They almost made it inside before the attack came.
The demons dropped down from the roof of the motel. Jimmy was moving before he really registered the danger. Lunging forward, he grabbed Dean's arm and yanked him out of the way as a demon slammed down where Dean had been a moment earlier. Jimmy swung his fist into the demon's jaw as hard as he could, knocking the creature back against the door of their motel room.
"Sam!" Dean bellowed, backtracking to the Impala and scrabbling at the trunk. "Sam, dammit! Get your ass out here!"
There were four or five demons, all shapes and sizes. Jimmy eyed them warily as they closed in around the two men. Dean yanked a shotgun out of the trunk and spun around, blasting two salt shells into one of the demons' chests. It stumbled back with a shriek of pain, and the others pounced. Dean got off another shot before the shotgun was yanked out of his hands and a demon slammed him backwards against the Impala, one fist tangling in his hair and slamming his head down again.
Jimmy grabbed the demon by the neck and ripped her off Dean, plunging the sword that had appeared in his hand into her gut. Yanking the blade free, he lunged for the next one, yelling at the top of his lungs. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sam barrel out of the motel room, his pistol tracking the demons. Realizing what was going on, he yelled something back inside and caught a shotgun someone threw at him. Shortly thereafter, Jimmy was too distracted to pay much attention to the others.
Another female demon leaped at him and he slipped aside, slashing open her stomach as she passed. With a scream of pain, she dropped to her knees and Jimmy lifted his sword over his head to stab it down the back of her neck, severing her spinal cord. He spun around, raising the blade again, but the next demon caught his arm.
Jimmy gulped as he looked up at his new opponent. The demon's host had an inch or two on Sam and was probably about fifty pounds heavier. The demon grinned at him and grabbed him by the throat, lifting him up off his feet. Jimmy kicked out, the toe of his boot slamming into the demon's groin. He grunted in annoyance and tossed Jimmy away.
Jimmy landed on his hands and knees and rolled on the asphalt. The sword flew from his hand and he felt the pavement tear up his palms. He cursed and tried to get to his feet, only for the big demon to kick him over onto his back and press his foot down on Jimmy's throat.
It really was useless to grab the demon's shoe and try to lift it from his windpipe, but it was the only thing Jimmy could think to do. He was already having horrible flashbacks to Marax. Then the demon sprouted the tip of a sword through his chest and tumbled sideways to reveal Ellen gripping the angel sword tightly. She helped Jimmy to his feet and shoved the blade into his hand. They turned around in time to see the last demon drop to his knees, smoke pouring from his mouth.
"Fucking fuck!" Dean raged. "Grab the gear, we need to get gone." Sam and Jo darted back inside the room as Ellen and Dean began clearing the bodies away. Jimmy took a deep breath and slid the sword back up the sleeve of his coat where it again vanished without a trace. He would deal with how he was summoning it later.
Sam came out with several duffels and threw them all indiscriminately into the Impala's trunk. Jo appeared trailing Mallory by the hand. The girl looked confused and, at the sight of the former demon hosts, horrified. Jimmy hurried forward and slipped his arm around her shoulders before bundling both of them into the back seat of the Impala. They screeched out of the motel parking lot a minute later, the Harvelle's red pick-up on their tail.
"What the hell is going on?" Mallory demanded. "Were—were those people demons, too?"
"Belial must be sending shock troops after us," Sam replied, twisting around to check behind them. "And I bet he's pissed."
"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock," Dean growled. "What the fuck do we do now?"
"Get the hell out of Dodge," Jimmy suggested.
"We can't," Sam countered. "We can't let Belial leave Detroit. If he hooks up with Lucifer, we're going to have two incredibly powerful fallen angels stacked against us, and I don't like those odds."
"Okay, fine," Jimmy agreed reluctantly. "Either of you got a map of Detroit?"
Sam stared at him. "What for?"
