Disclaimer: Supernatural does not belong to me. Lily, as well as some other characters, and the plot belongs to me.

English is not my native language, so I apologize for any mistake I might have.

As always, I apologize for taking so long to update. This semester of college is, literally, destroying me. Nevertheless, I hope you all like this chapter!

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Chapter 6

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As the former archangel had expected, the young woman lost consciousness as soon as he took her away from the scene. His mind was plagued with a thousand different thoughts and speculations, all of them which could be summarized to his concern for Lily's safety. Not knowing where else to take her- and being aware of the fact that he couldn't take her to any parallel universe, for he imagined it was the least she needed after such a traumatizing experience- he ended up taking her to his apartment.

Cupcake came forwards immediately upon their arrival, tail wiggling in excitement. Loki allowed himself a moment to distractedly scratch the puppy's head in greeting, to then move towards the living room, where he gently carried the unconscious woman and lowered her into one of the couches.

He found himself leaning against the couch where she rested, observing her as he fought against his thoughts. Cupcake jumped on the couch and moved to comfortably lay by her legs. Loki smiled for a moment, to then grow serious as his eyes trailed over the young woman in front of him. Though still unconscious, she was crying- tears were running down her cheeks, her young face reflecting all the pain she felt through the night.

Then, as he found himself kneeling on the floor, right in front of the couch where his human remained unconscious, he felt consumed with an emotion that he never expected to feel, guilt.

It was his fault.

A sudden wave of anger overcame Loki's senses, and he vowed to destroy the abomination for hurting her.

From the moment that God created everything, it was known that Sam and Dean were similar enough to Michael and Lucifer to be their vessels. The birth of a middle child had come as a surprise to most, for heaven had no plans for her; she had no role in neither heaven nor hell's business. From time to time, the youngest archangel wondered if he had been assigned her protection for that same reason.

Compared to any other human, she was, perhaps, the only one that could need an archangel as a guardian to make sure that she remained unbothered by both heaven and hell. It was only a theory, Gabriel could never be completely sure what his father planned when assigning him as her guardian, but it was something that he often thought about.

Lily Winchester needed a lot of protection to remain safe and away from her siblings' doomed fate, perhaps enough to get assigned the all-powerful Left Hand of God as a guardian...

And yet, he breathed heavily, consumed with guilt, he had failed to protect her.

It was the one duty from heaven that he continued following through, the one duty from his previous life that he liked having, and he had failed somehow. He was supposed to protect her, to keep her out of danger and away from hell's business, but a prince of hell had, somehow, found her- found them. It angered him like nothing else ever had.

Asmodeus had taken an interest in the "forgotten" Winchester, and it was all because of him. For some reason- that he was decided to find out sooner than later- the abomination had not only discovered he was alive, but was also targeting the human he cared the most for. It was clear that he didn't want anything from the young woman- the demon only wanted to force Gabriel out of hiding.

And out of hiding the archangel would come, if only for a brief moment- long enough to smite the demon back into hell and away from them, but long enough for heaven to notice.

Looking at the young woman once more, he forced himself to focus, pushing aside all thoughts. "I'm sorry, doll," He breathed out, moving to gently graze her cheek with his knuckles. His contact seemed to appease her nightmare- or rather, the memory that continued haunting her- but it also seemed to help her start to regain consciousness.

Her eyes fluttered open, slow and uncertain, until she was staring right at him.

Loki gave Lily time to adjust herself, to remember on her own all that had happened during the previous minutes, though he hated how affected she looked once the memories came back and she realized it had not been a nightmare. The tip of his fingers trailed over an old scar right on top of her eyebrow, to then trail down her cheek. Her eyes shot towards him, vibrant green colliding against his own amber-colored eyes, and he moved his hand down, hesitant.

"Hey," He said quietly.

"Hi," She breathed out, voice breaking due to lack of use.

Their faces were too close, their noses almost brushing, and yet neither of them seemed to mind. Regardless of all that had happened in such short notice, she couldn't ignore the fact that his presence brought her much needed peace. She remembered, slowly at first and then in an avalanche of old memories blurring with the newest ones, that the yellow-eyed demon had made another appearance...and that Loki, the monster she had seen die right in front of her eyes that same night, had been the one to save her.

She opened her mouth, then hesitated, not knowing how to voice her thoughts or where to begin with.

"We're in my apartment," The blond man supplied, using a soft tone of voice meant not to startle her. "You're safe."

The green-eyed woman couldn't bring herself to look around- she couldn't look away from him. His eyes, which she had last seen full of pain as her brother drove a stake through his heart, were now troubled differently. He seemed concerned for her, and, as she remembered briefly, he had saved her against the one demon that she feared the most.

"You're supposed to be dead."

That was not what she expected to say first, especially considering all that had happened; it was, however, the only thing she could bring herself to say without feeling consumed with pain and memories afterward.

Caleb's figure burning on the ceiling was an image that haunted her; he died the same way that her mother had, all those years before, and she couldn't stop thinking that, perhaps, if she had arrived earlier, she would've saved him.

After a moment, she swallowed her guilt, focusing on the man in front of her. She didn't want to think about that, didn't want to acknowledge the pain it caused her, nor the memories it brought back- she just wanted to push it all away, to forget it all.

Loki chuckled, though the amusement didn't reach his eyes. "And you were supposed to know better than to believe that. Please. You can't take the trick out of Trickster."

With a breathless sound, Lily started to move. Her whole body ached in protest, bones creaking as she carefully placed her hands on the couch and moved into a sitting position. A sigh left her mouth, her trembling hands moving up until they were hiding her face from view, a burning headache making her feel even worse.

That night's images kept coming back to her. The house was in flames, the windows were in flames, there was nowhere to go, but she refused to die in front of the yellow-eyed demon. Before she could do anything out of desperation, a pair of hands grabbed her from behind, helping her up from the floor. She tensed, thinking that another demon had appeared, but the person holding her was careful with his touch, almost gentle, and took a stance that was meant to protect her.

The house exploded. The young mortal woman winced, curling into her side to protect herself from the flames that would, most definitely, engulf and kill her, but the person behind her simply brought her closer to himself, protectively, and that's when she realized that the flames weren't touching them. She looked up, only to startle at the sight of her savior.

She didn't want to cry, much less for him to see her being vulnerable, but she found herself removing her hands from her face and stealing a look in his direction. Silence reigned for a moment, then Loki was able to hear a soft, "You saved me," being whispered.

Loki gave a short nod, but remained quiet.

Lily hesitated for a moment, then nodded curtly, "Thank you."

The former archangel hesitated, still kneeling in front of the couch and front of her. He wasn't too sure of the words that would come out of his mouth, but he wanted her to know that he did mean them, "I want to apologize, for failing you," He paused, but continued after she gave him a confused look, "I told you I would deal with the demon on my own, that I didn't want you to have to go through that alone, and yet, you did. I couldn't save Caleb, and I almost couldn't save you."

Lily swallowed thickly, not knowing how to acknowledge the guilt that he seemed to be feeling when she also felt incredibly guilty over what happened. Instead, she focused on something else- on anything that could help her forget, even for just a moment, the image of a man she once loved burning on the ceiling of what had once been their house.

Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry.

Lily found herself shaking her head, swallowing down the lump in her throat, and said, "It was the yellow-eyed demon. You couldn't have done anything to prevent it from happening- he is obsessed with my family."

The yellow-eyed demon was, without a doubt, the one demon that she feared the most. Consequently, he was also the abomination that she had never wanted to encounter before. Throughout the curse of her life, nightmares about her mother and that particular demon plagued her nights, the memory of seeing her mother on the ceiling burning being one of the few aspects of her childhood from before that she could remember almost perfectly. And now, after two decades and a half, the demon had found a way to continue traumatizing her.

She thought back to what Dean told her about the yellow-eyed demon having killed Sam's girlfriend in the same way that he had killed their mother all those years before- and she realized that history did seem to continuously repeat itself. The demon had something against her family, though she didn't know what it was, and it never seemed to end.

"No, Lily," Loki sighed. "The demon you encountered tonight is one of the four princes of hell, but it was not the one that killed your mother."

Lily's world stopped. "There's...there's more than one yellow-eyed demon?"

The former archangel nodded, knowing that it would be easier for the Winchesters to know that detail beforehand. Despite knowing that it was their fate, part of him hoped that they would be able to stop Azazel's plans before any of them could learn their role as vessels. He couldn't evade the apocalypse, it was planned since the very beginning- Michael had to defeat Lucifer, it was how things were written out- but he hoped that, somehow, his human, his Lily, could. He wanted her to be able to live without having to see her family crumble and destroy itself.

