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Rolling Stones-Let It Bleed

Chapter 11-Just Believe

Luce was almost finished salting the second of two windows in her room when the temperature dropped. She finished salting the window and picked up the iron dust pan again.

"Lucinda."

Luce gasped.

"Mi…Michelle," she breathed out, able to see her breath in the air.

"How could you let that giant get me?"

"I…I didn't even know about hunting then."

"Yes you did. All those summers spent sneaking books from your dad's library, all those times when you just knew everyone you cared about was keeping something from you. Something big. We talked about it remember? How your gut told you they were hiding things from you and how you were going to confront them about it the minute you got home for the summer. But you never did. You chickened out. You figured if it was really something big they would tell you. But they didn't. You were a coward when it came to your own family and that got me killed."

"How do you know if I confronted them about it that they would have been honest with me?"

Michelle laughed. "They would have been. They were all waiting for you to figure it out eventually. How could you not?"

"I didn't…"

"I don't want to hear it. You could have saved me from that giant!"

Michelle moved closer and Luce backed up until her back met the wall.

Michelle was in her face. "Do you know why no one has found my body to this day?"

Luce swallowed hard and shook her head, the iron weapon in her hand forgotten as she was face to face with her best friend, the guilt written on her face.

"Because he ate me, Luce! That monster ate me whole! Alive! And it's all your fault!"

~O.o~

Sam and Dean entered the Singer home, guns raised.

"Bobby!?" Dean called out. "Lucinda!?"

As they entered the library they heard a scream.

"Luce!?" Dean yelled. "You go find Bobby," he told Sam as he headed for the stairs.

~O.o~

Michelle had rid Luce of her only weapon and had her shoved onto her back on the floor.

"You could have saved me if you'd been brave enough! I was your best friend! I loved you! I told you everything and you just let me die!"

"No! I'm sorry!" Tears began to leak from Luce's eyes.

Michelle's hand went for Luce's chest but the bedroom door swung open and Luce saw Dean fire a salt round and Michelle disappeared.

"Luce," Dean ran over to her and held out his hand.

She took it and he pulled her up, pulling her into an embrace.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah, thanks Dean."

"That was Michelle?" he recognized her from some of Luce's pictures.

He remembered when Luce first showed him a picture of her and he'd said something about how he wouldn't mind if she spent the night with him and Luce promptly punched him in the face. Granted, her knuckles ended up being bruised longer than Dean's face but she'd never apologized for sticking up for her friend. When she told Michelle about what happened when junior year started Michelle had laughed so hard she cried.

"Man, I wish I could spend the night with him," Michelle said after she regained her composure.

The look Luce shot her made her smile disappear immediately. "Sorry, just kidding. I know you're in love with him."

"I am not in love with him."

"If you say so," Michelle said in a sing-song voice as she grabbed her toiletry bag and headed out of the room.

~O.o~

Luce was rather excited to see Sam and Dean's reactions when they showed them the panic room.

"Bobby, is this…" Sam started.

"Solid iron. Completely coated in salt. One-hundred percent ghost proof."

"You built a panic room?"

"I had a weekend off."

"Bobby," Dean said.

"What?"

"You're awesome."

Luce smiled. "Hey, I helped."

Sam and Dean were clearly impressed as they smiled and absorbed their new surroundings.

"It took a bit longer than a weekend I'm afraid," she added.

"Aw, kiddo, why you gotta' rain on my parade?" Bobby joked.

Luce laughed. "Come on old man, we're good, but we're not that good."

"I'll show you old man Lucinda Faith."

Luce chuckled and ducked out of the way before her dad could tickle her. She went for Sam and knew that behind him her dad wouldn't even be able to see her.

Later Luce sat at the table in between Sam and Dean as they taught her how to make her own salt rounds.

"See this is why I can't get behind God."

"Dean," Luce started.

"No, no I know you believe in all of this, I mean how long have you worn that necklace huh?" Dean asked, nodding at the delicate, hammered, gold necklace around Luce's neck. It was no bigger than a dime in the silhouette of an angel. He reached out for it. Luce held her breath when his fingers brushed her clavicle, his finger going underneath the delicate linked chain and letting the angel rest on the tip.

"It was my mom's. You know that."

"Yeah but you've always believed in angels. In God. I mean, your middle name is Faith for goodness' sake. But, if He doesn't exist. Fine. Bad crap happens to good people." He let the necklace fall back against her skin. "That's how it is. There's no rhyme or reason-just random, horrible, evil, I get it, okay. I can roll with that. But if He is out there. What's wrong with him? Where the Hell is he while all these decent people are getting torn to shreds? How does He live with Himself? You know, why doesn't he help?"

Sam, Bobby, and Luce all exchanged looks.

"I ain't touchin' this one with a ten-foot pole," Bobby stated.

"Yeah," Dean said.

Luce looked at Sam. He could tell she wanted to say something to Dean, but just like him, had no idea what. They both silently agreed to just leave it.

~O.o~

It was a close call in the library. Just as Bobby was finishing the spell Meg got behind him. Luce was about to step in when Michelle threw her to the floor and she watched as the bowl slipped from her dad's hand and he called out to Dean to catch it and finish the spell.

Both Bobby and Luce let out yells of relief when the witnesses vanished.

"Bobby? Luce?" Dean asked, getting up off the floor.

"I've got him," Sam said, helping Bobby up.

Dean went over to Luce. "You all right?"

