~V~ – Pulled in Different Directions

Vera? Are you listening? It's me, Sam Winchester. I-I know we got off on the wrong foot, but, I need you. To prove a point. It's just...we need to know something for sure. You're the person, being, what have you, to prove it. I'm sorry, for what I said. I know I got mad at you, but it wasn't worth almost risking my life, because, you're an angel, and you can easily poof me into dust if you wanted to.

All I'm asking is that you hear me, and, please, just humor me and find me.

I sigh through my nose in irritation. Of all times, Sam Winchester wants my help? What is with this man? He's playing a risky game, pissing off an Angel of the Lord. I lick my lips. Like many of the angels on Earth, I've been trying to find Lilith.

So far, all I've found is dead angel. It's not hard to recognize a fallen brother or sister. When angels die, their wings are scorched into whatever is nearby at the time of death. The angel I'm glancing down at now, who took up a female vessel with striking blue hair, has a huge hole in her chest.

I'm surprised no humans have noticed the body in broad daylight. There's always one that stumbles upon the dead.

They must've been on the right track. Or the wrong place at the wrong time. My mind goes to demon. But I'm not sure if it's a run-of-the-mill or Lilith. I quirk my mouth into a questioning line.

"That makes four," says a female voice.

Picking my head up, I come face to face with my good friend, Alona. She's taken up a vessel with dark skin, straightened hair, and eyes so cold they can pierce through any soul. The attire suggests the woman did some sort of business. "Four?"

"There've been reports of others dead," she says gravely, walking closer towards the body.

"Lilith?"

"Possibly. We're looking into it. Are you alright, Vera?"

"Yes."

"You seem...different. What's happened to you?"

"A lot." I avoid eye contact.

"You found Sam Winchester."

"I did. And I didn't die because of it." I offer her a waning smile. She gives me a scalding look. "What?"

"I don't remember finding the Winchester boy part of your job."

"Alona, he's in this mess with Lilith like Heaven is. It's not that much of a stretch."

"Maybe you weren't ready to be in the field."

I snort. "You and I both know that's not true. I'm one of the better fighters of the garrison."

"If that's so, where's your weapon?" She raises a questioning eyebrow.

"I...lost it."

"Lost as in misplaced or as in an enemy took it? Did the Winchester boy take it?"

"No. I just...misplaced it."

"Vera, you and I have known each other for a long time. I know when you lie. It's not very becoming on you." She offers me a teasing smile. Most of the time, Alona is serious as the day is long, but at times, like sun through the clouds, a little playfulness peeks through. "I'm not the one you need to worry about disappointing."

I groan. Right. "As long as he doesn't find me personally, he'll never have to know."

"He just might."

Vera. It's Sam Winchester again. I groan. I get it, if you won't show. You have every right to not answer me. It would just be a huge favor. Nobody's in a life or death situation. I don't want to trick you only for me to be obliterated. Just...

"Who's praying to you?" Alona asks curiously.

"I'll give you two guesses," I deadpan. "I'm being summoned."

"And you're going?"

I shrug. "We'll find each other again. Just, watch your back. I have a feeling the toll won't stop at four."

"You take care with those Winchesters and hope that they don't kill you."

Somehow, I have a feeling that they won't.

With a parting nod with Alona, I poof myself into some sort of vehicle graveyard. Some look like they need to become scrap metal. Curious, I walk through the aisles, some vehicles looking in worse shape than others. I find the porch of a quaint house.

The floors squeak under my weight as I slip in. I find myself in a kitchen.

"Wait, Dean!" I hear Sam shout.

I turn to find Dean Winchester with a weapon pointed in front of my face. I look over the weapon at him critically.

"Who are you really?" he demands in his gruff tone, green eyes hard. "Something screwy is going on here."

"If you would remove that from my face, that would be wonderful," I say bitingly. Sam barges into the kitchen, putting a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Hello again, Samuel."

"Vera," the younger Winchester greets me.

"Sammy, what's going on?" quips Dean.

"I, uh, called her."

"For what?"

"Proof." Sam pushes the weapon down, away from my face. "Please, Vera, uh, follow me."

Dean and I exchange cold looks before I enter a study room. The bearded man from before, wearing a baseball cap, sits at the table that's adorned with books. He regards me carefully, but thankfully doesn't point a weapon at me. Not like what they have will injure me anyway. It takes a special kind of weapon to do any sort of damage.

"Sam, mind clueing us in here?" asks the bearded man.

"Yes, please do, Samuel," I say. Sam looks at me in annoyance. "I thought we ended on bad terms?"

"We did."

"Then how did you know I would come?"

"I just had a feeling you would."

"The point here, Sam?" asks Dean, who looks more uncomfortable by the second.

"The point is, is that what dragged you out of Hell, Dean, was an angel."