Lily closed her eyes once more, her head pounding as she attempted to collect her thoughts and process that information. Throughout her whole life, she considered the yellow-eyed demon to be the worse abomination anyone could ever encounter, so knowing that there was more than one made her feel defeated, powerless. She had about a thousand questions, but she didn't know where to start.

After a moment, she managed to ask the first question that popped into her head. "How do you know that a yellow-eyed demon killed my mother?"

How could a man, not much older than herself, know about those demons when her father had spent the majority of his life trying to find out what they were and had failed to do so?

Loki didn't mean his words to come out as cynical as they did, "I don't think there's any supernatural creature that doesn't know about the Winchesters, sugar," and he could see that she didn't like how evasive his answer had been, but it was the most he could say without revealing too much.

A brief pause followed through.

Needing to collect her thoughts once again, Lily allowed herself a moment to look around. The apartment was different from what she expected a monster's place to be, and certainly too well-equipped for someone with only a janitor's salary. Most things looked expensive, the big tv, the leather couches, the furniture adorning the living room, but there was also a certain air of emptiness surrounding the place, one that she couldn't quite place. No pictures were hanging around the walls, no postcards or letters adorning the fridge- there was nothing that could allow anyone to know he had a family.

It wasn't a home; it didn't seem to have his personal touch anywhere. It was only a place to sleep, eat, and God-knows-what else. The young woman felt a distinctive burst of sympathy towards him, remembering what he had once told her about his family: that he had left them because he couldn't stand to see them destroying one another, that he was alone.

And she, better than anyone else, knew how it felt to be alone.

Lily looked up, seeing him with a new light, and said a careful: "Yellow-Eyes was scared of you."

Even as an abomination as dangerous as the yellow-eyed demon seemed to be thoroughly scared of him, she couldn't bring herself to feel the same. Being able to finally interpret the emotion she constantly saw reflected in his eyes, her whole perspective about him changed. He reflected an emotion that she often felt, and that, consequently, made her feel closer to him. Loneliness.

Unaware of her thoughts, a grimace of disgust crossed Loki's face, a knee-jerk reaction at the thought of the old demon. He allowed himself to nod, unable to deny that it was true. Asmodeus had been smart enough to show how frightened he was of him. For Loki, it meant nothing (all demons knew to fear archangels), but he could see that it bothered the young woman in front of him.

"He was. But you have no reason to be scared of me."

Loki knew that, technically, there were about a million reasons for her to be cautious of him, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He would never hurt her, in any way. He wanted her to know that.

Lily looked at him, her green eyes filled with an emotion he couldn't quite place, and nodded slowly. She knew.

It was unfathomable, but Loki couldn't help but feel as though she were looking beyond his vessel; that, somehow, she could see the real him underneath the human appearance. The intimacy of her stare rendered him speechless, a pleasant shiver going down his spine. He licked his lips and caught her eyes following his tongue as it momentarily danced over his lips, a look of longing etched into her face as she glanced up and met his eyes.

He knew then that he was doomed. Completely and utterly doomed. He didn't care how wrong and forbidden it was, there was nothing he wanted more than to close the distance between them and kiss her.

Hesitantly, he searched her face for another sign that she reciprocated his desire; he couldn't understand why he felt so nervous, but all rational thoughts escaped him when her eyes flicked down to his lips once again, and he knew- she was as equally doomed as he was.

Lily caught herself and looked away before she could do something that she desperately wanted to do but that she knew wouldn't be smart of her. "You're not a trickster."

The intimate atmosphere between them seemed to break with her words.

Loki leaned back, not having realized that he had moved closer to her, as though her mere presence pulled him in. He rose from the floor, where he had remained kneeling in front of her, and moved to sit over the decorative crystal table in front of the couch, feeling like he needed to put some distance between them to be able to clear his thoughts.

He acknowledged her words, tilting his head down for a brief moment. It was peculiar how she was intelligent enough to realize Tricksters weren't meant to have that much power, even though he knew she had never dealt with one before. "You could say that I am an advanced kind of Trickster."

She forced a smile at him, "I'm guessing that means you can't be killed with this," and raised the stake she had been hiding in her jacket, watching how his eyes narrowed at the sight and how he seemed unable to tear his gaze away from the weapon.

A chuckle escaped his mouth, though his eyes observed her movements in case she decided to test her theory. The least he needed was for her to realize that he was deceiving her once more and that he was, in fact, not a Trickster at all.

"Don't let anybody tell you you're just a pretty face," Loki praised her, though there was no trace of amusement on his features.

Lily directed a calculating look in his direction, but moved to leave the stake on the table he was sitting at- a subtle way of telling him that she was choosing to trust him again. He noticed, and felt relieved. "What do you want from me?"

Loki considered it for a moment, wondering the best way to approach the situation without making a mistake. "I just want you to be safe from the demon. I want us to be friends again."

"Does that mean I must ignore the fact that you fooled me?" Lily bit back, unable not to. It irked her how foolish she was being. She couldn't understand why she felt so connected to him regardless of all that had happened.

Loki raised his eyebrows. "Only if you also decide to ignore that I saved you."

"You only saved me because you had no other choice," Lily found herself unable not to snap, a scowl appearing on his face as she recalled the demon's words.

Loki seemed to lose his patience. "No. I saved you because I care about you."

Everything seemed to momentarily stop, or at least that is how both felt as soon as those words were spoken out loud. Loki blinked, not expecting to blurt that out in such an abrupt manner, and thus he waited patiently for her reaction.

Loki didn't regret his words, for it was the truth. How could he not care about her? How could anyone- any other guardian angel- not care about their humans? At that moment, being able to see her at her most vulnerable, he couldn't quite understand how his siblings didn't care about their humans, how they constantly complained about the burden of having to look after them. Protecting Lily, having something worth looking after, made him feel almost at home.

Lily sucked in a breath, a warm feeling crossing her chest. She couldn't remember the last time someone had claimed to care about her, much less could she remember a time where she felt so undeniably attracted to someone that she certainly shouldn't be attracted to. A smile fought its way into her face, though she attempted to hide it before he could notice.

He still noticed and looked down at his hands. The situation was more complicated than he wanted it to be, but nothing had ever been easy for him.

Despite how pleasant it was to feel wanted again, Lily adopted a defensive attitude, and reminded him: "You don't know me."

"No," Loki agreed, looking up to meet her eyes. "But I would like to."

Cupcake decided to make his presence known. The small puppy jumped from his spot on the floor by Loki's side, stretched himself with a soft whine, and then jumped on the couch and easily settled on Lily's lap. With their eye contact broken, she pushed down the pleasant feeling that threatened to overcome her, remembering that their situation was far more complicated than she would've liked it to be.

Lily was thoroughly confused. Loki was the Trickster terrorizing Crawford Hall, but he also wasn't a Trickster at all, that much she was able to easily decipher. Then, there was also the fact that he had feigned his death to escape punishment by the hunter's hands, but he had saved her. She couldn't understand anything about him, about his motives, about his actions.

"I haven't forgiven you," Lily said dryly, pointedly looking down at the dog on her lap even though she could feel Loki's eyes on her. "I won't forgive you easily."

Loki accepted her words. "As long as you do forgive me, I don't mind waiting."

"The yellow-eyed demon wasn't after Caleb or after me," She swallowed down the lump in her throat at the reminder of her ex-boyfriend. The guilt she started to feel threatened to overcome her, but she pushed it aside, if only for a moment. "It was after you."

"I'm sorry about Caleb," Loki said softly, sounding since. "I know that his death is my fault. He was innocent in this whole thing, you both were."

Lily closed her mouth, refraining herself from saying what was crossing her mind, not having expected him to take the blame. Almost every other person that she knew tended to victimize themselves when something similar happened, refusing to acknowledge their wrongdoings, but Loki didn't even hesitate before admitting that it had been his fault. The young woman was pleasantly surprised, but she didn't completely agree with his perspective of things.

"I'm not as innocent as you think, Loki. I've done things, awful things," Lily sighed, but continued before he could interrupt her. The words came out of her without any hesitation whatsoever, but it was difficult to acknowledge her guilt so openly. "Caleb died because of me. I left him unprotected, I refused to listen to him when he asked for my help, I-" The young woman stopped, angrily cleaning away a few tears that had escaped. "If I had arrived earlier, I would've saved him."

