[cas] I could use some help

[sofie]

The thing about being a hunter, it wasn't always pretty. And right now was one of those ugly, horrible moments. Cori ran through the woods, her lungs on fire. Her throat was dry from the chill in the air and her heart rate erratic. The taste in her mouth was irony and bloody, sometime in the last few moments she had bitten her lip. If the circumstances had been different she probably would have wiped it away, tried to clean it up. But right now she was running for her life because it seemed like a great thing, not. She was running for her life because there was a demon on her ass. Usually she would have stayed and fought, but right now she had zero weapons, and a slim chance of beating this fellow.

The whole damn day had been horrible. It started off where she was hunting a demon, a demon she should have been able to take, but then it ended up that she was unprepared. The demon was far more skilled than she had expected. Cori got caught off guard and despite stabbing the demon a couple of times, slamming him into a wall, and throwing a few punches, he still was standing strong. So she ran. But she really had no chance out running a demon that could appear anywhere he wanted. When Cori had raced down the street, towards her car, the demon had popped up right in front of her. Pulling a knife she had tucked into the back of her jeans out she aimed it at the demons jugular. The vessel was long gone by now, from what she'd heard this demon had been inhabiting James Renck's body for almost a year now. So she didn't even try to exorcise the demon. It felt wrong, almost like she was giving up on the human trapped inside.

But then he grabbed her by the wrist and stabbed her in the side, so she didn't feel so bad.

Collapsing onto the hard pavement, Cori gasped. She could feel blood gushing from her wound. "Fuck," she growled out, getting to her feel in one quick motion. The wound would have to be taken care of quickly, otherwise she would risk losing too much blood. The demon lunged forward and she stepped back, dodging his attempted blow. Her side burned and stung and it just made her angrier. Attempting to stab him once again, Cori nearly screamed when he grabbed her wrist and snapped it easily. Like as if it was just a flimsy piece of butter. The pain was worse than anything she'd ever felt before. Managing to use her left hand to grab the fallen knife and stab the demon, she was glad it finally made contact. Of course the demon didn't collapse like she had, but it was enough to get him to let go of her wrist. And that's when she really ran.

Her good hand on her side wound, she frantically looked around for a place to hide. Maybe a restaurant or something, a place that had silver and salt. A sanctuary. But no good places came to sight. It was a mostly rural area with houses scattered here and there. Large yards with old trees and they were the kind of places that looked like families could be tucked happily inside. The kind of place she hadn't grown up in. While her home had been nice enough, it never had the cozy look up these places. It was funny the things you thought of while running for your life. Her breath was hitched and her lungs felt tight, and as much as she wanted to say that she was doing fine, Cori was barely at a jog. Her eyes flickered around in the darkness, come on, there had to be a safe place around here somewhere.

Then she saw the church. It was old, the white paint chipping and giving show to a darker gray color. It didn't appear to be completely abandoned, because it wasn't entirely falling apart, but it was still old and dirty. But it would work. Breathing in a large sigh of relief, wincing in pain, and making her way over to the building as quickly as she could, Cori prayed to whatever God was out there that it was unlocked. Approaching the doorway careful, but with haste, she used her left hand to turn the knob. It a moment of delighted Ecstasy, she found it to be open. Her hand left blood on the door but she thought little of it as she entered the haven. The demon would not be able to follow her in here.

It was dark in there, but not frightening. Almost calming. Like when she was younger and her grandfather would get drunk and violent, she and Alex would always hide in the closet. With her head curled up against his shoulder, nothing could harm her. And there was peace. That's how it felt here. Cori shivered, feeling a bit light headed. Making her way to one of the peers, she eased herself down onto a seat. Her shirt was stained with bloody and stickily attached to her skin. Gritting her teeth and peeling it away from the wound, she prepared for the stinging. It came along with a gush of blood. Her right hand was limp and turning a purple-blue color, and her wrist was swollen and the bone nearly jutted out of her skin. Tentatively moving it over and putting her forearm onto her side wound, she used her left hand to try and reach into her back pocket. She was searching for her cell phone. But it wasn't there.

"Shit." She swore under her breath and then stood. But that didn't end well. Her eyes got fuzzy around the edges and the ground started moving, sitting back down Cori frowned. She needed to put more pressure on her side, so she removed her injured wrist and put her left hand back on it. She could always summon Daigh, but he wouldn't be very happy about that. And without her cellphone she couldn't call Alex or Danny. Letting her head rest back on the cool wooden peer, Cori. Closed her eyes. Someone would notice she was gone, right? They had too. Otherwise she'd have to face that demon again. And there was slim chance she would win that fight. Moving a strand of hair out of her eyes, Cori didn't even care that a smear of blood was now left on her forehead.

