Guardian Angel

Chapter 4

"Sammy?" Dean yells, sprinting toward the open door.

The woman walks out of the door, her hair and eyes an identical shade of jet black. A demon. She casually flicks her wrist, sending Dean crashing into the wall to my right on the other side of the bed. I stare at the woman and wish she would stop sadistically smiling.

She walks to Castiel's bedside, only a few feet in front of me. "Oh look, your little angel is sleeping," she says in a syrupy voice laced with disgust.

A thin veil of sweat appears on my skin. "Don't touch him," I spit at the demon through gritted teeth.

"And why shouldn't I? Is he your boyfriend?" The demon stresses the last word before gasping with false surprise. "I guess I shouldn't touch him, then. After all, you told me not to."

Looking right at me, the demon smiles and grabs Castiel's limp wrist. I instantly feel my feet hit the floor and move toward the demon. I cover almost half the distance before the demon has the chance to drop Castiel's wrist and stop me.

"Well, look at you!" the demon exclaims. "Avoiding my powers like an angel. But," the demon walks toward me and puts her hand by my back, "no wings."

I cringe at the demon's physical closeness. Her sulfuric scent permeates my nostrils. She smells putrid.

"I wonder what you'd do if I," she pauses and raises her hand in Castiel's direction, "accidentally flung him...."

As soon as those words leave the demon's mouth, her powers over me disappear. I swing my arm in her direction and catch her throat in the crook of my elbow. I pull her to me and hold her in a tight chokehold. The demon scratches at my arm, not getting purchase through the blouse I was buried in.

"Exorcizamos te omnis spiritus," I begin. Before I can go any further with the exorcism, the demon plants a punch on the corner of my mouth hard enough to make me see miniature lights explode in front of my field of vision. I accidentally loosen my grip and the demon slips from my grip.

"So you don't want to play nice, then," the demon says, no longer smiling. "That's fine. We don't have to."

The demon launches at me and pins me to the wall by my throat. I can't breathe and I try to swipe at her face. She laughs at my futile attempts.

"Don't worry. With what I'm about to do to you, resisting would be pointless."

I suddenly understand what she's about to do. Pure fear forces adrenaline through my veins. I kick my legs and swing my arms as hard as I can. My heart beats faster and my eyes widen. The demon opens her mouth, and, before I can even attempt to brace myself, black smoke comes barreling out of her mouth into mine.

My body stiffens as the demon forces her way into it. I become paralyzed, unable to even try to stop the onslaught of smoke. Finally the smoke stops pouring into me. I hear Dean drop from the wall. I start sprinting toward the untouched devil's trap, unsure of how or why I'm still in control of my body. Then my feet start to jerk.

I hear running footsteps behind me, then feel a hand grab my arm and half drag, half lead me to the devil's trap in front of the door. I completely lose control of my feet as Dean is pushing me into the trap. I close my eyes and I don't feel myself hitting the floor, although I hear it with perfect clarity.