Chapter 4

Amy sat on the motel bed, propped up against the headboard with her knees drawn up in a restful sitting position. There was still a tickle in the back of her throat, and she reached for the cup of tea on the nightstand beside her to try washing it down.

The ghost's attack had been quite…harrowing. She'd spent so much of her training focusing on physical assaults and defensive and offensive moves. To have something incorporeal incapacitate her before she'd even had the chance to put up a fight had shaken her. Especially since she was used to having an advantage over the more mundane monsters, being half angel, half phoenix. She didn't think she should have been rendered so helpless by a bunch of smoke.

…Smoke that had been thick and cloying and clogging her mouth and lungs so that she couldn't even speak or draw breath. Amy shuddered. Her dad hadn't come away from that unscathed, either, though he'd at least had the presence of mind to find the water and douse the fire. Amy was ashamed she hadn't thought that quickly.

Castiel and Dean were sitting at the small table, discussing what they'd learned about the enenra. They were all in a holding pattern at the moment while they waited for more info on how to defeat it.

Amy kept thinking about one detail, though—that the enenra's true form could only be seen by the 'pure of heart.' And back at the restaurant, when Mr. Tanaka's shape had faded with a shriek, Amy had seen something else in his place. A dark gray, amorphous blob that had bobbed in the air, almost as though flailing, before it slurped into the ruins of the restaurant, presumably to hide.

And Castiel and Dean had said it disappeared.

But Amy had seen it, she knew she had. Did that make her 'pure of heart'? And if so…then she was the only one who could banish it.

But how? There hadn't been anything in the lore about that, not that her mom and Sam had found yet, anyway. Could they afford to wait and risk the spirit killing more people every time the smallest ember lit up? Or was the enenra trapped in the restaurant now that the omamori charms were destroyed?

She stared into the depths of her tea, trying to figure out what to do. Her angel blade might work; it could kill most things. And as long as the enenra was in its true form, then she could deliver the fatal blow.

Dean pushed himself up out of his chair. "Who wants Chinese?"

Castiel gave him a dry look. "Really?"

"What?" he said defensively. "It's totally different from Japanese. And I'm in the mood for Kung Pao chicken." He turned to Amy. "What do you say, kid?"

She blinked. "Oh, um, sure."

Dean's mouth turned down slightly. "You feeling okay?"

"Yeah." She hesitated under their worried gazes, a mere reflection of her own emotions at that moment. Dean and Castiel couldn't see the enenra. And their presence would probably incite it to manifest in a different form so it could attack them, which Amy wouldn't be able to kill. And it could hurt them like it had this afternoon. God, Uncle Dean could have died.

Her chest tightened. She knew they weren't supposed to go on hunts solo, that they were a team and were supposed to work together. But sometimes the person who was the most capable needed to step up. And Amy wanted to prove—to them and herself—that they hadn't made a mistake in bringing her, that she was meant to be part of the family business.

"Actually…" she started. "I want to do more research. Would you bring me back something?"

Dean frowned. "We can just order in."

"No," she said quickly. "Go get your Chinese. I'll be fine. Actually, if you could bring me back some egg rolls, that'd be awesome."

He continued to look doubtful, but cast a questioning glance at Castiel. Amy held her breath, but her dad ended up shrugging and getting to his feet as well.

"Alright," Castiel said. "Call us if you get any cheep alerts."

Dean pulled up short, blinking in confusion for a moment before rolling his eyes. "Tweet alerts."

Amy was too nervous to laugh, but neither of them seemed to notice as they headed out. She waited for the sound of the Impala's engine starting up and driving away before she unfurled from the bed. She grabbed her angel blade from her duffel bag and tucked the thin dirk into the back of her waistband. Then she grabbed a piece of paper from the table and scritched out a note, explaining that she knew how to kill the enenra, that she saw its true form earlier, and that she believed she could stop it before anyone else got hurt.

Including them.

She left the note on the table and took a deep breath. She could do this.

Spreading her wings, Amy leaped into the ether and flew to the burned down restaurant.

She landed inside the wreckage and almost slipped on a pile of debris, but caught herself. Everything was still and quiet. Amy carefully picked her way through the rubble, eyes and senses peeled. Her gaze roved over the broken glass of shattered picture frames that contained singed and curled photos of a Japanese man with various family members. Bits of burned menus lay here and there, enough for Amy to see that the design had been hand-drawn.

