A/N: 'Slipping' of characters is, in my mind anyway, that fancy way angels have of getting from here to there... they simply slip through reality. This is set in the time just after Anna got her groove (Grace) back and Cas is still trying to figure out what the heck is happening in Heaven. He'd once mentioned to Dean there were 'other battles, other seals'. This is one of 'em, set during a time he didn't appear in the show.

A/N 2: This is the continuation of Nephilim: The Hunted.

Disclaimer: Obviously, I don't own Supernatural, it's characters, affiliates... blah, blah, etc. This is all in good fun, so don't sue me! :)

Heaven

C-

Castiel sat in his favorite Heaven, that of an autistic man, with the sun shining warm and bright on his face. He didn't think of himself as hiding - he simply needed some space away from his siblings to think. Annaliel had retrieved her Grace, and God had allowed it. His siblings were not so forgiving, though. She had Disobeyed. She had Fallen, and risen, and come away - Uriel used the word stained - but to Castiel, that seemed a little…. harsh, as Dean would say.

But she was different now. And she said, though Castiel already knew, that there was something wrong in Heaven. The seals were breaking, quickly. Too quickly. But what concerned Castiel was how unconcerned his superiors were. He'd prayed for guidance, but got none.

Now angels were disappearing, one after another. Not dying - all in Heaven would know if they were dead. Just…. gone. And nearly all from places where seals sat unbroken. Untouched. Guarded. It was disconcerting, and not much disconcerted an angel.

Castiel sighed deeply. He'd never lost that particular habit when he'd returned after - blank. It was all still blank. He didn't recall, and knew he wasn't meant to- not yet. No one had questioned his absence after his return which was just as well, since he honestly couldn't tell them anything.

Uriel had been called home after Danielle's death, and had taken it harder than most. For Castiel, something had always niggled at the thought of his sister's demise, but those thoughts easily slipped away when he tried to grasp them. He would remember, he knew, when it was time. And it nearly was time, he thought. It was time for change. Would he be ready? He watched the man fly his kite for a while more, then stood and departed to go see what change would bring.

St. Agnes

S-

It seemed like decades since I'd had a flat minute to relax. Busy, busy, busy. I still was busy, slipping from here to there, seal to seal, trying to do what the angels couldn't, or wouldn't do. Protect them.

'Demons, demons everywhere,' came Mia's small voice in my mind. 'Not all the angels seem to care!'

I nodded quietly. 'Too true,' I replied spying an angel wearing a gardener across the street. He watched blandly as the demons spilled out of a car parked near the rectory of the old Roman cathedral, seeming to most the world like a normal, happy family. All three were possessed, their true forms writhing around their victims like smoke, the strongest of them crammed into a young boy's body like wearing a too-small suit. I grimaced a little, not really wanting to know what a demon that powerful could be capable of; not while the boy could be mentally tortured just by the viewing of it.

I looked down to Mia, still a child herself, though smaller than she should've been at 9. But she had an old soul. Very old. And very powerful. But her mind, at least in this life, would always be a little stunted, I thought. The demons had done a real number on her family while she'd watched, right up until self-preservation had kicked her Grace into action years too early. That explosion of energy had obliterated the demons, her parents along with them. It had also alerted Uriel.

Thankfully, it had alerted me, too. I had been in the Boston area for weeks, seeking this celestial cousin I'd never known but dreamt of, but the nephilim are notoriously hard to locate, especially before they come into their Grace. I wasn't expecting a child of 7. And Uriel hadn't been expecting me. It was the first time I'd seen him in this life, but not the last. But it was that day, that battle, not for only my life but Mia's as well, that I learned to slip from place to place as Castiel had once done, with me along for the ride. This time it was likely the only thing that saved my life.

Though her mind was wounded, it wasn't broken, I thought with a bit of pride. She was tough, our Mia. Those rich chocolate brown eyes smiled up into mine from her coffee and cream face. 'Time?' she asked. I nodded and we started forward. The gardening angel didn't look up from his work, though I didn't doubt he was waiting for us. He wasn't here to protect the seal… He was one of Zachariah's. He was here to make sure the seal did get broken.

