I hadn't seen my dad in weeks. Sure I heard from him every now and again but it didn't make me feel any better. I didn't tell anyone about my fear of going outside. I think Balthazar knows. I usually go on walks with him with a blade up my sleeve. If an angel or demon did show up, he could protect me or I could try and protect myself. We were walking into town now,
"Why did dad leave?" I asked,
"To try and fix this" Balthazar replied, "Cassie's usually the responsible one. With all these angels here, it means more that could find you" I sighed,
"But he's human now, why can't he have you or Gabriel do it?" I stopped and looked up at him now,
"Because he loves you and he'd do anything for you" Balthazar continued walking and I walked beside him, "How've you been getting on at nights?"
"What do you mean?"
"Honey, I don't sleep which means I know what you get up to at nights. Still not able to leave the bunker alone?"
"Not comfortably" I looked on, seeing the shops up ahead, "And definitely not unarmed"
"Well that's just common sense" Balthazar huffed, "Young girl like you against angels and demons without a weapon?" I raised my eyebrows,
"I guess you didn't hear how I met the Winchesters" I replied, heading into a shop. I grabbed what I needed, smiling briefly at the girl at the till as her friends waved to me. Balthazar was outside, ready to escort me back,
"Could you not have just told the boys what you wanted and let them get it?"
"If I stay in the bunker any longer, I'm gonna go crazy"
"Fair enough" He put his hands in his pockets, "What were you saying earlier?"
"Nothing" I sighed,
"It's a long walk back"
"I was hunted by demons for days before I met Sam and Dean"
"How long?"
"Four, maybe five days. They were quite a blur"
"Hmm" Balthazar seemed impressed, "I'm surprised they didn't send the dogs to hunt you down?"
"They did" I replied,
"Hell hounds track down people whose soul contracts are up. There's no escaping them" He stopped walking and I had to turn back to him, "How did you escape?"
"The hounds can't climb" I replied,
"You just hung out in a tree?" He raised an eyebrow,
"No, I hung out on rooftops. I spent a whole night on one, nearly bled out from injuries" Balthazar's face contorted in sympathy, "It was also raining" He smiled, putting his hand on my shoulder,
"You're one tough kid" He walked on with me, arm over my shoulder, "Now that angels can't fly, you've got just as much of a chance at losing them as demons"
"Not on a straight road like this" I sighed,
"You'll be fine" Balthazar smiled, "You can heal quickly, the only thing to leave any lasting damage is sitting in your sleeve"
"Will it work on hell hounds?"
"It should. You can also zap away from them"
"I've only ever done it by accident and it wasn't very far" Balthazar hummed again. Within the trees on our side of the road, I caught sight of movement. My head spun towards it, eyes scanning every inch but I couldn't find anything. There was silence while as we walked back,
"You been writing anything new?"
"Nothing" I said, taking my eyes off the trees and back on our own path, "Kaleb and the other angel are quiet. Still don't who's who"
"As long as none of them ask you to do anything risky, you should be fine"
"That's not what I'm worried about"
"What are you worried about?"
"How did they get in my head?" Balthazar paused, thinking back,
"I suppose to know that, you have to ask yourself when they got in your head"
"A couple weeks before the demon attack"
"Anything particular happen then? Any incidents?" A memory popped into my head but I was stubborn about mentioning it, "I can't help you if you don't talk to me" He went silent. Damn it. I had to let the memory up,
"I got struck by lightning" I blurted out. Balthazar lifted an eyebrow, "A single lightning bolt hit me from a clear blue sky. I was rushed to hospital. Was there for a couple days until my burns just healed by themselves. Mum relocated us not long after"
"Strange. That suggests that angels knew about you by then but I never heard anything about an attack"
"Maybe a lone angel?" I asked, "One that didn't tell the others" Balthazar nodded, about to say something else before deciding against it, "What?"
