Song Remains the Same

Chapter 11: Wicked Games

"Don't get too close, it's dark inside."
- Imagine Dragons

One Week Later
Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Alex paced the front porch of Bobby's house with increasing agitation. She couldn't find an end to the stuff currently pissing her off.

The fact that Ruby was here at Bobby's house was enough to send Alex through the roof, but oh no, there was more... earlier that week Sam came clean about his questionable relationship with the demon—with all the shocking, R-rated details. The demon's smug attitude about that was the icing on the cake and Alex was all but ready to knife the bitch. Too bad the demon blade had been stolen recently.

She huffed as she turned on her heel, pacing the length of the porch once more in the bitter cold of night. The urge to punch something was strong, but Alex instead clenched her fists and muttered obscenities under her breath.

Ruby's presence wasn't the only thing. There was also Anna, a girl who could hear angels. They'd picked her up a couple of days ago at Ruby's insistence, and her presence had since caused major problems. Demons were after her and so were angels... and the Winchesters already had been involved in confrontations from both sides. The demons had attacked them in a church, and then the halos had tracked them down to a hunting cabin. Anna herself was a fallen angel. They had discovered this earlier that very day. She'd discarded her 'Grace' (the thing that made her an angel) years ago to become human. It made very little sense to Alex. But when Castiel and Uriel had showed up insisting Anna needed to die, things had really gotten bad.

In short, these angels were really starting to fuck shit up.

Alex didn't understand Castiel's role in the bigger picture. She had been starting to think he wasn't so bad, especially after her encounter with him in her amusement park dream. But now, yet again, she wasn't sure who Castiel was or the agenda he was playing at. From what she'd observed, he seemed to be two different angels: the intriguing, curious Castiel she glimpsed in small, private moments when it was the two of them; and then the Castiel who was frightening and robotic.

"Cas, please—" Sam begged, trying to appeal to Castiel's sensibility. He stood between Castiel and the door to the bathroom where Anna hid. But without hesitation, Castiel touched a finger to Sam's head, crumpling him to the ground, unconscious. Alex darted over to stand between Cas and the door. She felt very small under his fierce gaze. He looked murderous. Not like the gentle and reflective Cas who had come to her in a dream.

"Get out of the way, Alex." His words sounded deadly. But he made no move to touch her.

Alex stared at him in confused defiance. Was he really gonna knock her out, too? "Or what?" she challenged, hedging her bets despite being petrified. His expression showed something strange when she stood her ground. But he never had a chance to reply. The angels had both disappeared in an abrupt and blinding flash of light accompanied by a sound like a mighty wind. A few minutes later, it was revealed that Anna blew the angels away to the four corners of the earth—a warding trick that she'd remembered from her angel days.

The memory bothered Alex. It made no sense: why would Cas be kind to her and then so merciless towards others? Was he a mindless machine—a hammer, as Dean had put it—or was he something else?

Alex gave up on pacing and went inside to check and see what Sam had found—their current plan was to get Anna's Grace back. Once they could find it, she could reclaim her powers and be capable of protecting herself... and the group, too.

In Bobby's study, Sam hunched over a bunch of books and his laptop. Ruby hung back and eyed Alex darkly as she entered. Ugh. Alex ignored her purposefully and leaned over the desk, peering down at the screen over her twin's massive shoulder. "Find anything?"