We had just crossed the Montana state line when the familiar sound of wings filled the back seat. Castiel appeared between Cassidy and I, an urgent expression on his face. He turned towards me, eyes wide with panic, he grabbed my shoulder and only got one word out: "Rachel-" before everything went white and a deafening ringing filled my ears.
Castiel had his arms covering my head protectively when my eyes adjusted to the brightness of the room.
"Cas," I whispered, extremely freaked out, "What the hell was that?" His eyebrows were furrowed and there was a certain coldness in his eyes as he looked around the room.
"Angels." His one word reply sent shivers down my spine.
"What?" I looked around us again, the panic only getting worse, "How! You said-"
"You're powers burned through the warding. I heard the order to find you and had to try to get there before they did." He looked at me with fear in his eyes, "I am sorry I couldn't save you."
"Save me? Cas, where the hell are we?"
"A holding cell," He replied walking over to the pristine white wall, he ran a hand over the smooth surface, "We are in Heaven."
"You're messing with me right?" I forced a smile, but the look Castiel shot me not only squished my attempt to find light in the situation, it made me feel a fear I hadn't felt in months. "What do they want?"
"I am unsure," He said, his intense gaze searching the room over and over again, "But I am sure we will know soon enough." As if on cue, a panel in the wall rolled back, leading into another white hallway. Castiel looked back at me. "Stay close." He ordered.
I saluted and followed him from the holding cell. The hallways was comprised of the same white walls and floors as the cell, and everything seemed to emit its own type of light source. My hand drifted to the blank surface, it was cool to the touch like steel, and smooth as polished glass. "So this is where our souls go when we die." The whisper was more for my own thoughts than to Castiel, but the angel had a habit of crushing my dreams unintentionally.
"No," His voice was kind of harsh, like I was a child asking a repetitive question, "This is Heaven as angels experience it. It is formal, and nothing like what a human soul experiences." I looked at him confused, which was no surprise. "You don't remember anything from when you died?" My gaze fell back to our pale surroundings, and I shook my head.
"I would remember a place like this," I locked eyes back with him, "Even if this wasn't the Heaven I was supposed to see. When I died, I was in the dark. There was nothing but the void." He furrowed his eyebrows at me.
"That is highly unusual."
I laughed genuinely, "Castiel, I am highly unusual. Get used to it." He frowned and continued walking. Shaking my head softly, I couldn't help but smile. For an angel who has been around since the dawn of mankind, he was so dense sometimes. We rounded another corner, and Castiel stopped abruptly, making me walk into him. He kept giving me this look, like I was clumsy intern who kept spilling the morning coffee. Shit, was I the clumsy intern?
Before us, a slim woman with shoulder length blue-black hair stood with her arms over her chest. Her slender eyes studied us methodically.
"Castiel." She spoke with a calm but powerful demeanor.
"Charmeine," Cas replied staring her down. Charmeine, she was the angel of harmony. I glanced at Cas then back at Charmeine. She smiled at me, a false and official kind of smile that sent flash images of Evangeline through my mind. I took a small step back. Given my track record, I had no trust in angels. Well, except for Cas, but that was a given.
"Rachel Winchester," She looked just above my shoulders, "You're wings are coming in nicely."
"Do not talk to her." Castiel snapped. Sam and Dean had both warned me about who Castiel was. About what he used to be, and what he was capable. Those five words that fell from his lips confirmed all the stories and warning. Divine energy, my ass. Castiel was a walking atomic bomb with a deep seeded hurt towards the betrayal he suffered at the hands of Heaven.
"Relax Castiel," Charmeine said, the same fake smile plastered to her thin lips, "The child is in no immediate danger." Bullshit. I thought silently.
"Manners, Winchester." She said sternly, "Everyone can hear your thoughts here." Well then, you're all in for a treat, you fu-.
"Rachel," This time it was Castiel's stern warning that made me shut up.
"Sorry," I stated, feeling a slight bit of shame.
"What do you want with her?" The angel's smile faltered slightly at his question.
"We just want to talk with her." Her gaze fell upon me again, her dark eyes locking intently on my face, "She is rather remarkable after all." Another shudder passed involuntarily through my body.
"Indeed," Cas's reply was guarded. The sound of wings made me turn around, as two more angels flanked us. Their faces were expressionless, but I could tell by the glint in their eyes that they were on edge. Their gazes flickered briefly to me, before returning to Charmeine.
"Follow me, if you will," She turned on her heel and began to walk down the hallway.
"Like we have a choice," I murmured, stepping up to walk side-by-side with Castiel. He gave me a sideways glance, "What? They are going to hear it if I think it, so I might as well say it outloud." He shook his head and murmured one word: "Winchesters." I tilted my head at the response.
