Fic: The Road To Heaven Bestrewed With Amaranth (8/??)
Title: The Road To Heaven Bestrewed With Amaranth (8/??)
Rating: overall R for language, violence, blood and sexual themes;
Genre: romance, adventure, time travel;
Pairing/Characters: Dean/Castiel (pre-slash), Sam, OFC;
Spoilers: The fic starts from the middle of season 6 and alternates the end of it, but also has spoilers for 7x1;
Word Count: WIP (6000 this part);
Beta: eridanie;
Chapter Disclaimer: This chapter is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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Masterpost
Chapter 8
A Song of a Banshee, Part 3
March 2011;The cabinet of the school’s principal was pretty impressive, decorated in hundreds of different certificates, grateful letters, different trophies and medals. The principal himself, Mr. Rendell, looked like a prosperous and serious man in his late forties who was sitting on his comfortable office chair and smiling warmly at the young girl and her father who were sitting in front of him, moving his gaze from time to time from them to an open folder with very fake, but masterfully worked documents which he was holding in his hands.
“So, Mary Winchester,” he concluded warmly. “To tell the truth, I’m pretty impressed with your grade scores, you seem to me like a young lady with great prospects for the future! Your father should be very proud to have such a daughter, aren’t you, Mr. Winchester?”
With those words Rendell turned his attention to a man sitting next to Mary looking extremely awkward in his tan coat, gazing around the room curiously with his blue eyes.
“She is…” Castiel paused glancing at Mary. “…a very good girl.”
“Isn’t there anything particular you’re interested in?” Rendell asked Mary.
“Yes - History and Archeology. I have already heard about the collection of ancient artifacts for the experimental archeology class from the museum the school received and I think that working with them could be really great opportunity for me.”
“So, it turned out that moving to another town could actually have a plus side?” the principal laughed.
“And what business brought you into our humble city?” Rendell asked the angel.
Castiel fidgeted uncomfortably in his chair eyeing the principal with a look like he thought he could better solve this problem by simply smiting him instead of talking. Or maybe simply putting every single school staff member to sleep, then teleporting into the archive, stealing the artifacts and destroying all the security cameras on his way, because this way he would probably attract less attention.
“A computer software company offered me a position.” He mumbled in his very deep and very monotone voice.
Mr. Rendell nodded understandingly and stood from his chair moving towards the girl and the angel.
“So, welcome to the Prairie Du Chien High School, Mary!” He said with enthusiasm, shaking the girl’s hand. “And enjoy your stay!”
***“That was easy!” Mary addressed to Dean who was listening the whole conversation sitting outside the school in the car through a hands free Bluetooth device in Mary’s ear.
“Well, alright, it’s not time for celebration just yet.” Dean replied. “When is your Archeology class?” He asked.
“In two hours. I will ask to stay after the class to work on my paper. I don’t think it’s going to be suspicious considering that the other students are half done with their work and I’m only starting.”
“All right, good.” Dean sighed. “And remember, if you see anything suspicious - run. No heroism, understood?”
“Don’t worry, see weird stuff - run. Sounds easy enough.” Mary repeated.
“Good.” Dean said. “All right, I’m going to hang on for now, but call me back when you stay after class. Jesus, Cas!” He added suddenly. Mary turned her head and saw that the angel who was following her had now disappeared. “Stop doing that!” Dean groaned on the other end and ended the call.
At the school Mary found that she didn’t look much different from the other students. It was a small three store building with long corridors painted in boring white and numerous doors leading into the classrooms.
Mary had several classes today and Archeology was her last one. Her fake documents said that Mary was an A student, which she actually was. Because all of the missing kids were one year younger than Mary, had transferred into a class that was one grade lower than she actually should have been in, and she highly doubted that there had been many changes in the educational system over eighteen years, the task of looking like a smart kid didn’t seem all that difficult.
The first class in her schedule was the math. The professor introduced her before the whole class and sent her to take an empty spot in the very middle of the room. Mary looked around and felt a sort of nostalgia creeping under her skin. She’d only missed a few weeks of school but for some reasons it felt like it was years.
Mary felt something poking her in the back and turned her head noticing a very handsome guy in a red jersey with a sly grin on his face holding a piece of paper. Mary carefully took the paper so the teacher wouldn’t see the movement and opened it under her table.
“Nice shirt, Angel. Smiley face.” The paper said.
Mary knew that she wasn’t a bad looking girl, a lot of guys in her own school used to flirt. Usually she didn’t respond to it much, but right now it was a great opportunity to blend in.
“It’s just camouflage.” She wrote on the paper and added a winking smile with little horns above it.
When he passed the note back it said. “Would like to discover your true nature.”
“If you have enough patience, cowboy!” She wrote. “I’m not that easy” She wrote on the paper before passing it back yet again.
“Lunch in the school cafeteria?”
“Sounds romantic!” she replied
A girl sitting to the left of Mary gave them both an angry look and turned back to her notebook.
***The cafeteria was noisy, filled with hundreds of students hurrying up to get their meals and sit with their friends to discuss recent news such as who was dating whom, the latest movies they’d watched, or a new model of cellphones they had bought. If not for the fact that the movies they were discussing were considered retro in Mary’s time and the models of cellphones they had were long gone, the common atmosphere of the place was exactly the same as twenty years from now. Mary was sitting in the corner of the room not because she wanted to stay unnoticed, but because it was a good spot to watch the cafeteria since she could see everything and everyone in it. For the first ten minutes there wasn’t anything going on, but a simple routine of hungry people consuming their meals or standing in line to get one.
Suddenly the appearance of an enormous guy in a janitor’s uniform attracted her attention. He was taller than anyone else in the cafeteria by at least a head or two. He had ginormous shoulders and even considering that his head looked disproportionately large. The guy reminded Mary of a giant from a fairytale, but that wasn’t actually the reason Mary couldn’t take her eyes off of him. There was something off about him, but right now Mary couldn’t put a finger on what exactly.
“So, Mary, how do you like our city?” She heard suddenly from her side. Mary turned her head and saw the guy who had been writing her notes in class.
“Ugh, sorry, didn’t notice you.” Mary smiled. “And the place is nice, although I didn’t have a chance to see much of it yet.”
“Oh, don’t tell me you actually like this friggin village!” The guy chuckled.
“Well, for now it seems fine to me, but I bet I’m going to change my mind when I realize there is nowhere to actually go” the girl joked.
The enormous guy was standing in the line with his tray looking thoughtfully at the floor. Several times he didn’t even notice the fact that the line moved till the person behind him either poked him to move or simply moved ahead of him.
“Chris, by the way.” The guy smiled holding out his hand. Mary shook his hand and smiled.
“Nice to meet you Chris.” She said.
Now it was the enormous guy’s turn to pick what he wanted but he simply stayed there staring at food like he had never seen it.
“What a weirdo.” Chris who probably followed Mary’s gaze commented.
“He is… different” Mary said not even noticing that she had said it out loud.
“That’s Daniel and he is a weirdo! Anyway, if you haven’t seen much of the town, want me to show you around?”
“Sure, when?” Mary asked with a smile.
“How about right after school? I have a car.”