"I was trying to think of any angel that could do that. Aside from archangels, I can't think of any. We only have four though. Raphael is dead, Gabriel wouldn't and Michael and Lucifer are trapped in hell"
"Lucifer as in the devil?" I asked. Balthazar tilted his head,
"No, I mean the cherub" Serious got lost on Balthazar's face while sarcasm rolled off his tongue. I chuckled at it before we fell back into a silence. It got me thinking now. Who would do it? Perhaps one of the voices in my head, the one pretending to be Kaleb. We made it back to the bunker now, smell wafting from the kitchen. I headed for it to find Dean in an apron standing over the stove,
"You eat?" Dean asked, "Cause I can put on another burger if you'd like"
"Yeah, thanks" I replied. Dean gave a smirk before putting another burger on the pan, "Where's Sam?"
"Supply run" Dean hadn't looked up from the pan. It was just us in the kitchen,
"Have you heard from my dad?" I asked casually,
"Yeah, he checked in yesterday. He's still alive" He smiled. I smiled back,
"Can I ask about Sam?"
"Sam?"
"Yeah. He was really sick a while ago and now it's like nothing happened. So what the heck happened to him? He's been working tirelessly, going out running. That just doesn't happen to someone who had been coughing up blood just a few weeks ago" Dean shrugged,
"I don't know. I don't know what's going on with him" It seemed genuine too but I could tell he was holding something back. He was always hiding something from me. I took one of the burgers and brought it into Kevin's room. His entire room was littered with papers everywhere. It looked like a patient's room in a psych ward, if that patient was trusted with pencils and paper. He was passed out on his desk but the smell of the burger by his nose soon changed that. He sat up almost dazed, very quiet. I had to sigh at him, pulling some of those papers away from him,
"Wait, you'll mess up the order" He said,
"What order? It's a mess" I said, "You're gonna have to get out of this room at some point"
"Only if you come with me out the bunker"
"I just went out with Balthazar earlier" I replied. Kevin gave me a look, "I did"
"Come out with me or it didn't happen" He said,
"Ok fine. Eat your burger" I instructed with a huff before going back to mine in the kitchen. Kevin came into the kitchen not long after, putting his coat on,
"You ready?" He asked,
"Hey, where are you going?" Dean asked,
"Grace was telling me I should get out more. So I told her I would if she got out too" Kevin gave me a look. I swallowed the rest of my burger and followed him to the door. He opened the door wide and pulled me out of the bunker, closing the door shut behind him. I looked back at it, "Breathe, you're outside. Fresh air" Kevin looked over at me a little concerned. I gave him a look,
"Now what?" I asked,
"Just go on a walk"
"A walk?" I sighed, "I just went for one like ten minutes ago, my legs could use a break"
"We won't walk far" It was getting dark and a little chilly. We didn't even get very far. Once we were away from the building, Kevin started talking, "How've you been sleeping?" He asked,
"Same as usual"
"You don't?"
"I get a couple hours"
"How are the dreams?"
"Never changing" I sat on the grass as my legs started to hurt. Kevin sat beside me,
"Have you talked to anyone about it?"
"My parents tag teamed me about it" I huffed, "Hasn't changed anything though" Kevin took my arm, pushing at the firm lump beside my arm until it fell out. He picked up the blade,
"Is that why you have this?" I snatched it back immediately, "Do Sam and Dean know you have it?"
"They knew I had it when I went out with them to find my dad. I stabbed an angel with it when they left me in the car" I stuck it in the inside of my jacket, finding it long enough to hide it. The blade was so long, it was almost the length of my arm, "I have demons and angels on my tail last I checked. You think I won't arm myself?"
"What about your mother?"
"I'm not telling her I'm carrying a knife, are you crazy?" Kevin smirked there,
"I haven't seen a lot from you"
"Maybe you should come out of your room more, I could say the same about you" I smiled at him now, "Nice to see you out" He smiled,
"You too"