The Protector

Chapter One: Not Hell

1.

Darkness. The smell of dirt. Not Hell. What? The girl rubbed her eyes. What? Not Hell. The smell of dirt. Darkness. Where was she? Who was she? Leodora Colt. Leo. Where was she? Under the ground.

Leo shoved her hand upward, attempting to get out and much to her surprise, her hand slipped right through the ground and into the open air. She could feel the sun on her fingers.

She gripped at the ground and pulled herself from the dirt. Leodora looked around. She had been in the ground. She stood unsteadily.

The trees around where she had been buried were knocked down, scattered all over the ground. Leo furrowed her eyebrows. She was in the middle of no where.

Water. She was thirsty. Very, very thirsty. Leodora stumbled past the fallen trees and through the trees still standing. Cars driving could be heard in the distance. She followed the sound.

The sun beat down on her intensely, so she shrugged her leather jacket off and tied it around her waist. Leodora picked up her pace as she finally spotted the asphalt of the road.

The puzzling part, though, was there were no cars. Anywhere. There was a wave of uneasiness hit her. She breathed in deeply before deciding whatever it was, she'd dealt with worse. Considering.

Leo followed the road, using the signs as an attempt to find civilization.

Finally, there was a lonely convenience store. Normally, she'd find that odd, but given the circumstances, what wasn't odd, really?

Her past ran through her mind in flashes. She was a hunter. She hunted all the things that went bump in the night. Hell is real. Her friend, Nolan, was dead. No, no, no. Nolan was alive. Is Paige alive? Yes. Leo was dead. In Hell. No. No? No. They were both alive. Leo was out of Hell, lost, but out.

The girl walked into the convenience store. There was a fan running, but no one inside. Leo grabbed a few plastic bags from behind the counter and shoved anything she could get her hands onto inside.

When she reached the cooler, she opened it and grabbed a bottle of water. Twisting the cap, she poured the contents into her mouth, drinking so quickly that some spilled onto her clothes.

Leo repeated this process several times before putting water bottles into her bags. When she finished, she returned to the counter, she fished around in her pockets for money.

Leodora produced her credit card, a five dollar bill, four quarters, a dime and a penny. She pursed her lips, Leo didn't know how to work a cash register and the cash definitely wasn't enough to pay for what she needed. Sighing, she pocketed the money again and wrote a note that said "IOU" and began to leave.

Suddenly, her side began to ache. Gingerly, she pulled up the hem of her shirt and looked down at her waist. Two things surprised her immensely. First, all of her scars and tattoos were missing -- which was a ton of money spent on her part -- and second, there was a red hand print; it looked like it was branded into her.

Leo pressed her hand against the print and hissed at the burning. It was then a high pitched noise filled the air around her. Leo dropped her bags and clamped her hands over her ears. The glass windows shattered as she ducked behind the clerk counter. It finally hit her, it was someone speaking.

"Leodora Colt, I am Castiel, an angel of the Lord, and I was the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition," the voice repeated itself twice more before both it and the noise was gone.

"Well, that answers one question," she grumbled to herself. Her voice was hoarse and foreign to her. She could only recognize her screams of pain and pleads for mercy. But now, perhaps, she'd be able to forget what happened and find Paige and everything will get back to normal.

Leo continued down the road, hoping to find a place to rest for the night.