Loki sighed. "No, Lily," He said softly, hating all the pain she seemed to be feeling. "You both would've died."

Guardian angels were only allowed to directly intervene in a situation if their human's life was imminently endangered, otherwise they had to remain as bystanders and gently guide through a series of actions that would later be disregarded by humans as mere coincidences. That was why Asmodeus had forced the middle Winchester into a situation where she would've died if Loki didn't appear, because the demon wanted her angel to make itself known. The demon wouldn't have cared about the other human, he would've still found a way to kill him- the fact that he killed him in the same way that his brother tended to kill his victims truly angered Loki, because the former archangel knew the demon did it to taunt the young hunter.

She shook her head. "Maybe I could've saved him."

"We both know that isn't true, sweetheart. When a prince of hell chooses someone as their next victim, there's no stopping them. No matter the consequences, no matter what they have to do or against whom they stand, the abominations always succeed."

"But you still think you can stand against one of them and survive?"

Loki tensed. "It's different for me. His kind and mine, we are natural enemies," He explained carefully. "There's always someone stronger, someone with more power, meant to stand against all of hell's abominations- and that someone is me, my kind."

"Tricksters?" Lily felt like there was something off about the whole ordeal. She didn't believe him when he claimed to be 'an advanced kind of Trickster', but she wanted to see if he would accidentally admit what he was.

"What else if not Tricksters?"

"Angels, perhaps," Lily mentioned distractedly, not realizing that the man across from her tensed at her words, his amber-colored eyes darting forwards to meet hers. "A demon's natural enemy has to be an angel, that's the whole heaven-hell thing, isn't it?"

Loki raised his eyebrows in her direction. "Do I look like an angel to you?" His tone of voice was entirely sarcastic, but he was a little startled at how perceptive she was. He knew for a fact that her brothers didn't believe angels existed, as none of them had ever encountered one before in their hunts, but he hadn't realized that the young woman across from him was more open-minded than they were.

Lily smirked a little, trailing her eyes over his figure for a brief moment. She didn't believe him to be an angel, how could she when he seemed to be the very representation of sin? He had killed, taunted, tricked, and seduced. He couldn't- as Lily analyzed it briefly- be an angel in any way of the word. However, mischief danced in her eyes at the thought of teasing him, and she said: "How would I know? I've never met an angel before."

And you won't, Loki thought to himself. I won't allow my brothers to try and get you involved in any heaven-related business.

After a brief pause, Loki decided to change the course of their conversation, needing to ask what had been crossing his mind for a long time. "So, you don't hate me?"

The young woman shook her head, though she seemed to have considered his words. "No, I don't. You had no active part on Caleb's death, did you? You didn't know that the yellow-eyed demon would kill him. It wasn't your fault."

"I thought you wouldn't ever want to see or talk to me again after what happened tonight."

Lily considered his words for a moment. "I wouldn't if you had been the one to directly harm him."

"I didn't plan for him to die," Loki said sincerely, "He was innocent in all of this." He punished those that deserved it, and while Caleb hadn't been an excellent human throughout his life, he didn't deserve to die in the way that he did- especially not when it so clearly affected the young hunter in front of him.

"I am angry at you, though," Lily admitted, her voice portraying an awful amount of annoyance. "The demon said he was only doing what he did to summon you- but why use me? I'm angry at you because I know you won't answer me that, because you lied to me, you tricked me, and now you won't even tell me what's going on even though it- whatever it is- almost got me killed."

"It's not that I don't want to tell you, Lily," Loki said, sounding like he would rather continue keeping her at bay from the truth. The truth was too complicated, and completely forbidden to say. "It's just that there are things I cannot- literally- tell you. It's not the right time yet."

"I almost died- my ex-boyfriend died- but it's not the right time?" Lily's eyes glowed dangerously, her voice rising slightly as she allowed herself to explode, all the previous tension leaving her body as she seethed. "When will it be the right time, when another monster actually kills me just to summon you?"

Loki's patience ran short. "I won't allow anyone to harm you-!"

"But why?" She raised her voice again, "Why are you so keen on protecting me?"

The blond man wasn't angry enough to unconsciously answer, contrary to what she had been expecting. He merely sighed, moving a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "I wish I could tell you, believe me. This isn't exactly easy for me, either. But I can't, so please, drop the subject."

Lily attempted another tactic. "You don't trust me?"

"If I didn't trust you, I wouldn't have brought you here, to my house."

"If you're not giving me answers, perhaps I should just go."

Loki nodded tightly. "You should."

Their eyes locked, a different intensity to their stare than was common between them, until the young woman realized that the man in front of her was as stubborn and strong-willed as she was. Scoffing to herself, she muttered a quiet: "Fine", and started to rise from the couch, ignoring how her bones cracked at her abrupt movement and an intense headache started to form at the same time.

Loki then sighed, rolling his eyes. "Fine. Don't go. I'll answer any other question you have, but I cannot tell you what you've already asked." The former archangel didn't want her to leave because once they parted ways, it would be a very long time until they could see each other again. He was planning on killing Asmodeus, but doing so would then force him to lay low for some time.

But Lily, even though she remained having a thousand questions, didn't feel like hearing more of his excuses. Instead, she said: "We have to destroy the demon before he makes another move."

Loki sighed tiredly. "We already talked about this. I'll destroy him. You will remain safe and sound with your dumbass brothers in some nasty old motel while you hunt whichever creature comes your way."

That was not an option for Lily, who wouldn't be able to stand another death. "I'm a hunter, Loki," She reminded him harshly, starting to wonder if that was even his real name. He was keeping so many secrets, lying too much, that she didn't even know what to believe anymore. "I've been taught all my life to deal with monsters, especially with the yellow-eyed demon. He killed my boyfriend right in front of my eyes in the same way that his brother killed my mother. He almost killed me. This is my business as much as it is yours."

Loki wanted to protest, but decided against it. "Nothing I say will make you change your mind, right?"

Lily offered him a sweet smile, her eyes hard and unyielding. "Of course not. My mind is made."

"You're too stubborn," He complained again, but there was a barely-hidden edge of fondness on his voice.

She chuckled, remembering one of their previous conversations where he'd said the same thing in the same tone. "I'm still taking that as a compliment-"

"Of course you are."

"-But you said you wanted to be friends," Lily's words caught Loki's attention, her eyes twinkling almost dangerously as she continued, "What better way to bond than to destroy a demon together?"

Loki raised his eyebrows, making a show of considering her words. "You know, I can think of more than a few safer ways to bond."

Lily bit her lower lip in an attempt to hide a smirk, shrugging her shoulders to appear nonchalant, and then gave him her best look of innocence. "But where's the fun in that? I thought a Trickster was supposed to be all about fun?"

This little human is definitely going to be my downfall. Loki looked down, chuckling even though the rational part of him reminded him that he shouldn't like her impulsive side, but there was something he found incredibly endearing about her little mischievous smile and the way her eyes brightened while teasing him. It allured the part of him that he had modified into resembling a Trickster's characteristics.

Before he could reply, the sound of her phone ringing echoed through the partially silent apartment, startling both of them.

"It's Dean," She glanced at Loki, sobering up as the realization of their situation hit her. All the pain and the guilt she felt came back with full-strength, and she then concentrated on her phone in an attempt not to cry. "I have to…"

"Yeah, okay," Loki cleared his throat, rising from the table and moving towards the kitchen to give her some privacy. "Go ahead, I'll be over here."

Lily took a deep breath before answering the call. "Hi?"

"Hey, you've been gone for a little while," Dean's voice echoed through Loki's silent apartment. "Sam here thinks it means you're having some heated make-up sex with your ex, but the fact that you answered the call makes me think that's not true. So, what's up? Did you get tired of us already and decided to ditch us?" While his words were meant to be a joke, Lily was able to recognize the vulnerability underneath his words, and her heart broke.

Her brothers were constantly thinking she would abandon them again. Every passing day she found herself regretting, even more, having left them on their own all those years before. She remembered Dean's desperation as he told her what he'd learned about Sam, and his words about not being able to protect him on his own anymore. He had always counted on her to protect Sammy, and yet, she had not been there for them for years. It was, as much as she wanted to blame their father for her actions, her fault, and knowing it had caused her brothers' pain was breaking her heart all over again.

"No, um," Lily's throat felt dry. "C-Caleb's dead."

