Unsteady

Trece

I stared at the devil in disbelief. "You had me in the beginning, but Castiel is my dad, I mean our wings match color, my mom told my stories about him, I know who he is"

Lucifer hummed lightly "interesting take. Except nephilims' wing color rarely match their parents, and like I said, your mom wouldn't have made it past childbirth." He tapped his finger on his chin in thought.

"Are you saying the woman who raised me, that wasn't my mom?" My limbs itched to move, although were quickly stopped short by my bindings.

"Yes" he returned bluntly. "It would have been impossible, especially for one of my kids, for the mother to live, although you are an enigma" At my raised brow, he continued. "Most nephilim age at an accelerated rate. You have aged normally."

"So what does that mean?"

He shrugged "you're my first kiddo, so I only know about Nephilim because my angel siblings have had kids. You're an archangel Nephilim, it's a whole other ballgame."

"You're telling the truth?" I leaned against the back of my chair as he nodded and I tried to process all he'd told me. "Why would heaven want me?"

"Control, leverage, whatever you want to call it" Lucifer waved the question off. "I am heaven's biggest threat, well that and you"

"So they wanted to control me?" I once again struggled against my bindings, growing increasingly frustrated. "Will you please take these off"

Lucifer snapped his fingers, and the binding fell away. I pulled my wrists to the front of me, watching as the raw skin faded into an irritated red.

"Yes, when you have full power, you will be virtually unstoppable" Lucifer nodded. "Have your eyes changed color yet?"

"My eyes are gonna change color?" I looked up at him, my attention having been on my wrists.

"Not completely, as you grow more powerful, your grace will eventually rise to your eyes" his eyes flashed a bright red, the color even going so far as to spill out over his wings in a slight mist. "It'll be natural when it happens, You won't even realize it"

Lucifer's wings were huge, a pitch black at the base where they met his back, and a blood red at the primaries. I approached cautiously, and seeing what I wanted to do, he stretched his right wing toward me.

His primaries brushed my arms and I carefully ran my hand across the inside of the powerful wing. It was softer than my own wings, but they had the same texture.

"You thought color was inherited" he began, watching my actions. "When in fact it's the wing itself, the way the feathers fall, the design in each primary"

I stepped back, taking my own wings in hand and inspecting them, comparing the two. Castiel had been careful to not let me near his wings, at least not close enough to closely examine them. Sure he'd brush my wing with his, but that was about all the contact he'd allow.

"And the Winchesters, they knew?" I pulled myself away from my wings, facing the devil once more.

"As far as I know, the Winchester will do anything for each other, and Castiel is included in that bond. This might have been a favor to him"

Hurt and betrayal bubbled up inside me, and I struggled to control it, almost instinctively, I started backing away from Lucifer. I knew that the moment my grace touched my emotional turmoil, it'd ignite.

"What's going on?" Lucifer followed me, and I backed up faster, almost frantically.

"Please, I don't want to hurt you" flashbacks of that night in my house when I believed my mother had died reigned prominent in my mind, the carnage my emotional distress wrought was horrible. I'd killed dozens of people, was I far enough away to not hurt anyone?

"Hey, just tell me what's happening" Lucifer approached me calmly.

"M-my grace and my e-emotions have mixed together in the past, and it destroyed everything in its path, please stay back" if he was telling the truth, and he was really my father, I didn't want him to die.

"I need you to listen to me" Lucifer put his hands on my shoulders, halting my movements. When had he gotten so close? "Andrea, listen to me" I met his eyes once more, and he continued. "You have a highly explosive emotional range, yes?"

I nodded.

"So what do you do to calm down?"

I responded by taking deep breaths, and I gripped his wrists as a method of grounding myself.

"I can't" I looked away as a tear made it's way down my face, years of repressed emotions were making their way to the surface like gun powder to a fuse.

"Yes you can sweetheart" Lucifer's hands moved to my face, directing me to look back at him and he wiped my tears with his thumbs. "I know you feel really betrayed right now" he began in an uncharacteristically kind tone "but you have me, and I for one am never gonna hurt my girl" he promised. "If you so wished it, I'd smite Castiel and the Winchesters" he added with a grin, drawing a small laugh out of me that was more relief than humor.

I felt the intense explosive emotions start to simmer down, and my grace bubbles happily underneath my skin, settling in my muscles.

"Come 'ere sweetheart" Lucifer pulled me into his chest, hugging me close. I let him, feeling emotional exhausted.

"I think I want to try something" I spoke quietly.