She came to a charred skeleton of what had once been a fish tank, and imagined the exotic specimens it might have contained. Perhaps for decoration, perhaps for preparing. She took in the ruins of the restaurant and tried to imagine what it might have looked like in its prime, how Mr. Tanaka had built it from the ground up. His life's work. And his life.

Amy swallowed. She knew the ghost had killed people, that the enenra was basically a vengeful spirit…but it wasn't his fault that he'd died in such a tragic event.

A chill trickled up her spine, and she stiffened. Unlike with other ghosts, the temperature was suddenly rising to an oppressive, stuffy heat. Amy slowly turned, scanning the area. A gray phantasm was curling its way around a partially destroyed booth.

Amy reached behind her for her angel blade, but then stopped. "Mr. Tanaka?" she called instead. "You don't know me, but…I know you're there, and I know what happened here."

The tenebrous shape simmered in place.

"I don't think you want to be trapped here," she went on, hoping this kind of ghost could understand human speech. "You were a very spiritual man in life. Your wife talked about your omamori charms. She'd be devastated to know your soul had ended up stuck like this."

The temperature shot up several degrees and Amy felt sweat beading around her hairline.

"What happened to you and everyone here was awful. But you have to let go and move on. That's the only way you'll be at peace. Please, Mr. Tanaka, do it for your wife. And yourself."

The enenra suddenly surged upward like a geyser and came arcing down toward her with a belching roar of sweltering heat that knocked Amy flat on her ass.

"Peace," it hissed. "Not while the one who did this yet lives."

Amy scrabbled backward until her back hit a pile of debris, and she was trapped as the enenra loomed over her, cloying breath wafting in her face. She coughed. "Everyone in the fire died. You're hurting innocent people who were never there!"

It reeled upward. "Everyone will burn."

And then it plunged down toward her again, wrapping its smoky form around her head and trying to shove its way into her throat. The invasion still sent a shock through her system, but this time Amy managed to push forward enough to reach back for her angel blade. She swung it around, cutting through the enenra. But the blade did nothing.

Panic flooded her veins, and she tried to scramble away. The enenra followed, coiling itself around her so tightly that she couldn't see, and she tripped on some rubble, her palms skidding through glass and splinters as she caught herself. Her lungs spasmed.

No, please!

"Amy!"

She blinked through watery eyes to find Dean and Castiel running toward her. Castiel reached for her and Dean at the same time, his wings snapping taut in preparation to fly.

The enenra hissed and wrenched away from her. She saw its mouth open wide and spew a column of fire that grazed her dad's wings. Castiel cried out and crashed to his knees beside her.

"Cas!" Dean shouted, grabbing for his arm.

Amy stared in horror as the flames licked along his feathers. Dean's eyes widened as he also noticed the tongues of fire curling around something in the air, and he quickly shrugged out of his jacket to slap at them. Castiel doubled over on his hands and knees.

"Dad!" Amy reached for him, intending to fly them all out herself, but the enenra belted out another eruption of flames that washed up and over the ceiling and down the walls, so hot that it was white in the center and tinged with purple along the edges. Dean flinched away from the molten river that would instantly melt the flesh from his bones.

The enenra wheeled back around. "You will all BURN!"

Amy's heart leaped into her throat. No. No, this couldn't happen. She couldn't watch her dad and uncle die because they were trying to save her. And all because she'd been stupid enough to come here on her own, stupid enough to believe she could stop a creature like this without being prepared.

Dean and Castiel clung to each other, their other hands reaching desperately for Amy, even though there was no escape.

And Amy felt her blood suddenly quicken with fire, wholly unlike the one raging around them, but sharp and crisp and powerful. It sang out with a trumpeting screech that shook the foundation of the building.

She snapped her head up, vision coated with blue as grace flared to the surface. But not just grace—grace wreathed in fire.

And it was like the floodgates opening. Fueled by the overwhelming urgency to protect her family, Amy let that power fill every pore and explode outward. She thrust her palm toward the enenra, shooting out a stream of blue flames that was a mixture of primal fire and divine glory. It cascaded into the enenra, slamming the spirit back against the wall. A shriek like a jet engine rent the air.

Amy rose to her feet and shoved her hands out to the sides. The scorching flames surrounding them bent backward and quailed. She pushed a wave of grace at them, beating them back further. The enenra wailed.

Amy drew her hands in toward her chest and focused on summoning up one last wave of power. A sphere of blue fire crackled in her palms, growing larger and brighter. The enenra reeled up for an attack, but she thrust the orb at it, and the spirit disappeared in a haze of blazing celestial energy. The last of the malevolent flames fizzled out.