"We've been over this, it wasn't an angel."

"Yes, it was," I insist quietly.

"Since when would you know?"

"I heard it. I heard the news the second it broke. One of my brethren rescued you from perdition."

Dean shakes his head in disbelief. "Okay, someone's lost a marble or two." He looks at Sam. "You thought a random chick off the street was gonna prove your point?"

"I'm not some 'random chick off the street'. I'm an Angel of the Lord."

Dean rolls his eyes.

"What saved you was an angel, one of my kind," I press harder.

"See?" Sam asks. "Tell me else what it could be."

"Look, all I know is that I was not groped by an angel," says Dean.

"Okay, look, Dean. Why do you think Castiel would lie to you about it?"

"Castiel rescued you?" I ask Dean.

Dean ignores me entirely. "Maybe he's some kind of demon. Demons lie," he mumbles.

"Castiel is not a monster of darkness."

The bearded man looks up from the book he's reading. "A demon who's immune to salt rounds and Devil's traps...and Ruby's knife? Dean, Lilith is scared of that thing!" the man says.

I gesture to the bearded man. "Hence why he's not a demon, but an—"

"I swear if you say what I think you're gonna say—" Dean growls in aggravation.

"You'll what, Dean Winchester? Kill me?" I scoff. "You don't have the proper tools."

"Don't you think if angels were real, that some hunter somewhere would have seen one...at some point...ever?"

"Yeah," Sam deadpans. "You just did, Dean."

"And so have you," I remind Sam. I look back to Dean. "Your ignorance is really testing me. Do I need to prove to you that angels exist?"

"Oh, sweet cheeks, the only thing you're proving is that you're insane," says Dean.

I roll my eyes. "I didn't realize that when I was summoned I was going to be subjected to negative commentary, Samuel." I give Sam a pointed look "If this is all you brought me here for, I'll gladly show myself out."

"Vera, don't go yet, please," Sam begs. "You're proving my point, trust me, even if Dean doesn't want to admit it."

"I'm trying to come up with a theory here," Dean says. "Okay? Work with me."

"Dean, we have a theory."

"Yeah, one with a little less fairy dust on it, please."

"Okay, look. I'm not saying we know for sure. I'm just saying that I think we—"

"Okay, okay. That's the point. We don't know for sure, so I'm not gonna believe that this thing is a freaking Angel of the Lord because it says so!"

"You are a tough nut, Dean Winchester," I murmur in amusement. "Your brother was quick to believe me when I told him what I was."

"Yeah, well, he believed for a long time that the Easter Bunny was real."

"What does that have to do with this?" Sam asks.

I rub my forehead. "Look, I have things to attend to. You three can debate on whether or not Dean was really saved by Castiel, an angel, when he is clearly that. Take that from an angel who knows of him and has met him a few times." I give Sam a furtive look. "Please don't pull me into brotherly debates ever again. It's a waste of my time."

Vera, we need you!

At the bat of an eye, I disappear from the Winchesters and their bearded friend to find myself in a slew of chaos. Alona and another angel, fighting a hoard of demons. I pat my vessel. Ruby still has my blade. I'm going to need to get that back from her, maybe run it through her for stealing it.

Bodies are already strewn on the ground. I feel the pain from here as I see a demon run a blade through the angel that's not Alona. Alona screams in fury, shoving her blade through her demon opponent. The body drops.

Three more demons hone in on us. Quickly, diving, I avoid being decapitated, grabbing the fallen angel's blade. I twist up, pointing it upwards. The demon who lunges for me catches on the blade. They spark before falling still. I push them off my blade with my foot, seeing the body drop.

I get to my feet, running for Alona, who's wrestling with the last two demons. She screams as a weapon catches on her back. Giving a battle cry of my own, I take one demon off her hands, putting my blade through its neck. I turn my head at a bright flash of light—Alona has her palm on the demon's forehead, smiting them in their vessel.

Alona pushes the body off of her once it goes limp. She pants heavily, blood spattered on her face. I decide to keep the newly acquired angel blade. I still want mine back, though.

"This is madness," I pant.

"Thank you, for coming when you did," Alona says breathlessly. She looks mournfully at our fallen comrade. "That makes five. Fortunately, the death toll is higher on their side than ours. But...we have a problem."

"What kind of problem?"

"Lilith has made the Witnesses rise."

I exhale shakily. "The first seal."

"It's starting, just as we feared." Alona clears her throat. "She's one step closer to releasing Lucifer."

"We'll do all in our power to stop her. We just have to time things right. Are you hurt?"

"I'll heal. And you?"

"Fine." I look around at the bodies. "I didn't think I was gone that long."

"Things happen in the blink of an eye."

**Vera is legit me. Like, come on, Dean, Sam summoned an angel to the scrapyard. What is it gonna take?**