"Ouch." I replied, gaining another shake of his head. For as long as Cas has been apart of our family, I think he forgets how ridiculous and sassy any of us can be at a given time, especially in the face of a potential deadly situation. It was one of our many specialties. I felt my heart drop suddenly. My family had no idea where I was. The only thing that they had to go on, was that Castiel just randomly appeared in the backseat, freaked out, and then poof we were both gone. It had literally been less than a month since the last time I had disappeared.
"Cas," I hissed, "Does Dean know where I am?" The angel looked at me with distress. Based on that reaction alone, I knew that the answer was no. "Fantastic."
Charmeine led us down an few other hallways before she came to two large glass and metal doors. She opened the door on the right hand side and led us into the room. The interior of the room reminded me of the therapy rooms in the Psychiatric Hospital, except everything was perfectly composed here. Nothing was out of place.
"Please, sit" She instructed, pointing to two uncomfortable looking chairs. I hesitated, but Cas nodded at me and we both took a seat. "I must say," Charmeine continued, "It is remarkable to have you here Rachel. We have been following you for some time, but you were always just out of reach." Her words were not directly menacing, but I knew better than to trust her at face value. From the moment my wings started to grow, Castiel warned me that Heaven would be one of the entities that would be hunting me. It was one thing to understand that they were watching me, and a whole other thing to have the hunting confirmed. Charmeine studied my face, her bright but seemingly dead eyes made me stir in my seat. I felt Evangeline everywhere here.
"You said you wanted to talk, so talk," the words slipped from my mouth in a hushed tone. It felt weak, but I don't think I could have talked louder if I tried. She smiled.
"Indeed," Charmeine was sitting behind a silver desk, she leaned forward, "We have heard from various sources that you have something of value and I want to know if it is true. Furthermore, we want to know everything about the demon Lily. She is tampering with the fabric of death, and to put it simply, the reapers are not pleased."
"First," I began, "I don't know what you're talking about. If you haven't noticed all you nonhuman folks really enjoy your cryptic questions, so I am at a loss to tell you whether or not I have something of value."
"Rachel," Castiel warned.
"And second, how the hell should I know what Lily is doing? She is a demon, you guys are supposed to be the NRA on steroids! You know about everything on Earth."
"That is enough, Child," She stated, her eyes darkening.
"You said you wanted to talk, so we are talking." I glowered, "It's not my fault you can't handle criticism."
"Rachel." Castiel repeated harsher this time.
"You forget your place." Charmeine snapped, slamming her hands on the table. I locked my jaw, and the energy of the room came alive. I was livid with rage.
"You gave up my place when you sacrificed me to Evangeline." That was it, the trigger. Charmeine teleported across the table, one hand latching onto my throat the other freezing Castiel in place as he leapt from his chair.
"You will answer our questions, by choice or force," That was one of the thing people often forget about angels and demons alike. They were born from the same wave of "divine energy", and angels, like demons, could be just as violent.
"You can't scare me," I choked, greens eyes bright with hatred as my hands wrapped around her wrist. Castiel's blue eyes begged me to stop talking from their frozen state. Charmeine leaned in and smiled at me. The pressure from her hand was starting to make my vision go black.
"We shall see."
------------------
The frigid temperature of the table burned my skin. My head pounded, and my eyes watered. I could still feel her hand pressing down on my throat.
They had taken my flannel and my shoes, leaving me in my Scorpions tank top and blue jean. The wide metal cuffs bit into the edges of my skin on my hands and feet, making it impossible to really move, I struggled against the restraints anyways.
"Cas!" I yelled, "Castiel!" I tried to find any distinguishing markers about the room, but the only thing that I could see was a large glass window high above me on the wall. Closing my eyes, my hands clenched into fists and I tried to focus in on the power. My shoulders began to ache and I directed the energy to the restraints. When I let it go, I was electrocuted as the energy reverberated through the table. Like any rational person, I screamed in pain. It took the breath out of me. I had to close my eyes against the brightness of the room.
"You're an idiot," I said to myself quietly, "You're in Heaven with a bunch of pent up dicks with wings. And what do you do? Oh yeah the only freakin rational thing: be a smart mouth." I looked around the room again, "Cas!" I yelled once again.
"He can hear you." My head shot off the table to look for the voice, "Nice double chins." A young man in a white collared shirt and black dress pants stepped through the door that appeared in the wall in front of my feet. His charcoal hair was combed back and there was a clipboard in his hand. I scoffed and looked back at the ceiling.
