~*~*~*~
"Andrea! Wake up!"
Bobby's voice startled me awake, my hand instantly gripping the gun inside of my pillow. It didn't take me long to recognize that the other side of the bed was empty and I had a horrible feeling that I knew exactly what had transpired.
Cursing myself for falling asleep, I launched out of bed and straight into the living room. "Where is he?" I said quietly. My voice was the calm before the storm that promised the coming destruction.
"Adam's gone. Cass just brought back Dean. He's in a hell of a shape down in the panic room-"
Not bothering to let him finish, my feet were already leading me down stairs. I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to shake him until he understood how much pain he was causing all of us. There was so much I wanted to do, but when I walked into the panic room and saw him cuffed, beaten and bloody, to the cot in the middle of the room, all I could do was sink to my knees in front of him.
"He'll be okay," Sam whispered. He was sulking in the far corner of the room, out of sight. "Castiel just got a little upset."
I shook my head, face scrunched up as I tried to keep myself from letting out the frustration and tears that threatened to expose my feelings. "He won't be okay. He left us twice. He'll try again." My voice was hoarse with emotion.
Sam didn't respond. Instead, the only sound between us was the tick of our watches marching time forward in perfect synchronization. The sound echoed in the little room, louder and louder until it was almost deafening and the room seemed to close in around me. My thoughts even seemed to be too loud as one single notion raced through my mind over and over: I had to end this. Standing up and wiping my damp cheek angrily, I spun around.
"Where are you going?" Sam asked, worry lacing his features at the sight of my warpath expression.
I managed to take a deep breath. "He's gonna wake up." The statement was obvious as I pointed at the unconscious man I had unwittingly fallen in love with. "I'm not sure if you're gonna let him go or not, but he's gonna wake up. And when he does," I clenched my hands to keep them from shaking, "you all will go looking for Adam. If you need me, don't. Because I've gotta do something." Sam's expression was enough to make me almost take back what I had said, but instead, I hardened my heart and rose a hand to quiet any attempt to change my mind.
"Andy, you're not making any sense!"
My smile was heart breaking, perhaps the most open my expression had been in a long time. "I know, Jolly. I know. But promise me you won't give up on our little band of misfits. We have a chance." I made my way over to him and kissed his cheek softly. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Andy-"
"When he wakes up, you tell him I'm gone. Tell him that I still believe he'll do what's right. But if he doesn't, you tell him I'll be the one to kill him." Something unrecognizable passed across Sam's face at my words, but it was gone before I could decipher it. "Aim straight, Jolly." I told him, walking away quickly.
His sorrowful voice followed me out. "Happy hunting, Short Stack."
The old stairs creaked beneath my feet as I climbed them back to the main floor. I didn't acknowledge Castiel or Bobby as I went back to my room to grab my keys. I had to talk to Gabriel. He had to have a plan.
My things were easy to throw back into their duffle, the work a welcome distraction. With the pistol returned to its holster and my toothbrush stowed, I was walking through the house and out of the front door.
"Andrea!" Bobby's voice stopped me in the doorway as I went to leave. "Where the hell do you think you're going?"
I didn't turn to face him. The wind chilled me through my sweatshirt, focusing my thoughts for a moment. "I've gotta talk to someone." The door slammed behind me as I jogged toward Stanley, the loud bang cutting off any response from Bobby. "Gabe!" I yelled into the night, yanking open the driver's door. "Gabriel!"
As soon as I sat down he appeared beside me. "Well, someone certainly has their panties in a twist." He mused watching me turn over the engine.
"Last week." His eyebrow raised, waiting for me to continue as I pulled out of the graveyard of cars. "Last week you told me you thought you found something."
He hesitated, watching me. "Yes."
"What is it." There was no question in my tone. I wasn't asking. I was demanding.
