Let Me Sleep

Kendra's Pain

[So this is chapter three, which had been deleted before. Sorry for the wait.]

Iggy

After contributing to the bill, we head back to the van, and I offer to drive. I've got a sick feeling in my stomach. There's a reason for that, though.

The reason that guardian angels have to protect the people they're assigned to is because we feel the same pain that they do. So we have to keep them from doing stupid stuff, but that doesn't ever stop them.

So anyway, Gabriel turns down my offer to drive. Castiel states that I will be in no condition to drive and tells me to take some time to prepare myself.

I suppose he's right. So I sit in the front of the van with Gabriel, while Castiel sits in the back.

Kendra looks terrified, and rightly so. I'm guessing my face bears a similar look. She comes up to the screen with a nervous smile on her face.

"You look even more scared than I do, I bet." She says.

"You look pretty scared." I tell her. "But I guess that's normal." What am I saying? Of course she's scared. Why wouldn't she be?

"Yeah, I guess so." She laughs a little. "Anyhow, why do you look so nervous?"

"No reason, really." I lie. Suddenly, there's a voice in my head. Which would sound like holding a microphone up to a speaker on full volume to a human.

"Lucifer is travelling to your location, Iggy." It says. "Figure something out, and hurry. He's burning out another vessel as we speak."

"Did you hear that?" Kendra asks. My heart stops.

"H-hear what?" I choke out. Had I been broadcasting it? No, I would've known.

"I thought I heard a voice." She says. "Must've been imagining it." She pulls out of the window and sits down.

"Iggy!" Gabriel hisses. "What was that? Were you broadcasting?" I shake my head mutely. Gabriel starts the van as soon as Michael climbs in. I close my eyes and rest my head against the back of the seat.

And then the pain. I know that Kendra can't feel it, but it still hurts. They are literally carving these symbols into her body, the ribs, judging by what I'm feeling.

I can feel Gabriel's eyes on me.

"Watch the road." I growl.

"Well, I'm worried about you, man." He says, eyes on the road. "I mean, you're feeling what she's feeling. Maybe taking her in was a bad idea."

"No." I say through clenched teeth. "No, it's fine. She's fine." But I'm lying. I'm lying and it hurts like I've been dipped in acid. So I close my eyes and focus on the pain. Narrow it to one area of my body. The palm of my left hand.

I'm almost positive I black out for a while, because when I open my eyes, the van has come to a stop.

"Yo, Ig." Gabriel says. "You okay?" No. I'm not. Something's off.

"What's happened?" I ask, and my voice cracks. Gabriel stares at the steering wheel.

"Well, we tried waking the vessel up, but she's kind of . . . unresponsive." He replies quietly. A strangled groan emanates from my lips as pure, unadulterated exhaustion washes over me. I feel fragile. Human, even.

"Anna." I call.

"Iggy." She says.

"How is Kendra?"

"Alive. Barely." She's holding the same book from earlier. "But we can't heal her. We have to rest."

"Where are we?" I ask.