Strange Relations

Chapter 31

Mintha strolled slowly down the corridors in Heaven. It appeared as if Michael was the only one to take note of her absence. Most of the angels she passed, smiled, nodded or greeted her in some way.

She rounded the corner that led to her office and came to a halt. "Excuse me, what are you doing?"

The two angels who had quite obviously been trying to remove the warding, jumped away from the door looking guilty.

"Aramintha, we're so sorry, Michael said you left Heaven and he was certain you were keeping something from him in your office, he asked us to try and get in," the female angel answered.

"Is that so?"

"Yes."

"Well, I'll have to have a little talk with my brother about personal space. I suggest you step away from the door unless you'd like to be deep fried extra crispy." Though it appeared from the stain on the far wall someone had already attempted to get in at least once already. She spun away and strode quickly to Michael's office, barging inside without knocking.

"Aramintha, this a bit of a surprise."

"I leave for five minutes and suddenly you're authorizing people to break into my office! That's my personal space, Michael!"

"No, it is Heaven's personal space."

"Screw you, it's my office stay out."

"You left Heaven, what did you expect me to do?" He arched a brow at her.

"I left to go check on my garrison, dammit! You remember them, right? The ones you tried to murder in order to get me back here! Have a little faith, asshole."

He sat back in his chair, the irritating little grin she abhorred on his face. "A little birdie told me the Winchester's have, or rather had, my lance."

"Great, I'll check into it."

"No need, the birdie also told me they entrusted it to you to keep safe."

"Is that so? Does this little birdie happen to go by the name of Linq?"

He shrugged. "It doesn't matter how I got the information, I have it, now where is my lance?"

She took a step back from his desk. "I have no clue, as far as I know, it's still on that ancient battlefield where you lost it dipshit!"

"Now, now, Aramintha, there's really no need for name calling. Give me the lance and we can forget this."

"Fuck you, I don't have your stupid evil little toothpick."

He sighed heavily. "I suppose I should have seen this coming, I should have known this was impossible."

"Known what was coming?"

He stood. "I should have seen there was no reforming you, no bringing you home, you've spent too much time on Earth. You've become corrupted by those foolish mortals."

She threw her head back and laughed. "There's nothing to reform, I am who I have always been, if you can't see that then we have nothing to discuss and I will be leaving, for good this time."

"No, Aramintha, you won't. I will not let you leave, you must pay for your betrayal of Heaven."

The door opened behind her and she glanced back to see four angels crowded in the doorway. She turned back to Michael. "You honestly think they can, what, haul me away? Lock me up in Heaven's dungeons maybe? Do I get a cell beside Gadreel?"

He shook his head. "Gadreel is no longer contained in the dungeons, but if you'd like I can put you beside Metatron."

She snorted. "No thanks, I don't want to be anywhere near that arrogant asshole, just1 as much as I don't want to be near you. Goodbye, Michael, good luck with your apocalypse and all that." She turned and smiled at the four angels. "You move out of my way and you live."

They looked nervously at one another but remained standing firmly in her path.

"You are not leaving, Aramintha," Michael repeated.

She rolled her eyes and turned back to him. "Really, is that your final word on the subject?"

"Indeed, it is. Go quietly and it will be better for you."

"Why should I go quietly? I don't want to be locked away in the dungeons. I did nothing wrong, you have no proof!" she yelled at him.

He stepped around the desk. "I don't need proof, I am in charge and what I say goes!"

"Actually, Dad is in charge, you're just a placeholder." She poked him in the chest. "Get over yourself."

His hand flashed out and she was thrown back into the wall. She hit the ground with a groan and rolled to her back, gasping for breath. Yeah, she should have known better than to let it get this far, she knew her brother too well to have allowed that to happen.

He appeared above her looking grim. "Give in, you can't beat me and we both know it."

She placed a hand firmly on the ground and pushed up, forcing herself to rise, no matter how much of a bad idea she knew it was. "I am not going to let you lock me away!" she snarled at him.

Michael shook his head in what she guessed was supposed to be a show of sadness over her stubbornness, she honestly didn't care what it was.

His fist connected with her jaw, sending her flying once again.

This time he didn't leave it at that and he didn't try to talk her out of anything, he rained blows down on her until she believed he intended to kill her.

He finally stepped back with a look of grim satisfaction. "Take her away and lock her up." He turned to sit back behind his desk and stopped. "Put her next to Metatron."

The angels hauled her to her feet and dragged her into the hallway, heading for the dungeons.

"Okay, who wants to let go first?" she muttered through her split and bleeding lips. Not one of the four angels answered. "No one? So, you're all going to follow my brother stubbornly into the next apocalypse. Suit yourselves then."

A bright flash of light filled the corridor, leaving behind a pile of ash where the four angels had stood. There was no sign of Aramintha.

She appeared in the bunker library, staggered once and fell flat on her face, something she knew Laurel would never let her live down.

Sam appeared at her side. "Mintha? Hey, stay with me, are you all right?" He gently rolled her to her back.

"That's a stupid question, do I look all right?" she mumbled. "Fetch Stephanie for me, will you?"

Wyatt jumped up from where he sat at the table. "I'll get her!" He dashed from the room.

"What happened?" Sam asked.

Her vision was fuzzy but she tried to remain focused on Sam's voice, she could feel herself losing consciousness, which generally wasn't a good thing. "Michael happened. Guess he was a bit miffed I left again. Couldn't convince him it was just a short trip." She groaned as she tried to move her left arm. "We have a problem in the meantime."

"What kind of a problem?"

She groaned again as Stephanie knelt beside her and began poking and prodding her injuries. "Michael knows I have the lance, he doesn't know where it's being kept, but he knows you entrusted it to me."

"That is a problem. How did he find out?"

She yelped as Stephanie moved her arm.

"Sorry, Mintha, I think it's broken," Stephanie told her with a sigh.

"I figured," she muttered, she tried to focus on Sam's blurry figure. "I have an idea who told him, but no proof." She yelped again.

Stephanie bit her lip. "We need to move her to the infirmary and someone needs to get Gabriel. I can't heal her, she's an archangel, we're going to need Gabe."

Sam scooped her into his arms and let Stephanie lead the way while Wyatt made a second trip to Gabriel's room to fetch the man himself.

Sam sighed as he laid Mintha down on one of the beds in the infirmary, he had a feeling that it was going to be a long night.