Family Business

Chapter 7: Protect

There was an emergency recall. Cas and Dean were back first, followed by Sam, Jody, Donna, and the girls. Beretta was still putting up a fight about going back down for a nap, so Crowley was carrying around the strat-room, the little girl tucked into his neck and wrinkling his suit horribly.

"What's the witch doing here?" Claire asked bluntly. Rowena made a face of insult, but Claire just rolled her eyes and flipped the woman off.

"Knock it off, Claire," Cas said sternly.

Sam decided it was best to step in before things got ugly. "She was the one to warn us, Claire, she's here to help. We're going to need all the help we can get to keep Beretta safe from these angels. Now, Rowena, which angels are leading this effort?"

"Hester."

Sam groaned a little, looking back at Cas. Hester had been less than friendly when Kevin had become the prophet, and the fact she was after Beretta was bad news. Cas was already up and moving, checking the main wardings. For a moment, the walls glowed with Enocian symbols and old-world sigils, then they faded back out of sight.

"The wardings here will keep some of them out, but Hester will be able to get them through after a while," Cas said finally. "We need to up the defenses."

Sam slipped right into the leader mindset. Dean, Claire, Jody, and Sam would keep a main defense at the doors, while Donna, Alex, and Patience would be the second defense for any angels that got through. Cas and Crowley were stationed next, down the hall, and then Rowena, who was going to up the warding in Beretta's room and hold guard outside the door. And in the room proper was going to be Beretta and Kevin, just to keep her distracted.

It was a terrible plan.

It was weak.

It was probably going to fail.

It was the only hope.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sounds of fighting in the bunker were muffled by the walls of concrete and steel. Kevin watched Beretta stack her blocks happily, seeing how high she could get her tower before knocking it all down with a squeal. It was innocent, and for a brief moment, Kevin wondered if that's how she had been when her parents were killed by demons. Had she just kept playing? Had she ignored the screaming and death and burning scent of human flesh being burned out?

Down the hall, Dean and Sam were wrestling with angels. Their angel blades had been knocked away, and they were sorely overpowered, but Jody slid one of them her knife, and Sam grabbed it. He stabbed the angel above him before getting the angel pinning Dean in the back.

"Where is Hester?" Jody called over the fight, staking her own angel with a hard, sure arc.

Dean scanned the room. "She must have slipped by." Another angel was coming at Dean with a blade. Dean dodged, but only barely, and the blade nicked across his arm. Dean punched the angel, who went stumbling back, and Dean plunged his own angel blade - he stooped low to grab it - into the angel's chest, burying it to the hilt.

"Can't we send these assholes back to heaven?" Jody asked, grunting as one of the angels punched her hard in the stomach.

"Sure, if we want to lose Cas, too!" Sam shouted back, stabbing another angel as they poured through the door. They really had brought an army. There was no options but just taking them as they came.

If there was one thing they were all thinking, it was 'stab anything coming through that door and quickly.

Finally, there was a slowing to the flow, and Dean, Sam, and Jody staked the last angel with little fanfare. Dean tore a piece of his shirt off and tied it around his arm tightly, using his teeth to keep it taught.

"Where is Claire?" Jody asked, looking around. When they didn't see the teen anywhere, they all scrambled to turn bodies over and check each of the vessels strewn around the room. None of them were Claire.

"She must have run ahead," Dean reasoned. They sprinted down the hall, looking for the second defense. Donna and the other girls were bloodied and Alex laid sprawled across Patience's lap, bleeding from a wound in her leg. Jody was quick to help the girls, pulling Alex into her own lap, while Donna was checked over by the boys.

"That Hester is one tough cookie," Donna slurred. "We took down a few, but we couldn't... couldn't stop 'em all."

Once Dean was sure Donna was being taken care of by Sam, and saw Jody's torn expression, he took off, hoping to God Cas and Crowley had-

Crowley was holding Hester by the hair, an angel blade pressed against her throat. Cas was there, too, but he was busy burning out the other angels who had been Hester's muscle. The blinding light never faded as Cas turned this way and that to burn out each and every last one of the angels. Dean had to keep his eyes shielded, and then, the hall went dark.

Before Crowley could take the knife through the angel's throat, Dean was punching the angel hard, savoring the sound - and feel - of the cracking cartilage.

"You're our bitch," Dean spat.

Crowley laughed. "Don't get cocky, squirrel. Would you care to do the honors?"

Dean opened his mouth and raised his blade over the angel's head, but Cas stopped him with a deep, rumbling "no".

Cas stalked forward, and Dean let him. He had been the one to take Beretta in the first place. He'd been the one to turn his back on his own people for her. He was the one-

Cas leaned into Hester's face, his nose mere inches from hers. "You should have learned your lesson."

The knife didn't make a noise when it plunged through her chest, the bright light of her eyes and mouth illuminating the hall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Claire held Beretta closely, making one of the dolls dance in front of the toddler. Kevin knew as soon as it was over - call it a ghost's 6th sense, but he knew.

"It's over," he called.

Claire looked up. "You sure?"

"Yeah," Kevin said with a hard nod. "I'm sure. She's safe now."