Heaven's Child ≫ SPN

21.1

There was a faint beeping sound when I woke up.

I had to blink a few times to get used to the light and when I put a hand to my aching forehead, I realized where the beeping noise was coming from. They put me on a heart rate monitor.

Sam and Dean were arguing, pacing the room angrily. Kevin was sitting quietly on top of the desk, rocking the chair with his feet. Cas was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, watching Sam and Dean go.

"She's dying either way. The only way we could save her is by—"

"What? Attacking her?" Dean shouted. "Sam, if you breathe too heavily around her you could break her legs! She's too weak now. Maybe this would've worked yesterday. But not anymore."

"Our options are limited. She's going to die, and we can't just sit on our thumbs, especially when we have a way that could help!"

"We don't know that!"

"And we don't know that it would kill her either!"

Suddenly Cas's gaze landed on me. A second later he was an inch from my bed.

Sam and Dean flanked Cas. "How do you feel?"

My eyes glossed up immediately. "I can't take it anymore," I whispered.

"Dean, we don't have much choice."

"Yes, we do! We could choose not to kill her!"

I locked my jaw in an attempt to quell the pain. There was a high pitched ringing in my ear and my head was pounding intensely.

Kevin's eyes didn't leave me as he jumped off the desk. "Eliza, what do you want to do?" He spoke over everyone else's bickering.

"Just do it."

Kevin wordlessly took out a napkin from his pocket and began writing things down. When he was done, he handed it to Cas straight-faced. "The sooner the better."

****

Cas brought all the stuff in about forty minutes. Kevin prepared the spell; Dean pushed the furniture to the side to make room. He, Sam, and Kevin were behind a table we put in the middle of the room. Cas and I were facing them from the opposite side. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't support my weight on my own; I was heavily leaning on Cas.

Sam pushed past Dean and looked at me earnestly. "You don't have to do this," he reminded me again.

"C'mon Sam, I'm tougher than that." He didn't move. I forced a smile. "I'm fine." I imagined for a quick second running to him and tell him that I did change my mind, and how he'd hen walk me to my bed and sit on his laptop next to me and we'd spend another afternoon together peacefully. I looked away from him before I gave in. He stepped back behind the table somehow managing to look even more worried.

"Are you ready?" Dean asked me, a box of matches in his hand.

"Are you sure you're safe?" I peeked up at Cas shyly.

"I'll be fine," he replied tensely.

Dean looked between me and Cas for a second before he struck the match. "On the count of three." I squeezed my eyes shut and clenched my fists, preparing myself for whatever was coming.

"One." But then he struck a match and threw it in the bowl without warning.

The bowl exploded before I could blink. One second the lit match was in mid air, the next there was a huge red flare. It caught my skin and nothing else like it was attracted to me like a magnet. My knees buckled and I felt them slam against the hard ground. A pained cry mixed in with a scream got caught in my throat, and the result was an agonized gasp that filled the room.