Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural.
Author's Note: This is part eleven of the series Skies on Fire. One more chapter left!
Mary retreated further into the shadows, slowing her breathing to an almost inaudible sound. She fingered the knife in her waistband then the gun in her jacket pocket. Quickly crossing herself, Mary peered out from behind the brush, watching and waiting.
A tall man appeared from around a nearby corner and moved lazily down the sidewalk. He kept his thumbs in his belt loops as he hummed a tune Mary did not recognize.
Stepping out from behind the brush, which obstructed a tiny staircase leading into a bail bonds office, Mary adjusted her black mini-skirt and sidled up to the man.
"Like what you see?" Mary drawled. She ran a fake red fingernail along the man's left shoulder.
The man snorted. "The young ones may be fresher but they're never as good."
"Looks can be deceiving," Mary said as she rubbed her other hand along the man's thigh, tilting her upper body forward so the man had a better view of her cleavage.
She could tell the man was interested by the way his eyes widen and did a double-take of her breasts. Mary hooked an elbow around the man's arm and walked a few paces down the street.
"For instance," Mary continued in her drawl, "I can tell that you look like a fine, upstanding gentleman. You also look like a man who knows what he wants and isn't afraid to come and get it."
When the man adjusted his pace to walk alongside Mary rather than be forcibly dragged by her, Mary knew she had him hook and line. All she needed now was the sinker.
"And what do you think I want?" the man asked.
"You want Lilith and the rest of the old regime dead as much as I do, giving your generation an opportunity for control."
Bingo. The man stopped in his tracks, eyes quickly changing to deep black. "You're not one of us," he spat. "What's in it for you?"
Mary laughed. "I can honestly tell you that I get nothing out of this except a chance to live my life the way I choose, and even that's a pipe dream. All I want is that bitch dead and this war ended." Leaning in, Mary whispered, "You know as well as I do that your side is a dictatorship. Don't you want some power for yourself?"
"And you're willing to help me?" the man asked. "A human fighting for the other side, a traitor to your own kind? Even my side looks unfavorably on betrayal."
"I am the betrayed, not the betrayer," Mary said shortly. "And I am no lowly human."
With a even glare, Mary pulled herself to her full height and released a quick burst of energy, revealing her wings. The man took a step backwards and swore.
"Told you," Mary smirked. "Now, I want you to understand what I am offering. I want you, and others who are like-minded, to join me and my family. See, we want nothing to do with the angels anymore, not after everything they've done to us, but we still want nothing to do with Lilith and her cronies. Lucifer rising is not our goal. And I know it's not your's either. You're still young, for a demon. You remember what it's like to be human and you know what the demons would do to mankind if they win. Do you really want that?"
"What do I care about humans?" the man sneered.
"Wouldn't you rather have the freedom to possess and mentally torment and whatever the hell else you demons do? If Lucifer rises, all that will go away and every human in existence will end up like you."
The man's smirk was quickly wiped off his face. "I don't want them to end up like this," he admitted. "I just want to mess with them, and I really don't care if they die. I just don't want them to become like me."
"I know," Mary said sympathetically, placing a calming hand on the man's arm. "Aunt Ruby says the same thing. And you're not the only ones. We've already recruited many just like you over the past three months. And there are others out there we want to talk to. Will you help us?"
Bobby's house had finally been patched up, the windows and stairs replaced and the electricity reconnected via generator. The salvage yard had been renovated at the same time, pushing most of the vehicles into the perimeter and creating an obstacle course and training ring. Weapons ranging from sawed-offs and iron shot to knives bathed in Mary's blood, which apparently could infect demons with a virus causing paralyzation, similar to dead man's blood in vampires. Dean had objected to Mary draining herself like that but she stubbornly insisted. John offered his demonic healing expertise for each donation, keeping Mary healthy and strong for the three weeks she needed to provide enough blood for all their soldiers.
Their soldiers. That was something Dean simply could not get used to. He stood in one of the upstairs bedrooms, staring out the window at the salvage yard where his brother and nephew were training lower-level demons and even a few fallen angels that Anna had recruited. It had not only become a three-side war overnight, it had become a personal vendetta for the Winchesters.
"I'm sorry," Anna said from her perch on the bed.
Dean spun around. "Sorry for what?"
