaven? Was he screaming in pain right now? Or was he locked up in some kind of heavenly jail cell, being brain-washed?
Then the worst guilt of all surfaced like a churning ball of acid. Was he pulled away because they found out about their relationship? Was she the reason he was gone right now? Would she ever see him again, or would they keep him locked away forever, or assign a different angel to the case? Would she herself be punished for leading an angel astray?
The idea of never seeing him again, of never hearing that rough, gentle voice or sense the familiar light that he exuded, was almost unbearably painful.
"Eli, are listening to a word we're saying?"
Dean's voice broke her reverie and she jerked her eyes away from the family. "I'm sorry, what?"
"I asked if you had any input into everything that´s been happening. You've been staring into space like a fuckin' zombie all day. What is it with you?"
"Nothing," Eli said defensively, leaning against the car. "I'm just a little wigged out by the whole situation." She sniffed the air. "Hey, and there's something else. Ever since we left the house I keep getting whiffs of sulfur, and my, I don't know, it's like my Spidey-senses are tingling. I think something's been following us."
"Can you tell what it is?" Sam asked. Eli shook her head.
"I don't know. Maybe a demon?"
"All the more reason to get out of here ASAP," Dean said grimly. He walked over to the crying family and clapped his hands. "Okay, time to go. Can't stay in one place too long."
Jimmy nodded, looking like a dog who had been beaten. He kissed his daughter on her head, whispered something to her, brushed his wife's cheek with the back of his hand, and then made his way to the Impala. Eli got in first, sliding over to the far side, and watched him as he climbed in and closed the door.
They pulled away, leaving Amelia and Claire alone with the faint scent of sulfur in the air.
"Why is he leaving again?" Claire asked, watching the rapidly disappearing car. Her mom hugged her.
"To keep us safe, baby. Come on, let's go." She paused, then sniffed curiously. Claire sniffed too.
"Mommy, what's that funny smell?" she asked, a moment before a whirling cloud of black smoke appeared and poured itself screaming into Amelia's mouth.
Claire shrank away from her mother, her eyes wide with fear. "Mommy?"
The demon turned to her slowly, her eyes completely black. "Guess again."
"Look, can we just …stop?" Eli asked after about twenty minutes. She was finding it hard to breathe in the confined space of the car. "Can we just stop for a while?"
Dean looked at her in the rearview mirror. "Why?"
"Dean, please," she said, her voice weary, unwilling to fight. "Just for five minutes?"
Dean hesitated, then pulled the Impala over onto the side of the highway. Cars rushed past in the darkness. They all got out; Eli went to the trunk and pulled out beers, tossing them to everyone. Then she sat against the rear wheel, facing away from the road, staring into a copse of shadowed trees.
"Hey," said a voice. Jimmy plopped down next to her. "Mind if I sit here?"
"Go ahead," she said dully. She took a sip from her beer and then twirled the bottle around in her hands, breathing in the exhaust fume smell of the highway.
"You know, I never used to drink," he said, staring at the bottle. "Good Christian boy and all that. After this, I definitely think I'm gonna start."
Eli was silent.
"You don't have to beat yourself up about it," Jimmy said, his voice quiet. She glanced at him, staring into his own beer bottle pensively, then at Dean and Sam, who were over by the hood of the car, talking softly.
"What do you mean?" she asked. Jimmy drank deeply, squinting into the night.
"I wasn't … aware of my surroundings most of the time but I was conscious, in a manner of speaking," he said. "I don't know…details about things but I do know…" He trailed off, scratching his head awkwardly. "He cared about you."
Eli was stunned. "Oh," she managed to get out. Jimmy continued.
"I mean, at the beginning, when he first took my body, there was this great sense of purpose, of infallibility, you know? It was cold. So alien and overwhelming and … not human. And then you came along and it was like I…like I could breathe again, in there. Like with you he was letting the reins go. I was…oh, I don't know. At peace. When he was with you. Maybe it's because that's when he was at peace."
It was like some great knot inside of her chest was filling up her lungs, making it impossible to breathe. Eli's eyes began to burn. She tilted her head up at the stars, blinking hard, trying desperately to keep the tears from falling down her face. "Oh."
"I guess I just wanted to say… I liked the guy. Angel. Whatever. He had a heart. And I don't want you to feel bad or guilty about anything that you did. What you meant to him was a good thing, no matter what happens. That much I know."
Eli let out a strangled sound. "What if I…what if he never comes back?"
Jimmy shook his head, finishing his beer. "I don't know."
"Jimmy?" Sam jogged over, his cell phone in his hand. "It's your wife."
Jimmy stood up, nervously brushing dirt from his pants, before taking the phone and putting it to his ear. "Amelia?" he asked tentatively. Then his eyes grew wide. "Oh my God."
What happened at the warehouse was a disaster.
The demons grabbed Eli from the dark, wrapping her hands securely behind her back and relieving her of her guns before dragging her into the light along with Sam and Dean.
"Nice plan, jackasses," she hissed, staring at the scene in front of her: Amelia possessed by the demon, its face twisted and matted, holding the Knife; Claire tied to a chair like a ritual sacrifice; Jimmy broken and helpless between them.
