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Chapter Seven: Bonded
Addy twists her hands together to keep them from fidgeting. She understands why Gadreel didn't want to fight that many angels but she wonders what their chances would have been if he had fought. The place that Malachi takes them to is another burnt out husk of a building in a practical ghost town. There is no help nearby for them even if she was able to get away. But what unsettles her the most is that they've taken Gadreel somewhere in the massive building and left her alone with Malachi.
"It's not much but we angels have other things on our minds than luxury."
Addy keeps her mouth shut as she looks around the almost empty room where he brings her. There is a desk, a broken down couch and a couple of metal chairs. It's a meeting room, nothing more. She figures she better say something. If he talks, she might have a chance at figuring out how to get out of this situation."So what things are on angel's minds these days?"
He opens a small refrigerator and pulls out a beer, holding one up for her but she shakes her head. "Depends on how much you know, anchor."
She wanders the perimeter of the room looking for a window or second door. She looks for things that she can use as a weapon even though she has no idea what can hurt an angel. "I know that all the angels were cast out of Heaven. That's about it."
"There's a war going on down on the ground. Some want to go back, some want to stay. Those that want to go back though have different ideas of how to go about that."
"Yeah, what's your idea?"
"I'm looking at her."
Addy pauses in her walk. She did not like the sound of this. "I hate to tell you but I'm fairly useless."
"On the contrary, you're far from useless. You're the key to get us back up in the sky I'm betting."
So he didn't know exactly how she fit in with opening up Heaven. "I'm a foothold for dead angels to cling to until Heaven opens up. Like I said, useless."
"How many angels are tethered to you?"
She shrugs. "Not a clue."
He laughs. "Useless and clueless, huh? Anything I can offer you to get you to talk?"
It's an opening and she takes it. "I want my angel back."
"We can get you a better one than that angelic waste of space. Trust me, you're better off without him."
"He's the angel I want. You want me to be cooperative, you give him back to me."
Malachi's good humor fades and he sets the half-finished beer bottle down on the desk. "You're under the wrong assumption here, little girl."
Addy tries to maneuver away from him as he advances towards her but he's moving too quickly. Before she can even think of an escape plan, he has her pinned against the wall by her throat.
"I'm willing to work with you, anchor, but you've got to work with me."
She tries scratching at his hands that are holding her neck but it doesn't seem to even phase him. She looks over his shoulder and sees another angel in the room, an angel that hadn't been there before. She gasps when she recognizes him: Gabriel. Malachi turns around but apparently doesn't see him when he turns back to her. She must be closer to passing out than she thought.
"You show me some fancy tricks," Malachi says, "and I'll let you visit your angel."
Gabriel leans against the wall she's pinned against. He's fuzzy looking, not as real as when she was dreaming. "Oh, we're going to show him a trick. Anchor lesson number one: being a conduit for angelic power. Tell him to let go."
Addy swallows forcibly. "Let…me…g-go."
"Or what?"
"Put one of your hands on his forehead," Gabriel instructs and he places one of his hands on her shoulder.
She lets go of Malachi's hand and places it on his forehead just as Gabriel told her. Immediately, she feels a rush, almost like ice, flowing through her veins. It gives her the sensation of being of doused in a mountain stream, cold and tingling at her nerve endings. Fascination and horror wash over her as a bright light shines out of Malachi's eyes and mouth. Just as suddenly as it happened, it's over. Malachi is prone on the floor, his eyes sightless, smoking black holes.
"What…what happened?"
She turns to where Gabriel was standing but he's no longer there. She's not unconscious so of course she wouldn't see him. Except now, she isn't sure what to do. She just killed the leader of this rough-looking angel gang. She doesn't know the layout of the building. And somewhere, they have Gadreel.
The sound of footsteps outside of the door push her to action though. She sees the handle of Malachi's angel blade under his coat and she snatches it up just as the door is kicked open. She has no idea how to wield the thing but she stands at the ready nevertheless until she sees who it is. She has to stop herself from crying in relief.
"Sam!"
Sam takes in the scene with a confused look on his face but comes to her side quickly. "You alright?"
"I don't know." She's shaking so badly her teeth are chattering.
He takes off his jacket and puts it around her shoulders. "Alright. Let's get you out of here then."
She starts to hand him the angel blade but he closes her hand around it. "No, you keep it. I have my own, see?"
He holds up his blade and Addy numbly nods her head.
Jael is waiting in the hallway, a blade in her hand too. "We don't have much time. Malachi's followers will be on us soon."
"Gadreel," Addy's stunned mind starts to kick over once more. "We can't leave him here."
Jael's mouth twists in half a frown. "Don't suppose you know where he is?"
"No but I would assume it's not pleasant. Malachi didn't speak very highly of him." Addy doesn't like the silence that follows her statement. "You don't want to rescue him. You want to leave him here. They'll kill him if we leave him behind!"
Jael looks over at Sam briefly. "He hasn't exactly endeared himself to the Winchesters. You can't ask Sam to risk his life for someone who has done personal damage to him and his brother."
"Fine, then I'm asking you. Please, help him."
Jael knows that Sam Winchester would like nothing better than to throw Addison over his shoulder and walk out of the building, calling it a day. But she also knows that Sam isn't the kind of person to knowingly abandon someone, even Gadreel, to a fate of torture. But her main concern is the anchor's safety and she will promise to stop the world from spinning if it means getting Addison out of danger.