[Deleted]

Being an angel wasn’t pretty at times, not by a long shot. Castiel was starting to find this out. He even outright questioned his own judgment, as did his superiors. He was now being watched by Uriel, and Zachariah because they did not trust his judgments, and did not wish for him to fall. They put him under excruciating pain to convince him that he could not ‘have’ free will. Angels didn’t have free will, only humans were born with it. Angels had to follow orders, wether they were good or bad. They were not aloud to question it, yet Castiel...was.

What made him so special? Why was he so different from the others? Michael certainly didn’t question anything. He felt as though everything was fine and did as he was told. Castiel felt differently. The fighting between his brothers and sisters was getting to be ridicules. He didn’t know how to stop it or what to do about it anymore. He just needed it to stop. The truth was, this was straining on Castiel. He was trying his best to not pick sides, and to be himself, but it was hard not to. Even Gabriel had left them. Gabriel had moved on. He did not know what happened to his brother.

Things have been bad, really bad, and more and more seals have been breaking. Castiel knew, that they needed to find the seals and fast. The problem was finding them. It was harder then the humans had thought, and he knew the angels were failing. He knew that soon, very soon, Lucifer would rise just as the bible stated. Cas wasn’t LOOKING for anyone in trouble, he was actually around the corner at a church, praying. He was asking his Father for help, and hoping he would actually get answered. That wasn’t the case. He went to the church and was alone at first, in the darkness. It was definitely dark but Cas felt the need for it to stay that way.

That was when he heard something. He was in mid prayer, when he heard a noise. He turned. He saw someone sitting down, almost opposite side of him. He looked at her, she was injured. “My name is Castiel, I am an Angel of the Lord,” he said. He placed his hand on her forehead and healed her wounds. “You were running from something...” he stated. “Most people who come to churches such as this, this time in the dark, would be...” he added. “What were you running from?”

[sofie]

Cori's eyes were closed, but when there was a rush of wind in the church, she snapped them open as fast as she could. Lunging for her knife, she ignored the stab of pain that traveled through her side. Everything happened so quickly, she had no time to a react. A man appeared in front of her, and he then spoke.

“My name is Castiel, I am an Angel of the Lord.”

"A what?" She muttered, voice coming out quiet. Angels weren't real. That'd be ridiculous.

A warmth surged through her, traveling from her head to her toes. Cori felt like she was glowing with heat. Like she was on fire. But it wasn't painful. All her wounds were healed, nothing hurt anymore. And though her shirt was bloody and torn, all the cuts and tears on her skin were sealed. Cori jumped away from the man when he dropped his hand back to his side. She stood quickly, moving a face paces away from him. Angels weren't real. This man had to be some sort of demon, or super-being. If he'd been able to heal her, he must have been able to easily come into the church. Just how powerful was he?

Her eyes traveled over him, searching for any potential dangers. He wasn't dressed like he was about to go rob a bank, or sneak into someone's house and murder them in their sleep. He looked like he was going to work. With the long trench coat and neat tie, he looked like a nerdy bank teller. If the mood hadn't been so dark, she would have smirked a bit.

"Why did you heal me?" She demanded, examining her body again, half expecting it to wear off.

Chewing on her lip, Cori ran a finger through her tangled hair. Her guard was up though, still prepared to fight this man off if need be. She didn't trust him. He was oddly still and robotic like, he fit the description of a demon. But he didn't look cruel. Then again neither did Daigh. She frowned.

"I mean, thank you," Attempting to sound sincere, Cori muttered out a thanks. "I do appreciate you doing...The whole healing-thing."

“You were running from something..." He stated in a emotionless, assertive voice.

Cori wanted to deny it, feeling like he knew something personal about it. While the man paused, she tried to fabricate a story in her mind. Something believable. But then the trench coat wearing man spoke again.

"Most people who come to churches such as this, this time in the dark, would be...”


What was he implying? That people sought refuge in churches when they were having troubles in life? Did he mean the dark, as in, this time of night? Or that when people were upset and feeling hopeless, they came to church? Cori didn't reply, but instead stood there for a moment, silently. He was right about her coming to the church because she needed somewhere safe to go. And the way those porcelain blues were looking at her, she knew he wasn't human.

"What are you?" Cori asked, her tone less rough than before. "Who are you?"

Despite the fact that she didn't know this man, or creature, she didn't feel like he was going to harm her. Taking a timid step forward, eyes glued to the man, she slowly crept forward and grabbed her belongings from off the peer. Cori shrugged and spoke again.

"I was running from a demon." If indeed the man with healing hands was oblivious to what demons were, he could possibly assume that she meant demon as in all her troubles. Cori had enough of those too. If he did know what demons were, then she wouldn't have to explain herself. Hopefully he would understand why she'd been running in the first place.