But the angel didn't see us- they never did when Mia was around. It seemed to be one of her strongest gifts. With any luck, we could get St. Agnes's tomb out before we made too much commotion. That kind of noise or panic Mia couldn't hide. We needed to be quick. We snuck in the front door quietly and made our way down the side isle. And there our luck ended.

Another angel knelt in one of the front pews, his head bowed. He seemed to be genuinely praying - I knew what that vibe felt like. We paused while I considered the situation. There was no one else in the church except the priest, napping in the rectory. The demons weren't in the building, yet. Would this angel risk a commotion? His aura felt familiar, but if I'd ever fought him before, it wasn't in this vessel.

This vessel looked like an overworked businessman; a dusty beige trench coat over slacks, white shirt and loosened tie. Unkempt but not unattractive brown hair capped a nice face, at least in profile. A little familiar, but…

'He'll follow', sang Mia into my mind. Her eyes twinkled at the thought of a good game of 'Catch Me If You Can.' I nodded and winked. No one ever caught Mia; she'd been a pro at slipping since the start, and could do it undetected.

I tucked myself into a shadowed corner and waited. She skipped down the isle and up onto the stage, then around the pulpit, then around again until the angel finally raised his head. His sober near-scowl turned to surprised stillness, but he didn't move to go after her. He could see what she was, I knew. Not just human. Not just angel. Both, and a child to boot. A good prize to get on Zachariah's A-List.

Mia stopped skipping, ducking behind the pulpit and peeked back out, waving to him. Then ducked out of sight again. Rather than slip up to the stage, he walked, head cocked almost curiously. When she peeked out again, hesitantly... he waved back.

She looked surprised, but also delighted - someone new. Eyes sparkling, she giggled and ducked away yet again. She almost never turned down a new playmate, even if it was a potential enemy. He'd just started forward toward her when the demons finally entered. This time he did slip onto the stage, essentially putting himself between the demons and Mia. Or would have, if she'd still been there. But she was with me, hiding in the shadows, looking a little crestfallen that her new playmate hadn't followed.

Angels protecting nephilim? Maybe he just wanted to keep her whole long enough to deliver her upstairs. Can't let the demons snag his prize, now can he?

This was getting too crowded. I needed to get to that tomb and get it out of here, before the demons did. Of course, they didn't have to take it anywhere- only desecrate it. And Mia had trouble slipping with anything non-living on board. Damn. And double damn. They were about to fight on top of my tomb.

They didn't bother trading words - the angel simply attacked, fast and hard, driving them off the stage. It was fierce and brutal and…. and might just give me enough time. I slipped around the fray and onto the vacant stage. No time for subtleties, I shoved over the pulpit and ripped up the boards beneath bare-handed, frantic. Time, time, time…. I was running out.

I was scrambling into the hole I'd made when a demon hit me. Or, more to the point, I was hit by a demon that had been thrown by an angel. Which really hurt, angels being so strong and all. The demon and I rolled away from the hole in a twisted heap, finally stopping with me on top, my hand on his head. A small blast of Grace, and the demon was gone. Sadly, his victim hadn't made it. The angel was now down to two, which still was not an unfair fight. He was fast, and graceful, and for all the world a reminder that angels were not fluffy wings and halos. They were warriors.

I was halfway down into the hole I'd clawed out again, when I was suddenly airborne. The gardening angel from outside smirked at me when I finally landed, having crashed into a stone pillar near the front door. I got to my feet, ears still ringing, and slipped in behind him. He was waiting for me, and the fight was on. He was limited in his vessel, but not by much. His silvery blade was flashing and flying, his smirk turning to a sneer of frustration when he realized he couldn't quite touch me. I stayed just out of reach, waiting for him to do something stupid.

Dimly aware of another flash of light - another demon down - my opponent finally cheated. He had a second blade. I was tempted to smirk in return, but didn't. Too tacky. But when he backed up to readjust his stance for the extra blade, I pulled my '45 out of my waistband and shot him in the chest. He gaped at me, eyes widening, then simply crumbled the the ground, motionless. Since I am part human, though, and subject to cockiness when the situation warrants it, I blew the smoke out of the barrel like Dirty Harry before tucking it back into my pants.