Amy dropped her arms to her sides, her blood still singing, fingertips tingling. She glanced down at her dad and uncle. Dean was gaping at her in what appeared to be shock. Castiel's expression was carefully neutral, save for the crinkling around his eyes that telegraphed how much pain he was in. Amy's stomach cramped at the sight of his wings. This was her fault.

Castiel started to climb to his feet, and Dean gripped his arm to help him when he staggered.

"Uh, is it over?" Dean asked.

"Yes," he replied. "It's over."

Castiel stood with his arms folded on the roof of the Impala, forehead resting on them as Amala poured healing energy over his invisible wings. Scorched flesh and singed feathers gradually mended, and when she finally pulled away, Castiel let out the breath he'd been holding. His wings hadn't been burned like that since he'd laid siege to Hell, but with his daughter's unique combination of grace and regenerating fire, he'd healed much faster this time.

He straightened and turned around. Amy didn't say anything, nor did she meet his gaze. Instead, she backed up and quietly moved away from the car, going to stand at the edge of the motel parking lot.

Dean came out of their room with the last of their bags, which he stashed in the trunk. He glanced at Amy, then at Castiel. "You good?"

"Yes." He'd suffered no permanent damage from the encounter with the enenra.

Castiel looked over at Amy, who was gazing out at the road, a despondent slump in her posture. Dean was also watching her, but didn't make a move to go over. He simply slammed the trunk closed and waited, sharing a somber look with Castiel.

Castiel walked over.

Amy only half turned at his approach, and kept her eyes downcast. "I'm sorry," she said. "I know going off on my own was stupid, and I nearly got us all killed."

Castiel regarded her carefully. "Why did you?"

She bit her lip. "I was afraid it would attack you and Uncle Dean again."

"Dean and I are not easily taken down," he kindly pointed out.

Amy nodded. "I know. You stopped it the first time. I just froze, and Uncle Dean could have died…" She finally looked up, expression pained. "I thought I could be a good hunter, a good warrior, worthy of our family's name. I went after the enenra because…I just wanted to make you proud."

Castiel's heart gave a pang of sympathy. He stepped closer and reached out to cup the sides of her face, leaning his forehead down against hers. "I'm always proud of you."

Amy let out what sounded like a hiccoughed breath. She put her arms around him, and Castiel dropped his to reciprocate, drawing her close and holding tightly in a fervent embrace. She'd grown up so much, but still had a lot to learn. Her heart was in the right place, though.

Castiel gave her a warm smile when she finally pulled back. "Let's go home."

Ryn stacked the lore books in a pile to return to the shelves, now that the case with the enenra was over. Castiel, Dean, and Amy were on their way back, and though they were all right, it had apparently been a harrowing experience for all of them. Yet also, from what it sounded like, a growing one.

"Move it," Ryn said to Kit, nudging the cat to get off the open tome she was sprawled across. She got a disgruntled 'mrrp' in response.

"Hey, Ryn," Sam called. "Come check this out."

She closed the book before Kit could reclaim it as a bed, and then went over to the other table where Sam was on his laptop. "What is it?"

"I know the ghost problem was taken care of, but we didn't find out what caused the initial fire, so I was searching through some footage in the area—hacking into traffic and ATM cameras," he explained. He dragged a counter backward over a screenshot. "This is from a feed from the building across the street. Luckily their cloud storage doesn't recycle for every three months." He hit the key to play the footage.

Ryn leaned over his shoulder and watched as the dark alleyway suddenly exploded with blazing light. The blast had been concentrated at the front of the restaurant, leaving the back relatively undamaged. Orange light flickered over the walls as the flames consumed the building. And then the back door swung open and a charred figure limped out into the alley. Ryn's eyes widened at the blackened flesh flickering with smoldering embers where there should have been flesh.

But rather than the cinders devouring what was left of the victim, they were spreading out like sparkling water. Ryn stared in astonishment as muscle and skin slowly reformed, cartilage stitching back together and hair growing out of crispy follicles. The person staggered painfully to the mouth of the alley, and when he lifted his head, his eyes fritzed out on the camera screen.

Ryn's breath left her lungs with a punch.

"It's a phoenix."

A/N: To be continued... That's it for this first fic, but as you can see, there's more to be told. Next up is the sequel, "Scorched," coming Friday. Thanks to everyone who followed, favorited, and reviewed!