Previously: Dean and Benny were on their knees at the edge of the clearing with displeased expressions and their hands behind their heads, at least twenty drawn bows aimed straight at them. Nia was lying where Cas had left her but two women were now kneeling at her side, gently treating her for dehydration.
Cas felt at least ten bows being turned towards him when an odd fact struck him. The thirty or so monsters gathered around were all women.
Amazons.
Chapter 10 – Family Ties
Cas dared not attack but held his ground. The enemy numbered in the high twenties and although the ten arrows aimed at him would do very little damage, the dozen others aimed at Dean and Benny could prove fatal should one strike the hunter. Amazons may blend in with humans in the topside world but at their core, they were a fierce warrior race and here in Purgatory, monsters tended to revert to their basic nature.
One of the women stepped forward to stand in front of Cas, stopping about ten feet away.
"Tha prépei na eínai o ángelos," she said, giving him an appraising once-over.
"Yes, I am the angel," Cas confirmed, answering in English. "Put down your weapons and we will not harm you," he added.
The woman laughed. She was clearly the leader for a few of the other women followed suit, chuckling at his audacity.
"It seems you are in no position to make demands," she pointed out, still looking at him curiously. "Eíste ándras?"
Cas pursed his lips. That was a complicated question but at least while she was asking him questions, Nia was being tended to and Dean and Benny were not being hurt.
"An angel does not have a set gender," he explained slowly. "But we usually become more comfortable with one or the other when we take vessels." He gestured towards Jimmy's body. "This is but a vessel, a male human that I am occupying so that I may leave Heaven and walk on Earth. So the most accurate answer to your question is no, I am not male."
"But you're not a woman either," the Amazon pressed.
"No, I am an angel."
"Ti nomízete?" she called out to her companions. "Andrápodo í̱ deípno?"
Cas tightened his fingers around the hilt of the sword. The warrior studying him now with a pensive look on her face had asked her companions if they should make him a slave or eat him for dinner. Amazons were a belligerent race of women who had absolutely no use for living men other than the occasional work slave or as sperm donor. In Purgatory, where existence was limited to the embodiment of souls, breeding was not an option so the only reason these women would have to not eat their prisoners was if they decided to keep them as slaves. It would appear being an angel and essentially genderless did not offer Cas any additional options. He wondered what had been decided for Dean and Benny.
There were a number of shouted answers intermingled with laughs and jeers. Cas didn't like the sound of most of them but couldn't help but notice the two women by Nia's side were still administering appropriate first aid to her, trying to rehydrate her and cool her down slowly and gently. He could not fight these women and still give Nia the attention she required so right now, keeping the peace was her best chance of survival. After two days of intense fear of having her die in his arms, keeping her alive was practically all he could think about at this point.
"You mind fillin' us in here, Feathers?" Benny asked from where he and Dean were still being held on his knees. Cas glanced over and realized his friends did not speak the language of the Amazons and did not know the majority of the women currently wanted to chop off their hands and feet and roast the three of them on a spit. Benny looked both worried and curious but Dean looked ready to pass out. His head had dropped forward onto his chest and one of the Amazon women had hooked a hand under his arm to hold him upright. He badly needed water.
"We three serve the female human," he blurted. Nia was not an Amazon and he was surprised the warriors had not killed her already along with the rest of them. He thought it might earn her a good measure of respect with the Amazons if they were to believe she had three male slaves of her own. They did not eat other women of any race, but they generally didn't go out of their way to help them either and he had to admit, they seemed to be genuinely trying to revive her.
The leader raised an arm to effectively silence her subordinates and looked back to Cas.
"We had heard tale of two humans and an angel here in Purgatory," she told him. "Your master is human," she sneered the word 'human' making her distaste for the race evident, "but our Queen wishes to meet her. A human surviving in Purgatory is an impressive feat and we respect our fellow female warriors, human or otherwise." She glanced towards Nia, who was still not moving. "Though crossing the plains was not a wise move," she added scornfully. "I am not that impressed."
"If you are helping Nia, we will do you no harm," Cas offered, steering her attention back to him. "You have my word. You may release the others."
She arched an eyebrow at him. "And what's to stop me from killing the three of you right now?" she challenged.
"I assure you, you will be unable to kill me," Cas said truthfully, not intending it to sound boastful. "I can smite you all in a matter of seconds." Okay, that part was a huge exaggeration. Back home he could have but not here.