"The least you could have done was sent someone ugly to torture me!" I barked, gaining a chuckle from the angel in the room. Like I said, they were going to hear anything I thought anyways so why not just say it?
"I'm flattered."
"You should be, there are a hell of a lot of monsters that would kill to be in your place right now."
"Well let's not get ahead of ourselves, if I can avoid cutting you up, I think it would be better for both of us." He grabbed a chair, and sat beside me. "So you are the one they have been talking about?" His eyes traced the lines of my face carefully. I turned my head to look at him.
"I'd send you finger guns, but the effect just isn't the same when I'm restrained." He smiled at my response, "What's your name?"
"Cadriel."
"No, I mean your vessel. What was his name?" My words were soft and quiet. He looked kind of taken aback.
"His name was Caspien." He stated after a pause. I nodded and looked back towards the ceiling.
"Tell him I'm sorry." Again, this response caught the angel off guard.
"Why would you be sorry?"
"Because I understand what it's like to be given a fate you didn't want." This time, the words caught in my throat, and I had to close my eyes to fight down the mist that wanted to rise to the surface. Cadriel didn't say anything for what felt like eons.
"You are not what I expected," His words were quiet, I heard him set the clipboard down against the chair, and he scooted to the edge of his seat. I turned my head and opened my eyes. His eyes were like tree rings, layers upon layers of brown stitched together by by flecks of gold. Angels all get this look on their faces when they are perplexed.
"What did you expect?"
"A monster, a soulless shell of a human that happened to have wings," He listed a few things, never taking his eyes off of my face, "But you are human, so very human." A rather cynical short laugh left my body in response.
"That's the issue: everyone forgets," I wouldn't admit it, but laying here I was more afraid than I was the last time I had been tortured. Lily and Kek both only had the intention of breaking me; the angels intended to understand how I worked, even if it meant killing me in the process. My mind fell onto a memory of Cas telling me about what to expect if Heaven got a hold of me. I had already encountered the use of an angel blade, but for whatever reason, I believed it would hurt more here.
"Tell me about Jesse Turner, the villain who"
"He wasn't a villain" I snapped harshly, "He was just a boy." Cadriel looked at me with a sadness that told me he was sorry for me, and for the pain I would have to live through. I heard a scream echo through the room, and my blood ran cold. It sounded like Castiel. I flexed against the restraints.
"Cas!" It was nearly impossible to tell where it came from, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. I turned back to Cadriel. "Please don't hurt him," I begged.
"Castiel is answering to his own crimes," He replied, grabbing the clipboard, he got to his feet and stood directly to my left. "Where is the Anti-Christ?"
"I don't know," my throat was like sandpaper. Cadriel looked towards the pane of glass, awaiting some kind of signal. He repeated the question.
"I don't know, I swear," my words were cold but honest. Again he looked towards the window, and my heartbeat sped up.
He walked back to the space where the door had been, it reappeared and in the doorway, there was a tall silver table with wheels. It would take an idiot to not recognise the tools of torture laying gleaming on the surface. Cadriel wheeled it back over to me, rolling up the sleeves of his white shirt. He reached for a small scalpel, my eyes went wide.
"Cadriel, I swear, I don't know." He didn't respond, "I am trying my hardest to be polite, but if you move that knife one inch closer to me I will-" The slice of the blade on my palm made me gasp. "I said I don't know!" I screamed at him, gritting my teeth, "Son of a bitch!" My head smacked into the table surface. "I told you, you shit bag!"
"You lied," He said stated blandly, "This is what happens to liars." I groaned as the open cut seeped.
"I take it back," I shot back at him, "You're a piece of shit and do not deserve any compliments." My chest heaved and I tried to regulate my breathing, which of course was shattered as the blade cut open the tips of my fingers.
"Where is he?"
"Dead!" I spat, "There, are you freakin happy? I killed him!" It was the first time I had said the words out loud. The angel smiled down at me.
"There we go, the truth."
"I didn't know that he was dead," I gritted my teeth, "I didn't know." Why ask if he already knew the answer? Was this some kind of torture based polygraph test?
"Next question," He set the scalpel down, and asked me a series of questions which I got correct, considering that he didn't torture me when I answered! That was, of course, until we got into the deeper questions. What were my powers? How did I control them? How did I learn about them? Where was Lily? These idiots thought we were somehow in communication with one another. Ah yes, I am totally calling up the freakin demon that wants to gut me infront of my family and the world in order to get revenge fo- I cut the thought off when I remembered that they could hear my thoughts.
"Revenge for?" Cadriel asked.
"Screw off." I bit back. He definitely wasn't pleased with that response. That was when shit hit the fan.