"What?" Dean's whole demeanor changed instantly. "What happened? Are you okay?" He demanded, sounding alarmed. Sam's voice could also be heard through the line after his older brother repeated what their sister had said, concern easily perceived on his words. "Where are you?"

"I-I don't know where I am, but I'm safe," Lily swallowed thickly, the words coming out of her mouth without her permission. Hearing her brother's voice made her feel alone, in some way she couldn't understand, and very cold. The reality of the situation hit her, quite differently to how being with Loki made her feel. With the amber-eyed man, she had felt as though she had escaped her nightmare, but upon hearing her brothers, she realized she was still trapped in the same place, with a yellow-eyed abomination destroying everyone she loved.

"What happened?" Sam questioned again, while Dean inquired once more about her whereabouts.

"It was a yellow-eyed demon. Not the one that killed our mother- it was another one. There's more than one demon, Dean. It killed Caleb and I just- I left him there, I couldn't save him."

"Where are you? We'll come pick you up."

"I just left him there," Lily repeated, not hearing a word that his brother said. "It was like mom all over again, Dean."

Loki came up behind the young hunter, and placed a hand on her shoulder. Startled, she turned back to look at him, disregarding the phone call in alarm at the thought of her brothers hearing Loki's voice somehow and discovering he was alive.

The young woman felt something wet on her lips and realized she was crying. Embarrassed, she tried to clean the remaining tears away before it was too noticeable, but stopped when he gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"It's okay, sugar, there's so much a human can handle in one night," Loki said, voice sounding almost gentle. He caressed her cheek, then continued, "Close your eyes, and when you open them, you'll be with your brothers."

"But the demon-"

"-will regret hurting you," Loki interrupted her, a dark shadow crossing his face. "Now, eyes closed."

"But I-"

Loki winked at her, snapping his fingers. "Bye-bye."

And, in a blink, she found herself in a different place.

Startled, she stumbled back a few steps, nauseous and confused.

Where was she? Was it an illusion, like when he had made that frat boy be abducted by aliens?

Within a moment, she realized that it was not an illusion. The further she looked upon her surroundings, the easier it was to realize where she was. It was the place where she had told her brothers to meet her before going to Caleb's house, where Bobby had separated from them to go home.

Upon that realization, her body filled with dread. How had he just sent her away like that? How could a creature have that much power?

She took one step forward, then shivered once a cold breeze ruffled through her, making her pull her jacket closer. It was an unconscious reaction that she then regretted, because her jacket smelt of smoke, and she found herself unable to breathe, the memory of Caleb's house burning down disorienting her. In the distance, she caught a glimpse of her brothers, hurriedly approaching the Impala, and she knew they were off to search for her.

"Sam?" Lily called out for them, not wanting them to leave. "Dean?"

The two brothers stopped, turning towards her voice. She saw Dean's eyes widen, his hand darting forwards to slap Sam's chest as he gestured, with his other hand, towards their sister.

Relief flooded through Sam's features. "It's Lily."

She felt her feet move towards them amidst her stupor, and, in a matter of seconds, her two brothers had enveloped her a tight hug.

"You're safe," Dean breathed out, holding her tighter against himself. His words were not meant to reassure her, it was a statement with which he tried to calm his nerves. He and his little brother had panicked after hearing she encountered a yellow-eyed demon, worried for her safety and confused as to how there was more than one roaming the Earth.

"I'm sorry," Sam kept repeating, knowing from experience the pain she was feeling. "I'm so sorry, Lily."

When they separated, Dean faced her, concern filling his eyes. "What happened?"

"What do you mean there's more than one yellow-eyed demon?" Sam continued.

Lily felt a shiver up her spine, followed by the impending feeling of being watched, and her blood ran cold. The yellow-eyed demon couldn't be watching her again, she didn't even want to think of that possibility, though this time she was scared for her brothers' safety.

"I-" She shook her head, tears trailing down her cheeks. "Let's just get out of this goddamn place already, please." Please, let's leave before it comes back.

Sam took her hand, knowing she needed reassurance. "Where's your car?"

"Caleb's house," Lily's voice broke. "But I can't go back."

"Fuck it, you won't need it anymore anyway," Dean started to guide her towards the Impala, holding her other hand. "We've got Baby."

It took them almost an hour to find a motel as far from Crawford Hall as possible, but once they did, the three hunters hid away inside and locked the doors. Sam went around applying salt to the windows- even as it didn't work against yellow-eyed demons- and Dean tried to help their sister recover enough to explain what had happened that night. Truthfully, they wanted to leave Springfield altogether, but they needed to speak first, and as much as they loved the Impala, their conversation couldn't be had inside a car while one of them drove.

It was hard explaining to her brothers what happened without telling them that the Trickster was alive and that he had saved her, but it was even harder having to explain that the yellow-eyed demon that killed Caleb wasn't the same one that killed their mother and that was obsessed with Sam. Lily solely knew what she had been told, and it wasn't much. Princes of Hell, Loki had called them, but what was Lily supposed to do with that information? There had been no follow-up explanation as to what it meant or how they could be killed, so she, not knowing what to say, remained quiet for a short pause.

"I don't understand," Sam said, thoroughly affected by her retelling of the night. "Another yellow-eyed demon?" He couldn't help but think about the yellow-eyed demon and the plans it seemed to have for him. He wondered, with a certain air of despair, why was it that yellow-eyed demons were so obsessed with them?

"I don't know," Lily stressed, hiding her face behind her hands once again. "It wasn't the one that killed our mother, that's for sure. He said it was using me as bait, that Caleb was just collateral damage, but for what? What would it have wanted with me?"

The demon's words came back to her, (I just needed you to summon him), and she pushed his voice aside, consumed with a different kind of guilt than before. Caleb was dead because the demon wanted Loki, which meant that, indirectly, the blond man was responsible for her ex-boyfriend's death…and she had begun to trust him, again, even after she knew he was keeping things from her. Lily felt like the worse person in the world, and, in a way, she imagined she was.

When Caleb first texted her asking for help, she had been on a "date" with Loki, and hadn't wanted to have to face her ex-boyfriend when she was feeling so good and happy with the other man. She had chosen a monster, a Trickster, over her ex-boyfriend's safety and she knew, even as she would never admit it out loud, that she would never forgive herself for that.

"Maybe it didn't want you," Sam's voice brought her out of her thoughts. "Maybe it wanted me. Maybe Azazel sent him to torture you to get back at me."

Alarmed, Lily moved her hands from her face and met Dean's eyes through the short distance that separated them. The blond man had been leaning against the table while observing them, but upon hearing those words, he faltered.

"No," they said together, Lily and Dean, thoroughly startled with the trail of thought that their little brother had.

Sam glanced between them. "You two have got to stop talking at the same time, it's unnerving."

The youngest sibling had expected the other two to respond to his words, knowing that Lily constantly said she felt the same way when Sam and Dean talked at the same time, but they ignored his words, a familiar look of concern crossing their features almost simultaneously.

"Fuck, Sam, you can't blame yourself for everything," Dean closed his eyes, exhaling roughly. He hated knowing that his little brother, his little Sammy, had been so brainwashed by their father and damaged by the demon's words that he felt responsible for every single bad thing that happened in their lives. It wasn't fair, at all, because he was not responsible for any of their misfortunes.

Sam opened his mouth to retort, but Lily interrupted him before he could.

"Sammy, this has nothing to do with you, I swear," The green-eyed woman gave him a gentle look. She hated, just like Dean, seeing her sweet little brother blaming himself for everything. She wanted to reassure him further, but she couldn't find the right words to do so, for which she found herself looking down at her hands and sighing. "We all know it's my fault. I left him unprotected, and I…if I had just arrived there earlier when he texted me, this wouldn't have happened."

Sam didn't seem convinced, but he refrained from insisting, seeing how pale his sister was and realizing that there was nothing he could say to make her feel better. Caleb was dead, just like his Jess. There was nothing, not even time, that could help with the pain and the guilt, he knew that much from experience.

"There's nothing we can do to change what happened," Dean said, breaking the sudden silence that covered them after her words. The three hunters knew it was true, even if the two boys didn't want to acknowledge it out loud in case it hurt her, but if she had gotten to Caleb faster, perhaps things wouldn't have turned as disastrous as they were. "We just have to keep going, like we always do."

"And someday, hopefully, sooner or later, his death will be avenged," Sam added quietly, thinking about his resolutions about being able to kill Brady and Azazel for murdering Jess.