Mary was about to agree but then remembered why exactly she had been sent here. “Ughh, I can’t do it today. I wanted to work in the History class.” She admitted. From a certain point of view it wasn’t even a lie.
“Oh, don’t tell me you’re the one of those ultra-smart girls.” The guy joked.
“What, are you afraid of smart women?” Mary winked.
Daniel finally picked what he wanted and was moving to find a spot to sit but a precise shove of a shoulder from another guy on his giant hand made him fumble and drop his tray. All his food ended up on the floor. Some people didn’t even turn their heads, trying to ignore it, others including Chris started to laugh.
“You consider that funny?” Mary asked angrily.
“Yeah, why not?” Asked Chris.
Mary didn’t reply just left her food on the table and moved towards the giant guy. She kneeled next to him, helping to pick up the knocked down plates.
“Are you all right?” She asked.
For a second Daniel didn’t even notice her or her question, but then he raised his head and looked at the girl. A very visible blush spread over his face and his eyes for a split second flickered with slightly visible white-blue light, making Mary stop dead with wide opened eyes.
The guy most likely noticed the fact that Mary could see what had happened. He looked at the mess on the floor, seeming to will it away and hurried from the dining room.
“Wait a minute!” Mary jumped from the floor and started to run after the guy, but when she exited the cafeteria, he was nowhere to be seen.
Not sure what to do she simply leant on the wall with one of her shoulders, trying to comprehend what had just happened.
***The experimental archeology class was eighty percent girls. Mary had only a minute to wonder about why so many girls would be in one class when a teacher entered the class explaining everything merely by his presence. The guy was no older than thirty and extremely handsome looking, with bright gray eyes and blond hair, wearing the same hairstyle that Dean had used to. He was dressed in a gray suit and was wearing glasses, which made him look even more handsome.
“All right,” the teacher smiled opening his notebook. “It looks like we have a new student in the class.” He turned to look at Mary. “Do you want to introduce yourself?”
When Mary stood from her chair to walk to the desk for a standard ‘new student’ introduction, a door opened and Daniel walked into the classroom. This time he wasn’t wearing the uniform, but a pair of dark jeans with a plain long sleeved shirt. He didn’t notice Mary and it seemed the whole class didn’t notice his presence either. The guy walked to his spot which to the Mary’s surprise was right next to the spot she had chosen to sit, and took his book out of his back pack.
Daniel noticed Mary only at the moment she was returning to her spot. He blushed yet again and turned to look out the window.
***“Now, who can tell me how old this Vase could be?” The teacher asked the class when they were gathered around the table wearing white aprons and rubber gloves. A bunch of different vases, coins and ceramic plates were displayed on the table.”
The class was mostly silent. It was obvious that the majority of the students were here because of the handsome professor. The other part seemed to have no idea why they even picked the class to begin with.
“The knotting system reminds me of Celtic culture, but it is different from the knots the traditional Celtic culture used.” Suddenly someone started, the voice deep but gentle and quiet. Mary looked at the speaker and realized that it was Daniel.
“Very good, Daniel!” The teacher encouraged.
“Celtic knots had been changed a lot prior to the Christian influence which took place in around the fourth century AD.” Mary added. She knew a lot about Celtic culture and mythology not because she was good at history but mostly because of the field of work of her parents.
“Good, Mary, good!” the teacher nodded.
Daniel stepped closer asking the teacher if he could take the vase into his hands. The teacher gave him the permission without even flinching even though Daniel looked extremely clumsy, and the small vase looked so ancient and fragile.
“But the way it was burned it looks more modern, Celts didn’t have the technology to do this in the fourth century.” Daniel said.
Mary went up to Daniel and carefully took his hands into her own, looking him in the eyes while moving the vase closer to herself so they both could look at it. Daniel blushed yet again which made his eyes flicker with light.
“So, either the Celts had better technology then we thought, or the vase was made way later and the artist was simply trying to imitate an older pattern.” Mary said.
“Ok, would you try to guess the century it was made in?”
Mary knew a lot about Celtic culture, but her specialization was mythology, not pot appraisal. That didn’t mean she couldn’t cheat. Nearly effortlessly she reached to the surface of the vase with her grace, reading the whole of its history as if from a book. Daniel in his turn was simply staring at the vase thoughtfully. “Twenty first” They said simultaneously, leaving the teacher with an open mouth.
“Oh, wow,” he finally managed to say. “You’re the first two archeology students I’ve had who were able to do it.”
***“I understand your passion for archeology, Mary.” The teacher sighed when the class had been dismissed. “But I’m not allowed to let you work with the actual museum collection till next semester.”
Mary tried to give him the best puppy eyes she could manage “Are you sure you can’t make an exception this once?” she asked.
The teacher looked at the girl for a moment, considering then sighed. “All right, let’s go.” He said, then turned to look at the door and added. “You too Daniel, I know you’re standing behind that door.”
At his words the door opened and the giant guy walked into the classroom. He gave Mary a shy look and moved closer.
“You will have to write a research paper on one of the object of your choice at the end of the year, so would you two like to, as they say, dig into it?”
“Yeah, that would be interesting!” Mary smiled as she and Daniel followed the teacher into the back door leading to the archive.
The entrance here was highly secured. The teacher entered the code on the pad lock and swiped his card. Mary watched him carefully hiding the card into the inside pocket of his jacket. Then she looked around noticing several cameras around the room. Even more cameras were installed inside the archive.
“Pretty heavy security.” Mary pointed out.
“Yeah,” the teacher agreed. “When they sent the collection for the experimental class, guys from Washington’s museum came here themselves to set the security system.” He explained. “All right, here is our collection. All of it came from fourth century Scotland.”
“Does it mean that the items belong to England and not to the US?” Mary asked.
“They were brought here before the revolution, so no. Right now they are considered propriety of the States.” The teacher explained.
With that he started to carefully move the boxes, extracting the items they were holding. “Here’s the original of the replica you were examining today in class” He pointed on the small wooden box. “We also have several similar vases in here, and ancient coins. Even the skull of a woman seventeen centuries old. He extracted a small black box covered in white sigils. “The box itself is also pretty old, like five or six centuries. Covered in sigils which according to the lore supposed to protect from evil spirits.” He was explaining while showing the box to Mary and the very silent Daniel.
And yes, Mary had seen those sigils before, it was definitely one of the boxes for cursed items.
“Was it sealed when the box arrived?” The girl asked.
“Yeah, it looked like no-one opened it since the time the skull has been placed in it.” The teacher said. “Why do you ask? Want to pick the skull for the final research paper?”
“Oh no! I don’t really like skulls.” Mary smiled. “I mean I know that when I will become an archeologist, I will have to deal with them, but for now I think a vase can do. Especially I’m interested in the vase we have been looking at in the class today. I think it may be interesting to write the differences between the original and the replica.”
“Wise choice!” the teacher agreed. “And what about you, Daniel?”
“I… I think I will take the skull.” He said after a short pause.
***Dean was sitting in the car nervously tapping his fingers over the surface of the searing wheel. His phone was lying on his lap and from time to time the older Winchester couldn’t resist picking it up and checking if he’d miss a call, even if the phone wasn’t on silent and it had been only three hours since Mary was left alone in the school. He was sure she was going to call any moment.