"Maybe, maybe not," she said with an amused smirk. Amazons loved a challenge and Cas could almost see the predatory urges coursing through the warrior in front of him by the look she was giving him. "But I think if you could, you would have already."
Cas remained silent and kept his face blank, not quite sure what expression would be the most effective bluff.
"We will keep the male human," she said bluntly. "He will be used as a mate for the female… Nia, is it?"
Cas nodded, ignoring his extreme discomfort at the suggestion that Dean and Nia were to be 'mated' and the disturbing image that brought to his mind. He hated that they were currently at the mercy of these monsters but glad at least the Amazons didn't seem to want to kill them, at least not yet. He had to play along until Dean and Nia recovered… if Nia ever recovered, that was. He shook the unthinkable thought away before it could take hold and rattle him.
"He will require food and water," he informed the leader, gesturing towards Dean. "He too has crossed the plains and is in dire need of sustenance."
"Na tou dó̱sei neró!" She waved her hand to one of the women next to Dean and the woman lowered her bow to tug at a water pouch on her belt. Cas watched as she yanked the hunter's head up and pressed the pouch mouth to his dry, cracked lips.
"You may lower your weapons now," the angel told them bluntly.
The leader narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't tell me what to do," she hissed. "You are our prisoner. You do as we command." Her expression turned smug. "The queen will be pleased to have an angel as a slave. "You will provide much entertainment," she said before turning to a couple of women on her right.
"We have no use for the vampire," she commanded. "Kill him."
Cas tensed and raised his sword once more. "No!" he shouted, his voice causing the leaves on the surrounding trees to tremble, earning himself a wary look from the Amazon leader. "The vampire will be left alone."
A look of fury crossed her face yet she made no move towards Cas nor Benny. It appeared she was reluctant to call Cas on his bluff that he could smite them all within seconds. "Shut up, slave," she seethed.
Cas wished he was not the one left to talk his way out of this. He understood Amazon behavior even less than he did human behavior and trying to figure out what to say or what not to say to keep all of his friends alive was complex. Dean would be far more suited for this task.
"I will concede to being your slave only if all three of my friends remain alive," he said finally. "As you said, your queen will be most pleased to have an angel as her slave. I can be a powerful ally." He deepened his voice again and gave the leader a hard stare. "But a far more deadly enemy."
Without moving anything but his arm, he shot his hand out sideways and grasped the shoulder of the single Amazon warrior who had been brave enough to come close to him. In less than a second, her sharp cry was silenced and she dropped to the ground, dead.
Every bowstring tightened instantly and every woman tensed, poised and ready for combat. Cas could tell the leader was itching to call a full out attack to kill them all, even if it meant having her whole troop slaughtered by the angel, and he thought perhaps he had miscalculated and taken his show of force too far, but she wisely held back. She stared at him for a long moment while contemplating her next move, during which not one of her troops moved even an inch.
"You will present yourself as slave to my queen?" she demanded, her tone hard as steel.
Cas nodded. "If my friends all live."
The leader turned her head for a second to glance at Nia. "If anything can save your former master," she gloated, "it is Amazon magic."
That was exactly what Cas was thinking.
~X~X~X~X~
They traveled through the forest for days. The Amazons were incredibly vigilant in their guarding duty, never leaving Dean nor Benny for so much as a fraction of a second without at least six arrows trained on them, even at night. Their hands were bound behind their backs and they were marched along near the rear among a cluster of well-armed women.
Cas was left free of roped restraint after their first four attempts at tying his hands were broken with ease in a display intended to make a point. He was, however, ordered to walk near the front of the large group, effectively separating him from his friends.
Dean was thankfully given water and food and the group kept a slow pace for the first day or two until he was able to move faster. Cas could tell he was feeling better as the frequency of his sarcastic and often insulting remarks to the women next to him increased.
"What's with the ratty clothes? Haven't you ever seen Xena? What, you tellin' me there's no leather bras in Purgatory?"
"These knots are too damn tight. You're spoiling the meat, sister."
"You're gonna hafta untie me at some point, bitch, unless you're plannin' on holdin' it for me when I take a leak."
He received a jab in the ribs for that one. Cas began to think perhaps the hunter's animosity towards the Amazons stemmed from previous experience and not just their current situation.
Thankfully, Nia was up front near Cas where he could keep an eye on her. She was being carried in a makeshift stretcher by two large women but had yet to even stir.
