When she finally felt emotionally drained she sat up. It had been hours since she had taken her little expedition into the past. She stood up; her legs were under her control now. She cracked her neck and spine and walked. It was a slow march, with almost no purpose. She looked from side to side and saw a few people walking to her. She kept going until they were on either side of her. She was rigid and seemed empty. They looked at her with hungry eyes.
"Are you lost?" One asked. She was a girl around her own age with a soft round face.
"No one is lost." Linka said mechanically.
"Well it looks like you are. Maybe we could help each other out." She said smiling a little.
"Yeah you might know something that we want to know." The other one said. She was an older woman possibly forty with badly dyed red hair. Linka looked at her and saw what she was.
"You can try, but it won't end well for you." Linka stopped so did they. She grabbed the girl's wrist and twisted it around her back. Linka used her as a shield. The woman looked at her with a black gaze.
"Oh Linka, you've had a rough couple of years. Maybe I should end it for you. Think about it. You could be free." Linka put her free hand on the girl's forehead.
"I am free." She pushed a little and a white light issued from the girl she fell when the light dissipated. "It looks like you're next." Linka saw the woman turn so she outstretched her hand. The woman stopped and the same light filled her. Linka kept her stance until the woman fell to the ground. Linka stood there still in the exorcism stance. The girl woke up. She lay Linka's feet. Linka looked down at her. The girl was confused. Linka was stone faced, but it broke after a second. She was standing, not in the battle stance she had before, but a sadder one. Her shoulders down and curved forward, her face seemed empty and longing for something. She knelt by the girl.
"Are you alright?"
"How…"
"Its over." Linka stood and walked away.
She stood in a parking lot. The tiny single floor motel was dark, everywhere. She stood there for a while. She felt a presence. She turned to her right.
"Castiel." She said as she turned forward.
"Linka." He replied.
"Will I ever be able to tell him?"
"I don't know."
"Will the angels still use me?"
"I don't know"
"What do you know?"
"I know that you are valuable and important."
"Castiel."
"Yes."
"I can still channel them, so that must mean that I have not been abandoned by heaven, right?"
"If you had been abandoned we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."
"Castiel,"
"Yes?" He turned to her. She turned to him.
"Zacharias, he…"
"I know."
"So you must know what I am thinking about that then."
"You may be right; there is no certainty when it comes to this. You cannot ask him to prove that he is there. Faith does not require proof." There was silence for a while. Linka looked at him.
"Faith sometimes means being tested."
"I know." Silence filled the void.
"Where are they?"
"Looking for you, they think that demons have you."
"What room are they in?"
"Your father is in room twelve."
"Thank you." Linka left Castiel standing she turned and smiled at him. "Good night." She went to the door and pulled the switch blade from her pocket. She carried that particular blade with her at all times. The sickle like blade and worn leather wrapped handle made her love it even more. She knew how to crack locks with knives and blades and this was on old one, no electronics, it clicked open within seconds. She stood in the room for a few minutes before she heard the motor approach and shut off. She heard the footsteps then they stopped. She turned her head and saw her father standing in the door. She turned around fully and walked to him. He pulled her in and she felt secure.
"It's okay; it is going to be okay. I'm here." She said softly as she hugged him back. "It's all going to be okay. I'm here. Nothing is going to happen. It's okay." She kept saying it as if to convince herself that it was going to be fine.