“Dean, you’re like an overprotective parent.” Sam joked.
“Well, yeah, I didn’t like the idea of letting her go in the first place, remember?”
“Well, she did pretty good talking to the principal, plus it’s a daytime and the only thing she needs to do is check on the stuff in the history class archive.”
“I still think it would be faster if I simply flied into the school and took everything.” Castiel who was sitting in the back seat of the car complained.
“Cas, we talked about that. We’re not attracting more attention than we already have.” Sam protested. “Don’t worry, tonight we are getting into the school and tomorrow morning we will be on our way to Bobby.
Castiel grimaced in discontent and anticipation crossing his hands on his chest.
“You also did pretty great, you know.” Sam smiled to the angel.
“Yeah, Cas,” Dean picked up on the topic. “Compared to the last time with the police guy you made a huge improvement,” The older brother turned to the angel with a wide smile playing on his face. “Soon you are going to become an even better liar than I am!”
Castiel suddenly met Dean’s eyes with his own and the smile disappeared from Dean’s face. There was something in the angel’s eyes so deep and sad at the same time, that Dean’s breath was caught in his lungs.
Sam cleared his throat awkwardly and Dean realized how inappropriately long he had been staring into Castiel’s eyes, again.
“That is not something I can be proud of.” The angel said with a sigh.
For a minute an awkward silence fell around all three of them, disturbed only by the taps of Dean’s fingers over the leather of the searing wheel. And finally, finally Dean’s phone rang in his lap.
“Mary!” He exclaimed answering the call by putting it on speaker phone.
“I found what we are looking for. It is the skull of a woman from fourth century Scotland.” Mary replied.
“Are you sure?” Dean asked.
“Pretty sure. The thing was in a cursed item box. It was sealed for centuries and opened only six days ago when the collection arrived at the school.”
“Perfect!” Dean smiled. “Now we need to get a hold on it and burn the bi… burn the skull!”
“Dean… How did the ghost this girl described look?
“Well, a white dress, pale. Don’t know. A typical vengeful spirit.” Dean answered
“And she was washing clothes in a pond? Singing?”
“Wait a second!” Sam interrupted. “The skull is from Scotland, right? Looks like we’re talking about a banshee here!”
“That’s what it looks like. All right, I’m going to hang on. Meet you in ten minutes in the parking lot.” With those words Mary hung up.
Dean turned to his brother and asked. “Ok, we’re meeting Mary, going somewhere to grab a bite, then returning to the motel and waiting for night to come.”
***Mary exited the bathroom she’d used to call Dean and nearly rammed into the ginormous frame of Daniel.
“Oh, sorry!” She apologized.
“Are you ok?” He asked.
“Yes, thank you!” The girl smiled.
All the classes had ended an hour ago and the school corridors were absolutely empty. The sun had only started to move towards the horizon but it was low enough to give the walls a pleasant golden tone. Mary was slowly walking alongside Daniel towards the exit. She knew that she couldn’t tell Dean and Sam about the fact that Daniel wasn’t human, at least not until the moment they would be ready to find out that Mary herself wasn’t. This was most likely her first and only chance to see someone like herself.
“May I see your wings?” Mary asked in a whisper.
Daniel looked at the girl smiling and the next moment two white half transparent wings appeared behind his back. Mary allowed her own wings out and slightly brushed their feathers together. The next moment she started to feel the loud and extremely hard thuds of Daniels grace and the vibrating of a human soul. That was weird. The grace of Nephilim as the grace of angels weren’t supposed to thud so much. Mary knew that it could happen sometimes when an angel was stressed or very angry, but Daniel didn’t look either stressed or angry, maybe slightly flushed, but no more. And as far as Mary knew human souls did not vibrate.
She smiled awkwardly and hid her wings back. “Thank you” she whispered.
When both of them were leaving the school building, Mary saw Chris standing near the entrance leaning on one of the columns. He was smiling, but when he saw Daniel next to the girl, the smile disappeared from his face.
“Really, now?” He exclaimed. “Don’t tell me you decided to hang out with this freak of nature!”
“He has a name!” Mary protested.
“And do you know what that makes you?” He asked. “As freaky as this giant guy over there, whore!”
Now Mary was really angry, but she knew that she couldn’t pick a fight right now. Sam and Dean were waiting for her in the car right behind the corner of the building, plus it was her only day in this school anyway.
“Better be a freak, but with a heart, than a soulless bastard.” She whispered and at the same time realized her mistake.
“Whom did you call a bastard, you mud?” Chris busted angrily stepping closer to the girl, but suddenly Daniel stood in-between making Chris retreat.
“Whatever!” He said. “Tomorrow the whole schools going to know what a freak and a whore you are!” He laughed and turned to walk away.
“I don’t like him” Daniel said and suddenly his grace gave one last thud, loud enough that Mary could hear it even without physical contact.
“That’s all right” Mary smiled. “Just… go home, I should go home too.”
***Asking Mary to investigate the school wasn’t such a bad idea Dean was starting to think. Not only she was able to find the skull, but she also gave the teacher one final hug, stealing the key-card from his pocket. If Dean wasn’t so upset at the fact that he was allowing his own daughter to participate in a hunt, stealing stuff from people like it was her life, the older Winchester would have felt really proud of his daughter.
The fire was slowly surrounding the ancient skull and enveloping it with its flames until nothing was left but a pile of dust.
“Well, that was easy!” Dean admitted. “So, are we packing up and heading to North Dakota?”
“I’m… not so sure, Dean” Sam said looking at what was left of the skull. “Don’t you think it was a little too easy?”
Dean gave his brother an annoyed look: “Oh, come on! Can it be that easy just once? Easy enough to just burn, and go without at least one of us fighting the damn thing off? “
Sam sighed and started to move towards the car where Mary and Castiel had been waiting for them. Dean was surprised that the angel had decided to stay but he hadn’t said anything. To tell the truth it was unbelievably pleasant to have him around. Dean decided that the warm feeling he had was due to the fact that he felt safer having an angel of the Lord as back up.
“I mean, think about it.” Sam continued when they finally returned to the car. “It was a banshee, have you ever actually heard of any of them before?”
“Well, on TV…” Dean replied.
“I mean banshees, according to everything I’ve heard about them, were always the omens of death, not the cause if it.”
“I don’t see where you’re going with this.”
The police radio they had been listening to suddenly beeped and the voice of a police officer filled the car: “The cross of the Folwer and 12th street, found a body of a boy, sixteen years old, Christopher Rendell.”
“The cause of death?” replied the other voice
“Unknown, the guy just… just burned alive in his car.”
“Roger, reinforcement will arrive in ten minutes.”
“Son of a bitch!” Dean swore forgetting the fact that Mary was still in the car.
“Rendell, sounds familiar. Wasn’t it the name of the school principal?” Sam inquired. “May be it’s just a guy who went missing and only now has been found?”
“We’ll see when we get to the place. It’s not far away.” Dean said starting the Impala.
“We don’t need too,” Mary suddenly interjected. “I know who the guy was - I talked to him just a moment before I left the school building. And I know who did it as he was also there with me. Banshee was the wrong guess.” She sighed. “Go to the Oakford house.”
