Demon Seals

Chapter Nineteen: Anna

The chapter title is probably self-explanatory. Some dialogue is taken from 4.09 "I Know What You Did Last Summer", as well as 4.10 "Heaven and Hell".

Anyway, it's been awhile! I feel as though I've been in a deep funk with school since returning from Christmas Break. I have a few students who have been bugging each other the entire school year, and despite my best efforts to encourage them to work things out on their own rather than drag me into every little tiff, they let things fester. It blew up in everyone's faces this past week, and it was AWFUL. I'm not excited for school to resume tomorrow because of the issues that sprang up, many of which remind me of the toxic friendships I had when I was that age. I finally drew a line in the sand last week of the things I am done trying to help the students fix because it's spilling into the classroom in toxic ways. This means writing up students for bad choices they have been warned not to make. I didn't like doing it, but it had to be done. It sucked. A lot.

Well, now that I've unburdened all of that, here's the next chapter!

Sam's trail after going to visit Tara seemed to return to Hunting. Dean tracked many jobs his brother worked, Jo joining him for a few days, then Ellen. There were a few Seals broken during that time, but Bobby found no signs of Dean's brother at any of them. Adding to that, the grizzled Hunter wasn't able to find out anything else about the Knights of Hell or the First Blade that they didn't already know. A whole month had gone by without Dean finding his brother.

And the cherry on top? Castiel was nowhere to be seen, either.

It felt like Dean's life was turning into nothing but a series of dead-end trails and abandoned roads —

Out of nowhere, a figure stumbled onto the empty highway.

Right in front of Dean.

Slamming on the brakes, Dean turned the wheel sharply and almost went off the road in his haste to avoid hitting the person. No sooner had the Impala screeched to a halt when the person was standing at Dean's window, rapping on it frantically in the evening light.

"Please!" she cried out. "You have to help me!" Dean went to roll down the window to speak to her better when her eyes went wide, staring over at the other side of the road where she had come from.

Dean turned to see what was scaring the woman, and saw three people standing at the edge of the road.

Their eyes were black.

Shit.

"Get in," Dean called to the young woman, pointing to the back door. She nodded and slid inside, door slamming right as Dean put the pedal to the metal and zoomed away, the demons chasing him for a few hundred feet before dropping back. Meanwhile, the woman was gasping, clearly on the verge of hyperventilating.

"Okay," Dean said, "I need you to listen to my voice. Take a deep breath…" He guided the young woman through several deep breaths, in and out, until it was clear that she was calming down. "Now, can you tell me your name?"

"It's Anna," the woman answered. "Anna Milton."

"It's nice to meet you, Anna," Dean said to her, taking in the pale skin, bright eyes, red hair, and… white hospital outfit. "My name is Dean Winchester."

Anna's eyes widened. "Wait," she said. "Dean, as in — the Dean?"

"Uh —" Dean floundered. "What?"

"The one the angels speak of," Anna supplied. "The Righteous Man, chosen by God."

Dean couldn't form a coherent thought for several seconds. "Is — is that why demons were after you?" he finally managed. "Because you hear the angels talking?"

Anna nodded. "The angels communicate on their own frequency that no one else can hear," she said.

"So, Angel Radio," Dean said. Anna chuckled.

"I suppose." She leaned forward. "You are the Dean Winchester the angels have talked about, right?"

"Yeah," Dean answered reluctantly. "That would be me, I guess."

"They say you might be the one who can save them — save everyone."

Dean raised his eyebrows. "That's a… tall order," he finally settled on. "So those demons were after you because you've got your angel ears on?"

"Yes, that's one way of putting it." Anna sighed and scrubbed her hands over her face. "I could — I could see their true faces, it's how I knew I had to leave the medical center."

"Medical center?"

"I uh, checked myself in for psychiatric care when the voices first started," Anna admitted.

"I can't say I blame you," Dean said. "Where were you headed when we crossed paths so dramatically?"

Anna giggled. "A chapel nearby," she told Dean. "I was hoping that holy ground would keep me safe."

"Yeah, that used to be the gold standard," Dean sighed. "Not so much, anymore. Too many demons that are too damn high on the food chain runnin' around these days." He shook his head as he headed out of town. "But lucky for you, we're just a few hours out from a place that demons can't get into."

"Where is it?"

"It's a lock-up, actually, but demon-proofed to the nails. All we gotta do is get there in one piece."

"Okay," Anna said. "I… I trust you."

"I hope I do, too," Dean muttered to himself, then louder, "So uh, when did you first hear the angels talking?"

"November second last year," Anna told him.

No way was Dean going to enjoy this story.

"First words I heard, clear as a bell — 'Sam Winchester has chosen to defy God's command'."

Dean gripped the steering wheel tightly. "Did they mean…?"

"The demon blood?" Anna asked quietly. "Yes, I believe so. I heard a lot in the following days about further attempts to make Sam stop, followed by attempts to find Sam. It had mostly tapered off by the end of the month, but then I heard angels asking for volunteers to dive into Hell to rescue the Righteous Man."

"Me," Dean clarified.

"That is your role," Anna answered. "Many claim it quite often. Anyway…" She trailed off, and Dean saw in the rearview mirror how anxious her face had become. "It got really quiet for a while after that. I was ready to check out, but then on March nineteenth…"

"That's the day I got outta Hell," Dean said.

Anna nodded. "I heard it again: 'Dean Winchester has been saved'. And then it was just so… non-stop after that, I've been so overwhelmed most of the time."

"What about right now?"

"They're actually pretty quiet at the moment," Anna admitted. "It's nice."

Dean took a deep breath as he tried to take it all in. "I've got a friend who might be able to figure out how you can hear the angels and see demons clearly," he said. "I'll give him a call, okay?"