It became quickly evident that the forests on this side of the plains housed a different array of monsters than those they had fled almost two weeks ago. They saw no vampires, Rugarus, ghouls, or Gogmagogs but their traveling companions sent out hunting parties every day who returned with Selkies, Okami, Skinwalkers, and some creatures even Cas did not recognize. The large number in their group warded off most attackers but over the next three nights, six of the Amazons were slaughtered by what the warriors referred to simply as 'Shadows'. They perished in silence and nothing was left of their bodies but hollow, empty husks.
On the fourth night, the leader, whose name he had discovered was Valista, demanded Cas kill the Shadows that had been stalking them. He had heard their conversations and discovered the Shadows attacking so brazenly was practically unheard of. Valista claimed the longstanding enemy of the Amazons clearly intended to take them out one by one until there were none left. At her demand for help, Cas simply looked down at Nia and shook his head.
"You claim your Amazon magic is powerful yet she has not awoken. I am not your slave yet," was his reply. "Heal her and I will help."
Valista scowled angrily at him. "She is in a coma. I do not have the power to heal her," she said through gritted teeth. "Only the queen does. But that won't do her any good if we don't get back to our home. The Shadows are growing more fearless than I've ever seen them. They will full-out attack us soon. They will kill your humans and the vampire so if you still serve Nia, you will kill the Shadows when they come tonight."
Cas considered her words and gauged what would be the best way to help Nia. If her only chance of survival meant being led right into the heart of the Amazon tribe and to their queen, then so be it. He knew without asking that Dean and Benny would agree. Without his healing powers, he was helpless. Helpless and desperate. Watching Nia all day lying so still and so quiet and unable to do anything about it was torture for him. He missed her laugh and her bright smile and the small physical displays of affection she had been granting him more and more often. His insides felt like something had a hold of them, incessantly squeezing to the point of physical pain. And it took a lot of physical pain to make an angel take note.
He nodded to Valista. "Very well, I will help."
As they sat on the ground among the trees and settled in for the night, Cas heard laughter from the far end of the camp. He looked over to see Dean grinning and flirting outrageously with one of the women, an attractive warrior with long, blonde hair.
"Well if you untie me, sweetheart, I promise I'll show you exactly what you've been missing."
Even Benny's quiet chuckle reached the angel's sharp ears. Cas shook his head, knowing Dean's efforts were wasted. He was proven right when the blonde warrior finally got up, strolled over to Dean, and placed her six inch blade against his neck.
"I would rather die at the hands of a Shadow than let your disgusting man parts anywhere near me," she jeered, earning herself a unanimous cheer of agreement from the entertained women surrounding them.
Cas knew Dean had simply stowed his deep-seeded hatred of their captors and was trying a different approach, any means to get free. He guessed both the hunter and Benny were wondering why Cas was not putting up a fight to escape. He hadn't had the opportunity to explain to the two men that Nia was dying. That her body was shutting down, bit by bit. That if she was going to come out of this coma without supernatural help, she would have done it by now. That she was withering away and that at this point, the Amazon queen's magic was her only chance of survival.
~X~X~X~X~
The Shadows did indeed come again that night. This time, instead of hearing them approach and sitting in smug silence while they pounced and drained another couple of Amazon warriors, Cas stood up and moved quickly into the woods. Valista got up to follow him and he didn't stop her.
Three of them sprang at him as soon as he was out of sight of the camp. Cas had never seen such creatures before. They were not fully corporeal but he was able to touch them anyway. They were but dark patches of black nothingness gliding through the night, with no facial features but vaguely human-like in shape. He batted two away while wrapping his fingers around the third's neck. He drew on his angel powers and smited it easily. There was no body to drop to the ground as the celestial light he poured into it just disintegrated it to nothing. He spun quickly and grabbed another two, smiting them just as quickly with a flash of light. He dashed a few yards left to grab a fourth and snatched a fifth out of the air as it leapt at him, smiting one right after the other.
He looked up to see Valista staring at him in slack-jawed awe. When she regained her composure, a grin spread across her face. "You are going to be an excellent slave, angel."
"Just get Nia to your queen," was his stern reply. He stood where he was for a moment, not wanting to let her see him stagger and reveal how limited his powers actually were.