"You know what's funny?" the demon asked, twirling the Knife in her hands. Dean quirked an eyebrow, trying to sound brave.
"You wearing a soccer mom?" he asked snarkily.
"I was actually bummed to get this detail, picking up an empty vessel. Sorta like a milk run. Now look who landed in my lap." She gave each of them a long hard stare. "Of course, it wasn't easy, getting to this particular soccer mom, not with 'I can see demons' girl there. Had to hide out on the underside of that rat-trap you call a car. Do you realize how difficult it is for black smoke to stay in one piece while going 90 miles an hour? Really gave me a headache."
"Yeah, well, you got us," Sam said, as calmly as he could. "Let these people go."
"How very Moses of you," Eli muttered under her breath.
"I don't think so," the demon said. "In fact, I think it's time for the punch line." She smiled widely at them. "Everybody dies."
She pointed one of the guns she had lifted from Eli at Sam, then casually spun around and shot Jimmy in the stomach.
"No!" Eli screamed, unable to contain herself. She struggled fiercely in the grip of the demon, her breath coming out faster and faster. For a moment all she could see was Cas writhing there, holding his guts in his hands, and it broke something inside of her. "Let me go you son of a bitch or I swear to God I'll…."
Light began to shine from her whole body. The demon restraining her howled, stumbling away, the flesh from his hands melting off of the bones. The other demons backed up nervously.
"Everyone do your fucking jobs!" the demon in Amelia commanded. "Waste little orphan Annie!"
A male demon rushed toward Claire. Eli spun on him, her whole body glowing like a star, but it was too late; he was already bringing a metal bar down toward the girl's head. A second later he screamed, light pouring from his eyes, and as Claire stood Eli could feel the radiance of a familiar presence. Cas.
"Eli!" Dean shouted. "You just gonna glow or you gonna help us?"
Eli ran up to another demon and touched him, watching the light flare out of his eyes with satisfaction. She found the third and did the same, but it was starting to seriously drain her. At the other end of the room, Sam had downed one with the Knife. Eli turned, watching with revulsion as he lifted his face, dark with blood, from the chest of the dead demon.
The light coming from Eli's skin flickered and went out as she stared in horror. Sam stood and exorcised the demon inside of Amelia with his mind, the blood smeared around his lips like he was a vampire. At that moment, something in his face changed, seemed darker, more monstrous, like there was the faintest trace of a demon under his skin.
Finally it was over. The room fell silent. Castiel, in the body of Claire, approached Jimmy, who lay gasping on the floor.
Castiel knelt and touched Jimmy lightly on the cheek. "Of course we keep our promises," he said, and it was so strange, the sound of his words in the voice of an innocent little girl. "Of course you have our gratitude. You served us well. Your work is done. It's time to go home now. To your real home. You'll rest forever in the fields of the Lord."
"No," Jimmy muttered weakly. Castiel smiled, a gentle, patient look.
"Rest now, Jimmy."
Jimmy shook his head fiercely, baring bloody teeth. "No, Claire…"
Eli shoved her fist in her mouth to keep from crying audibly, but tears still rained down her cheeks, her shoulders shaking in silence. She didn't know who she was crying for: Jimmy, Claire, Castiel. Herself. It all just seemed so hopelessly wrong.
"She's with me now," Castiel was murmuring peacefully in that child's voice. "She chose it. It's in her blood, as it was in yours."
"Please, Castiel," Jimmy gasped out, struggling to breathe. He grabbed his daughter's shirt and pulled the angel closer. "I need you to take me, take me please."
Dean walked up behind Eli and rubbed her shoulder; unable to help herself, she turned and buried her face in his chest, her breath coming out in hitching gasps. She felt like her loyalties were torn. She just wanted this nice man to be able to live and go back to his family, to be happy, but he wasn't, he was going to die and his little girl was going to live out her life like a skin doll, but she felt like a monster, because underneath it all she also wanted her Castiel back.
"I want to make sure you understand," Castiel was saying softly through Claire's mouth. "You won't die, or age. This last year has been painful for you; picture a hundred, a thousand more like it."
Jimmy shook his head, coughing up blood. "It doesn't matter, take me, just take me," he pleaded. Castiel sighed.
"As you wish."
Castiel reached out, cupping Jimmy's cheeks with child's hands. A light began to shine between the two of them, and as Eli turned back to the scene she could almost see Castiel move and breathe and settle into his new host. Light streamed from Jimmy's eyes and mouth, eerie but beautiful, and then it was over.
Claire slumped to the floor. Castiel blinked, and moved stiffly, as if he had forgotten how to use his limbs. He pulled himself up and stood for a moment, blinking, getting the feel of it all, then brushed past Jimmy's wife and began to walk toward the door.
"Cas, hold up," Dean called. Castiel stopped and turned, his gaze carefully blank. "What were you gonna tell me?"
His eyes narrowed. "I learned my lesson while I was away Dean," he said harshly. "I serve heaven, I don't serve man and I certainly don't serve you."
Eli caught the edge of his trench coat sleeve with her fingers. "Cas…"
He jerked it out of her grasp. "Don't touch me!" he hissed, staring at her with eyes that were wounded and terrified and angry all at the same time. Eli shrank back, hurt and surprised, but he just turned on his heel and walked away.