"Avenging his death won't make it better," Lily sighed tiredly, knowing that her guilt was something that would, most definitely, follow her to her grave. "I just want everyone else to be safe from yellow-eyed demons."

"Well," Dean tilted his head to the side, as though considering her words for a moment. "It's a good thing we're hunters then," He stole a glance at Sam, who had always wanted to leave their hunting life behind, and then turned to meet Lily's eyes. "Because we are going to kill every fucking yellow-eyed demon alive, whatever it takes, and we'll finally be rid of those monsters."

Their whole life had been influenced by yellow-eyes. Their father, obsessed with avenging their mother, had indirectly passed his hunger for revenge into his children. They wouldn't stop, it wouldn't stop.

"We leave tomorrow morning," Sam stood from his place on the couch and turned to face Lily. "But for now, you need to rest."

The three hunters would've liked to leave in that exact moment, but after an attack, they knew the best thing to do was to lay low. The demon could be watching them, and the least they needed was for it to follow them on the road, where an attack from it would be even more dangerous. Their safest option was to spend the night there, and, in the young woman's case, recover from the impact of losing a former loved one in such an abrupt and traumatizing way.

Lily glanced out of the window, distractedly, and thought about the Trickster. She hoped, thoroughly concerned for his safety, that he wasn't stupid enough to endanger himself by going after the yellow-eyed demon alone.

...

Loki found Asmodeus.

It wasn't hard to, for Asmodeus had been expecting him to turn up, and had refrained himself from hiding. The abandoned warehouse he had chosen was one close to where the Winchesters were spending the night, a detail that he was sure would enrage him further.

"Asmodeus," Loki's voice called out, his taunting tone making a shiver pass through the demon's back, though the abomination attempted to hide it, not wanting to portray weakness in front of the one creature that could kill him as easily as breathing. "Come out, come out, wherever you are."

Asmodeus plastered a pleasant smile into his face, and obliged, stepping into the dim light cast by one of the open windows in the room, and faced the blond man. "Hello, Gabriel. Or is it Loki, now?" He clicked his tongue, growing more confident with each passing second. "Long time no see."

The blond man approached dangerously, to then stop once the older-looking man snapped his fingers, making a circle of fire surround the former archangel, forcing him to remain where he was. Loki's face portrayed his annoyance, both at having been trapped and at having not noticed the demon's plans beforehand.

"Really, Kentucky Fried B-Hole? Holy Oil?" He scoffed, already knowing how to free himself. It wasn't as hard as some people thought, all he had to do was use his powers to make the Holy Fire disperse, and then he would be able to freely move again. There were risks, he wouldn't deny that the Holy Fire could harm him deeply if he wasn't careful enough, but his rage blinded him. "Perhaps it has been too long since you've apparently forgotten who you're dealing with."

"Oh no. I would never forget," Asmodeus smirked, gesturing to the scar on his face, a constant reminder of what happened when an archangel was dissatisfied in any way. "But it seems to me that your little human doesn't know with whom she's dealing with, does she?" At the silence that followed his words, he chuckled somberly. "That's a pity, I'm sure the real Loki would've loved her."

"What do you want?" The former archangel humored the demon, feeling unfazed because he knew that, no matter what the old demon could say or attempt to do, there was only one way in which the situation would end, and it was with him dying. Princes of hell were nothing, nothing, compared to archangels, and Gabriel was not going to allow him to live after directly seeking to hurt Lily Winchester. It didn't matter what he'd have to do to get out of the Holy Fire, or how long it would take him, but he was going to make sure the demon died a very painful death.

"Imagine my surprise when I caught glimpse of the Winchester siblings, the little humans my brother needs for his plans, and along came a very peculiar looking archangel, one that was long believed to be dead," Asmodeus' eyes gleamed as he started to explain. "You couldn't fool me, you might look like Loki, you might even sound like him and play-pretend you're a Trickster, but you are still the archangel Gabriel."

"And you are still one thick son of a bitch," Loki replied, mockingly. "I asked you what you wanted, don't make me ask twice."

"What do I want?" Asmodeus repeated, amused. "Oh, son, you know what I want."

It became clear in an instant, and the blond man's rage intensified. "You are not going to get Lily's soul."

"Oh, believe me, I don't want her soul," Asmodeus seemed almost bored with the conversation as he walked in circles around the other man, observing with satisfaction the trapped archangel. "But my brother? He has this plan for the Winchesters structured since their birth, and your little whore is only an obstacle. Sam and Dean need her. In order for them to be hopeless and to fall into Azazel's plans, she has to die."

Loki's jaw tensed.

To some extent, no matter how much he hated to admit so, it made sense.

The oldest Winchester had always counted on the middle one to take care, with him, of their little brother. They were a team, the three of them. They needed each other. With the young woman dead, the brothers would crumble.

The demons seemed to be aware of a simple, yet important fact: The Winchesters' only weakness- and their most important strength- was their unconditional, almost obsessive, love and devotion to those that they considered family.

The former archangel hated that hell wanted to force Lily into their plans when it was specifically stated that she didn't have a role in neither heaven nor hell's business. She wasn't supposed to be involved in any way, his father had deemed so after choosing Sam and Dean as Michael's and Lucifer's vessels. And yet, her death had been arranged to be a key factor in the downfall of Sam and Dean, which, consequently, would be the start of the Apocalypse. 'Unfair' was too weak a word to use; the amber-eyed man wouldn't allow those plans to continue, no matter what he had to sacrifice to keep her safe.

"You, and every single fucking demon that follows you and your brothers will die by my hand before I allow anyone, anyone, to hurt her."

The demon was unfazed. "You say that now, but, really, how much are you willing to sacrifice for her? Are you willing to sacrifice your freedom for one human, an insignificant thing that doesn't even know who you are?" He smiled at the unpleasant look that crossed the archangel's features. "If you kill me, heaven will know you're alive. Not only that, but you're alive and frolicking with the one person you were never supposed to meet and pretending to be a low-life, pagan god. I wonder what everyone will think about that."

Loki snarled, growing impatient. His eyes gleamed with the threat of unleashing his true form upon the demon, but the Holy Fire surrounding him prevented him from snapping. "You've always been a pathetic creature, Asmodeus, desperate for approval- first Lucifer's, now Azazel's- but this is taking it too far. You're biting more than you can chew."

Asmodeus interrupted him, his whole demeanor drastically changing. "I already told you what my brother wants with your little whore. Now, I'll tell you what I want, boy," He took a blade from his pockets, one that made Loki's stomach drop upon further examination, for it was an angel blade. The demon's eyes turned yellow, greed filling his irises. "Your grace."

...

Lily woke up with a start, her heart thumping wildly against her chest as she, out of a knee-jerk reaction, grabbed the gun she kept under her pillow. It took her a moment to calm down, remembering where she was and that she was safe.

On the second bed to her right, her little brother slept peacefully, snoring unceremoniously, but the other bed remained empty. Her green eyes glanced around, her heart rate slowing down at the realization that Sam was safe, but looking for her older brother and panicking once she couldn't find him at first glance.

"Nightmare?" Dean's voice questioned from the bathroom door.

Lily startled, but nodded, carefully letting go of her gun. Her hands were trembling, her head thumping with another headache. She sighed, then hid her face behind her hands once more, hating how she never seemed able to sleep peacefully.

Dean watched her, seeing how pale and anxious she seemed. A sinking feeling filled his chest. Sleeping in the same room as her for their whole life had made him notice that she was a heavy sleeper, meaning that she could most definitely sleep under any circumstances. There was only one thing that, from time to time, affected her enough to lose sleep: her nightmares.

He had been too young to understand at first when he heard their father worriedly talking with other hunters about her situation (a two-year-old girl seeing her mother burn on the ceiling was a situation that John hadn't known how to deal with on his own), but as he grew and fully processed the fact that his sister had seen their mother die, he couldn't help but feel sympathetic. He often complained he couldn't remember their mother, overlooking that the only thing his sister could remember about her was her last moments.

"What was it this time?" Dean dared to ask. He moved to sit by the edge of her bed, his eyes softening as he looked at his brother to then look at his sister. He knew that had he been awake, she would have never allowed herself to look so broken. Their little brother looked up to her as much as he looked up to Dean, for which she always tried to appear as strong as possible in front of him. "Mom, again?"

The young woman nodded again, her eyes appearing older than they were supposed to, the weight of her whole life making her feel almost suffocated. There hadn't been a day- not even one- in which she had not dreamt about her mother's death.

