Searching Purgatory [COMPLETED]

Chapter Twenty-One

Heaven was nothing like what Lauren expected. She was expecting angels with wings and halos dressed in white robes and carrying harps to be singing a Hallelujah chorus when they showed up. She expected clouds not an office building.

Lauren blinked a few times, trying to comprehend what she was looking at. Yes, it was white. But it was a sterile, hospital kind of white; not a welcoming, soft white. And, despite knowing three angels quite well, she was still rather surprised when the angels surrounding them didn't have halos or wings. It was all new and strange. And it wasn't just the setting that was wrong. There was a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach; a feeling that she definitely shouldn't be here.

Lauren, however, didn't mind the feeling of Sam's hand around hers.

After taking in her weird surroundings, she spotted the angels surrounding her. There were five of them in total: three of them standing over by a large desk and the other two standing on either side of the group.

"Finally." The angel sitting at the desk with dark hair and brooding eyes was the one who spoke. His hands were entwined and sitting on top of his desk. "I have all of you in one..." His voice trailed off as his eyes landed on Zoe.

Lauren followed his gaze to Zoe and vaguely remembered the angel at the diner saying something about how they didn't want to bring Zoe with them. She wondered for a second how Zoe got here, but then her eyes fell down to Dean's fingers circled around Zoe's wrist. Lauren couldn't help the smile that slipped onto her face.

"What is that doing here?" The angel at the desk was talking to the other angels in the room.

Zoe looked utterly offended but said nothing.

"We didn't mean to bring her," the angel, Elisha, said. He grabbed Zoe's arm and yanked her backwards, tugging her wrist from Dean's grip. Dean protested but more angels appeared, holding him back with their angel blades."I'll return her."

The angel at the desk waved a dismissive hand. "Don't worry about it, Elisha. I didn't want it but now that it's here, I can think of something to do with it." The angel smiled, showing off his blindingly white teeth and pushed himself out of his chair. "What was I saying before we were so grossly interrupted? Ah, yes: I have all of you in one place. You are quite a handful, you know."

He stalked over to the group, hands folded behind his back, and looked them all over as if they were cattle being examined.

"What do you want, Malachi?" Castiel finally spoke.

The angel, Malachi, turned to look at Cas with his cat-like smile. "You guys have been a rather large pain in Heaven's mass. You especially, Castiel. That stunt you pulled? Playing God?" Malachi clicked his tongue. "That was...stupid."

"That was also years ago," Dean growled. "What's got Heaven's panties in a twist now?"

"Cute, Dean," Malachi sneered. "But it's not just Castiel in trouble here. You and your brother have caused enough havoc for one lifetime." His eyes fell on Lauren and she gripped Sam's hand tighter. "And you. You're a walking Anti-Christ." Lauren hadn't heard that one yet. "An abomination that shouldn't exist in the first place."

Hearing that was a slap in the face. She figured that being the daughter of a demon was not normal but being told straight up that she was an abomination and that she shouldn't exist? It stung.

Malachi continued around the group. "Castiel, you've fallen for a demon and she's fallen for you. That's just wrong all around, don't you think?"

Lauren thought Cas and Meg's love was rather beautiful--in a tragically poetic way.

"Gabriel, you've been hiding out since...only Dad knows. You've played a lot of characters down there. The Trickster. The Norse God, Loki. I mean was it all necessary?"

"Anything to keep me under the radar, brother." Gabriel was smirking despite the fact that they were completely surrounded by very pissed angels.

Malachi forced a smile and then turned to Sage. "And you." He sighed. "Aren't you just a sight to behold?" He brushed some hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear. "It has been far too long. I haven't seen you since...well, since I saw God. It'll sure e fun getting to know you again." Malachi was standing dangerously close to Sage and Lauren could tell it was making her uncomfortable.

"Don't touch her," Gabriel growled.

Malachi turned to face Gabriel, a look of complete amusement on his face. "What are you gonna do about it?"

"Touch her again and find out," Gabriel threatened, his voice dangerously low.

Malachi smirked and waggled a finger at the other angels in the room. Immediately, angels were holding Gabriel back and before Lauren knew what was happening, Malachi flung his fist into Gabriel's stomach. Gripping his hair at the roots, Malachi yanked upwards, forcing Gabriel to look at him.

"You have been gone far too long, brother," Malachi sneered at him. Malachi hit Gabriel a few times and Lauren could see the panic in Sage's face as she tried to get Malachi to stop hitting Gabriel.

Finally, Sage decided to just body slam into Malachi, making him topple to the side. The angels holding Gabriel immediately let go of him and drew their angel blades. They made a move towards Sage but Malachi held up a hand from where he was sitting on the floor.

Malachi pushed himself to his feet and sauntered over to Sage. When he reached her, he just kept walking, forcing her to back up until her back hit a wall. Sage's fists were clenched and her jaw was twitching angrily but has was also nervous. Malachi loomed over her, his hands on either side of her shoulders and a dangerous smile on her face.

Lauren could feel the tension in the room and wanted to do something--anything--to help her get away from the creep. Sadly she was surrounded by blade wielding angels.

"I like you," Malachi said. "I thought you were going to be boring but you're quite fascinating really. We are going to have a great time." He pushed away from the wall. "Take the rest of them away," he ordered the other angels. "Do what we discussed and add the shifter to the mix."

Lauren heard Dean and Sam's muffled protests but somebody gripped her shoulder and it all went black.