~X~X~X~X~
Two days later, they reached the Amazon's… Cas wasn't sure what word described it best… Village? Fortress? Nest? Settlement? Colony? Encampment? There was an eight-foot fence surrounding it, made quite sturdily with logs sharpened to points at the top. The guards at the gate nodded respectfully to Valista and opened it wide for her and her party to enter.
Valista immediately ordered Dean and Benny be locked 'in the pit' while Cas and Nia were taken to be presented to the queen. As they moved through rows of what could almost be described as thatch-roofed huts, Cas was intrigued by the level of civilization shown here among the Amazons. Many monsters were intelligent but when sent here to Purgatory, their primal instinct to kill took over and prevented any real semblance of social structure. The fact that the embodiments of souls didn't require food nor sustenance allowed them to concentrate instead on the lust to kill, the edibility of their prey coming in a distant second. Luthor's loosely knit nest of vampires seeking safety and thrills in numbers was the closest they had seen to any form of social hierarchy. Cas had long since deduced this was the reason Purgatory remained a savage wilderness even after thousands of centuries of populated existence.
Even Hell had some structure. It was a place of blood and pain and suffering for all but there was a king and there were rules and order. Here it was every monster for themselves. The Mother may have claimed to have loved her children but she clearly loved them best in their purest state of murderous evilness and had left them to their own devices.
Yet the Amazons seemed different. They worked as a team with a very structured hierarchy and had shown they could refrain from killing for the sake of a higher goal. The angel hadn't quite figured out yet what the inhuman warrior race wanted with Nia, but they had certainly gone through some effort to keep her alive that it had to be more than just respect of a fellow female warrior.
The queen was sitting in a dim cave, flanked by two women with spears. Cas was halted at the mouth of the cave and a double row of warriors immediately formed a corridor in the twenty-foot space between them, practically daring him to make a move. Cas refrained from rolling his eyes in their meager attempt at a show of power. They clearly had no real knowledge of just how powerful an angel was. Threatening him was completely pointless – it was only the threat to his three friends that had forced him to stave the use of his celestial powers thusfar. If Cas wanted had wanted the queen dead, she would have already been smited.
As it stood, he may yet have need of her alive. Nia was carried past him and her stretcher placed on the ground at the queen's feet.
"No closer, slave," Valista snapped, leveling a dagger in the air in front of him. "Kneel."
Cas didn't need to get any closer. He barely heard the warrior as he stared ahead and caught his first glimpse of the queen. It all made much more sense now.
The queen was the Amazon Alpha.
He sank to his knees, feigning obedience and suddenly much more hopeful than he had been in days that Nia could be healed. Amazons were known to have a certain type of healing power, something in their physiology that also caused them to rapidly age until a specific act of familial bloodshed stemmed the accelerated cell regeneration. The Alpha was the source of that power and quite fortunately for Nia, it seemed some hunter in ages past had managed to 'gank' the Alpha Amazon and send her here to Purgatory.
She looked immensely pleased at the sight of the human at her feet. "A human," she practically purred in the Amazon tongue. "She leaned forward and slid a hand up Nia's dirty tank top to rest on her belly. "A fertile human." She nodded and looked back up at Valista. "You have pleased me."
"Can you heal her?" Cas interrupted, also using their language.
The queen's eyes narrowed. "You will speak when spoken to," she snapped before turning back to Valista. "Is the male human of good breeding stock?"
Valista let out a snort. "He certainly seems to think he is."
"Good." The Alpha leaned forward and placed her hand on Nia's forehead. Cas felt a thrum of power and his heart lurched when the small human he had grown to love finally began to stir.
She would live. Tension ebbed from every part of him as every one of his muscles uncoiled from its painful knot of worry. Nia would live. She would not die in this forsaken land because he had been too weak to save her.
Nia's breath quickened and hitched and her eyelashes fluttered before slowly drifting open. A hoarse cry escaped her lips at the sight of the queen and the surrounding Amazon warriors standing over her and she sat up, her hands flying to where her coat would normally be carrying her weapons.
"Nia," Cas called to her, staying where he was so as not to instigate the Amazons but wanting to calm her before she panicked and attacked and potentially got hurt with a reprisal.
Too late. Her eyes flew wide and her muscles tensed at the discovery of her missing clothes and she simply lunged. The fact that she had no weapons wasn't really a hindrance because she launched herself upwards so fast at the closest Amazon that she had the larger woman knocked on the ground before any of the others could even react. Nia snatched the dagger from the woman's hand and scampered to the side, holding it out in front of her while her fearful eyes scanned the cave to assess the situation.