The silence was thick between us as the wheels turned in his divine head. "Andrea, are you sure? I told you-"
"I know the risks, Gabe, and I know I have a larger role to play in this freaking Apocalypse than I would care to admit." I shot him a look that could turn blood to ice. White knuckling the steering wheel, I took a deep breath. I was terrified. There's no other way to put it. If Dean wanted to save the world on his own, fine. But I would do it my way. One more deep breath replaced any fear I had with anger. "That's why we're going hunting: risks be damned."
XxXxX
"Bobby, now's not really the best time-"
"And when exactly would you want me to call, Princess?" His tone was biting, but I suppose I deserved it.
"Oh, I don't know, perhaps when I'm not scaling the side of a mountain in Dubai!" Surprisingly, however, the cell service up here was amazing. Readjusting my hook, I tried not to think about just how high up I was. It didn't matter. Only about a hundred feet higher and it would be fine. I could do this. Why Gabriel couldn't just poof us to the top was beyond me. He's tried explaining it, but I'd had to chalk it up to some Angel hocus pocus.
He laughed dryly through the phone. "Is that where you are now? I thought you were in Egypt."
"That was three days ago."
"How do you even get service that far up?"
"I don't know, Bobby! Does this call have a purpose? You called the emergency line!"
"Don't yell at me, missy. I'm not the one that ditched her family like an unwanted prom date."
That hurt. Gritting my teeth, I pulled myself up a little higher, continuing to climb. Gabe had made me swear I wouldn't tell them anything because if anyone caught wind of what we were doing, we wouldn't stand a chance. I shouldn't have even told Bobby where I was. That was putting us both at risk. But Gabriel was off looking for the other ingredients we needed and I didn't want him to be the only one to know where I was if I died here.
My voice was small. "I didn't ditch you. I'm taking care of you. I told you before, I might have found another solution."
"But you can't tell me."
"It's not safe," I sighed, climbing higher. "So what can I help you with?"
Silence followed my question, crackling over the other end of the line. "Look, it seems like a pretty routine gig, but I've got a funny feelin-"
The words sent a jolt through me as a memory flashed through my head. Gazing out at the rising sun, I couldn't quite place the moment. "A feeling?" Maybe I could have been lighthearted about it, but there was a feeling of dread that interlaced with every word: he had to be talking about the boys.
"Yeah. A feeling. Last I heard, the boys were just outside of Muncie, Indiana in the middle of a downpour."
I bit my lip, trying to think about why he was telling me. "I'm continents away, Bobby. What do you expect me to do?"
Silence filled the line again, wind whipping around me as I dangled off of the side of an ancient mountain with bated breath. For a moment, I was concerned I'd lost the call before he finally spoke again. "I don't know, Andy." The soft sound of him anxiously wetting his lips whispered through the phone between his words. "You were the first person I could think of to call."
The rope I was strapped to gave a soft moan of distress, keeping me from responding. "Bobby, I've gotta go. I'll call you soon?"
"Just try not to get yourself killed." The other end of the line went dead, its silence almost deafening in my ear.
"Yeah," I muttered, "you, too."
There wasn't much time to reflect on the less than joyful phone call with my only living father figure, however, because suddenly my rope- the one thing holding me safely to the side of the mountain was fraying just above my head. Fear coursed through me as I watched, almost helplessly. When I tell you my eyes were as wide as saucers, I'm referring to flying saucers with little green Martians piloting them. There was no one around, and nothing I could see, but suddenly my lifeline was being hacked away by an invisible adversary.
"You've gotta be shitting me." I deadpanned, shaking my head and plunging the phone into my bra before securing myself onto the cliff side. No sooner had I clutched my final limb to the rockface that the rope slid from my harness, a zipping sound following it's decent down the mountain as I stared dumb founded after it.
There was no longer any denying it: I was screwed.