Then I jumped into the hole before I lost my chance. Mia was already there, trying but failing to focus her energy around the tomb to slip with it. She gave me a relieved look as I put a hand on the stone tomb, the other on her and away they went. I jumped out of the hole in time to see the last demon nearly explode out of the boy, burning bright, the angel's hand on his head.

I had the gun pointed steadily by the time the angel swung around to face me. He gave a sober glance to his still motionless companion, then to the gun, and finally raised his eyes to mine. I lowered the gun a fraction to better see, but there was no doubt. It was all in those so-familiar blue-grey eyes.

"Castiel?"

He stared at me for a beat, but there was no recognition there, not even a flicker. Damn. And he was still armed. Double-damn. I didn't want to fight him. I didn't want to hurt him.

"What did you do to him?" he asked, eying the other angel. His voice was gravely, a little like his former vessel's, but his eyes were the same intense blue-grey. Strong genes, those.

"Stopped him," I answered, gun still pointed. I watched for that tell-tale glimmer that proceeded slipping, but he only frowned at me.

"How?" He did seem curious, almost child-like so. But the anger in his eyes was all grown up.

"A girl's gotta have some secrets." My arm was aching just from the short time of aiming it, but I knew we could literally stand here for eternity. Or, he could. I'd need to eat, eventually. "He's not dead. Just…." I shrugged. "Stopped."

"So I see," he murmured, frowning again at his friend. "And the tomb of St. Agnes?" I could feel his energy testing the air, searching.

"Gone. Safe. A seal can't be broken if it's not here to break."

He looked surprised at that. "Safe where?" I wanted to roll my eyes, but didn't.

"Away," I said. Then a thought. "Are you going to attack me?"

"No," he said frowning. "Do I need to?" He hadn't changed much, I thought, carefully lowering the gun.

"Hope not," I muttered, and inched forward warily to the fallen companion. Castiel too had inched forward. The man was still - very still, staring blankly into space. The wound in his chest pulsed slowly with a soft golden white light.

"Can you undo it?" Castiel asked somberly.

"Um, why would I want to do that?" Really, he couldn't be that naive, not at his age. "I undo it and he either tries to snag me and haul me off to Uriel or go tattle to Zachariah, who will likely have all of Heaven gunning for my ass before I can say apocalypse. Literally," I added with a wag of the gun. "No, think I'll leave him as is, thanks."

I knelt slowly on a knee, still eying Castiel. Giving a silent apology to the vessel, (though not to the arrogant ass riding in him), I gently closed his eyes and straightened his arms and legs as best I could. Then, with a tap, sent him away. Castiel made a protesting sound, but settled for glaring at me, still looking a little baffled.

"He'll be returned," I said gently, "when this is all over."

"You!" he said, eyes going even harder. "You've been taking them?"

"If it was demons or, well gosh, any other of the bad guys, they'd likely have torture and death to look forward to," I snapped. "Being frozen like an oversized doll might be torture to some, but at least they're alive. And for as long as I need to hold them, that won't change." I scooped up the two fallen blades while Castiel mulled that over. I still wasn't sure if we were going to fight or not- he didn't look certain, either. After all, I did just steal a sacred tomb and hijack his brother.

"We need all our soldiers to fight this war, to protect the seals-" he started.

"He," I said with heat, pointing at the empty floor, "wasn't here to fight demons. He was here on orders - orders to stop anyone from protecting the seal. Like me."

He shook his head slowly but firmly. "I was sent here to protect the seal." He sounded so confident. He was still so pure, in a way.

"Oh Cas," I said softly… "Wake up and smell the apocalypse. If you were sent here, to protect this seal, it's because someone wants you out of the way. And unless you find out whose toes you're stepping on, it won't be the enemy you need to worry about." I felt that familiar shiver echoing down from above. Time to go.

And leaving him looking angry and perplexed, I slipped away.

a/n: Reviews are always welcome and appreciated! :)