***When the car pulled next to the small house of Gary Oakford it was just after one in the morning, but the lights in the house were still on. Mary jumped out of the car and rushed to the door, starting to knock on it. Dean was trying to catch up with her, but by the time he reached the doorsteps, the door was already open.
“Agents?” Gary asked, confused. “What are you doing here? And who are you?” He looked at Mary.
“I need to talk to Daniel, it is important!” Mary implored with despair in her voice.
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand! It is the middle of the night!” Gary said. “Can’t it wait until tomorrow?”
He was standing in the doorway holding the door mostly closed and blocking the entrance the way Dean knew people do when they were trying to hide something.
“Ok, where is your son?” Asked Dean. “We really need to see him right now.”
“You can’t, he’s sick!” Gary protested.
“We don’t have time for talking” Said Castiel suddenly appearing out of nowhere.
The next moment all four of them were standing in the middle of the living room, where on a couch was laying Daniel. He looked like he was in agony, he was sweating all over his body, and it looked like breathing was difficult for him.
“Nephil!” Castiel suddenly announced looking at Daniel. “This cannot be!” the angel shouted in surprise and made a step toward the couch.
Suddenly Gary jumped in front of the couch an angel blade in his hand.
“Get the hell away from my son!” He yelled “First you took his mother, now you come for him? I will not allow it!”
“His mother fell because of him and you. She has committed one of the most terrible sins for an angel in creating this abomination!”
Mary was listening to her father and her stomach suddenly dropped. Was this what he really thought about Nephilim? Was it what he really thought about her?
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Dean interrupted. “Cas, care to enlighten us?”
But before Castiel could reply, Daniel stood up from the couch and started to laugh. The next moment Dean was flying into the closest wall, hitting it hard with his arm. Something crunched inside of him echoing through all his body with nearly unbearable pain. Dean tried to move but his body was paralyzed like something was holding him against the wall, he saw that everyone else, including Castiel was in the same position.
“It doesn’t matter.” Daniel said. “Nothing matters now!”
“Why?” Mary suddenly asked. “Why did you kill them?”
“I didn’t like them!” he replied.
“They didn’t deserve this! Please, reconsider! I know that you can still stop all of this, you can still return to a normal life!” She pleaded.
“Normal life? Is the life I live something you’d call normal? Look at me! I’m a monster! I’m ugly, I’m an outcast! And this thud and buzz inside of me… it never stops! Never stops!” Daniel clenched his hands falling to his knees, his facial expression was nothing but madness and Dean felt the grip around him weakening. He carefully moved towards Gary who’d started to slowly move next to him and picked up the angel blade Gary had dropped when he’d hit the wall.
On another side of the room Castiel got up and jumped at Daniel sending him to the ground and holding him down, his own blade in his hand. Daniel groaned and yet another wave of energy bursted out of him pushing the angel from his chest. Castiel regained his balance quickly, circling around Daniel, and preparing for his next move. Meanwhile Dean was crawling on the floor to the center of the room with the angel blade in his hand.
“Please, stop!” Mary yelled. “Please! All of you!”
But Castiel didn’t even hear her, he attacked Daniel again so both of them flied from wall to wall between the two rooms cracking them. Another wave and both of them were tumbling on the floor in the middle of the room. Castiel was back on top of Daniel, ready to strike but the next moment something invisible kicked the blade out of his hands. The angel kicked Daniel in the jaw several times but then he was pushed on his back, and Daniel’s wrapped his fingers around his neck.
Dean chose this moment to jump on the Oakford’s son. The cold blade of the angel sword easily penetrating his skin and piercing his heart. For a second everyone was silent. Daniel looked at the tip of the sword poking from his chest and then at Dean with surprise.
“The thud and the buzz…” He said suddenly smiling. “It’s stopped…”
Daniel’s huge body fell to the floor with a quiet thump. In the background Dean heard Mary yelling something, but the blood in his veins was rushing so fast that he could barely hear it. In the next second a flash of light illuminated the room forcing Dean to shield his eyes with his hand. When everything was finally over he saw the body of Daniel lying on the floor with the burned print of two wings behind his back. His father rushed to Daniel, kneeling before him and pressing the body of his son to his chest.
“I’m… so sorry.” Mary said with sorrow crossing her features.
“Get out.” Gary cried. “All of you, get out!”
***“So, a half-angel?” Dean inquired leaning on the hood of his car. “It sounded like you knew his mom.”
The four of them returned to the motel, Sam and Mary were in the room gathering their stuff so they could leave town tonight.
“You knew her as well.” Castiel replied. “I had no idea why Anael decided to fall. I didn’t know she had a child with a human.”
“Anael? Wait a sec, do you mean Anna?” Dean said, surprised.
“Yes. Most likely she decided to fall after giving birth to return to this man and their offspring, but miscalculated and was reborn as a human child with no memory of what she was.”
“Well, that’s a new turn of events.” Dean sighed rubbing her head. “And why is that such a terrible sin? Is god that much against interspecies relationships?”
Castiel pierced the hunter with one of his meaningful looks and said: “You saw what happened with Daniel. A grace and a soul cannot possibly live in one consciousness. They start to attempt to overtake each-other and with time it makes the Nephilim crazy. There are stories about Nephilim walking the Earth corrupted by their state of mind. Some of them tried to be good, to help people, they were heroes at the beginning, but in the end all of them went crazy. That is why God sent Raphael and Uriel to wipe them from the face of Earth. God…” Castiel paused shifting uncomfortably. “… didn’t actually care much about angels and humans engaging in sexual relationships.”
Dean sighed, the conversation was starting to take an uncomfortable turn . The major role in the discomfort was caused by Castiel shifting uncomfortably and staring aimlessly at the ground.
“I think I should go.” He finally said and in the blink of an eye he’d disappeared.
Dean turned his head and saw his brother and Mary leaving the room with the bags in their hands. Mary dropped the bag to the trunk and walked around the car settling next to Dean.
“All, right, what?” Dean asked seeing her nearly crying expression.
Mary looked at the older Winchester sadly and sighed. “I just… Daniel was a good guy, you know.”
“Who was also a blood thistly monster killing everyone that he didn’t like.” Dean corrected.
“You don’t understand!” Mary protested.
“And what is it I don’t understand?” the hunter inquired. “He was one of the things we hunt, so we did.”
“We could have talked to him, we could’ve tried…”
“No we couldn’t.” Dean cut her off. “He was killing so we had to kill him. End of story.”
“I can’t believe…” Mary shook her head. “I thought that hunters fight evil, that they bring light to people’s life by saving them. And what, now five people are still dead. Gary Oakford was left in his house with the corpse of his own son. How is that fair?”
“Fair? You wanted it to be fair?” Dean laughed sarcastically. “You wanted to see what is like to be a hunter? So there, see for yourself. Nothing about it is fair.”
Mary turned her face away from her father, wiping tears from her cheeks. She bit her lip and then nodded.
“But we still make a difference.” Sam said when he suddenly appeared from her other side.
