Point of Know Return

41. Lonely is the Night

[Are You There God? It's Us, Dean and Natalia Winchester]

A woman was asleep on the couch. The TV and lights began to flicker. The woman sat up, looking alarmed, and when she exhaled, her breath was visible. She walked to a cupboard and started pulling out weapons as the phone rang.

A voice on the answering machine said, "Hey, it's Olivia. I'm not in. Leave a message."

Olivia took out an EMF reader, which started beeping and flashing.

"Olivia, it's Bobby. Call me or Dylan back, would you? We got something big. We could use your help."

Olivia loaded a gun and walked around the apartment. She heard a noise and a thin, tall man appeared beside her. He was bruised and battered. She looked shocked.

"You!" Olivia cried.

Olivia fired at the ghost and he disappeared. She pulled out a bag of salt and covered a doorway entrance with it. The ghost appeared in front of her on the other side of the salt line.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Olivia said.

She backed up and turned around. A blonde, beaten woman grabbed Olivia around the throat, strangling her. Olivia screamed.

BOBBY'S HOUSE

Bobby was sitting at his desk with a pile of books in front of him. Dylan was sitting in a chair adjacent to the desk, with a book on his lap. Sam was sitting in a chair in the opposite corner talking to Dean and Natalia, who were standing.

"Well, then tell me what else it could be," Sam said.

"Look, all we know is we were not groped by an angel," Dean replied.

"Okay, look, Dean. Why do you two think this Castiel would lie to you about it? And Nat, this Azrael has been looking out for you since you were a kid? Sounds like a guardian angel to me."

"Maybe he's some kind of demon," Natalia guessed. "Demons lie. As for Azrael, Rae, she's just a bodyguard. Of sorts."

Bobby and Dylan looked up from the books at the siblings.

Sam frowned at Natalia. "A demon who's immune to salt rounds and Devil's Traps... and Ruby's knife? Dean, Natalia, Lilith is scared of that thing!"

"Don't you think that if angels were real, that some hunter somewhere would have seen one... at some point... ever?" Dean shot back.

"Yeah. You and Nat just did, Dean. And don't forget Azrael."

Natalia crossed her arms. "We're trying to come up with a theory here. Okay? Work with us."

"Dean, Nat, we have a theory."

"Yeah, one with a little less faith, trust and pixie dust, please."

"Okay, look. I'm not saying we know for sure. I'm just saying that I think we-"

Dean cut him off. "Okay, okay. That's the point. We don't know for sure, so Nat and I aren't gonna believe that this thing is a freaking Angel of the Lord because it says so! And that goes for Rae as well."

"You three Chuckleheads want to keep arguing religion, or do you want to come take a look at this?" Bobby asked.

Sam, Dean and Natalia walked over to Bobby's desk.

Bobby continued. "I got stacks of lore -- Biblical, pre-Biblical. Some of it's in damn cuneiform. It all says an angel can snatch a soul from the Pit or from where they reside in Heaven."

"What else?" Dean and Natalia pressed.

"What else, what?"

"What else could do it?" Dean asked.