As if sensing my lack of confidence, the thing which had already attempted to murder me a mere moment before was now completely visible, staring at me with large golden eyes that matched its beak. It's feathers matched the dark grey of the mountain behind it, camouflaging it almost completely into the background. Each talon seemed to be three times the size of my head. Suffice to say, I would likely make a light snack before bed for this bird of prey.
"I'm gonna take a wild guess here and assume you aren't a regular bird?"
From its perch on the plateau of the mountain- also the exact spot I needed to be, go figure- it was quick to call out angrily a mighty caw, shaking the rock beneath my finger tips before it latched onto the nearest boulder and attempted to drop it onto my head.
"A simple no would have been fine!"
The bird swooped around me in a predatory fashion. Plan after plan swirled through my head, much faster than it used to only two weeks prior. With that to preoccupy me, I was able to keep myself from focusing on the problematic things: like how the monster's wingspan seemed to be three Sams stacked on top of each other, or how the throat was wide enough to swallow two of me whole. Instead, my thoughts crafted a song and a key that would be my only option in such a case as this.
"Can you hear me, little bird, sitting on the edge?
Can you see me, little bird, just below your bed?
Listen closely, little bird, I've a story to tell.
Respond quickly, little bird, you won't like when I yell."
It watched me carefully with it's unnerving gaze of gold, tilting its head as if caught in my trance. The atmosphere was hard to sing in, but I hadn't been training for months to use my accursed gift in extreme circumstances for nothing. With more demand, I poured the magic into my words and continued.
"Come in close, little bird, and be very gentle here.
In your talons, little bird, you'll grip me close and dear.
Then to the top, little bird, fly me to the cave.
And once I've finished, little bird, obey when you're called Dave."
The ending was definitely not my best work, but for on the spot, it wasn't too bad. Gabriel would call this a level 3 threat, meaning I would likely be able to sing in some continued obedience using trigger words if I could get it to rhyme. I used everything he'd taught me and everything we'd learned together, so theoretically it should be smooth sailing.
But when has it ever been smooth sailing?
On the bright side, my new friend Dave was listening well and flew down to where I was clinging desperately to the side of the mountain. My heartbeat pounded in my ears, matching the throbbing in my fingers as I used muscles I wasn't even aware I had. The only problem arose when he was trying to grip me with his talons. Maybe I had overestimated how he would take the word gentle because when he lifted me, each talon dug into my shoulder, ripping through my clothing and slicing each shoulder to ribbons. "Damn it, Dave!"
My outcry startle the poor monstrous bird above me as he flew me higher, surprising him just enough to drop me.
Thousands of feet in the air.
"Catch me, Dave, you birdbrain!"
Wind whipped past my face as I tumbled through the air, cursing like a sailor and promising to haunt the shit out of Dean Winchester if I died in this stupid way. Right before I crash landed into an out jetting slab of rock, Dave scooped me onto his back and soared into the sky. Let me tell you, that boy was not nearly as soft as I thought he would be. Instead, his feathers seemed to slice my fingers as I buried them deep into his neck, my fear of falling for a second time worse than each drop of blood that fell on his coat. Without explanation, the blood seemed to set off a reaction as each feather changed to pure gold glistening in the sunrise.
Dave landed with a thud, jolting me enough to slide from his back. "Thanks." I mumbled, glancing at him as I steadied myself and ignored the immense pain I was feeling. "Wait for me, Dave."
The giant bird cawed loudly in response, tilting his head slightly as if to try to figure out why he hadn't eaten me yet. Nausea swirled in my stomach as I walked away. Keeping an eye on him out of my peripherals, I let my gaze sweep over the small little hideaway. At second glance- the first one being filled with horrific gasps at the piles and piles of bones that crunched beneath my boots at each step- I couldn't help but notice the glass tomb at the back of the cave. Gold detailing covered the base, twisting and spiraling like vines trying to ensnare the glass forever. A hole in the cave roof allowed sunlight to fall dramatically on the coffin like a spotlight. To be perfectly honest, it reminded me of Snow White right before the prince finds her and decides to kiss a dead corpse that's been rotting in glass for a while.