I had been right about the torture here. My previous experiences had been brutal but fast, in Heaven each slice was drawn out and more calculated. The blade was like a paintbrush on canvas, clean and smooth with each stroke. I could feel it splitting my skin inch by inch, and for the love of God I couldn't hold back. The pain left my lungs burning and my head spinning. My ears rang from the sound of my own screams. Yet, like we had discussed only minutes earlier, he forgot that I was still human, and the human soul is the strongest thing I had. Right now, it was the only thing I had.
"What is she building?" He snapped, the white of his shirt now stained with splashes of red.
"Your mom," I coughed, a groan of pain escaping as the cuts that now criss-crossed my stomach moved. He hit me in the ribs.
"How are you growing grace?" This was it, the big question. I looked away from him.
"Answer!" He demanded. I rested my head against the cold metal.
"I don't know." Cardriel had done a lot of damage, but now I was just getting pissed off. I could feel the skin trying to repair itself, but my body was in too much shock to actually fix anything. I locked my jaw and stared at the blank ceiling above me. Another scream echoed from somewhere, and a silent tear rolled down my face.
"Fine, we have other ways of making you talk," He turned back towards the table and lifted a two inch nail from the tools, Its silvery surface catching in the light. He returned at my side and showed me the nail. "This is made from the same material as angel blade, and it will burn until it is removed." I scowled at him, "You don't have to do this, just tell me the truth." Turning my head away from him, I squoze my eyes shut and waited. "As you wish." He grabbed the hammer from the table.
I started to shake as I heard its heavy head being lifted from the metal surface. A sob escaped me as I felt the nail's point be placed just below my elbow. When the blow came down, my vision went black and my body was set on fire, but I wouldn't look at him. He asked the question again, hitting the nail once more. I screamed but didn't reply, feeling it break through the skin.. The frustrated angel threw the hammer onto the table and stormed to the window.
"Get in here." He snapped at the dark pane of glass. Nothing happened for a moment, but the panel of the wall opened and Charmeine stepped into the room, wiping her stained hands on a grey towel, well it would have been grey if it wasn't for the disgusting amounts of blood that had soaked through it.
Charmeine walked up to me, and I made brief eye contact with her before forcing my gaze to the ceiling again. My body still shook from the repetitive burning coming from my arm. She didn't say anything for a long time. She studied me carefully before turning to Cadriel for some sort of answer.
"She still won't talk." His words empty of empathy and remorse. Twisting the nail in my arm, drew another cry of agony from my deprived lungs.
"Then drive another nail through her arm."
"Please," I hiccuped, body trembling, blood running from the corner of my mouth. He lifted the second nail and placed it at the base of my wrist, "Please! I'm telling the truth! I don't know how!" Instinctively I thrashed, the first nail scratching against the metal table through my skin. The hammer came down and I screamed so hard that I thought my lungs would burst, I couldn't breath from the pain. The sensation came in repeating waves, making my body spasm. I could feel my eyes start to roll into the back of my head. Charmeine gripped my face in her long hands, fingernails digging into the flesh of my cheeks. Leaning over me she stared down, with hatred in her eyes.
"Do you know what the chain of command is?" She hissed moving her hand to my throat. I whimpered as she put her weight into the hold. "It is the chain I go and get and beat you with until you understand who is in charge here." She released the viper like grip, and I coughed, the taste of blood flooding my mouth again. "We are just trying to protect you! Why won't you comply?"
I spit the blood from my mouth, feeling it on my teeth.
"Protect me!" I screamed at them, their blank faces staring down at me, "From what?"
"Yourself, child." The most disturbing aspect of the statement was that I could see the sincerity in her dead eyes. They believed it.
"Lying is a sin." I coughed. She slapped my face, the clap echoing around us.
"You are monster," She hissed, dragging a blade across my collar bone.
"Says the one torturing a child." She leaned away from me.
"You are no child."
"The only ones you are trying to protect is your pathetic selves."
She turned towards Cadriel, "Retrieve the extraction device." He nodded and left the room quickly. Charmeine's hateful glare was unwavering. I blinked slowly, feeling the exhaustion of the torture taking over. When Cadriel returned I opened my eyes to see what he was sent to get. He held what looked like traditional headgear for braces, except that along the headline of the gear, long ice-pick like screws stood waiting. I looked at Charmeine then back at Cadriel. I had no idea what this thing was but based on the vague distress I could see in Cadriel's eyes, I knew it wasn't going to be good.
He closed the space between us, as a scream from Castiel shook the room. My gazed locked onto Charmiene.
"Please, I told you everything I know." She smiled, seeing the terror in my eyes.