They didn't take long to lock on Cas. "Cas!" she cried, her voice still hoarse.
The Amazons were tense and obviously ready to defend their queen if a serious threat was perceived so Cas rose and stepped forward quickly, placing himself in between Nia and the warriors.
"She is simply alarmed," he defended, extending an arm to keep Nia behind him. "She means no harm."
"Cas?" Nia whispered from behind him, her confusion evident. "What's going on?"
"It is fine," he assured her. "They will not harm you."
"That's right," the queen interrupted in English, ushering her guards aside so she could see her prisoners. "You are my key to leaving this place. The key to the door."
Cas frowned. The Alpha knew about the door?
Nia snorted her reply. "Never in a million years." She moved up alongside Cas and whispered. "You ready?"
He shook his head, knowing it was her intention to fight their way free. "They have Benny and Dean and there are many, many more outside," he informed her gravely. "We should not fight."
The queen nodded her approval. "Take her to the pit with the other human. Make sure they copulate."
Nia's mouth dropped open. "Wh-what?"
It suddenly all made sense to Cas. The Alpha didn't want Nia to take her back through the door, she wanted a human child instead. One she could raise to be loyal, one she could trust to release her soul once she was back on the other side for she could never lay her trust in Dean or Nia in such a manner. After decades or even centuries in Purgatory, what was a few more years waiting for a human child to grow up? Maybe she would want more than one since Nia had many child-bearing years left in her and that way she could bring some of her warriors with her.
Cas cleared his throat uncomfortably, knowing getting the wild human at his side to relinquish control after her past history would not be easy. "They want you to mate with Dean," he explained, feeling his cheeks flush.
Nia made a chortling sound and her blade rose back up in an offensive pose, preparing once more to fight. "No way!"
It took Cas a while to convince Nia to back down but she finally agreed when he pointed out that Dean and Benny were in trouble and an all-out fight would only succeed in getting them killed. A few of the Amazon women led her away to the pit, leaving Cas behind with fifteen guards and the queen. Now that he knew she was the Alpha, Cas wasn't sure if he could smite her with his limited celestial powers, let alone take out this many guards as well, so he decided to play along until a more opportune moment for escape arose.
~X~X~X~X~
It was almost three days before the opportunity presented itself. Cas had not seen the others since Nia had been led away but Nia's prayers every few hours in his head assured him she, Dean and Benny were all still alive and in good health, if not good spirits. She was extremely vocal about her distaste for being stuck in an underground, dirt cavern of a prison with Amazons constantly trying to coax her and Dean to make a baby. Extremely vocal. So much so Cas was reminded of the first few days after he had met her when she would pray by singing his name in his head all night long. But as tempted as he was to tune her out, he didn't, the sound of her voice in his head bringing him comfort in her absence.
Even Dean's prayers were getting impatient. "Cas," he prayed on the second night. "You gotta make a move soon. This is getting seriously creepy. These crazy bitches are threatening to take our clothes away, man. So unless you want me to see your girlfriend in the buff, you'd better get your ass in gear. Like, pronto!"
By the next morning, Dean was introducing not-so-subtle threats. "Hey dude, you know, Nia's lookin' pretty hot today. I'm gettin' pretty tempted here… you might wanna get us out of here before I start turning on the ol' Winchester charm!"
Cas had to make an effort not to smile as he continued his conversation with the queen, not worried in the least about Dean touching Nia. Even if she would let him, which she very definitely wouldn't, Dean would just as soon make out with Sam. Cas had no doubts the hunter saw the young woman as a little sister.
Cas had been ordered to remain with the queen, who was very eager for conversation with the angel. Harmonia, as she was known, had been back in Purgatory for over two centuries and was curious about what was going on in the world. She had heard rumors of Leviathan escaping as well as the Mother of All leaving to check on her children topside and never returning. She pressed the angel for information on the political turmoil in both Heaven and Hell and was becoming increasingly annoyed at the meager bits and pieces Cas was willing to divulge. Of course he pleaded ignorance because letting her know it was him who had brought the Leviathan topside would surely have made her angry and informing her Dean had personally killed the Mother would surely have been a death sentence for the hunter, baby or not.