"So I can figure out where Belial is, genius!" Jimmy snapped. Sam's mouth clicked shut and he dug around for a moment before handing one over. Jimmy unfolded it in his lap and Mallory surprised him by leaning over. Jimmy stabbed his finger down on the paper. "Okay, that's where the fight was in the factory, and that's where I turned up."
"And I was here," Mallory offered, indicating the baseball stadium. Jimmy squinted at the map.
"Marax either landed with you or extremely close by," he continued. "Both of those places are within a one-mile radius of the factory which means...Belial landed somewhere...here," he swept his finger across a section of Detroit.
"What's to say he hasn't moved?" Dean challenged.
"He wouldn't have," Jimmy replied absently. "He'd have found somewhere nearby to hunker down and made his followers come to him. He's not mobile, not like Lucifer."
Sam gave him another wide-eyed stare. "How do you know that?" he asked. Jimmy scowled.
"I don't know. Maybe Castiel is starting to bleed over into me. Does it matter? We need to search through this area if we're gonna find Belial and take him out. That's still the plan, right?"
Dean glared at Jimmy through the rear view mirror. "Something like that. Where am I going?"
Jimmy checked the map. "Take a left up here."
"No, go straight," Mallory instantly corrected. "You can avoid the downtown traffic if you take a right at the second light and head north."
"What she said," Jimmy grunted, jerking his head at his young companion. She was pale, clutching the back of the front seat with white knuckles, but her face was set, determined. Her hair, still wet, clung to her cheeks in damp strands, and the clothes she had borrowed from Jo were slightly too big. Jimmy eyed her sidelong. She was a surprisingly courageous young woman and that, on second thought, didn't surprise him at all. If Castiel was somehow subconsciously affecting him, it stood to reason that Amitiel was doing the same to her, memories or no memories.
"So Belial really is some kind of evil angel," she said, scraping her teeth over her bottom lip. "And you said something about Lucifer? As in the Devil?"
"Yeah, did we mention? He's free and walking the earth," Dean said shortly. "We're kinda in the middle of an Apocalypse right now."
"Oh," Mallory said, nodding. "That's—that's great. The Apocalypse. Huh." She swallowed hard and looked over at Jimmy. "Is your angel waking up, because I'm not getting anything from mine."
Jimmy shook his head. "No. But keep trying. I think we need them right now."
"No kidding," Mallory muttered. "I've got an angel stuck in my head. And I'm not crazy. Who'd have thought, huh?" She peeled her fingers one by one from the seat in front of her and clenched them in her lap. "I'm not, right? Crazy?"
"No, but spend some more time with s and we can fix that," Dean said darkly. "Where do I go next?"
"Follow this road around until you get to the, uh, fourth...no, fifth intersection. Then take another right," Mallory said quickly, leaning forward. "Then it's about half a mile and you take a right at the third light. That'll you dump you right where we need to go." She again looked at Jimmy. "What are we planning to do when we get there?"
"I think you'd better stay out of it, what with your memories and all," Sam cut in, but Mallory's eyes remained fixed on Jimmy's.
He shrugged. "We go in, we kill Belial, we survive. Hopefully. What kind of plan were you hoping for?"
She blinked at him for a moment, and then broke into a brilliant grin. "I dunno, but that sounds pretty straightforward."
"I think Sam's right about this, though," Dean said. "I think you should sit this one out."
She snorted impolitely. "Yeah right. When people try to kill you, you try and kill them right back." She lifted her chin proudly and Dean stared at her.
"That's a...remarkably bloodthirsty policy," he observed. Mallory suddenly looked sheepish and mumbled under her breath. Jimmy didn't catch all of it, but he was pretty sure she said something about a "stupid Firefly marathon on SyFy..." She cleared her throat and regained her stubborn expression. "I can handle a shotgun," she told Dean. "My uncle used to take me out quail hunting when I was in high school."