Gross.
Of course, perhaps I couldn't judge him too quickly because our missions at the moment were closely akin to one another.
Dave stayed where he was, watching me closely as I hummed nervously. The only song in my head at the moment was a strange mix between whatever I'd just sang for the giant bird and Watcha Say by Jason Derulo. Neither one were very good to begin with, so you can imagine how horrendous the combination was. My footsteps echoed back to me, giving a soft accompaniment
to my obnoxious humming as I continued deeper in. A dull thud sounded behind me as Dave settled in.
Inching ever closer, I reached the glass coffin far sooner than I hoped I would. Lucky for me, it didn't seem as though there were any noxious fumes coloring the air beneath. Instead, the woman in the box seemed as if she were only sleeping.
Which made what I was about to do so much worse.
Gulping hard, I crossed my fingers and hoped that there wouldn't be any booby traps attacking me when I pushed the glass top off. The prying was difficult to say the least. It wasn't even that it was rusted shut. The stupid thing was just heavier than Dean after eating his weight in pie. With one last heave, I managed to drop the case onto the floor of the cave, glass shattering everywhere in its wake.
But I hardly even noticed.
Instead, I stared down, almost transfixed, at the woman lying in the coffin. There was no telling sign that she was dead. The head scarf she wore was a magnificent blue, matching her skirt perfectly. Her deep olive skin seemed to have a beautiful, healthy glow, despite having been dead for thousands of years. It's only flaw being a hole through each hand. Golden jewelry lined her wrists and dangled from her ears. No one could compare to this woman's beauty, let alone her cheek bones. But the most striking part about her was still hidden.
"Real sorry about this, lady." I mumbled. Gulping, my hand slipped into the pocket of my khaki cargo pants to retrieve the one tool Gabriel had given me prior to sending me on this insane adventure: a melon ball scooper.
Dave huffed angrily behind me as if he knew where this was going. However, my grumbly apology to the both of them did nothing to ease my stomach, nor his sudden pacing. Biting the inside of my cheek, I steeled myself for the worst and opened the first eye. Magnificent, glassy blue irises stared blankly up at the sky above; their color was so electrifying that every hair on my body seemed to stand on end. Swallowing the bile that had risen to my throat, I made quick work of it. Eyeballs are surprisingly easier to scoop out than I had anticipated.
Though I could do without the squelching sound that came with it.
As soon as the optic nerve had snapped (I remembered the name of this only because I'd gotten to dissect an eye once in high school and never forgot it), Dave howled in a high and fearful tone. It felt more as though he were losing his sight, not the woman in the golden coffin. But I didn't have time to worry about Dave. Every second that passed crept us closer and closer to Doom's Day. The sooner I finished this mission, the sooner I could get back to my boys. Like it or not I would be standing with them at Armageddon: the question was whether they would be beside me or against me.
The second eye was much the same as the first. Dave continued to scream as he paced the mountain top and I dropped the eyeballs into a ziplock baggie. "Sorry, again." I mumbled, giving the dead, eyeless girl a meager wave in apology. Though I felt guilty, there was still some monstrous part in me that enjoyed the feeling of taking whatever I desired. But thinking too much about that part made me even more nauseous than the eyeballs had.
Dave glared at me menacingly. For a moment, I feared I would have to try and fight this Big Bird looking thing for real. But I seemed to be worried for nothing. The moment I stepped out of the cave and into the sunlight, I needed only to say his name for him to be back under my control. This was the first time my power had lasted so long, and I was honestly pretty excited to tell Gabe about it. Asking the tallest Sesame Street character to fly me down the mountain was almost too easy: save for the razor blade feathers sawing at my clothing and fingers.