"Lying is a sin," She threw my words in my face. Cadriel walk around the table, and clicked something under the surface, it began to move into a seated position. Cadriel placed the device on my head, the weight of the metal making me lean against the back of the chair.
"Please," I whispered, as he adjusted the gear, lining up the ice-picks with center of my forehead. Charmiene clasped her hands behind her back, a complacent smile resting on her face. "Cas." I croaked, another tear running down my face.
"You, Rachel Winchester, are the product of evil and the result of tampering. Your soul is damned, and it is my obligation to revert you to serve Heaven despite your sinful existence," Her cool words shook me to my core.
"Castiel!" I cried again.
"He can't help you. No one can." Cadriel whispered in my ear as Charmiene kept talking.
"To allow you to walk among mankind is a crime upon the orders of Heaven, and thus you shall serve recompense." Cadriel began to twist the ice picks, their blinding sharp tips drilling into my face. I screamed as it burned and split the skin, sending blood trickling into my eyes.
"Your choice to deny us the truth will not stop us from obtaining it." I blinked at her, sobbing, "Do you yield to the Host of Heaven?"
"Eat me, bitch." My voice shook, but the words were clear. She nodded at Cadriel and he twisted the picks again, a scream of agony following.
"I will gut you as you lay here screaming. I will break you down and use you as I see fit. I will drain you of grace for all of eternity, and use it to build an army that will reset Earth as it should have been." She grabbed onto my throat again, nearly crushing my windpipe. "I am done watching Heaven be tormented by the Winchesters. I will destroy everything you hold dear and make you watch as you father is torn apart but the beasts of hell over and over again. Do you understand me." I sobbed once more, my lungs didn't even have time to refill before another gut wrenching scream was stripped from my body as the points began to grind into my skull. Between the blood in my mouth and the blood pouring down my face, I was drowning.
It was at that point that this deafening, eardrums shattering screech filled the room. Cadriel and Charmeine dropped to their knees covering their ears. The door to the room exploded, and there, standing in the glare and smoke was Castiel. His shirt was torn and bloody, punctures lined his brow, and his eyes glowed with the same blue-white light that I had seen when the gods had tortured me.
With a wave of his hand, he threw Charmeine and Cadriel against the wall, shattering the window. His eyes continued to glow as he approached me. Clicking another button under the chair, he released the restraints, revealing my horrifically bruised ankles and wrists. Carefully, he untwisted the picks, removing the extraction device, and lifted me from the chair. The angels hadn't broken my legs, which I was grateful for. I stood shaking beside Castiel, clutching my arm that still had the nails in it, to my chest.
His illuminated irisis stared at me, like he was looking into my soul. Then his head snapped in the direction of the window, as if he could hear something I couldn't. He looked back at me, a fierce expression carved into the lines of his face. This wasn't Cas, the goofy angel that fought alongside the Winchesters. This was Castiel, the angel that led garrisons without mercy.
"Run. I will follow." He ordered, his voice ringing with a tone that could only be described as other worldly. He walked towards the fallen bodies of the angels as I stumbled through the door. Heaven was shaking with chaos, and I had no idea where I was going. Clutching my burning arm to my chest, I tried to avoid running into the walls, as my bloody hand prints would be a perfect map to follow me.
My legs wanted to give out on, but I knew that stopping wasn't an option.
"You can do this," I breathed, forcing myself forward, "You have to do this." I burst around a corner, hearing an explosion behind me, accompanied by shouts. A blaring siren acting as the soundtrack to the noise. How does one find her way out of heaven? Above me, a collection of words caught my eye.
My frazzled attention took a second to recognize what it was saying. It was a name. This hallways was lined with doors, and each one had a name above it, all organized alphabetically. The shouts got closer, and in a moment of relative panic, I opened the first door, stepping into the unknown.
The name above the entrance:
Aubrey Cardarelli.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Author's Note:
Boom! Cliff hangers! What will happen? You don't know? Good thing I do!
Thank you guys so much for all of your love and support. Y'all are the best.
ALSO, I am totally unprepared for the season finale (5/17/2018) this Thursday! Speaking of the show, folks make sure that you go and sign the the petition for Wayward Sisters. CW tossed out the idea for the show, which feels like a real kick in the teeth. You can find the link at Kim Rhodes's twitter account. There is a lot happening in the fandom, so remember to stay strong and offer support to our SPN Family if you can. You can find the link by going to my twitter page.
Keep a look out for the next update! It's coming faster than you think. I am working to finish the book by the end of the month and submit it to the Watty's so tell your friends! I'll keep you all posted with more details as they come.
Carry on wayward siblings,
Rachel