"And Caleb," Lily added quietly.

Dean sighed, moving to wrap his arms around her, gently placing a kiss on her forehead as he did so. Words weren't said- because there was no verbal way to express how much he hated knowing that his little sister, his partner in crime, his companion through thick and thin, experienced so much pain on her life and that there was nothing he could do to protect her from it- but there was no need. Lily melted into his embrace, feeling- as she often did when her older brother hugged her- that all of her problems would be solved, that there was hope for a better future.

"How are you?" He asked quietly.

Lily thought about lying, but decided against it. "Devastated."

Dean had never been the best at dealing with 'chick-flick moments', but he wanted his sister to know that he cared about her feelings, that he was thoroughly saddened for her loss, that he, even though he wasn't one to say the words out loud, loved her and wanted her to be okay.

"I'm sorry," He settled for saying, not knowing how to comfort her, which made him feel like a failure. He tightened the hug, and she hid her face on his neck, feeling smaller than she ever had before.

"Why are you awake?" Lily asked after a little while.

Dean separated from her, a scowl to his young features. "I couldn't sleep. There's something about this place- I don't like it," He seemed almost uncomfortable. "It doesn't feel right."

Lily, understanding what he meant, nodded. One of the most important lessons they had learned through their years as hunters was to trust their instincts no matter what, and both, through different stages of their stay in Crawford Hall, had felt uncomfortable there, almost suffocated. It was all due to the yellow-eyed demon, that much Lily knew from experience, having felt it following her ever since her second or third day on campus.

"We have to leave," Lily said, carefully keeping her voice down as to not wake up their brother. "I don't think this environment is good for Sammy. It's enough that he has one yellow-eyed demon after him, I wouldn't want to think of the other one taking an interest in him too."

Dean agreed. "I'll wake Sam up soon, then we'll leave."

"Do we have a new case?"

Dean shook his head. "Not yet. We'll find one on the road." He went around the small room, grabbing one of her duffel bags, and starting to move it towards the door. "I'm going to start taking our things to the car, but you're free to go get some fresh air if you want. I know you like being alone when you have a headache- and I also know you always get one after a nightmare. We really have to get you checked, it's not normal how many headaches you get through the day."

"What can I say? It comes with being around you two," She teased. "Sam and Dean, my biggest headaches."

"Very funny, Lily. I'm serious."

The young girl knew her brother worried about her, but their father had never seemed much interested in getting her to a doctor for her never-ending headaches (she had had them since she was around sixteen or seventeen years old) for which she had learned to live with them. She didn't know how her brother could sense her uneasiness, but she was glad that he knew her enough to know she needed some fresh air.

"I know you are," Lily sighed, "Tell you what. Once this is all over- the whole thing with Sam being in danger, the two yellow-eyed demons hunting us down, and every other bullshit that comes our way- I'll allow you to take me to a doctor."

"That's not very reassuring," Dean rolled his eyes. "We both know it could take a while." He was about to say something else, but realized how unfocused his sister looked, and softened his stance once more. "Now go on, get some fresh air, you look awful."

Lily stood from the bed. "I won't take long; I just need to clear my head." She could barely think straight with the insistent pounding against her temples.

"Be safe," Dean demanded, voice rough. "Don't go wandering around too far from us. We don't know if the demons are close." It felt strange, talking in plural about yellow-eyes, but for whatever reason, it was the turn that their lives had taken- two dangerous demons against them.

Lily kissed his cheek, feeling him smile at her gesture. "I'm always safe," She said, unconsciously touching her necklace, and then she walked out of the door, wrapping a jacket around her body as she stepped into the coldness of the night.

Glancing around, she saw the parking spot remained partially empty, having only the Impala and two other cars there. It wasn't a busy night, it seemed, and she welcomed the silence that surrounded such a solitary place with more pleasure than she should have had, since noise only made her headache worse. The young woman was momentarily glad that, at least, such a horrible night was starting to come to an end. In the horizon, the sky was starting to clear, the sun threatening to come out at any time.

I told you this would happen, John's voice came back to Lily, reminding her of a time where she had lost another ex, though to a less violent and more normal situation. She had only been seventeen years old, and the loss had wrecked her, making her sloppy at her work, which made her almost get killed in a hunt. Her brothers had been understanding, but her father had been furious for her distraction. This is why we cannot allow ourselves to care for anyone. We are hunters. Caring turns into weakness, one that monsters know how to use.

She had replied, Is that why you don't care about us?

John had looked pained with the realization that his daughter, his little girl, thought he didn't care about them, but hadn't answered. Actions spoke louder than words, and his actions, throughout the years following his wife's death, had said enough. After what had seemed like a long, tense pause, he had said a quiet: I'm only trying to protect you, and Dean, and Sammy.

But that hadn't seemed likely, back then, because it had always been their job- Lily, Sam, and Dean's- to protect one another.

But John had been right about one thing: caring was a weakness that monsters knew how to use. Caleb's death was proof of that.

Lily sighed as she wrapped her arms around herself, fighting against the cold breeze that danced through the night, ruffling everything it came in contact with. She wondered, briefly, what her father would've thought about her situation. Would he have worried for her safety, or would have he mocked her for her inability to save one man? John Winchester was many things, but understanding wasn't one of them, and she was sure, therefore, that he would've found a way to make her feel worse for what happened, even though their situations were quite similar. But, as she analyzed it, he would've made sure to remind her it was her fault, because she had shown her love for him, and caring was a hunter's first mistake.

Was it wrong to care for Loki's well-being, then, too?

As soon as that thought crossed her mind, she pushed it away, embarrassed with how easily and constantly she found herself thinking about the older man.

John would have hated her for caring about a monster, there was no doubt about it.

Another particularly cold breeze made her shiver, for which the young woman then sighed, one hand moving to wave through her hair as the other hid inside one of her jacket's pocket. Her headache remained, but it was easier to ignore it now, being only a dull thump against her temples.

In the distance, Lily heard Sam's voice complain about Dean's chosen method of waking him up (which was, knowing her older brother, probably something humiliating yet hilarious), and she sighed once more. Time to go.

As she was turning around, to walk back towards her motel room, she caught, from the corner of her eyes, sight of a tall building across from the motel. It was, judging by its complexion and deteriorated state, an abandoned warehouse. She didn't know why, but she felt tempted to approach it. Something was telling her to investigate, to see what was inside, and it was an urge she couldn't bring herself to ignore.

The young woman started crossing the street, walking towards the abandoned warehouse- if it was abandoned, however, why could she see, reflected through its windows, light inside? Something was definitely off.

"Jesus, this is how other white people die in horror movies," She whispered to herself, but continued walking forwards. The grass under her feet made little sounds as she walked, but upon approaching the big, grey doors to the building, she stopped, not wanting to make any sudden sound that would alert anyone of her presence. She could hear voices talking, and, as she realized once her heart dropped, she recognized them.

"You want my grace?" Laughter followed that statement, though there seemed to be no traces of amusement on his voice, a hidden threat laced through his voice and words. "Wow. Wow, Asmodeus, you're a whole different kind of desperate than I believed. As I said, you've always been pathetic, the weakest Prince of Hell, but this is taking it way to far."

"Is it, now? Because I find it visionary. Have you ever thought what someone like me could do with your kind of power? I would be-" Asmodeus breathed deeply, eyes rolling back for a moment as he savored the mere thought of having an archangel's grace mixed with his powers. "-unstoppable. My brothers would bow down to me, and I would be the one to free Lucifer."

That voice made Lily's heart drop once more; it was the yellow-eyed demon. Carefully, she pushed the door open- blissfully relieved when it didn't make a sound- and caught glimpse of an image she never expected to see. In the very middle of the room, Loki stood inside a circle of fire, apparently trapped, and the yellow-eyed demon with the white suit stood in front of him, a gleaming blade on his hands.

"You seem to be forgetting something, Asmodeus. Holy Fire harms you, too. How do you plan on taking my grace without approaching me?" The former archangel's words were mocking, harsh, an amount of hatred so deep within that the old demon couldn't stop himself from wincing.

Holy Fire? Grace? Lily didn't understand a word of what they were saying. Lucifer, as in, the Devil? What was even going on there? All she was aware of was the fact that the demon wanted to take something from Loki, something that would allow him to be even more powerful than he already was. She couldn't let that happen.