The wind was frigid as it whipped past us, but the warmth of pride kept me limber as I noticed the ground coming quickly toward us. I'd done it. I'd retrieved almost all of the ingredients needed to contain the Devil. Now all I needed was- "Gabriel!" I cried out in excitement at the sight of him. Dave landed with a clunk, bouncing me off of him and right onto the ground.
"Smooth, Ace."
I sent him a glare of my own, rivaling Dave's. "Shut up, Halo." Turning to the large grey and gold bird, I gave it an awkward thumbs up. "You're free to go, Dave." Though he didn't respond, he did ruffle his feathers in annoyance and launch back into the sky, so I took that as confirmation that he would be alright.
Turning back to Gabriel, I found him watching the bird with an intrigued look etched upon his face. "How the hell did you tame a Roc?"
"A rock? You mean the mountain?" I shrugged, "lots of will power and workouts."
The Angel shook his head. "Roc. The legendary bird of prey? It's specific to this region. Feathers of stone turn to gold when mixed with blood."
"That explains a lot."
"Speaking of," Gabe let his sentence trail off as he stepped closer to me and tapped my shoulder, healing both it and my hands in an instant. "Much better. Can't have half a card under your sleeve. Need the whole thing for the trick to work. Now where's those big blue melons I sent you out for?" Rolling my own eyes, I pulled the ziplock from my pants pocket and tossed it gently toward my companion. It was nice having pockets for a change. "'See no evil,'" he quoted, admiring the prize. "Excellent. It's said the eyes of Zarqa' Al-Yamama can see into the future. The power is so strong that it can effect others with the same power after long term exposure. Likely happened to your Roc friend- what'd you call him?"
"Dave. Long story. Now what?" My arms were crossed as I waited for my next task.
"Now?" Gabriel raise an eyebrow at me. Tucking the eyeballs into my back back and tossing it to me, he pressed his lips into a thin line. "Now we go save your boyfriend and his moose brained brother."
My eyes widened, my pulse racing before I could even comprehend what he was saying. "Save them from what?" The pack settled on my back as I squeezed the straps anxiously.
A soft breeze ruffled the trees gently, causing the birds to chirp. All of them. Dave was loudly attempting to chirp from his spot on the mountain. Gabe gulped. "My brother came to the party a little earlier than expected and found your boys rendezvousing with a heap load of old gods. To put it lightly, shit's going down."
"Well? What are we waiting for? Let's go!"
"Hold on!" Gabe held up a hand to stop me, the other reaching into his pocket to throw something at me. "Put this on and do not take it off."
After catching the small trinket, my eyebrows furrowed. "A necklace?" It had a dainty silver chain with a clear glass vial attached. Symbols I assumed to be enochian were etched skillfully into its sides.
"Don't say I never gave you anything. Now put it on and let's go." The arch Angel extended his arm to me and, after clasping the necklace around my neck, I was quick to latch on. "Bend your knees," he warned, not giving me enough time to react before we were crash landing in the midst of chaos.
I fell face first into a large warm mass that sent electricity through every inch of my body. His scent hadn't even hit me, yet I knew it was Dean Winchester. "Andy?" He spluttered out in surprise, pushing me out of his chest so that I could finally see him and everything else around me. Apparently we were hiding wonderfully behind a flipped table.
"Enough chit chat," Gabe demanded, reaching past me to push what looked to be a dvd case into Dean's hands. "Guard this with your life." I mirrored the Winchester's surprise as Gabe left our small sanctuary and flashed into the battle, sending his older brother flying across the room. "Luci, I'm home."
Dean whacked my arm for snorting at that as we peeked over the edge. Gabriel was holding out his arch Angel blade, pointing it at his brother in warning while helping a beautiful eastern woman in red to her feet.
"Brother." Lucifer said with a smirk. His vessel seemed to be faring poorly. Red sores covered his ashy face where flesh continued to peel away from the bone.
Gabriel stopped his advance with the raising of his blade. "Boys, take Kali and Andy and go." Sam and Dean seemed to listen without a thought, but my mind was reeling as Dean dragged me after him.