"Alright," she agrees. "But you need to leave with Sam now and let him get you to safety."
"And you're going to take on how many angels by yourself?" Sam asks.
"I may have been wounded in the fall but I still have enough power to take out these thugs. Get her out of here."
Addison reluctantly leaves with Sam and Jael breathes a sigh of relief. Rit Zein's are naturally drawn to pain and suffering so finding the room where Gadreel is being kept isn't a difficult task for her. She's able to sedate the few wandering angels that cross paths with her. They'll wake in a few hours with no repercussions. Depending on how many angels are in the room with Gadreel, she may be able to get away with sedating them if there's only a handful. If there's more than five, she'll have to fight.
The door is unlocked and she opens it with caution. There is only one angel there, bloody blade in hand. Jael sedates him with a wave of her hand and steps over his prone form to reach Gadreel. They have him chained upright to pipes but the chains are the only things holding him in the standing position. He's a bloody mess with one eye swelled shut and he's barely conscious. But when she reaches for him, he jerks away from her with more force than he looked capable of possessing.
"Addi...Addison?"
"No, it's Jael."
He shakes his head and spits blood out of his mouth. "Find Addison. Malachi-"
"Addison is fine, she's with Sam."
He sags against the chains. "Good. Leave me."
Jael's certain she's heard him wrong. "What?"
"Leave me here. You take Addison. Better off...with family."
Jael almost does as he wishes. He's right. No matter where they go, angels were going to come down on their heads. Gadreel was a marked man and weight around Addison's neck, one she didn't need. But Jael recalls in the look in Addison's eyes when she made Jael promise to save Gadreel. If she returned without him, Addison would be in an even more fragile state than she already was. The poor girl had lost enough.
She reaches out again and he closes his eyes, expecting her to end him most likely. And she has to admit, it would probably be the most humane thing to do. But she doesn't. She knits the wounds back together, closes the slashes to his skin and restores the left side of his face. He's still bloodied and his clothes are a mess that could be sorted at a later time. She fights with the chains and with his help manage to get him freed. He picks up a discarded angel blade before following her out of the building.
When they reach outside, she walks back to where Sam had parked the car she is using, an SUV from Addison's garage back in Denver. Sam is standing outside, at the ready but he relaxes when he sees it's her. Jael notices that Sam's grip on the angel blade tightens when he sees Gadreel but other than that, he remains emotionless.
She had told him that if Addison was as attached to the former guard, he would need to temporarily put aside his differences to get Addison to safety. And by the way Addison was trying to get a good view of Gadreel, Jael realizes this is going to be a much more difficult situation then she anticipated.
"Get in the backseat and don't say anything," she cautions Gadreel who does exactly that.
Sam walks in front of the car, his face thunderous. "I thought you said you weren't going to get in the way. That you only wanted Addison and you would let me handle Gadreel."
"First of all, put the blade away."
He grits his teeth but complies. "Fine."
"Secondly, I'm afraid the only way to keep Addison safe and relatively happy is if she continues moving on with Gadreel. They've bonded."
"Bonded?"
Jael is surprised at Sam's lack of knowledge of angel bonding consider that is what happened to Castiel and Dean. Perhaps Castiel never went into specifics. "There are certain angels who are assigned to certain humans. It's arraigned that way because bonds need to form between the angel and the human. It isn't something that we can fully explain but it happens. When the bond is formed, it's virtually unbreakable until either the angel or the human dies."
"And he's bonded to Addison?"
"It appears that way."
"How do you know?"
Jael pushes her glasses up her nose. "He was almost dead when I found him and the first thing he asked me concerned Addison and her safety. Then he told me to leave him there and send Addison back with you and Dean. Angels don't normally put humans before their own interest. Even angels who care about humanity in general, you put them in chains and torture them to the brink of death, they will save themselves every damn time."
Sam still looks unconvinced.
"Look, I know you were tricked into the possession. I know he made poor choices while being in you and you have every right to run him through with a blade for what he took from you. But I'm telling you if you do that, you'll be hurting Addison in the long run. I can't find another angel that will selflessly protect her like he will."
Sam's shoulders drop. "You're certain he will protect her?"
"To his dying breath." Jael sighs. "Killing him isn't going to bring the Prophet back or change the fact that you didn't know what exactly you were consenting to when you said yes. All those things are already set in stone. If you do kill him, Addison will be exposed, hurt and even more distrustful of you. And between you and Dean, you've got the best shot at earning her trust."
"We're going to travel with them?"
"No, not exactly. We'll trail them." Jael smiles. "I've heard a lot of talk about the famous Winchesters and their hunts. It would be nice to see one up close and personal. I'm sure you'll find some things to keep you busy. As long as we're within a day's drive of them, that should be safe enough."
Finally, Sam nods his head albeit reluctantly. "Fine. That's what we'll do."
Jael climbs into the front passenger seat of the car and hides a smile and just how quiet Gadreel and Addison are in the backseat until she looks in the back and sees Addison is sound asleep against Gadreel's shoulder. Sam gets behind the wheel and starts back down the road to Idaho Falls where they parked the impounded car in front of the hotel room they had for the night. Sam is still not comfortable with the plan but he keeps his silence and tries to temper his displeasure at the situation.
Jael has to hand it to him, he's a much better man than he gives himself credit for being.