She started to enter the warehouse, moving as stealthily as only a dedicated hunter could. The demon and the amber-eyed man seemed too engrossed on each other to notice her, or that's what the young woman initially thought, and she managed to hide behind one of the columns near the fire that kept her friend trapped. Glancing around, she evaluated the situation, knowing that she was at a disadvantage, for she had no weapons that could work on the demon, but that she had to use the element of surprise to even attempt at succeeding.

"I have my ways of breaking you-" Asmodeus started to say.

Loki rolled his eyes. "Okie-Dokie, I humored you long enough. I'm bored now." And then, he snapped his fingers.

Asmodeus was thrown back towards a wall, knocking it down in the process, and Lily found herself standing behind Loki, who turned to glance at her, winked, and then snapped his fingers again.

In a second, thousands of holograms filled the room, all of them bearing his image. Music blasted from the ceiling, the sound coming from everywhere at once, and the young hunter, through her stupor at how quickly he had changed their positions, recognized the song as "Nothin' but a good time" by Poison.

The demon growled, faced with a thousand different illusions of the former archangel around the room, all of them laughing at him and mocking him from inside their very own circles of fire. "Have fun trying to discover which one is the real me, which one of those fires is the one that can hurt you."

Asmodeus, ignoring every single hologram around the room, settled his cold eyes on the young woman. He raised his hand and sent her flying across the room. Loki growled, but found himself unable to help since he was still trapped.

"Fucking son of a bitch," Lily hissed. "Everyone just has to throw me around today. What am I, a fucking raggedy doll?" She stood grunting, glaring at the demon with enough strength to make him think that, if he had been of lesser power, he should've been frightened. "Fucking asshole."

Asmodeus was unfazed. "You kiss your angel with that mouth?"

Lily raised her eyebrows, not understanding his words. She decided to ignore it altogether, and grabbed the knife she kept on her jacket at all times, moving to swing against the demon.

The demon made a motion as though to send her flying once more, but Loki snapped his fingers, making the room change once more, throwing the demon out of balance. With a growl, he started attacking each illusion of the archangel that he faced, too ravenous to realize that, if he attacked the real one- wherever it was- he could get himself severely hurt by the Holy Fire.

Having distracted the demon, the former archangel gestured with his hand for the young woman to activate the fire-alarm by the main doors, trusting the fire sprinklers on the ceiling to work and disperse the fire.

"Get me out of here, sugar."

"With pleasure, honey."

But as soon as the young woman moved towards the fire-alarm, the demon changed his tactic, and stopped trying to find the real Loki on the endless sea of illusions surrounding the room. Asmodeus attacked the young woman, sending her flying towards the wall once more, but this time raising his hand on the air to keep her suspended there. She started to choke, trying to grab the invisible hands squeezing her throat, but the demon merely chuckled.

"See," He stole a glance at the former archangel, knowing from his instant reaction that he was the real one and the others were copies. Everything stopped, every illusion dispersing into thin air, the song ceasing. "This is what happens when you try to play your little games with me. Your little whore gets to die." He paused for better effect, to then smile, "Unless, of course, you cooperate with me."

"Don't listen to him," Lily managed to say between sharp intakes of breath, glaring at the abomination in front of her. She saw Loki, behind them, desperately trying to free himself to help her. "Don't do it."

Asmodeus' mouth formed a disdainful smile. "How sickening," He approached the young woman, stopping right in front of her face, watching, as though it were the most entertaining thing in the world, how she struggled to breathe. "Do you even know, girl, that he would never protect you with the same strength that you are protecting him? At the end of the day, my sweet little Winchester, he will choose himself, and you will be left alone." He stared deeply into her eyes, releasing her neck, allowing her to breathe for a moment. As he observed her, he sensed something from within, and raised his eyebrows after a moment of contemplation. "Interesting."

Lily's eyes shot to meet his, "What?"

"My brother wants you dead, but it seems like you're already dying. This makes things so much easier; I won't even need to get my hands dirty."

Lily's head was all over the place, her confusion overwhelming her. Why would Azazel want her dead? And, most importantly, what did he mean when he said she was dying? Unable to hide her concern, she glanced at Loki, who looked as lost as she felt.

"He's lying," Loki decided. "That's all demons do. He's trying to mess with your head."

Asmodeus laughed, turning to glace at the former archangel. "Am I? Don't tell me you haven't noticed." He paused, to then raise his eyebrows once more at the blank, unfazed look he received in answer. "You don't know."

"Know what?" Lily demanded.

Asmodeus turned back to look at her, his right hand still raised on the air as he kept her suspended against the wall. "As I said, this makes things even easier than I thought they would be. My little, soon-to-be-dead Winchester, I have a deal you won't refuse. Your soul in exchange for your brothers' safety from my brother."

"Over my dead body," Loki snarled, impatient, unable to use his powers against the demon once more since he was keeping Lily hostage and could, therefore, harm her. "Leave her alone, Ass-modeus, I'll give you what you want."

"No," Lily blurted out, sounding pained, not knowing what exactly the demon wanted from him, but being conscious of the fact that it would entail torture. "No, Loki." The least the young woman wanted was to have to mourn someone else that night, someone she liked a great deal.

"It's a simple deal," The yellow-eyed demon continued, staring right into her eyes. "With you gone, your brothers will certainly need protection. I can grant it."

"Do not listen to him."

"How could I?" Lily's eyes met Loki's through the distance, weakly smirking. "I fucking hate his voice."

And she, taking advantage of the fact that the demon seemed preoccupied with their brief conversation, slammed her hand against the fire-alarm to her right side.

The demon growled in frustration, throwing her towards the furthest part of the warehouse, and turned back in time to see the Holy Fire be extinguished by the falling droplets of water. Loki's eyes turned vengeful, his rage resembling that of his older brother- Lucifer- when he gazed upon humans, or the 'insignificant ants', as he called them.

"Time to get what you deserve," The former archangel smirked, eyes gleaming.

Asmodeus materialized behind Lily, grabbing her by the hair and keeping her hostage against him. "Don't you mean what we deserve?"

However, before the demon could continue using her as leverage, the young hunter grabbed her knife, and stabbed him right in the chest, freeing herself from his grasp. She knew it wouldn't be enough to kill him- because, as her brothers had discovered, only the Colt could kill a creature like him- but it could at least distract him. Asmodeus growled, annoyed, but, as he was taking the blade from his chest, Lily attacked again, using all of her strength and successfully throwing him against one of the walls.

"You know, you look very hot when you're angry," Loki commented, humming in appreciation as he watched her movements. "Your ass looks great in those jeans."

"Thanks. I'd say the same, but I think you'd look better if you were actually helping me fight the demon off instead of, oh, I don't know, just standing there."

"But I have such a nice view from here."

Lily laughed, knowing exactly where his eyes had been, though she managed to glance back to send him a scowl, reminding him they were in the middle of a fight. "You're impossible."

"You know you love it."

Asmodeus took advantage of their distraction to attack. He grabbed the angel blade he had stolen, and moved to take a shot at attacking the former archangel with it. Loki managed to evade all his blows but one, the skin under his left eye suffering one small cut. He gasped, uncomfortable and pained all at once, and stumbled back. From his wound, a light blue substance started to ooze, and, greedily, the weakest Prince of Hell started to approach, his intention all too clear for the former archangel: take his grace and gain his powers.

For the longest of moments, the former archangel couldn't move, petrified with how painful it had felt to receive a cut from the blade- a blade that could kill him-, and forgot that his human was still in the same room as them; all he could think about was pain, pain, pain.

Lily watched, confused and frightened, how Asmodeus started to approach Loki, looking like a junkie desperate for drugs, and started to inhale the bright, light blue substance that came out of his wound. She heard Loki groan in pain, seemingly petrified, and she forced herself to act.

Seeing the disregarded blade on the floor- the one that had caused Loki his wound- and she grabbed it, holding it tightly against her hand as she then, in one swift movement, stabbed the yellow-eyed demon right on its heart. As was to be expected, it didn't seem to hurt him much, but with his attention focused now on the young human, Asmodeus' hold on Loki wavered. Loki seemed to react, feeling his hands tremble, and regained his senses, pushing down the uncomfortable, terrifying, and humiliating feeling of having a part of him taken out without his consent. He placed one of his hands on his cut, feeling it immediately heal, and then he pushed Lily behind him, facing Asmodeus with a fury unlike any other he had ever felt.

Asmodeus took a step back. "Enough boy, I started to break you now, I can do it again."

Loki felt Lily's hand reach for his own, giving him the strength he needed, and he directed a nasty smile at the demon, eyes full of hatred and disgust. "Not anymore."