Dean looked at his brother and daughter then walked away opening the door of the driver’s seat. “Let’s go home.” He said.
To be continued...
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Rating: overall R for language, violence, blood and sexual themes;
Genre: romance, adventure, time travel;
Pairing/Characters: Dean/Castiel (pre-slash), Sam, OFC;
Spoilers: The fic starts from the middle of season 6 and alternates the end of it, but also has spoilers for 7x1;
Word Count: WIP (6000 this part);
Beta: eridanie;
Chapter Disclaimer: This chapter is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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Masterpost
Chapter 8
A Song of a Banshee, Part 3
March 2011;The cabinet of the school’s principal was pretty impressive, decorated in hundreds of different certificates, grateful letters, different trophies and medals. The principal himself, Mr. Rendell, looked like a prosperous and serious man in his late forties who was sitting on his comfortable office chair and smiling warmly at the young girl and her father who were sitting in front of him, moving his gaze from time to time from them to an open folder with very fake, but masterfully worked documents which he was holding in his hands.
“So, Mary Winchester,” he concluded warmly. “To tell the truth, I’m pretty impressed with your grade scores, you seem to me like a young lady with great prospects for the future! Your father should be very proud to have such a daughter, aren’t you, Mr. Winchester?”
With those words Rendell turned his attention to a man sitting next to Mary looking extremely awkward in his tan coat, gazing around the room curiously with his blue eyes.
“She is…” Castiel paused glancing at Mary. “…a very good girl.”
“Isn’t there anything particular you’re interested in?” Rendell asked Mary.
“Yes - History and Archeology. I have already heard about the collection of ancient artifacts for the experimental archeology class from the museum the school received and I think that working with them could be really great opportunity for me.”
“So, it turned out that moving to another town could actually have a plus side?” the principal laughed.
“And what business brought you into our humble city?” Rendell asked the angel.
Castiel fidgeted uncomfortably in his chair eyeing the principal with a look like he thought he could better solve this problem by simply smiting him instead of talking. Or maybe simply putting every single school staff member to sleep, then teleporting into the archive, stealing the artifacts and destroying all the security cameras on his way, because this way he would probably attract less attention.
“A computer software company offered me a position.” He mumbled in his very deep and very monotone voice.
Mr. Rendell nodded understandingly and stood from his chair moving towards the girl and the angel.
“So, welcome to the Prairie Du Chien High School, Mary!” He said with enthusiasm, shaking the girl’s hand. “And enjoy your stay!”
***“That was easy!” Mary addressed to Dean who was listening the whole conversation sitting outside the school in the car through a hands free Bluetooth device in Mary’s ear.
“Well, alright, it’s not time for celebration just yet.” Dean replied. “When is your Archeology class?” He asked.
“In two hours. I will ask to stay after the class to work on my paper. I don’t think it’s going to be suspicious considering that the other students are half done with their work and I’m only starting.”
“All right, good.” Dean sighed. “And remember, if you see anything suspicious - run. No heroism, understood?”
“Don’t worry, see weird stuff - run. Sounds easy enough.” Mary repeated.
“Good.” Dean said. “All right, I’m going to hang on for now, but call me back when you stay after class. Jesus, Cas!” He added suddenly. Mary turned her head and saw that the angel who was following her had now disappeared. “Stop doing that!” Dean groaned on the other end and ended the call.
At the school Mary found that she didn’t look much different from the other students. It was a small three store building with long corridors painted in boring white and numerous doors leading into the classrooms.
Mary had several classes today and Archeology was her last one. Her fake documents said that Mary was an A student, which she actually was. Because all of the missing kids were one year younger than Mary, had transferred into a class that was one grade lower than she actually should have been in, and she highly doubted that there had been many changes in the educational system over eighteen years, the task of looking like a smart kid didn’t seem all that difficult.
The first class in her schedule was the math. The professor introduced her before the whole class and sent her to take an empty spot in the very middle of the room. Mary looked around and felt a sort of nostalgia creeping under her skin. She’d only missed a few weeks of school but for some reasons it felt like it was years.
Mary felt something poking her in the back and turned her head noticing a very handsome guy in a red jersey with a sly grin on his face holding a piece of paper. Mary carefully took the paper so the teacher wouldn’t see the movement and opened it under her table.
“Nice shirt, Angel. Smiley face.” The paper said.
Mary knew that she wasn’t a bad looking girl, a lot of guys in her own school used to flirt. Usually she didn’t respond to it much, but right now it was a great opportunity to blend in.
“It’s just camouflage.” She wrote on the paper and added a winking smile with little horns above it.
When he passed the note back it said. “Would like to discover your true nature.”
“If you have enough patience, cowboy!” She wrote. “I’m not that easy” She wrote on the paper before passing it back yet again.
“Lunch in the school cafeteria?”
“Sounds romantic!” she replied
A girl sitting to the left of Mary gave them both an angry look and turned back to her notebook.
***The cafeteria was noisy, filled with hundreds of students hurrying up to get their meals and sit with their friends to discuss recent news such as who was dating whom, the latest movies they’d watched, or a new model of cellphones they had bought. If not for the fact that the movies they were discussing were considered retro in Mary’s time and the models of cellphones they had were long gone, the common atmosphere of the place was exactly the same as twenty years from now. Mary was sitting in the corner of the room not because she wanted to stay unnoticed, but because it was a good spot to watch the cafeteria since she could see everything and everyone in it. For the first ten minutes there wasn’t anything going on, but a simple routine of hungry people consuming their meals or standing in line to get one.
Suddenly the appearance of an enormous guy in a janitor’s uniform attracted her attention. He was taller than anyone else in the cafeteria by at least a head or two. He had ginormous shoulders and even considering that his head looked disproportionately large. The guy reminded Mary of a giant from a fairytale, but that wasn’t actually the reason Mary couldn’t take her eyes off of him. There was something off about him, but right now Mary couldn’t put a finger on what exactly.
“So, Mary, how do you like our city?” She heard suddenly from her side. Mary turned her head and saw the guy who had been writing her notes in class.
“Ugh, sorry, didn’t notice you.” Mary smiled. “And the place is nice, although I didn’t have a chance to see much of it yet.”
“Oh, don’t tell me you actually like this friggin village!” The guy chuckled.
“Well, for now it seems fine to me, but I bet I’m going to change my mind when I realize there is nowhere to actually go” the girl joked.
The enormous guy was standing in the line with his tray looking thoughtfully at the floor. Several times he didn’t even notice the fact that the line moved till the person behind him either poked him to move or simply moved ahead of him.
“Chris, by the way.” The guy smiled holding out his hand. Mary shook his hand and smiled.
“Nice to meet you Chris.” She said.
Now it was the enormous guy’s turn to pick what he wanted but he simply stayed there staring at food like he had never seen it.
“What a weirdo.” Chris who probably followed Mary’s gaze commented.
“He is… different” Mary said not even noticing that she had said it out loud.
“That’s Daniel and he is a weirdo! Anyway, if you haven’t seen much of the town, want me to show you around?”
“Sure, when?” Mary asked with a smile.
“How about right after school? I have a car.”