"For this, you and your family being a part of this."
Dean smiled and crossed the room to join Anna on the bed, propping more pillows behind the heavily pregnant angel. "Our family," Dean whispered, kissing Anna's forehead.
"Two more months before she's officially here," Anna laughed. She rubbed her stomach where the baby kicked her. "Two months before I..."
"No," Dean shook his head. "I won't let that happen. Not now, not after everything we've been through. Besides, how do you know you really will be punished? The angels have done nothing but lie to us."
"This is different, Dean," Anna explained. "This has nothing to do with my brothers and sisters. It is in my Father's hands."
Dean placed his hand on top of Anna's, spreading his fingers over her abdomen. They were silent for a while, simply enjoying one another's company for as long as they could.
In the salvage yard, Sam and John were surrounded.
"Round-house to the upper chest!" Sam ordered, watching his son pivot on his left foot and kick out with his right. John easily took down the demon but was surprised when a second one grabbed him from behind.
"Hey!" John yelled. He allowed his instincts to kick in, easily flipping the demon over his shoulder and slamming the man to the ground.
The group applauded the teen's work. Sam held up a hand to silence them. "Good work, John," Sam said. "You need to be more attentive though. Mikey shouldn't have been able to sneak up on you like that. Okay, everyone partner up and grab a metal alloy knife, they're marked so you won't accidentally kick each other."
While the demons and angels skittered around following their orders, John turned on his father. "Who the hell do you think you are?"
Sam was taken aback. He was just trying to do his job and ensure that they're army was prepared. "I'm your father and your superior."
"You're not acting much like a father. I'm not some good little soldier you can just bark at!" John roared.
"Am I interrupting something?" Mary asked. She stood outside the perimeter, a tall man hanging back behind her.
"No," Sam said quickly spying another recruit. This one looked solid; he would make an excellent leader for some of the others, Sam could just sense it. He beckoned the man forward and led him to the others.
John bit his lip, straining very hard to keep his emotions under control before something bad happened.
"Please don't blow something up," Mary asked. She gave her cousin a sad sigh. "John, I know it's hard. He's not the father you remember..."
"He's acting like our grandfather. You remember all the stories we heard growing up, about the infamous John Winchester. Dad swore, he swore, he would never be his father, and look at him!"
"Uncle Sam is just doing the best he can, so are your mom and my parents," Mary said. "Things have changed now, John. This isn't the war we started with, the one we were raised in, the one we lost. It's a whole new ballgame."
John ran a hand through his hair, swiping his bangs out of his face. He was the spitting image of his father. "It's been so long, Mary. When Jess and I followed you here... we weren't expecting to pick up where we left off with our folks, I mean, they're not even technically our parents yet, but... but they are our Mom and Dad. I just want our family back."
"I know," Mary said, hugging her cousin tightly. "I know."
"I should be out there," Ruby muttered bitterly while she watched her lover train their son.
"You're a good soldier, Mom, but I'd kind of like to exist," Jessica said.
Ruby smiled, placing a hand on her three-months-gone stomach. She wasn't even showing yet but she could feel something, like guppies swimming around. She wouldn't have even known she was pregnant if Jessica hadn't told her, though the morning sickness was a big clue.
"And I want my daughter to exist, too," Ruby smiled. "I just don't like the boys going out by themselves. Or you and Mary out there without backup."
"Don't worry about us. We can take care of ourselves."
"I'm your mother, worrying comes with the territory." Ruby laughed a little as the words came out of her mouth. "I've spent way too much time with humans if I'm saying things like that!"
Jessica hugged her mom and turned to stare beyond the back porch and into the salvage yard. "I just hope we continue to spend time with humans."
Ruby squeezed the now seventeen-year-old's hand, reassuring her daughter of a brighter future, one she herself was beginning to question.
John wriggled out of his cousin's embrace to rejoin his father in training their army. Mary leaned against a battered '95 Toyota RAV 4. She hadn't had time to change out of her skirt and low cut blouse and was beginning to regret it as the South Dakota wind picked up and gusted around her.
Warm arms wrapped themselves around the eighteen-year-old's shivering form; Mary melted into Castiel's embrace.
"I was wondering where you'd gotten off to," Mary murmured.
