PRESENT DAY

Oshea yawned as she sat down in the booth beside of Dean, watching the sky shift from grey to a pale pink and orange. It had been a very long night. She had gone with Jonah to the hotel where he was staying and had taken a little of his blood, just enough to keep the headaches and the hallucinations at bay before returning back to the hotel where the others were staying. She had gotten back just in time to find the others getting ready to leave to go back to the cemetery to burn the bones and get rid of the spirit that had been haunting the area. After they had finished that without too much trouble, they had decided to leave the dingy hotel where they had been staying. Without a new case to chase after, they had settled on simply finding a nicer hotel to crash at and get some R and R. They had been driving most of the night looking for a decent place- Gastonia was not known for its four star hotels after all- and Dean had finally turned into a Waffle House to get some breakfast. The sun was just coming up and the restaurant was relatively empty when they stepped in. It was occupied only by a waitress, a couple of cooks, and a pair of truckers that were sitting at the bar, nursing cups of coffee.

The group made their way over to a small booth in the corner of the restaurant and sat down. A short, portly middle aged woman with graying brown hair walked over to the booth a few moments later, smiling, revealing a few crooked teeth. "Morning," she greeted with a little chuckle.

Oshea stiffened as the woman walked over to the table. She slowly looked away from the window and up at her, faintly hearing the beating of her heart. Her brows furrowed slightly as the sound was joined by the throbbing of other hearts. She bit her lower lip, curling her fingers into fists in her lap. She could barely keep herself from lunging at the woman by their table. There was movement from the bar and she glanced over, seeing that the men were turning in their direction and slowly standing from their chairs. "Dean...," She said slowly.

Dean looked up at Oshea with his eyebrows raised for a moment before the other men approaching caught his attention. The cooks stepped out from the kitchen and guarded the doorways. "Ah, crap," Dean muttered. Ella's eyes widened as she started to raise from the booth, but the waitress lifted her hand and moved it in a swift gesture, sending Ella flying across the restaurant, a table toppling over as she crashed to the floor.

"Ella!" Sam said, standing up quickly from the booth. He did not have a chance to move toward her, however, as he was flung in the opposite direction. He smashed into one of the tables and slid across it's surface before falling into the chairs beside it, tipping them and sending them to the floor. Oshea pushed herself up, climbing over the table and dropping into the next booth. She slid out from the booth and pulled her and Ella's knife from the waistband of her pants, tossing it to Ella as the two truckers started toward her.

Ella let out a quiet gasp of pain as she struck the table. She grabbed the knife as it clattered across the tiled floor towards her, and quickly rose to her feet, wincing a bit. One of the trucker men grinned, his eyes turning black as he walked towards her slowly. "Well, hello."

Ella lunged forward, coming at him with the knife, but he knocked the weapon out of her hand and it flew to the other end of the restaurant. The trucker demon continued to grin as he quickly reached out his arm and wrapped his hand tightly around Ella's neck, pulling her off the ground with ease. "You, my dear, are coming with us."

Oshea cursed as the knife was flung away and she dashed after it, snatching it up from the ground before it even stopped skittering across the floor. She skidded to a stop and whirled around, rushing in the direction of her sibling. She narrowed her eyes and gripped the handle of the knife tightly, driving the blade through the back of the trucker's thick neck. His grip on Ella loosen and he dropped her to the ground as he staggered backwards. Blood began to pump from the wound, smearing across his pale skin and the collar of his flannel, plaid shirt. Oshea yanked the knife free and shoved the trucker to the floor. The man hit hard and she dropped down with him. She simply could not control herself anymore. She straddled the man and pressed her lips against the wound in his throat, gulping down the crimson liquid.

Ella rubbed her hand on her reddened throat for a moment, and gasped for air as she dropped to the floor. Everyone stopped to stare at Oshea, even the demons. When she had stopped, the waitress demon chuckled. "What a frea-" her insult was interrupted as the building started to shake and a piercing screech started to fill the air. The demons began to hiss and stepped away, staring toward the ceiling as the fluorescent lights began to shake and flicker. The waitress and the cooks' heads suddenly lurched backward, their mouths falling open as the black smoke quickly fled their bodies and disappeared through the windows and under the door. Castiel, who had been attacking one of the possessed cooks, dropped the now limp body and turned toward the others.