Castiel was polite, courteous and obedient but he could tell she was coming to the realization that she could not control him and that bringing him here as a slave had perhaps not been such a wise decision. She could not restrain him or confine him and the only thing she had to hold over his head right now was the fate of his three friends. She currently had fifteen warriors stationed on guard right outside their underground prison, her way of ensuring that if Cas tried anything, at least one of her soldiers would manage to sink an arrow into one of his friends. Cas knew she was aware she could not keep up that level of guard forever.
On the third night, the Shadows attacked. The queen immediately rose to charge outside and fight alongside her subjects but stopped and turned to Cas at the mouth of her cave. "Fight with us," she demanded. "Help us kill the shadows."
Cas agreed quickly and rose to his feet. Outside was chaos. There were Amazons running everywhere and he managed to slip away from the Alpha within minutes while she was barking out orders on how to maintain the perimeter defenses. He headed straight for the hatch leading down to the prison and smited the four guards that had remained at their post upon the onset of the Shadow attack. He strode quickly along a dirt-walled tunnel and peered through the first sturdy wooden-grate door he came across to see Dean and Nia staring back at him.
"Took you long enough," Dean grinned at him. Nia remained quiet but her eyes told him how pleased she was to see him.
"We must go," Cas said flatly, snapping the lock on their door with a flick of his wrist. He moved on to the next cell to find Benny in it by himself and freed the vampire also. They were back outside within thirty seconds and following him along the shadow of a row of dwellings towards the outer fence.
Cas smited the few Amazons that sighted them and Dean, Benny, and Nia wasted no time in stripping the dead of their weapons to arm themselves. The only weapon they still had from their old stash was Dean's pistol, which Cas had been carrying in his pocket as they crossed the plains. It had been empty of bullets since Dean's first night in Purgatory but for some reason, Dean refused to part with it.
The small group stopped abruptly about fifty feet from the fence, slinking back into the cover of the closest dwelling.
Across an open expanse of grass was the fence but it was teeming with Amazon warriors, all shooting flaming arrows through cracks and down from perches near the top at the unseen enemy on the outside if the fence. The clusters of warriors extended as far left and as far right as they could see, leaving no easy place to slip past them.
"We'll just hafta try farther along," Benny whispered with a shrug.
"How many can you take out, Cas?" Dean posed the question, clearly less eager to keep pushing their luck by sneaking around inside the encampment walls.
Cas shook his head, deep creases in his forehead demonstrating his concern. He began to think perhaps he had been hasty in trying an escape now. Perhaps his friends would have been safer under the protection of the Amazons. "I'm afraid it is not that simple," he said with reluctance. "Even if we fight our way through the Amazon defense line, I can sense many of the Shadow creatures on the other side. They may prove to be an even bigger threat."
"I'd rather take my chances with the Shadows than these superbitches," Dean argued. "They make me feel dirty… and since this is me we're talkin' about, that's sayin' somethin'."
"Me too," Nia chimed in. "I'm not being anybody's prisoner again, Cas. I say we fight."
There was a small scuffing noise behind them and they spun to find a lone Amazon standing but twenty feet away, a flaming torch in her hand. She wasn't attacking or calling out in warning as expected but rather just standing there. Nia immediately raised her newly-acquired weapon and rushed forward to attack but Dean reached out and grabbed her as she passed, stopping her with a strained grunt.
Cas stepped forward with every intention of smiting the warrior.
"Wait, don't," Dean rasped, the strange tone of his voice stopping Cas in his tracks. The hunter splayed his free hand out to stop Benny's advance also.
The Amazon didn't move but instead gave the hunter a hesitant smile.
"Hi Dad."
Cas couldn't read minds in Purgatory but he didn't need to get inside Dean's mind to sense the intense feelings the hunter was suddenly struggling with. His heart had immediately started pounding in his chest and his breath hitched as he stared at the young Amazon that had just called him 'Dad'.
"Emma," Dean said simply.
"Dad?" Benny repeated, his voice questioning as he glanced back and forth between his friend and the young Amazon. "Started early, did you brother?"
Cas didn't know what to do. He wanted to slay the monster and keep moving but Dean's reaction caused him to falter. "Dean?" he questioned.
"I can kill her, right?" Nia asked, pulling out of Dean's grip and taking a step forward but hesitating also as she looked back at the hunter with a confused expression.
With everyone looking to him for a reaction, Dean held up a hand to stay Nia's attack. "Emma, get out of here," he said finally. "Turn around and go."
Cas knew then the Amazon was truly Dean's daughter. In all the time they had spent together traveling across Purgatory, Dean had not once mentioned that he had fathered an Amazon child but here he was, letting one go, his voice heavy with restrained emotions.