Dean didn't have a chance to reply when a woman ran out into the street directly in front of him. He swore and swerved the car to avoid her, spinning 180 degrees and coming to a stop. Ellen had to bring the truck to a hard stop to keep from hitting them. Dean swore again and craned his neck to look at the woman, but a man thumped down on the hood of the Impala, his eyes solid black.
Demons swarmed around both cars, smashing the windows and reaching in to claw at the occupants. Mallory screamed when one demon grabbed her by the hair, yanking her toward the window. Jimmy reached across and punched the demon, breaking its nose and pulling Mallory free from its grasp. Dean gurgled as another demon snaked an arm around his neck and hauled him from the car. Sam yelled his brother's name and lunged out of the Impala.
"Stay here," Jimmy ordered and went after Sam. He focused on the sword. He needed the sword. Then he felt a now-familiar wait thump into his hand and he grinned fiercely. Sam was fending off a demon with the knife and Dean had managed to wrestle out of the demon's grasp and had retrieved his shotgun from under the front seat.
Two demons converged on Jimmy, but he didn't even hesitate. He batted the first's arm aside with ease and shoved the sword into the demon's ribs, angling upwards through the lungs and into the heart. He spun away when the second demon struck, ripping the blade free and dancing backwards. He saw the chain coming out of the corner of his eye and tried to dodge but it still struck him across the chest and shoulder with bruising force. His trench coat shielded him from worse injury, but it still hurt like hell.
Jimmy stared around at the four demons prowling towards him, all of them wielding heavy, black chains, and decided to follow the better part of valor. "Run!" he yelled. "Run!"
Mallory was out of the Impala in a flash, holding a shotgun she had found God only knew where. Then they were running, all six of them, running away from the street and in between the buildings, the demons howling after them.
Jimmy wasn't sure who decided it, but one minute they were racing down the alleyways and the next they were piling into a dark warehouse, slamming the door shut and throwing the locks. Outside, the demons slammed up against the door and the walls, still screaming for their blood.
Jo threw the bag on her shoulder to the ground and pulled out several canisters of salt. She tossed them without word to Sam and Jimmy, who caught them and instantly started guarding the door and windows. Dean had grabbed the duffel with spray paint, and he and Ellen started on Devil's traps.
"We can't stay in here indefinitely," Ellen warned. "We gotta come up with a plan."
"How about surviving?" Dean replied. "Surviving sounds like a really good plan."
"Temporarily, smartass," Ellen snapped back. "Maybe you could come up with something along the lines of getting us out of here."
Dean was once more prevented from answering when the warehouse began to shake, metal screeching and glass shattering. The ground beneath them shuddered, great cracks appearing through the fresh paint. Wind howled through the broken windows, sweeping away the salt lines. The door burst open and the demons poured through.
The fight was brutal, intense, and mind-numbing. Jimmy acted on pure muscle memory, his body moving in ways it never had to before. He felt warm blood spray on his face and fought between fierce satisfaction and crippling nausea.
"Jimmy?"
He almost didn't hear the voice. Castiel! It's about damn time!
The angel peered out through Jimmy's eyes and didn't hesitate. He took control so smoothly Jimmy didn't realize it until he smashed a demon aside with one silvery wing. Jimmy panted in relief, retreating as far away from the violence as he could. He was done with killing.
Castiel assessed the situation even as he fought. They were outnumbered at least three to one and the humans were already flagging. He looked around for Amitiel and found her a ways off, gripping a shotgun tightly and using it to fend off a particularly insistent demon. He bounded over and swept the creature's head from his shoulders and stared down at his sister.
"Where is your sword?" he demanded. Then he realized that it wasn't Amitiel. It was Mallory. And something was wrong. "Mallory, you need to allow Amitiel to take control," he said quickly.
"I can't," Mallory almost wailed in reply. "She won't wake up!"
Castiel frowned and reached into Jimmy's memories for an explanation. What he learned did not please him. With an Enochian curse, he plunged back into the fight.
