Saints or Sinners | {BOOK 3}

69| Naomi Returns Maddie and Zep

Dean and I were making our way through the woods in Maine where we popped out over a year earlier. Suddenly, a light flashed nearby and Sam appeared, stumbling over to where we stood. Dean grabbed him into a hug first, then let me take a turn.

"Purgatory, right?" Dean grinned when Sam and I pulled apart. "A real garden spot, ain't it?"

"Yeah," Sam nodded.

"Did you get him out?"

"Only Bobby."

"What?" Dean raised his eyebrows. "I mean, that's fantastic about Bobby."

"Dean, look- Benny, uh... He got us out. A bunch of vamps showed, and he used himself as bait," Sam explained. "I get a feeling that even if that didn't happen, he didn't want to come back, you know? I'm sorry."

"You're probably right," Dean muttered, glancing down. "So, uh... Bobby- how- how'd he hold up down there?"

"He's good, all things considered. Ornery as hell, of course."

"As he should be. Let's put that old man back where he belongs."

"Yeah."

Dean and I watched as Sam pulled up his jacket sleeve to reveal the same red and yellow light that had glowed under Dean's skin when he gave Benny a ride out of Purgatory. He cut into his forearm as he recited the incantation, and the light turned bluish-white as it exited his arm and started to rise into the sky. As it did, it suddenly stopped midair, turning into a cloudy mix of red and black.

"What the hell?" I asked.

"Hello, boys. Puppy."

We turned to face Crowley as he looked up at the red and black light.

"Bobby Singer- I'd know you anywhere."

"Let him go, Crowley," Dean snarled. "He doesn't belong in Hell."

"He does if I say he does. He's inflicted untold damage on my kind. From where I sit, actually, Hell's too good for him. Really?"

With a flick of his finger, the demon king flung Sam, Dean, and I into separate trees and pinned us to the trunks several feet off the ground. He looked back up at Bobby's soul, which had started to come back down towards earth.

"What?" he demanded when it suddenly stopped, flashes of white light shooting through it.

He turned to see Naomi standing behind him, a pleased look on her face.

"Oh, come on!"

"Let me see if I've interpreted the situation correctly," the angel began. "The Winchesters have freed an innocent from Hell, to which you are wrongfully trying to return it."

"Siding with them, Naomi? You don't know those three. Before they're done, we'll both be locked away."

"I'm just hoping they lock you away, dear. The rest I'll figure out."

"Bureaucrat," Crowley spat. "You're fighting outside your weight class."

"Don't call me a bureaucrat."

Naomi extended her hand toward Crowley, eyes and hand glowing white with grace. Crowley vanished then, and I plummeted to the ground with the two brothers. Naomi redirected her hand upwards, and Bobby's soul returned to it's original bluish-white and shot into the sky towards Heaven.

"I told you you could trust me," she addressed Dean and I.

"What the hell was that about?" Sam demanded when she flew away.

"We'll tell you later," Dean dismissed him. "Let's get this trial done."

Sam took the paper from his pocket, intoning the Enochian phrase.

"Kah-nuh-ahm-dahr."

Like with the first trial, the veins in his right arm lit up, but it appeared to be worse as he fell to his knees in agony. Dean was immediately on his knees next to him, grabbing his shoulder worriedly.

"Sam? What? What?! Talk to me! What?!"

"It's okay!" Sam panted. "It's okay! It's okay. I'm fine. It's done. It's done."

⁘

Kevin had gone missing, and Sam was even worse than he had been after the first trial. In addition to coughing up blood, he was feverish and walking around on shaky legs. He hadn't eaten in three days, and Dean and I were really worried about him. While Dean fussed over his brother, I had been thinking about Naomi's proposition and doing any research I could on something that could help track Cass down so she would return Maddie and Zep.

"Damn it!" I heard Dean yell from the library accompanied by a crashing sound.

Making my way in that direction, I took note of the books Dean had clearly just swiped onto the floor and the angry expression of the man in question. Sam still looked like crap, staring at his laptop.

"W-what happened?" I asked hesitantly.

"Kevin sent a message," Sam replied when it was clear Dean wouldn't. "Crowley got him."

I blinked, absorbing the information, and then I turned on my heel and headed back to Dean and my room to try a new tactic for finding Cass. I sat cross legged on the bed, closing my eyes and concentrating, drawing on my powers.

"Come on," I muttered, letting out a slow breath. "Let me hear you."

"Biggerson's Restaurant...Palm Bay, Florida; Denver, Colorado; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Portland, Oregon; St. Louis, Missouri; Bangor, Maine; Lincoln, Nebraska; Reno, Nevada; Tucson, Arizona; Santa Fe, New Mexico..."

My eyes snapped open and I found myself sitting in one of the plush white chairs of Naomi's office.

"Ecclesia," she greeted me. "I sense you have news for me."

"I know how Cass is staying one step ahead of you," I admitted.

Part of me hesitated, unsure if I should tell her everything, but then I thought of my children and I made up my mind.

"Well?" Naomi asked expectantly.

"Biggerson's is a chain restaurant, built identically throughout the country. Cass is taking advantage of that sameness, so when you orient yourselves, it's like you're in every Biggerson's at once while he deliberately chooses which one to travel to."

"Very well," the angel nodded. "You say he can't be caught? We'll just have to make him stop."

After sending two angels to one of the Biggerson's to catch Castiel, Naomi sent me back to the Bunker with Maddie and Zep in tow. I held the almost two-year-old in my arms while his sister hovered at my heel and we made our way back out to the library where Sam and Dean were pouring over Kevin's notes.

"There it is again, every time," Sam was saying.

"Hmm?" Dean asked, not looking up from his page.

"Daddy!"

Both brothers looked over in surprise as Maddie left my side and ran over to her father.

"P-princess?" Dean stammered as the five-year-old hugged him tightly.

I bit my lip as he locked eyes with me.

"Ellie, what did you do?"