"I can't go back," the young warrior blurted. "I broke ranks. I'll be punished. I want to help you."
Dean seemed to pull himself together a bit. "What, like you did last time?" he accused harshly. "When you wanted to chop of my hands and feet and eat them with your morning waffles?"
Her expression drew into one of obvious remorse. "I told you I didn't have a choice," she said, sounding convincingly sincere.
"You always have a choice," was Dean's gruff reply.
"I didn't," she insisted. "See, if we don't kill our fathers, our super-speed aging doesn't stop. I would have died of old age inside a week."
Dean jaw clenched and he seemed to be soaking in this new bit of information. He glanced sideways at Cas. "That true?" he asked quietly.
Cas nodded, quickly putting two and two together to figure out what had happened back topside. An Amazon child grew quickly until she slayed her human father and ate his flesh to quell the accelerated growth.
"So you see, I couldn't just run away. It was you or me and I'm sorry I tried to make it you," Emma continued.
It would seem Dean had killed his own daughter… or Sam, perhaps? Maybe even Bobby.
Questions for later.
"Dean, we must go," Cas broke in, his tone urgent. Their conversation in the open and Emma's flaming torch would surely attract unwanted attention very soon.
"Why do you want to help?" Dean demanded, still addressing the young Amazon.
"Because you're my father," she said simply. "And here, in Purgatory, I don't need to kill you to survive. I'm seventeen forever. So let me help you."
Nia shook her head. "I don't trust her, Dean."
"The Amazons don't know who you are," Emma argued, ignoring Nia. "They don't know you're a hunter and I haven't told them anything. I could have told them you're Dean Winchester but I didn't."
"We should just kill her," Nia sang impatiently, looking again to Dean for permission.
"They want you to get this one pregnant and then they're going to kill you," Emma blurted, gesturing towards Nia. "They were getting mad because you and her wouldn't do the deed so they were going to eat the vampire in a few days to teach you a lesson. Then as soon as the queen had her human baby and her way through the door, they were going to kill you too."
Cas huffed his annoyance at the delay. They needed to keep moving, or at least take this conversation to a more private place.
"Why are you tellin' us all this?" Benny challenged.
"Because I don't want my father to die," she said simply. "I know the safest way to get you under the fence and I know the way to get out of these woods without getting sucked dry by the Shadows."
"Why should I trust you?" Dean asked, his jaw clenched as tightly as his fists.
Emma looked around incredulously. "Do you have a choice?"
"Under the fence?" Cas asked, picking up on her terminology and trying to steer the conversation in a more helpful direction relevant to their immediate predicament.
Emma nodded. "There are tunnels. I can take you out one of the ones that's hardly used. It'll be practically empty."
Cas was hesitant to believe her and even less so to trust her but their options were certainly limited and a tunnel would be extremely helpful right now. In fact, it might be their only chance. He was certain the entire perimeter fence would be heavily guarded and even if they did get over or through it unseen, the forest on the other side was teeming with Shadows.
He looked to Dean. "It is up to you," he told his friend.
Dean rubbed a hand down his face before letting out a deep breath. "I think she's right," he said finally. "We don't exactly have a choice."
Cas didn't miss the hunter's avoidance to declare any trust in his daughter and wasn't heartened by the omission, but agreed with a nod.
"Lead the way," Dean gestured to Emma, who simply nodded and turned around, ducking between two shoddy dwellings and leading them into the shadows.
~X~X~X~X~
The group, now numbering five, made their way through the maze of dwellings, ducking and weaving in the shadows to avoid being seen. Despite their efforts, however, they were spotted on two separate occasions. Dean and Benny took care of the first one while Cas smited the second. Emma didn't flinch at the sight of her sisters being killed and the angel wasn't sure if this was a good sign or bad.
Eventually, she led them into a large, empty, three-sided shelter and started kicking away some dead branches from the back corner. Dean and Benny helped and a trapdoor was soon uncovered. Emma pulled it up and climbed down into the dark opening without another word.
Dean growled. "Well, here goes nothing," he grumbled before disappearing down the hole behind Emma. Cas quickly followed, worried about leaving the hunter alone with a monster who had previously tried to kill him. Nia was next and Benny brought up the rear, shutting the trapdoor above his head before jumping down.