"Stop!" a deep voice bellowed. "Cease!"
The demons instantly stopped fighting and backed off, their eyes fixed on something behind the hunters. Castiel spun around, sword at the ready. Belial stood fifteen paces away, surveying the scene with dark, cold eyes. His own sword was gripped in one hand, held in front of him across Mallory's exposed neck.
Castiel took a step toward them, his grip tightening on his sword, but Belial only pressed his blade closer to Mallory's throat. Castiel froze. "That is not Amitiel," Castiel said softly. "She is an innocent child, Belial. She has no part in this."
"She carries Amitiel within her," Belial replied, his voice void of emotion. "If the child dies, so does she."
"Don't do this," Castiel said intensely. "Let her go."
Belial tilted his head thoughtfully at Castiel. "What will you give me in return?" the fallen angel challenged.
Castiel's eyes narrowed for a moment before his expression cleared. He opened his hand, allowing his sword to drop to the ground. He stepped forward again, raising his empty hands. "I will trade myself for the girl," he told Belial. "Take me. I will not fight you."
"Cas, no!" Dean protested, but Castiel shot him a dark look. Then he turned his attention back to Belial. Mallory's eyes were wide, tears trickling through her lashes. Her breath came in hoarse pants through parted lips, and she trembled from head to toe. She was frightened. She had no one else to save her. Castiel took another step forward.
"I will trade my life for Mallory's, Belial," he said again. "You will have your revenge and you can leave this place. Just let the girl go."
Belial seemed to consider this offer. "You offer yourself willingly?" he asked, sounding vaguely surprised. "You would allow me to take your life?"
"In exchange for hers, yes," Castiel replied with a nod. Belial's broad forehead furrowed.
"Why?" he demanded.
Castiel stared at him in shock. "Have you forgotten what it meant to be an angel, Belial?" he asked. "To be one among many? Have you forgotten your brothers and sisters, and what they meant to you?" He gestured toward Mallory. "She carries my sister, Belial. My sister. I would do anything for Amitiel." He took a deep breath. "I love her," he said, his voice barely a whisper. "Have you forgotten love, Belial?"
Belial looked from Castiel down to Amitiel. The girl kept her gaze fixed firmly on Castiel, her lips trembling as she wept silently. Then Belial's face hardened. "Seize them!" he ordered.
Hands latched onto Castiel and he struggled wildly, but there were too many. He was forced to his knees, fingers tangling in his hair and yanking his head back. His own sword was placed across his throat.
"I remember love," Belial said with a sneer. "I remember it as weakness. Now, little brother, you will die because of your weakness."
Castiel set his jaw, his eyes still on Mallory. The blade bit deeper against his vulnerable skin. He began to pray, not for deliverance, but for forgiveness. Father, I did what I though was right...
And then, the girl stopped crying.
Her trembling ceased, and her face grew calm, serene. Her eyes, suddenly dark, glittered as they bored into Castiel's. She offered him a tiny smile and her lips began to move.
Keep fighting, brother.
She took a deep breath. "Shield you eyes!" she yelled. "Shield your eyes!" With a terrible scream, she burst into pure, blinding light. The demons holding Castiel shrieked in fear and pain. The light grew until it filled the world. Castiel saw the shape of two great, winged forms struggling madly. The true voice of his brethren rang out in the warehouse, shaking the building to its very foundations.
Then it was gone.
The girl lay on the ground, the man half on top of her. Castiel lunged to his feet and raced over towards them, dragging the man over onto his back. He was unconscious, but alive, bleeding from his nose, mouth, and ears. Castiel set him aside and gathered the girl in his arms.
She was crying tears of blood, streaks of scarlet down her pale cheeks. She reached out and grabbed Castiel's coat with both fists, struggling to speak through the sobs.
"She's gone," she wept. "She's gone. She's gone. Oh, God... She's gone."