Mary was about to agree but then remembered why exactly she had been sent here. “Ughh, I can’t do it today. I wanted to work in the History class.” She admitted. From a certain point of view it wasn’t even a lie.
“Oh, don’t tell me you’re the one of those ultra-smart girls.” The guy joked.
“What, are you afraid of smart women?” Mary winked.
Daniel finally picked what he wanted and was moving to find a spot to sit but a precise shove of a shoulder from another guy on his giant hand made him fumble and drop his tray. All his food ended up on the floor. Some people didn’t even turn their heads, trying to ignore it, others including Chris started to laugh.
“You consider that funny?” Mary asked angrily.
“Yeah, why not?” Asked Chris.
Mary didn’t reply just left her food on the table and moved towards the giant guy. She kneeled next to him, helping to pick up the knocked down plates.
“Are you all right?” She asked.
For a second Daniel didn’t even notice her or her question, but then he raised his head and looked at the girl. A very visible blush spread over his face and his eyes for a split second flickered with slightly visible white-blue light, making Mary stop dead with wide opened eyes.
The guy most likely noticed the fact that Mary could see what had happened. He looked at the mess on the floor, seeming to will it away and hurried from the dining room.
“Wait a minute!” Mary jumped from the floor and started to run after the guy, but when she exited the cafeteria, he was nowhere to be seen.
Not sure what to do she simply leant on the wall with one of her shoulders, trying to comprehend what had just happened.
***The experimental archeology class was eighty percent girls. Mary had only a minute to wonder about why so many girls would be in one class when a teacher entered the class explaining everything merely by his presence. The guy was no older than thirty and extremely handsome looking, with bright gray eyes and blond hair, wearing the same hairstyle that Dean had used to. He was dressed in a gray suit and was wearing glasses, which made him look even more handsome.
“All right,” the teacher smiled opening his notebook. “It looks like we have a new student in the class.” He turned to look at Mary. “Do you want to introduce yourself?”
When Mary stood from her chair to walk to the desk for a standard ‘new student’ introduction, a door opened and Daniel walked into the classroom. This time he wasn’t wearing the uniform, but a pair of dark jeans with a plain long sleeved shirt. He didn’t notice Mary and it seemed the whole class didn’t notice his presence either. The guy walked to his spot which to the Mary’s surprise was right next to the spot she had chosen to sit, and took his book out of his back pack.
Daniel noticed Mary only at the moment she was returning to her spot. He blushed yet again and turned to look out the window.
***“Now, who can tell me how old this Vase could be?” The teacher asked the class when they were gathered around the table wearing white aprons and rubber gloves. A bunch of different vases, coins and ceramic plates were displayed on the table.”
The class was mostly silent. It was obvious that the majority of the students were here because of the handsome professor. The other part seemed to have no idea why they even picked the class to begin with.
“The knotting system reminds me of Celtic culture, but it is different from the knots the traditional Celtic culture used.” Suddenly someone started, the voice deep but gentle and quiet. Mary looked at the speaker and realized that it was Daniel.
“Very good, Daniel!” The teacher encouraged.
“Celtic knots had been changed a lot prior to the Christian influence which took place in around the fourth century AD.” Mary added. She knew a lot about Celtic culture and mythology not because she was good at history but mostly because of the field of work of her parents.
“Good, Mary, good!” the teacher nodded.
Daniel stepped closer asking the teacher if he could take the vase into his hands. The teacher gave him the permission without even flinching even though Daniel looked extremely clumsy, and the small vase looked so ancient and fragile.
“But the way it was burned it looks more modern, Celts didn’t have the technology to do this in the fourth century.” Daniel said.
Mary went up to Daniel and carefully took his hands into her own, looking him in the eyes while moving the vase closer to herself so they both could look at it. Daniel blushed yet again which made his eyes flicker with light.
“So, either the Celts had better technology then we thought, or the vase was made way later and the artist was simply trying to imitate an older pattern.” Mary said.
“Ok, would you try to guess the century it was made in?”
Mary knew a lot about Celtic culture, but her specialization was mythology, not pot appraisal. That didn’t mean she couldn’t cheat. Nearly effortlessly she reached to the surface of the vase with her grace, reading the whole of its history as if from a book. Daniel in his turn was simply staring at the vase thoughtfully. “Twenty first” They said simultaneously, leaving the teacher with an open mouth.
“Oh, wow,” he finally managed to say. “You’re the first two archeology students I’ve had who were able to do it.”
***“I understand your passion for archeology, Mary.” The teacher sighed when the class had been dismissed. “But I’m not allowed to let you work with the actual museum collection till next semester.”
Mary tried to give him the best puppy eyes she could manage “Are you sure you can’t make an exception this once?” she asked.
The teacher looked at the girl for a moment, considering then sighed. “All right, let’s go.” He said, then turned to look at the door and added. “You too Daniel, I know you’re standing behind that door.”
At his words the door opened and the giant guy walked into the classroom. He gave Mary a shy look and moved closer.
“You will have to write a research paper on one of the object of your choice at the end of the year, so would you two like to, as they say, dig into it?”
“Yeah, that would be interesting!” Mary smiled as she and Daniel followed the teacher into the back door leading to the archive.
The entrance here was highly secured. The teacher entered the code on the pad lock and swiped his card. Mary watched him carefully hiding the card into the inside pocket of his jacket. Then she looked around noticing several cameras around the room. Even more cameras were installed inside the archive.
“Pretty heavy security.” Mary pointed out.
“Yeah,” the teacher agreed. “When they sent the collection for the experimental class, guys from Washington’s museum came here themselves to set the security system.” He explained. “All right, here is our collection. All of it came from fourth century Scotland.”
“Does it mean that the items belong to England and not to the US?” Mary asked.
“They were brought here before the revolution, so no. Right now they are considered propriety of the States.” The teacher explained.
With that he started to carefully move the boxes, extracting the items they were holding. “Here’s the original of the replica you were examining today in class” He pointed on the small wooden box. “We also have several similar vases in here, and ancient coins. Even the skull of a woman seventeen centuries old. He extracted a small black box covered in white sigils. “The box itself is also pretty old, like five or six centuries. Covered in sigils which according to the lore supposed to protect from evil spirits.” He was explaining while showing the box to Mary and the very silent Daniel.
And yes, Mary had seen those sigils before, it was definitely one of the boxes for cursed items.
“Was it sealed when the box arrived?” The girl asked.
“Yeah, it looked like no-one opened it since the time the skull has been placed in it.” The teacher said. “Why do you ask? Want to pick the skull for the final research paper?”
“Oh no! I don’t really like skulls.” Mary smiled. “I mean I know that when I will become an archeologist, I will have to deal with them, but for now I think a vase can do. Especially I’m interested in the vase we have been looking at in the class today. I think it may be interesting to write the differences between the original and the replica.”
“Wise choice!” the teacher agreed. “And what about you, Daniel?”
“I… I think I will take the skull.” He said after a short pause.
***Dean was sitting in the car nervously tapping his fingers over the surface of the searing wheel. His phone was lying on his lap and from time to time the older Winchester couldn’t resist picking it up and checking if he’d miss a call, even if the phone wasn’t on silent and it had been only three hours since Mary was left alone in the school. He was sure she was going to call any moment.
