Allyson Carpenter jumped a little as she heard knocks at the front door. She quickly composed herself. The thick leather bound book fell to the floor with a loud thud and she pushed it under the couch with the back of her ankle.
"Hello," She greeted them when she reached the front door and pulled it open, smiling. Her smile faded a little. "Is… is there a problem?"
"My name is Agent Jagger, this is my partner Agent Watts," Oshea said, nodding toward Dean. "We need to talk to you about the disappearances at the school."
"Oh, it's a shame, isn't it? I feel bad for the parents, worried sick about their children who are most likely kicked back at some beach somewhere, drinking out of a cup with a little umbrella," She shook her head. "Well anyway, would you like to come in?"
"Yes, we would actually." Oshea said with a little smile. "We'd like to look around your house. Take a look at your spell books maybe? Or we could skip straight to the whole kicking your butt thing."
"Frankly, I'm down for the whole butt kicking thing," Ella joined in.
Dean nodded. "Ditto."
Allyson frowned. "Spell books? Butt kicking? What kind of drugs are you people on?"
"Cut the act, we know you're the one causing the girls to disappear. Brittney told us everything before you poofed her away." She said, hoping that her lie would draw out a confession.
"Brittney? Brittney Harris? That troubled girl? She'd tell anyone anything just to get herself out of trouble. And what do you mean, she poofed away?"
"You know exactly what we mean," Oshea said, narrowing her eyes. "Girls start disappearing right after you're hired and you don't think that someone is going to notice? Plus you're leaving your hex bags out in the open in the kids' lockers where they could be found? A little sloppy don't you think?"
"Look, I don't know what kind of crack you guys are on, but I'm just a guidance counselor. Look me up, I was a guidance counselor at the last school I worked at. I moved here a month ago, and got a job at the school doing what I do best. That's all," Allyson said, shrugging.
Dean rolled his eyes. "You're not fooling us, not for a minute. You got ten seconds to let us inside so we can have a little chat about this in private, or else."
Allyson stepped aside, pulling the door all the way open so they could step inside. "By all means, come on in. I already invited you guys in, before you started all this nonsense."
Oshea pushed passed her and jogged into the living room, looking around a bit before she saw the corner of the book peering out from beneath the couch. She moved over toward it and plucked it up, holding out for Allyson to see. "And this… this is just… what? A little light reading? You doing a report on witchcraft, too?"
"I confiscated it from Brittney. She wasn't very happy about it, but that kind of stuff, it's not meant to be at school," She said with a shrug.
Oshea opened up the book and arched a brow. "Property of Sister Carpenter presented at initiation… blah blah… happy witch day…. Blah blah. I didn't know Brittney's last name was Carpenter." She said with a sweet smile as she closed the book with a thump.
Allyson mirrored the smile, snatching the book and tossing it over on the couch. "So what do you guys actually intend on doing to me? Huh? Kill me?"
Dean shrugged. "That can be arranged."
"Or you know, you could play nice and bring back all the kids you poofed. Just curious why did you poof away young girls? You just get annoyed with them?" Oshea asked, watching the book smack the wall and slide down behind the couch.
"That's one way of looking at it. Plus, the whole being staying young thing isn't such a drag, either," She said, smiling eerily.
Oshea's eyes widened. "You… you didn't poof them away. You stole their essence… their life force. They're dead." She narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, how about we just kill you."
Allyson shrugged. "You can try. I'm not sure what good it would do."
"It'll make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside." Oshea said with a smile as she pulled out a gun from the waistband of her skirt.
The witch rolled her eyes at the weapon. "A gun, how monotonous. You can't be a little more creative than that?" She scoffed.
"Oh this isn't just a gun," Oshea said with a little smile. "This is a special gun that I got from a wonderful weapons maker in Scotland. It's a tiny flame thrower." She said flicking the safety off of the weapon and pointing it at the witch before pulling the trigger and sending a stream of flame toward the witch.
Allyson ducked quickly, narrowly missing the flames that now ignited the couch behind her. She turned around and glared at Oshea. "You…! That couch was expensive!"
"Aw, I'm sorry. Wait… no I'm not." She said as she aimed the gun toward the witch and fired again.
"You bi-" Allyson cursed but was interrupted as her entire body became engulfed in flames. A deafening scream filled the air, along with the scent of burning flesh. Oshea flipped the safety back on the gun. Smoke was issuing from the barrel. She blew the smoke and shook out the gun before turning to the others.
"Now, about that Happy Meal."
xx
The streetlight a few yards from Jael flickered, as she stepped limply through the dark alley. "Castiel," she called out hoarsely. She coughed, spitting out blood onto the concrete. It was only a moment after she had spoken that Castiel appeared. He frowned as he saw the blood on the ground and reached out to steady her.
"Jael, what happened to you?"
"Who," She corrected him, wiping a little blood off her chin with the back of her hand. The left side of her face was painted with a large, dark bruise. "Who happened to me. Answer: Ezra, that's who."
Castiel narrowed his eyes, lifting a hand to gently touch her jaw, turning her face so he could see the bruise. "Ezra did this? Where is he now?"
"Not a clue. He just popped by, did this, then skipped off to go kick some puppies or something," She said, wincing a bit as he touched her face. Castiel shook his head.
"You're not healing like you should…" He said quietly, lowering his hand from her face. "You spent your power fighting him… you're… you're practically a mortal." He took a deep breath and cupped his hands against her cheeks gently. "You cannot protect Ella this way… I can help…"
"You can? How?"
"I'll give you my power," Castiel said quietly, offering her a tiny smile. His hands began to glow with a bright pale light. He gasped softly when the light had faded from his fingers and swayed a little, catching himself on the wall of one of the buildings.
"You… you didn't have to do that, Castiel.." She said after a moment.
He straightened and shook his head, moving to her. "You're alright now…" He touched her cheek, which was no longer stained with a bruise. "Ella needs you… they… they don't really need me…" He said with a little, slightly sad smile.
Jael smiled a little. "Thank you," She said quietly.
"Anytime…," Castiel said softly, lowering his hand from her face and dropping his gaze a little shyly.
Jael blushed a little and placed her hand on his cheek, staring at him for a moment before leaning forward and kissing him softly. Castiel's eyes widened briefly then closed as he lifted a hand and placed it against her cheek, returning the kiss.