Asmodeus tried to attack, creating a white ball of fire and throwing it at the former archangel, but his powers were nothing compared to Loki's, and he found himself thrown back with the strength of his own ball of fire. The former archangel's eyes started to turn the same shade of blue that his graze was, and the demon took another step back, alarmed.

"I'm starting to get bored of this cat and mouse thing," Lily grunted, glancing at Loki, who had been looking at her in a way she couldn't recognize, with an emotion that seemed to almost resemble fondness. "Didn't you say you could kill him?"

Loki moved to stand in front of her once more, blocking her from the demon. "You'll have to close your eyes for this part, sugar." He paused, briefly turning his head to look at her, "Do you trust me?"

She didn't hesitate this time. "Yes."

"Then close your eyes and don't open them, no matter what you hear."

She obliged.

Asmodeus' voice echoed through the warehouse, "You can't kill me! Everyone will know you're alive if you do!"

Loki chuckled. "I disappeared once; I can do it again." And just like that, with a demon and a human in the room as the only witnesses, he allowed his true form to emerge, the façade of a Trickster burning away and, in turn, becoming once more the archangel he had long before hidden away from everyone. Loki was no more. Gabriel's eyes then shone blue with his grace, his wings unfolding behind his back- for a brief moment, he relished on the feeling of finally being able to unfold them-, and he gave the demon in front of him a dangerous look, a smirk turning his lips upwards. "Oh, and, by the way, I always hated that dumbass suit."

Asmodeus started burning from within, agonizing in similar ways to most of his victims, which was his own personal punishment. Gabriel watched, enjoying every second of the torture he inflicted on the sadistic demon. After what seemed to be an eternity, but had been mere minutes, the demon exploded into a cloud of black smoke.

Gabriel lowered his hand, his eyes returning to their natural amber color. He waited patiently for one of his siblings to come down to Earth and face him, having sensed his power from above, but it didn't happen. Relieved, but not entirely trustful of the sudden silence and calm in which they had fallen into, the archangel then hesitantly folded his wings once more, and turned to look at the young human in the room.

Lily didn't know what was happening, but, as she remained standing behind her friend with her eyes closed and a hand against them, she heard Asmodeus cry out in pure agony for a couple of seconds, to then stop as abruptly as he had started. For the longest of moments, she felt someone's eyes on her, but didn't dare move or open her own eyes, not knowing what she would face if she did so. What if Loki had failed? What if the demon had, somehow, killed him?

"Loki?" She dared to inquire when the silence remained.

Gabriel sighed, nodding to himself. Time to go back to being the Trickster. "It's all fine, Lily. You can open your eyes now; the evil version of Colonel Sanders is dead."

Relieved to hear his voice, since it meant that he had succeeded and hadn't harmed himself, Lily opened her eyes.

The demon was nowhere to be seen, which Lily hoped meant he had been killed, and Loki stood in front of her, completely unharmed, chewing on a lollipop.

"What happened?"

"I killed him," Loki replied, sounding like it should have been obvious. Wanting to change the topic, imagining what kind of things she would say after that, he asked her a curt: "Are you okay?"

Startled by the question, Lily nodded. Her back hurt, due to how many times she had been thrown at a wall, and she was sure her neck would eventually swell because of the demon choking her, but she was fine.

"I'm confused," She admitted. "I have a lot of questions."

"Me too," Loki scowled at her. Lily couldn't help but think that, ever since killing the demon, he had been acting different towards her, almost as though he had to be cautious around her, or if he was worried about something. But why? "Why are you here? How did you find us?"

"I-I wasn't searching for you," Lily replied, sincerely, as she shrugged. "I'm staying at the motel across from here with my brothers. I got a feeling something was off, and I came here to investigate. Good thing I did, too, because otherwise you wouldn't have been able to free yourself from that fire-thing."

He tensed, briefly wondering what would have happened to him if she had not freed him. He shivered, recalling the overwhelming, painful, and humiliating feeling of having part of his grace sucked out of him by a demon. There were no words to describe how much it had hurt, and how deeply affected he remained feeling. He was glad, however, that Lily had stopped the demon before it could absorb too much of his power.

"You saved me," Loki said, his amber-colored eyes meeting Lily's green ones, a certain edge of confusion shining on them. "I'm supposed to be the one that saves you, not the other way around."

Lily smiled a little, eyes softening as they often did when she was looking at him, and shrugged. "We save each other."

And neither of them knew how true that was, or would be.

Loki sighed, looking down. "I know what you will ask of me soon, but I'm afraid I can't do that."

Lily deflated, not even bothering to ask how he knew what she was thinking. Annoyance started to fill her, but she tried not to show it. "There's nothing, nothing that works with those demons, only the Colt has proved to be able to kill one of those monsters, but you managed to kill one in a matter of seconds." The question was unspoken, but both of them heard it loud and clear, what the hell are you?

Abruptly, Asmodeus' words came back to Lily, "You kiss your angel with that mouth?" and a certain kind of dread filled her body. Not wanting to dwell on that implication, for it was completely absurd and simply impossible, she pushed it aside.

Loki didn't meet her eyes.

She continued. "You can help me kill Azazel and protect Sam," At those words, he looked up to glance in her direction, but didn't speak. "The yellow-eyed demon wants to use and hurt my brother because of some plan he has, I don't know what it is, but it can all be over if you just help us. You can kill him, and my little brother will finally be safe, and all will be all right once more."

Loki's voice came out soft, almost gentle. "Lily, I can't help you." He couldn't get involved, because it would be seen as him choosing a side. "What I did tonight, killing Asmodeus, it can't happen again. I think you know by now that I'm not who I said I was-"

"Obviously."

Loki smirked at that, to then grow serious as he continued. "I've been hiding who I am for a very long time, and using that kind of power again…they'd find me in a second. I'm sorry, sugar, I can't take that risk again."

Lily hated hearing those words, especially since she had started to hope the whole yellow-eyed demon fiasco could be over sooner than expected with Loki's help, but she was able to understand why he refused to help.

"It's okay," She said quietly, looking away.

"Lily-"

"Really," Lily insisted, glancing at him once more. "I understand. I've run away from my problems before, too. I know what you're going through, and I can understand you not wanting anyone to find you. I don't blame you for choosing yourself instead of helping me."

"I'm not choosing myself over you-"

"Loki," Lily stopped his words. "I mean it. I'm not angry. I'm worried about my brothers' safety, that's all."

Loki sighed, disregarding his lollipop as he moved closer to the blonde woman in front of him, one of his hands moving to carefully touch her own hand. She watched his movements, curious, but allowed herself a moment to enjoy the intimacy of their brief contact. Somehow, after all that had happened, even a simple gesture as that one was starting to feel like a luxury- like something too forbidden to happen more than once. Still with their fingers intertwined, their eyes met, and he admitted: "I have to lay low for a while now. I have to go back into hiding."

"I'm guessing this is goodbye, then?" Lily's heart dropped, though she had imagined it would happen sooner than later. It hurt more than she would've been comfortable admitting. I'm losing everyone today.

"For now," Loki nodded, then smiled at her in a way that made her heart skip a beat. "I think a little distance between us would do us good; wouldn't want you to start falling in love with me."

Lily laughed, fondly looking at him, to then dare to ask: "Will I see you again?"

Loki's eyes softened. "Definitely."

She smiled, her eyes portraying an incredible amount of happiness at that answer, and his heart started to break for the beautiful and caring little human that had managed to matter a great deal to him, because he knew her life wouldn't be easier, and not being able to be with her made him feel like a failure.

Perhaps, if Loki had been another man- if he had been a real Trickster and not an archangel in hiding-, he would've kissed her in that moment, with the dim light of the moon coming from the windows caressing her features, giving her an ethereal look.

And, perhaps, if Lily had been another woman, she would've kissed him back.

Instead, Loki moved to leave a gentle kiss upon her cheek, and as she closed her eyes, touched by the sweet gesture, he disappeared, leaving behind only an echo of a sound similar to wings flapping against one another.

Lily opened her eyes, finding herself alone once more, and sighed. All at once, sadness started to overcome her, but she breathed deeply and pushed it aside, starting to walk away, knowing her brothers were waiting for her. She didn't know what would happen next, how she could protect her little brother from the yellow-eyed demon, but she figured she could make it through; she always did.

Angels, Lily sighed tiredly once more, hands distractedly moving to touch her necklace.