The Mortal Angel

Chapter 10 - A Case

The bitter silence in the room was overwhelming. Sam and Dean were in a state of shock from what Castiel had said.

"Kate asked me not to tell you." Cass stated. Sam leaned forward in his chair, resting his elbows on his knees. "The scars on her back are from the tortures she endured trying to get you out."

"And the burn marks?" Dean asked. There was a long silence before Cass spoke.

"They tried to burn her wings."

Dean's muscles tensed at the thought. Kate's wings were precious to her, they were literally a part of her. He knew what torture in hell felt like on your body, let alone what it did to your mind. He couldn't imagine the torture they did on an angel.

"Cass you said that you were the one who got us out." Sam said questioningly.

"Since neither of you knew of Kate's existence at the time, I thought it best to leave her out of the story."

"So you didn't ​get us out?"

"That is not entirely true. I got Dean out of hell, Kate managed to hold the door open. However, I held the door open for Kate when she pulled Sam out of Lucifer's Cage. She stayed behind when she realized Sam's soul was still trapped. She was finally freed when Death came to retrieve it. It seems that Death is more fond of Kate than either of you."

Cass told the story so simply. It was as if they were facts and statistics being shared at a board meeting. It annoyed Dean more than anything, this was his sister. Her story was tragic.

"Since she is half mortal, her wounds had to heal naturally- leaving behind the scar tissue."

"What happened when she got out of the cage?" Sam asked.

"As far as I know, she returned to heaven to let her wounds heal." Cass answered. "I was in the middle of a civil war, so I did not see her very often."

Sam and Dean sat in silence, absorbing all that they had learned.

"Oh Kate."

______

Kate was silent as she watched. She was sitting on the bed in her room. Using her power as a seer, she was able to watch her brothers' conversation in the library. Her green eyes glowed a golden color on the edges. As the conversation ended, Kate stopped watching and her eyes returned to their usual color.

She stood and walked to the dresser on the wall. Opening the drawer, she examined its contents. An assortment of graphic t-shirts and flannels were neatly folded on one side while jeans were on the other. Kate selected an olive green shirt and a red flannel. As she slipped them on, she wondered who they​ had belonged to. They fit almost perfectly as did the jeans.

Using her power as a seer, Kate looked into the library. Sam sat at the table doing something on the computer. Dean leaned against a bookshelf reading some kind of journal. Kate's glowing eyes widened. She transported herself to the library and stood before Dean.

Dean nearly jumped out of his skin when Kate materialized in front of him. "Jesus Kate." He exclaimed. Kate stopped using her seer power and her eyes returned to normal. Without saying a word, she took the journal from Dean's hands.

She carefully examined the pages of her father's journal. His handwriting was sloppy, rushed, and strained. Kate gently rested her hand on the pages. She missed her father. She turned the page where a picture of a skin walker was depicted. She smiled at the memory of that hunt, it was one of her favorites.

"Kate?" Sam questioned, breaking the silence. Kate looked up from her father's journal. She smiled and handed it back to Dean.

"Thanks for the clothes." Kate said trying to change the subject.

"Yeah, no problem." There was an awkward silence in the room.

"So, what are we hunting?" Kate finally asked. Sam leaned back in his chair.

"Well, there's a strange case in Oregon. Apperantly a deforesting company was planning to start cutting trees on Tuesday, but"

"Yep, there's always a but." Dean interrupted sarcastically."

"But on Monday, one of the loggers was found dead on the on cite. The board decided to continue the project and two more deaths have followed since then."

"How did they die?" Kate asked.

"The police haven't released cause of death to the public yet."

"Well that tells you just how weird​ it was if they won't tell the press. Any leads on what it could be?"

"Not yet. It could be any monster trying to protect their home for all we know. We need to see the bodies."

"Okay, I'll go pack." Kate turned to leave the library when Dean grabbed her shoulder.

"Hey."Kate turned and stared into his deep green eyes. The same eyes as hers. They were full of heartache from all that he had seen. "Are you sure you're ready to jump back in the saddle?" He asked. Kate nodded.

Dean held onto her shoulder for a moment before letting her go. Without saying a word Kate rushed to her room to pack. She pulled open the bottom drawer of her dresser to find a small grey duffel. She pulled it out and began to pack. She mindlessly threw in jeans, t-shirts, flannels, and of course her lady things.

She zipped up the bag and ran to the library to wait for her brothers. It wasn't long before they joined her and they were making their way to the garage.

When Kate walked into the vast garage she was overwhelmed with the beauty of it all. She let out a soft "Wow!" as she approached an old motorcycle. It was stunning in it's vintage state. It had red rims and a black seat with gold pin stripes. Kate ran her hand across the smooth leather seat. It was cool to the touch, no one had ridden it in a while.

"Kate?" Sam's words snapped her back to reality. She faced her little brothers who were loading their bags into the trunk of the Impala. She threw her duffel into the trunk and piled into the back seat.

Dean turned to Sam with a look of concern on his face. "Are we sure she's ready to get back out there?"

Sam shut the trunk with a loud slam. He took a deep breath and looked at Dean with his puppy dog eyes. "We'll never know until she does."

Dean nodded as he walked around the Impala. He climbed into the front seat and started the engine. The engine roared to life and the siblings were off.