"Well look who it is, my knight in shining armor again," she teased.

"Very funny," he said as he helped her up.

~O.o~

Luce, Sam, and Dean had decided to hunker down in the study for the night. Both the boys insisted she take the couch and made themselves pallets out of sheets and bed spreads on the floor next to it.

Bobby came in the room and handed Sam and Dean a beer and Luce a cherry coke. Despite her entreaties he refused to let her drink before she was twenty-one and every time she would call him a hypocrite.

"Hey I'm not lettin' my kid drink underage."

"Like you didn't drink before you were twenty-one?" She accused, raising an eyebrow at him, knowing she was right.

"Enjoy your slumber party ladies," he teased, ignoring the question.

After he left Luce smiled sweetly at Dean.

"Nope," he said, taking a long drink from his bottle.

"Please?" she said, giving him her puppy eyes.

He looked away. "Nuh-uh."

"You're no fun."

"Hey, I might be able to survive Hell but there's no way I'd be able to survive the wrath of Bobby."

All three of them laughed and Luce started throwing popcorn kernels for Sam to catch in his mouth.

Later, after Sam was sound asleep, Luce turned over on her side to look down at Dean who was lying with his head directly below the couch, his feet out towards the middle of the room. She saw that he was awake.

"My mom believed in angels. And God," she said quietly.

Dean's green eyes met her light brown ones in the dim light of the moon that came through the windows behind the couch.

She continued. "Maybe that's part of why I believe so much. Because she did. I just…I just don't believe that with everything that's out there, especially now with what I know about hunting, that angels don't exist. Or God. I mean Hell exists. You were there. So how can you not believe in a God? In Heaven?"

Dean didn't say anything.

Luce looked up and jerked to a sitting position. Dean sat up too and saw Castiel in the kitchen, leaning against the sink.

Luce and Dean looked at each other before getting up.

"Excellent job with the witnesses," he said to them both.

"You were hip to all this?" Dean asked.

"I was, uh, made aware."

"Well, thanks a lot for the angelic assistance. You know we almost got our hearts ripped out of our chests."

"But you didn't."

"I thought angels were supposed to be guardians. Fluffy wings. Halos. You know, Michael Landon. Not dicks."

"So did I," Luce said. She couldn't help but be disappointed. "You pulled Dean out of Hell. Doesn't that make you his guardian angel?"

"Read the Bible. Angels are warriors of God. I'm a soldier. And no."

"Yeah? Then why didn't you fight?"

"I'm not here to perch on your shoulder. We had larger concerns," Castiel said.

"Concerns? There were people gettin' torn to shreds down here. And, by the way, while all this is going on, where the Hell is your boss, huh, if there is a God?"

"There's a God."

"I'm not convinced. 'Cause if there's a God what the Hell is He waitin' for, huh? Genocide? Monsters roaming the Earth? The freakin' apocalypse? At what point does He lift a damn finger and help the poor bastards that are stuck down here?"

"The Lord works-"

"If you say 'mysterious ways,' so help me, I will kick your ass."

Luce could tell Castiel was already done with this conversation as he leaned against the sink. "So, my dad was right…about the witnesses. This is some kind of a sign of the apocalypse," Luce added.

"That's why we're here. Big things afoot."

"Do I want to know what kind of things?"

"I sincerely doubt it, but you both need to know. The rising of the witnesses is one of the 66 seals."

"Okay. I'm guessing that's not a show at SeaWorld."

"Those seals are being broken by Lilith."

"She did the spell. She rose the witnesses."

"Mm-hmm. And not just here. Twenty other hunters are dead."

"Of course. She picked victims that the hunters couldn't save so that they would barrel right after us."

"Lilith has a certain sense of humor."

"Well, we put those spirits back to rest."

"It doesn't matter. The seal was broken."

"Why break the seal anyway?"

"You think of the seals as locks on a door."

"Okay. Last one opens and…"

"Lucifer walks free."

"Lucifer?" both Luce and Dean said at the same time.

"But I thought Lucifer was just a story they told at demon Sunday school," Dean added. "There's no such thing."

"Three days ago, you thought there was no such thing as me."

"I still think he needs a bit more convincing," Luce said.

"I can see that," Castiel said. "Why do you think we're here walking among you now for the first time in two-thousand years?"

"To stop Lucifer."

Castiel nodded. "That's why we've arrived."

"Well…bang-up job so far. Stellar work with the witnesses. That's nice."

"We tried. And there are other battles, other seals. Some we'll win, some we'll lose. This one we lost. Our numbers are not unlimited." Luce watched as Castiel got in Dean's face. "Six of my brothers died in the field this week. You think the armies of Heaven should just follow you around? There's a bigger picture here. Like Lucinda, you should show me some respect. I dragged you out of Hell. I can throw you back in."

Luce was about to ask if he would really do that but before she could get the words out Castiel disappeared. She looked over at Dean but the next thing she knew she was waking up on the couch and the sun was up. Both she and Dean looked to the kitchen to see if Castiel was there and saw Sam come in the room. He sat down next to Luce and pulled one of his plaid long-sleeved shirts on.

Sam noticed the looks on Dean and Luce's faces. "You two all right? What's wrong?"

"So," Dean spoke looking to Luce. "You got no problem believing in God and angels." He turned to his brother. "What about you Sam?"

"No, not really."

"So I guess that means that you believe in the Devil?"

"Why are you asking me all this?"

"Because you and Luce find it so easy to just believe."