“Dean, you’re like an overprotective parent.” Sam joked.
“Well, yeah, I didn’t like the idea of letting her go in the first place, remember?”
“Well, she did pretty good talking to the principal, plus it’s a daytime and the only thing she needs to do is check on the stuff in the history class archive.”
“I still think it would be faster if I simply flied into the school and took everything.” Castiel who was sitting in the back seat of the car complained.
“Cas, we talked about that. We’re not attracting more attention than we already have.” Sam protested. “Don’t worry, tonight we are getting into the school and tomorrow morning we will be on our way to Bobby.
Castiel grimaced in discontent and anticipation crossing his hands on his chest.
“You also did pretty great, you know.” Sam smiled to the angel.
“Yeah, Cas,” Dean picked up on the topic. “Compared to the last time with the police guy you made a huge improvement,” The older brother turned to the angel with a wide smile playing on his face. “Soon you are going to become an even better liar than I am!”
Castiel suddenly met Dean’s eyes with his own and the smile disappeared from Dean’s face. There was something in the angel’s eyes so deep and sad at the same time, that Dean’s breath was caught in his lungs.
Sam cleared his throat awkwardly and Dean realized how inappropriately long he had been staring into Castiel’s eyes, again.
“That is not something I can be proud of.” The angel said with a sigh.
For a minute an awkward silence fell around all three of them, disturbed only by the taps of Dean’s fingers over the leather of the searing wheel. And finally, finally Dean’s phone rang in his lap.
“Mary!” He exclaimed answering the call by putting it on speaker phone.
“I found what we are looking for. It is the skull of a woman from fourth century Scotland.” Mary replied.
“Are you sure?” Dean asked.
“Pretty sure. The thing was in a cursed item box. It was sealed for centuries and opened only six days ago when the collection arrived at the school.”
“Perfect!” Dean smiled. “Now we need to get a hold on it and burn the bi… burn the skull!”
“Dean… How did the ghost this girl described look?
“Well, a white dress, pale. Don’t know. A typical vengeful spirit.” Dean answered
“And she was washing clothes in a pond? Singing?”
“Wait a second!” Sam interrupted. “The skull is from Scotland, right? Looks like we’re talking about a banshee here!”
“That’s what it looks like. All right, I’m going to hang on. Meet you in ten minutes in the parking lot.” With those words Mary hung up.
Dean turned to his brother and asked. “Ok, we’re meeting Mary, going somewhere to grab a bite, then returning to the motel and waiting for night to come.”
***Mary exited the bathroom she’d used to call Dean and nearly rammed into the ginormous frame of Daniel.
“Oh, sorry!” She apologized.
“Are you ok?” He asked.
“Yes, thank you!” The girl smiled.
All the classes had ended an hour ago and the school corridors were absolutely empty. The sun had only started to move towards the horizon but it was low enough to give the walls a pleasant golden tone. Mary was slowly walking alongside Daniel towards the exit. She knew that she couldn’t tell Dean and Sam about the fact that Daniel wasn’t human, at least not until the moment they would be ready to find out that Mary herself wasn’t. This was most likely her first and only chance to see someone like herself.
“May I see your wings?” Mary asked in a whisper.
Daniel looked at the girl smiling and the next moment two white half transparent wings appeared behind his back. Mary allowed her own wings out and slightly brushed their feathers together. The next moment she started to feel the loud and extremely hard thuds of Daniels grace and the vibrating of a human soul. That was weird. The grace of Nephilim as the grace of angels weren’t supposed to thud so much. Mary knew that it could happen sometimes when an angel was stressed or very angry, but Daniel didn’t look either stressed or angry, maybe slightly flushed, but no more. And as far as Mary knew human souls did not vibrate.
She smiled awkwardly and hid her wings back. “Thank you” she whispered.
When both of them were leaving the school building, Mary saw Chris standing near the entrance leaning on one of the columns. He was smiling, but when he saw Daniel next to the girl, the smile disappeared from his face.
“Really, now?” He exclaimed. “Don’t tell me you decided to hang out with this freak of nature!”
“He has a name!” Mary protested.
“And do you know what that makes you?” He asked. “As freaky as this giant guy over there, whore!”
Now Mary was really angry, but she knew that she couldn’t pick a fight right now. Sam and Dean were waiting for her in the car right behind the corner of the building, plus it was her only day in this school anyway.
“Better be a freak, but with a heart, than a soulless bastard.” She whispered and at the same time realized her mistake.
“Whom did you call a bastard, you mud?” Chris busted angrily stepping closer to the girl, but suddenly Daniel stood in-between making Chris retreat.
“Whatever!” He said. “Tomorrow the whole schools going to know what a freak and a whore you are!” He laughed and turned to walk away.
“I don’t like him” Daniel said and suddenly his grace gave one last thud, loud enough that Mary could hear it even without physical contact.
“That’s all right” Mary smiled. “Just… go home, I should go home too.”
***Asking Mary to investigate the school wasn’t such a bad idea Dean was starting to think. Not only she was able to find the skull, but she also gave the teacher one final hug, stealing the key-card from his pocket. If Dean wasn’t so upset at the fact that he was allowing his own daughter to participate in a hunt, stealing stuff from people like it was her life, the older Winchester would have felt really proud of his daughter.
The fire was slowly surrounding the ancient skull and enveloping it with its flames until nothing was left but a pile of dust.
“Well, that was easy!” Dean admitted. “So, are we packing up and heading to North Dakota?”
“I’m… not so sure, Dean” Sam said looking at what was left of the skull. “Don’t you think it was a little too easy?”
Dean gave his brother an annoyed look: “Oh, come on! Can it be that easy just once? Easy enough to just burn, and go without at least one of us fighting the damn thing off? “
Sam sighed and started to move towards the car where Mary and Castiel had been waiting for them. Dean was surprised that the angel had decided to stay but he hadn’t said anything. To tell the truth it was unbelievably pleasant to have him around. Dean decided that the warm feeling he had was due to the fact that he felt safer having an angel of the Lord as back up.
“I mean, think about it.” Sam continued when they finally returned to the car. “It was a banshee, have you ever actually heard of any of them before?”
“Well, on TV…” Dean replied.
“I mean banshees, according to everything I’ve heard about them, were always the omens of death, not the cause if it.”
“I don’t see where you’re going with this.”
The police radio they had been listening to suddenly beeped and the voice of a police officer filled the car: “The cross of the Folwer and 12th street, found a body of a boy, sixteen years old, Christopher Rendell.”
“The cause of death?” replied the other voice
“Unknown, the guy just… just burned alive in his car.”
“Roger, reinforcement will arrive in ten minutes.”
“Son of a bitch!” Dean swore forgetting the fact that Mary was still in the car.
“Rendell, sounds familiar. Wasn’t it the name of the school principal?” Sam inquired. “May be it’s just a guy who went missing and only now has been found?”
“We’ll see when we get to the place. It’s not far away.” Dean said starting the Impala.
“We don’t need too,” Mary suddenly interjected. “I know who the guy was - I talked to him just a moment before I left the school building. And I know who did it as he was also there with me. Banshee was the wrong guess.” She sighed. “Go to the Oakford house.”