Anna nodded at once, so Dean grabbed his phone and called Bobby.

"What's up, son?"

"I've got a girl in the backseat who can hear the angels sing," Dean announced.

"Dean," Bobby clearly grimaced over the phone, "I thought I told you that I have no interest in your sex life."

"Ha ha, not that kind of singin'," Dean replied, rolling his eyes and ignoring Anna's snort of laughter in the backseat. "I mean Angel Radio — this girl can hear the angels talking upstairs. She already knows who I am, and she can see the true faces of demons!"

"That's — wow," Bobby settled on after a few seconds. "How long's this been goin' on?"

"Since around the time Sam started getting' his demon high on," Dean told him. "We're goin' to my dad's lock-up, closest and safest place I could think of that no demons can get into."

"Good plan," Bobby said. "I'll shelve the Sam-hunt for a few, see what I can dig up for this girl'a yours."

"Thanks, Bobby." Dean shut his cell phone, set it aside, debated for a few seconds, and then decided to go for it.

"Anna, d'you think you could tell me everything the angels had to say about Sam?"

Later, after hearing it all, Dean was silent. It was a lot to take in. Defiant, insolent, Ruby almost never leaving his side, Sam had refused to follow orders that apparently came from God himself!

Where had his prayerful, God-fearing little brother gone?

"Dean, could I… maybe I could call my family, make sure they're safe?" Anna timidly interrupted the inner monologue.

Dean took a deep breath. "I don't think that's a good idea. The demons will either be watching them, or…"

"Or they're dead." Anna's voice was flat.

"I'm sorry," Dean said quietly as he pulled the Impala into the parking lot of Castle Storage.

"Why is this happening to me?"

"I don't know," Dean answered honestly. "Let's get you inside."

Once inside the lock-up, Anna seemed to relax. She wandered around the space, lightly touching Dean's childhood sawed-off, Sam's soccer trophy. Now that she wasn't terrified for her life, Dean could see better the sweet, kind, lovely person she most likely was.

"I want to know more about the Sam that you know," Anna said abruptly. "I've told you what the angels have said, but I know that's only one part of him."

Dean cleared his throat. "Sammy… he's very stubborn, the angels have at least that much right about him." He chuckled. "He used to butt heads with our dad over pretty much everything, from safety to what we were Hunting to soccer, homework, moving too often… Honestly, he loved our dad, but while I did everything I could to be like the man, Sam was naturally just like him." He shook his head wryly. "Kid never even realized it."

Anna approached Dean quietly. "You're looking for him," she guessed.

"Yeah," Dean sighed, "but he's untraceable. Haven't got a clue where he could be right now."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Anna said. She looked around. "So what exactly makes this place safer than holy ground?"

"It's the uh, Devil's Traps on the floors and ceilings," Dean told her as he gestured to the closest one. "Ain't a demon strong enough to cross one without gettin' stuck. You'll be safe here until we can figure out how you're tuned into Angel Radio."

Anna nodded, then stiffened. "Something's coming," she whispered. Dean had enough experience with Sam's ability to sense demons to know she wasn't lying.

He prepared himself.

But what came through the door to the lockup was the last thing Dean expected.

It was Castiel, accompanied by another angel with dark skin and fury in his black eyes. "Cas," Dean gasped out. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Uriel," Castiel answered.

"You here to help?"

"We're here for Anna," Uriel answered.

Dean stared for a moment. "Here for her like…" He was so confused. "Here for her?"

"Stop talking," Uriel snapped, glaring daggers at Anna as she backed away into the back room where the curse boxes were located. "Give her to us."

"Are — are you gonna help her?"

"No," Castiel answered somberly. "She has to die."

What.

The.

Fuck.

"First you nutballs screw with my memories, then you drop me back in time to make sure Azazel gets to my mom, and now you wanna kill some innocent girl?" Dean could not believe this. He had never believed in angels to begin with, but the reality that faced him… He had no words to describe his rage at how different they were from the celestial beings Sam had believed in as a child.

"She is no innocent," Uriel said darkly.

"She doesn't even know how she's wiretapping your angel chats!" Dean insisted.

"It matters not," Uriel insisted. "And don't worry, I'll kill her gentle."

"You're some heartless sons of bitches, you know that?" Dean snarled.

"As a matter of fact," Castiel said, eyes not quite meeting Dean's, "we are. And?"

Dean's jaw worked as he tried to work through his anger over this situation. "You're not taking her," he finally settled on.

Uriel's face twisted and his arm abruptly swung out, catching Dean across the jaw and sending him stumbling into the nearest shelves. He started to straighten up when a bright, white light filled the room, completely engulfing the two angels. Moments later, it faded.

The angels were gone.

"What the hell?" Dean breathed. "Anna?" He turned and ran into the back room, stumbling to a halt at what he saw.

On the first open bit of wall space was a strange set of sigils Dean had never seen before. Anna stood beside it, holding a small blade as blood dropped down her hand and off her fingers.

"Are they… are they gone?" Anna asked in barely a whisper of a voice.

Dean nodded dumbly. "Did you kill them?"

Anna shook her head. "I sent them away," she answered, voice a little stronger. "Far away."

"You wanna tell me how?"

"That," Anna said, nodding to the strange sigils, "just popped in my head. I don't know how I did it," she told Dean with wide eyes. "I just did it."

This was bigger than Dean had first thought. "What are you?" he asked.

Anna's eyes watered. "I don't know," she whispered. "Are — are you still going to help me?"

Dean startled. "Are you kidding?" he said. "No way I'm lettin' angels kill you for no reason!"

Anna smiled around her tears. "Thank you," she said, stepping forward and throwing her arms around Dean.

He hugged her back, silently worrying about just what the fuck he'd gotten himself into now.