"But-"
"Go, Andrea!" His voice boomed across what I assumed to be a hotel conference hall. Carnage covered the room as the Devil stared us down greedily, never losing eye contact as Gabriel covered us with his blade drawn.
The boys seemed to breathe a little easier as our group made it down the hall, but my hearing had heightened as I tried to hear Gabriel and whatever plan he had. Because he had to have a plan. This wasn't like him. He didn't go into anything without 15 escape routes.
"All this over a girl? Gabriel, I knew you were slumming but I hope you didn't catch anything."
"Shut up." Gabriel's voice was hard, but I knew him well enough to hear the tremor of fear at the end of it. "Lucifer, you're my brother and I love you, but you are a great big bag of dicks."
"Andy!" I lost the conversation as Dean jerked me along to go faster, practically at the doors. Somehow I hadn't even realized I'd slowed down.
Yanking my hand out of his grasp, I shook my head. "No. No." Panic was rising in my chest, threatening to take over. This was wrong. This was all wrong.
"Andy," Dean's tone was softer now, but still urgent as his green eyed gaze bore into me. He tried to reach for me once more, only for me to step back.
"No! We can't leave him! He's going to die! We can't let him die!"
"Andy, there's nothing we can do!"
"I can! I can help! You don't understand-"
"No!" Dean stepped toward me aggressively. "You can't!" My face was a mix of confusion as I stared him down. "You know what future me said before we tramped off to face the Devil? He said you lose. We lose. You try to face the Devil, and you lose. Well, guess what, Andy? I'm not losing you." I don't know when I started crying, but the tears were silent as they dripped down my face, his blurred person taking large steps toward me. "Not today."
"Let's go!" Sam told us, anxiety riddled in his voice and his posture as he held open the hotel door. I didn't move.
"Andy." Dean whispered in a fearful voice, close enough to bring a hand up to wipe a tear from my cheek. "Please."
I swallowed hard, managing to nod before my hand was gripped once more and I was dragged toward the car. But as we began to climb in, a blinding white light came from the building, meaning only one thing. My chest began to burn and even without heightened sense I knew we'd lost Gabriel. I managed to walk a few steps to the door before crumbling. It were as though all of the blood had been drained from my body as I fell to the ground like a rag doll. The only thing I could manage to do was scream.
And scream I did.
The sound was earth shattering. Glass from the hotel windows began exploding left and right at the sound of it. Had I been able to open my eyes, I would have seen Kali and the Winchester's hunched over and covering their ears. But I didn't see that. All I could see was my last hope at ending all of this slipping through my fingers with no way to stop it.
We were doomed.
The scream didn't seem to end. I had no need to draw breath and there was nothing to stop the ache in my heart. Or, so I thought. It was actually the electricity from Dean's touch that brought me to my senses. My eyes opened to find him staring at me with a hand on my shoulder, his mouth moving without words. But as my gaze caught sight of blood dripping from his ears, the scream died in my throat without warning. I'd hurt him.
"Andy," he mumbled, jaw clenched in pain. "It's time to go home."
I couldn't answer him as my throat seemed to have closed, but I didn't fight as he picked me up and laid me in the backseat of the Impala. Home. How much longer would we even have a home to go to? If Gabriel was gone, how were we supposed to win? I'd told him we would fight Lucifer, risks be damned. Yet, I never could have expected this.
Risks be damned, indeed.
__________
YALL. I am incredibly sorry about how long this took to update. Life has been crazy, but I won't make excuses. Thank you for all of the love you've given this book and continue to give it! I am so excited to start writing the ending. Please continue to reach out and thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading.
Dedications go to: @nivedithapanni , @KinderCa and @acgwatt . I cannot thank you guys enough for the kind comments and understanding in my difficult time of life. I appreciate y'all so much.
Sending all my love,
BrieD