***When the car pulled next to the small house of Gary Oakford it was just after one in the morning, but the lights in the house were still on. Mary jumped out of the car and rushed to the door, starting to knock on it. Dean was trying to catch up with her, but by the time he reached the doorsteps, the door was already open.
“Agents?” Gary asked, confused. “What are you doing here? And who are you?” He looked at Mary.
“I need to talk to Daniel, it is important!” Mary implored with despair in her voice.
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand! It is the middle of the night!” Gary said. “Can’t it wait until tomorrow?”
He was standing in the doorway holding the door mostly closed and blocking the entrance the way Dean knew people do when they were trying to hide something.
“Ok, where is your son?” Asked Dean. “We really need to see him right now.”
“You can’t, he’s sick!” Gary protested.
“We don’t have time for talking” Said Castiel suddenly appearing out of nowhere.
The next moment all four of them were standing in the middle of the living room, where on a couch was laying Daniel. He looked like he was in agony, he was sweating all over his body, and it looked like breathing was difficult for him.
“Nephil!” Castiel suddenly announced looking at Daniel. “This cannot be!” the angel shouted in surprise and made a step toward the couch.
Suddenly Gary jumped in front of the couch an angel blade in his hand.
“Get the hell away from my son!” He yelled “First you took his mother, now you come for him? I will not allow it!”
“His mother fell because of him and you. She has committed one of the most terrible sins for an angel in creating this abomination!”
Mary was listening to her father and her stomach suddenly dropped. Was this what he really thought about Nephilim? Was it what he really thought about her?
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Dean interrupted. “Cas, care to enlighten us?”
But before Castiel could reply, Daniel stood up from the couch and started to laugh. The next moment Dean was flying into the closest wall, hitting it hard with his arm. Something crunched inside of him echoing through all his body with nearly unbearable pain. Dean tried to move but his body was paralyzed like something was holding him against the wall, he saw that everyone else, including Castiel was in the same position.
“It doesn’t matter.” Daniel said. “Nothing matters now!”
“Why?” Mary suddenly asked. “Why did you kill them?”
“I didn’t like them!” he replied.
“They didn’t deserve this! Please, reconsider! I know that you can still stop all of this, you can still return to a normal life!” She pleaded.
“Normal life? Is the life I live something you’d call normal? Look at me! I’m a monster! I’m ugly, I’m an outcast! And this thud and buzz inside of me… it never stops! Never stops!” Daniel clenched his hands falling to his knees, his facial expression was nothing but madness and Dean felt the grip around him weakening. He carefully moved towards Gary who’d started to slowly move next to him and picked up the angel blade Gary had dropped when he’d hit the wall.
On another side of the room Castiel got up and jumped at Daniel sending him to the ground and holding him down, his own blade in his hand. Daniel groaned and yet another wave of energy bursted out of him pushing the angel from his chest. Castiel regained his balance quickly, circling around Daniel, and preparing for his next move. Meanwhile Dean was crawling on the floor to the center of the room with the angel blade in his hand.
“Please, stop!” Mary yelled. “Please! All of you!”
But Castiel didn’t even hear her, he attacked Daniel again so both of them flied from wall to wall between the two rooms cracking them. Another wave and both of them were tumbling on the floor in the middle of the room. Castiel was back on top of Daniel, ready to strike but the next moment something invisible kicked the blade out of his hands. The angel kicked Daniel in the jaw several times but then he was pushed on his back, and Daniel’s wrapped his fingers around his neck.
Dean chose this moment to jump on the Oakford’s son. The cold blade of the angel sword easily penetrating his skin and piercing his heart. For a second everyone was silent. Daniel looked at the tip of the sword poking from his chest and then at Dean with surprise.
“The thud and the buzz…” He said suddenly smiling. “It’s stopped…”
Daniel’s huge body fell to the floor with a quiet thump. In the background Dean heard Mary yelling something, but the blood in his veins was rushing so fast that he could barely hear it. In the next second a flash of light illuminated the room forcing Dean to shield his eyes with his hand. When everything was finally over he saw the body of Daniel lying on the floor with the burned print of two wings behind his back. His father rushed to Daniel, kneeling before him and pressing the body of his son to his chest.
“I’m… so sorry.” Mary said with sorrow crossing her features.
“Get out.” Gary cried. “All of you, get out!”
***“So, a half-angel?” Dean inquired leaning on the hood of his car. “It sounded like you knew his mom.”
The four of them returned to the motel, Sam and Mary were in the room gathering their stuff so they could leave town tonight.
“You knew her as well.” Castiel replied. “I had no idea why Anael decided to fall. I didn’t know she had a child with a human.”
“Anael? Wait a sec, do you mean Anna?” Dean said, surprised.
“Yes. Most likely she decided to fall after giving birth to return to this man and their offspring, but miscalculated and was reborn as a human child with no memory of what she was.”
“Well, that’s a new turn of events.” Dean sighed rubbing her head. “And why is that such a terrible sin? Is god that much against interspecies relationships?”
Castiel pierced the hunter with one of his meaningful looks and said: “You saw what happened with Daniel. A grace and a soul cannot possibly live in one consciousness. They start to attempt to overtake each-other and with time it makes the Nephilim crazy. There are stories about Nephilim walking the Earth corrupted by their state of mind. Some of them tried to be good, to help people, they were heroes at the beginning, but in the end all of them went crazy. That is why God sent Raphael and Uriel to wipe them from the face of Earth. God…” Castiel paused shifting uncomfortably. “… didn’t actually care much about angels and humans engaging in sexual relationships.”
Dean sighed, the conversation was starting to take an uncomfortable turn . The major role in the discomfort was caused by Castiel shifting uncomfortably and staring aimlessly at the ground.
“I think I should go.” He finally said and in the blink of an eye he’d disappeared.
Dean turned his head and saw his brother and Mary leaving the room with the bags in their hands. Mary dropped the bag to the trunk and walked around the car settling next to Dean.
“All, right, what?” Dean asked seeing her nearly crying expression.
Mary looked at the older Winchester sadly and sighed. “I just… Daniel was a good guy, you know.”
“Who was also a blood thistly monster killing everyone that he didn’t like.” Dean corrected.
“You don’t understand!” Mary protested.
“And what is it I don’t understand?” the hunter inquired. “He was one of the things we hunt, so we did.”
“We could have talked to him, we could’ve tried…”
“No we couldn’t.” Dean cut her off. “He was killing so we had to kill him. End of story.”
“I can’t believe…” Mary shook her head. “I thought that hunters fight evil, that they bring light to people’s life by saving them. And what, now five people are still dead. Gary Oakford was left in his house with the corpse of his own son. How is that fair?”
“Fair? You wanted it to be fair?” Dean laughed sarcastically. “You wanted to see what is like to be a hunter? So there, see for yourself. Nothing about it is fair.”
Mary turned her face away from her father, wiping tears from her cheeks. She bit her lip and then nodded.
“But we still make a difference.” Sam said when he suddenly appeared from her other side.
Dean looked at his brother and daughter then walked away opening the door of the driver’s seat. “Let’s go home.” He said.
To be continued...
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