"An angel is coming..." The screeching grew louder, and Castiel cringed, bringing his hands to his ears. "Shield your eyes and ears." He shouted over the shrieking. The restaurant was suddenly filled with a blinding light that engulfed everyone and everything inside. The screeching was so loud and piercing that the bulbs in the lights and the windows shattered, scattering glass onto the people and the floor. To Ella, however, it was not screeching, but a deep, melodious voice that seemed to echo as it spoke. Castiel gasped in pain, sinking to the floor of the restaurant as another figure appeared in the restaurant.

"Ella Blackwood?" The figure said quietly, approaching her. It was very tall and slender with lean, tight muscles and six wings spread out from its back and shoulders. It had four faces facing different directions. The one facing her was human and very handsome with white glowing eyes; on the right was the face of a lion; the left was an eagle; the last was like an ox. The creature's human face smiled faintly. "It is a pleasure. My name is Zachariah."

Ella stumbled backwards, her eyes as wide as they had ever been in her life. She looked over at Sam and then to Oshea, and then to Dean and Cas, who seemed to be writhing in pain on the floor, covering their ears tightly with their hands and squeezing their eyelids shut, and then she looked back up at the figure, gaping. Zachariah glanced to the others then looked back to Ella, still smiling. He seemed not to care that his presence was causing the others significant pain. "I realize you must be confused. Allow me to explain. You are special, Ella. You are one of the only humans alive that is able to see and hear angels in our true forms." He said, spreading his arms. "You are very valuable to us. Only one or two people like you are born every few thousand years. Because you are so valuable, it has come to our attention that you will need protection. We had hoped that the Winchesters would provide significant protection, but they have proven otherwise." He said, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "Therefore, we will be sending an angel to guard you. He will meet you soon. As for you," Zachariah's voice became sharp as he stepped toward Castiel, who was trembling on the floor. "You are coming with me." He grabbed Castiel by the upper arm and jerked him to his feet, dragging him toward the door. He turned and looked over his shoulder toward Ella. "It was a pleasure to meet you, my dear. We will be in touch." He winked a little then vanished with Castiel.

As the screeching ceased, and the blinding white light suddenly vanished, Dean rose to his feet, stumbling over to Oshea and pulling her up a little roughly. He wiped some blood that had started dripping from his nose away and then wiped his hand on his dark jeans. He looked over at Sam and helped him up. "What the hell was that?" He looked at Ella next, who's skin was somewhat paler, and her eyes were still a little wide, an eyebrow arched.

Oshea slowly opened her eyes and lowered her hands from her ears. She gave a little gasp as Dean jerked her up and she swallowed, looking down at the demon she had been drinking from. Lifting up one hand, she brushed away the blood from her lips and moved slowly to her sister. She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped her eyes widening as she saw the people that the demons had been possessing. Their eyes had been burned from their sockets and blood was running from their ears and the empty holes left by their eyes. Sam rubbed away a little blood from his face and looked around. "Dean, Castiel is gone." He looked over to Ella. "Ella, what happened? Are you alright?"

"You mean you guys didn't see it?" She swallowed a little. "I guess he was right," she said a little quietly. "He said his name was Zachariah, that he was an angel and I was one of the only few people who can see them in their true form, which is high-def buckets of crazy, you guys. I'm talking multiple heads, wings, the whole enchilada. It was like a bad acid trip or something," she said shaking her head. "Oh, he said in so many words, that you guys suck at 'protecting' me, so he's sending some angel to meet us at a motel. Because apparently I need protecting?"

After a few moments of stunned silence, Sam shook his head. "Well, I guess the only thing to do is head out to meet this guardian angel of yours." He said looking from Ella to Dean. "I mean it couldn't hurt. We could use the help, after all we were getting our butts kicked a few minutes ago." He turned back to Ella. "Did you see what happened to Castiel, Ella? Did this Zachariah do something to him?"

Ella nodded slowly. "Yeah, he snatched him away. Said he was coming with him. Back to Heaven is my guess. But by the way he looked at Cas, he was pissed."

"That doesn't sound good. The last time an angel was pissed at Castiel, he came back to us beat to a pulp. Maybe we can ask the new angel about that when he gets here," Sam said, his brows furrowing a little. Oshea was quiet, just listening, hoping that the others would forget about her drinking the demon blood with the excitement from the angel appearing.

Dean nodded, glancing over at Oshea, staring at her for a few moments before looking back at Sam. "We need to go to Bobby's," he said, raising his eyebrows a bit at Sam, hoping he would understand the gesture. He looked over at Ella. "Your little guardian angel can meet us all there."