Castiel kissed Mary's cheek. "Checking out a few of Anna's contacts, the ones she couldn't get a hold of before she was stuck on bedrest."
"And?" Mary asked, wondering if they had a few more angels on their side. It would be nice, considering how many demons they had. While demons fighting demons did sound delicious, bridging the gap and working together, in a bi-partisan fashion, was much more enjoyable.
"They have orders to stop the rest of the seals from being broken. I can't remove them from so important a job," Castiel said.
Mary nodded and sank deeper into her lover's arms. "What will happen to us?" she whispered.
"How do you mean?"
"When this is over, if we lose, or one of the other sides wins, what will happen?"
Castiel sighed. "I'm not sure."
"Will you leave me?" Mary asked.
For a moment, a moment that felt like time itself had stopped, there was silence. Finally, Castiel spoke up. "Not by choice."
Tyler tossed his cell phone aside, pissed at his sister. "Damn it, Isabel, pick up!"
He'd been trying all day to get hold of her. He was concerned, she hadn't been acting like herself lately. Ever since Matthew's murder, which was just weird him being stabbed to death in that alley in broad daylight, Isabel had been... off. As far as Tyler knew, there had been no romantic link between his dead roommate and his baby sister but for some reason Isabel seemed to be taking Matthew's death rather hard. She'd occasionally answer her phone, which was odd for her, as she usually lived on the thing. She'd attended Matthew's funeral, she'd cried like any good mourner, but Tyler could see in her face that something was wrong.
A sudden knock at his dormroom door forced Tyler to his feet. He dragged his muscular body across the room and flung open the door to reveal his sister.
"It's about damn time. I've been trying to get a hold of you for weeks!" Tyler reprimanded.
"Can I come in?" Isabel asked.
Tyler nodded, moving aside so Isabel could enter. The young woman flopped down onto her brother's futon, legs outstreched on the threadbare rug beneath her.
"Where have you been? Mrs. McMann said you hadn't been to your apartment in several days."
Isabel cocked an eyebrow. "Mrs. McMann? The landlord? The woman old enough to have been schoolmates with George Washington? You asked her about my whereabouts? Christ, Tyler, she's blind in one eye, has cataracts in the other, and forgets her hearing aid on a daily basis. Of course she would say I haven't been in my apartment!"
"So you have been there? Then why haven't you answered your phone?"
"I've been busy," Isabel said, picking at a thread on her shirt.
"Busy." Tyler was unconvinced. He was sure Isabel was hiding something. "Come on, Isabel, I'm not an idiot. What the hell is up with you lately?"
"Told you, I've been busy."
"Bull, Isabel!" Tyler roared. Isabel didn't even flinch. "I want an answer, damn it. Matthew is dead and I've been worried sick about you!"
"You're sweet," Isabel giggled.
Tyler felt his heart freeze. His sister never giggled. Something was seriously wrong with her. "Isabel," Tyler's voice was soft and calm, "Isa, tell me what you have been doing."
"I've been working. You wouldn't believe how crazy my hours have been. But I enjoy working nights. Something about the dark is so... sexy," Isabel grinned.
Tyler backed away, concerned by the look on his sister's face. "Isabel, what has gotten into you?"
"More like who has gotten into this sweet baby sister of your's," Isabel said.
"What?"
Before he could even blink Tyler found himself pinned to the wall. He struggled to get free but he couldn't move a limb, not even his pinky finger. "Isabel," Tyler choked pleadingly.
"I'm not Isabel. And you are no longer Tyler." Not-Isabel snapped her fingers and the window flew open. A stream of black smoke filtered into the room and dove towards Tyler. Tyler screamed as the smoke took over his body, then slumped against the wall when Not-Isabel let him down.
"Could have been more gentle with this body," the demon now inhabiting Tyler's body muttered.
"You won't need it for long, Jeph. Just get the Winchesters to believe you're on their side and keep up communication with me," Not-Isabel said.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm the mole digging for tactical information," Jeph said. He looked over Not-Isabel. "Nice choice, Lilith. I quite like your body."
"Keep your hands to yourself," Lilith ordered. She stared hard at Jeph. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"
Jeph sighed as he strode out of the room. "Stupid Winchesters. Stupid Lilith. A demon just can't win!"