Sweet Angel Mine

He's so quiet. That's the first thing I noticed about him. He looks to be at least a year old; so wouldn't he have whined or something by now?

I hold him close as I walk down the street. He's small for a toddler; barely under two and a half feet tall. The box I found him in was small as well.

"Free angel, preferably to a broken home. Very disobedient!" the scribbled-on script had said.

Why a broken home? Tilting him forward a little, I strain to keep him from falling but try to get a good look at him at the same time.

His youth makes his skin the normal fairness a child would have. His hair though, was strangely dark -and thick- for a toddler. I ran my fingers through the jet black hair.

This got his attention.

He looked up at me with the purest, stormy blue eyes I had ever seen; his gazed fixed into mine. There was so much soul mixed in with hope, but also...sadness...He looked like a kicked puppy.

"So what's your story? No happy home life?" At first he didn't respond. I almost though that he didn't know how to speak, but he shook his head, then buried his face back into my chest.

I only cuddled him closer. "I-It's okay. It's okay."

I continued to walk. I felt on his back where he had tears in his filthy white shirt; two spots just between his shoulder blades. What could've happened here? Child abuse? I tilted my chin forward to get a better look.

Stars. Two, evenly placed....stars. Or at least that's what the scars on his soft back looked like. I rubbed my thumb over the scars, making him flinch hard at the contact. He pushed off of me, and placed his hands square in my shoulders, leaving me to stop dead in my tracks.

He shook his head, the pain obvious in his eyes.

"Sorry, I-uh, I'll stop." That answered seemed good enough for him, as he snuggled his head back down under my chin. I continued up the block, and walked down an alleyway that cut across to my apartment.

Free angel. I thought back over the words that had been written on the box. Why would someone abandon an angel? Did his mother leave him? Was she protecting him from an abusive father? This poor child...

Suddenly, two men appeared from a door that led into one of the surrounding buildings. I tried to pay them no mind as a picked up my pace. I kept my head low, not to show my intimidation.

The taller one of the two pushed me back in front of him by my shoulder.

"Where do you think you're going, sweetie?"

I hugged the toddler closer as I continued to keep my head low; careful not to put pressure in his scars.

"Don't you two know better to pit-pocket a woman with no purse and a child?"

"That's the problem, sugar-cakes, we need that 'child.'"

I took off running back in the direction I had come.

"Get that kid!"

"Help! Kidnappers! Someone please call nine-one-one!"

The men quickly caught up to me, one of them once again grabbing me by the shoulder. I was thrown off balance. I hugged the child closer to my body as I landed backbone-first into the pavement. A quick, painful grunt escaped my lips, but I was quick to curl up, putting myself between the attackers and the toddler.

Both of our attackers launched themselves onto me in an attempt to squish the child out from under me.

"Boss says do whatever it takes to get him, as long as he comes back- Alive!"

When they discovered that squishing wouldn't work, they attempted to wrench him from my arms. A quick cry escaped his throat, no doubt from a whole new level of Indian-burn on his arms.

I wasn't quick enough to spot the knife. One of the men had it around my neck before I could even blink. I instantly froze, my breathing labored.

"Get up," he ordered.

I hesitated. Standing up meant the other man would grab the child.

"Get up!" he ordered again, with less patience this time. I regretfully obeyed. I wouldn't be any good to the child dead now would I?

The toddler clutched desperately to my shirt, as if silently pleading for me not to do what was being demanded.

"Now, let go of the kid."

This was one demand I was sure not to follow. He pressed the blade closer to my neck, just barely letting a few beads of crimson escape.

"Do it," he breathed into my ear, "And I'll make it quick."

"C'mon man, just finish her already! Boss said we only needed the kid alive."

I felt a power swell on my chest. I flaked my eyes down, careful not to move my head, and watched the child. But he kept his head down, keeping his eyes just out of my sight.

He leaned back, escaping my grip, and landed on the ground with the grace of a cat. He shifted his gaze up, up, up, until it eventually met mine. His pupils had disappeared and were replaced with eyes that were no longer the stormy I had seen before, and had changed to and almost swirling, glowing sky blue.

"Cover your ears, and look away," He spoke to me as a ringing began to build in my eardrums. I ignored the knife, straining to cover my ears and eyes while knocking the now-screaming man out of my way. I went into a huddle until the sound subsided.

I suddenly felt a small touch on my shoulder, and looked up to see the child staring down at me.

"You can get up now." He observed in a gentle voice. His voice was so sweet. It moved like honey easily up his small throat and over his small tongue. Aren't children his age only suppose to say about ten or twelve words?

I sat up and eyes the collapsed attackers around us. Their eyes had been burned out of their skulls, blood seeping through and down onto their faces and the pavement.

"It is alright. Those creatures cannot harm us anymore." His voice was so small as well. So youthful.

"What happened? "

He glanced around at the men.

"The demons will not have me. They cannot. So I handled them."

Free angel. I remembered the star-shaped scars on his back...Could they have been...

I scooped him back up into my arms.

"What's your name?"

He seemed a little shocked at the sudden change of topic but answered clearly, "Castiel."

"Castiel." I repeated. "Sweet angel mine, Castiel."