"This way," Emma whispered, curling her fingers around Dean's elbow to tug him forward. The tunnel was dark and Emma's torch was their only source of light so Cas allowed Dean to follow her closely, using her torch to light his path also. Although Cas could see perfectly, he knew the humans could not and was not surprised when Nia's hand tucked in his and she moved to walk at his side, using him for guidance. Benny again brought up the rear, his vampire eyesight helping him in the darkness.
The tunnel had some partially collapsed areas where they had to climb over a pile of dirt and rocks or even dig their way through. Conversation was limited to what was necessary, especially when they reached a cross-tunnel and Emma whispered that this part may be used by warriors on their way out to the forest in attempts to ambush the Shadows from behind.
Sure enough, they soon found themselves face to face with a group of five Amazons. Emma tried to bluff her way past but one look at the four non-Amazons behind her and weapons were drawn. The fight was fierce and frantic in such a confined space and Benny took a spearhead in the arm but in the end, there were five dead Amazons on the tunnel floor, one of whom had been speared through the gut by Emma herself.
The angel's trust in her grew just a tiny bit.
They followed her for another fifteen minutes until the tunnel abruptly ended. Cas insisted on climbing the ladder at the end first, opening the camouflaged trapdoor made from woven tree branches and poking his head up to find himself surrounded by empty forest.
He motioned for the others to exit and soon they were stumbling over tree roots as they made their way in the dark away from the distant screams of the war being waged at the Amazon village walls. Emma had extinguished her torch upon leaving the tunnel.
Cas could feel the lifting spirits of the group as the horrific noises faded behind them. Benny finally let out a deep sigh of relief. "Well I'll be damned," he chuckled. "For a little bit there, I thought we were screwed."
"We're not safe yet," Emma warned, keeping up her fast pace as she led the way.
"Safer than we were an hour ago," Dean pointed out optimistically.
The words were no sooner out of his mouth than a group of seven Shadows suddenly appeared from the surrounding darkness. Cas spotted them first and barely got a cry of alarm out to warn the others before the Shadows were rushing forward, swooping in on the tired group of escapees.
Cas grabbed one by the throat and smited it before turning to check on his friends. It was obvious Dean, Nia, and Emma couldn't even see the creatures because they were looking around wildly in no particular direction. They didn't react at all to the three Shadows hurtling right at them until contact was made. All three of them slammed onto the ground, writhing and grappling with some unseen enemy but like the Amazons that had been killed during the nights on the road with Valista's hunting party, not a sound escaped any of them as they were enveloped in blackness.
Nia being the closest, Cas snatched up the one curling around her and smited it on the go as he kept running towards Dean. Benny's enhanced eyesight had given him an instant's warning and he was slicing his blade back and forth through one in front of him but to no avail. He too was soon on the ground, cloaked in blackness and as soon as Cas pulled the one off Dean, he left the hunter gasping for air behind him to save Benny. He yanked that one up into the air, smited it, and started back towards Emma only to see Nia hit the ground once more. Panting now, he changed direction and pulled yet another Shadow from her, sparing her a look of concern as she sucked in a deep breath and struggled to sit up.
"Cas!" he heard Dean call his name and quickly turned his attention back to the young Amazon writhing on the ground a few steps away. The hunter had fallen to his knees at her side and was swatting fiercely at the black void hovering around her, trying in vain to get a grip on it. Cas rushed over and smited it before dashing away after the last Shadow as it tried to flee. Fortunately, he caught it before it could warn others.
Having smited seven Shadows in a row on top of several Amazons during their escape, Cas felt a bone-deep weariness come over him and was breathing deep, raspy breaths as he staggered back to the group.
Dean was still on his knees, leaning over Emma with obvious concern. "Hey, hey, Emma? You alright?"
The Amazon girl looked frightened but nodded slowly and gripped her father's hand as he helped her sit up.
Cas felt his heart sink as he watched and realized what was happening. This was the last thing Dean needed. She may be his daughter and she may have risked her life to help them… but she was still a monster. This was not going to end well.
~X~X~X~X~
Yay! Not even a cliffie this time (not really anyway, lol). I had planned on taking this chapter further but it ended up longer than I expected and I am trying to get back on my once a week schedule so hopefully you found it entertaining enough for now but I'm afraid you're going to have to wait for the good stuff. Cas and Dean have a difference of opinion, Cas and Nia get closer, and we find out more about the shadow creatures as our little Band of Misfits nears the door!