Chapter 1 - All Hell Breaks Loose
Crowley was on his third drink now. The first one had helped to calm his shaking hands, the second one had steeled his nerves, and this one was mainly a stall tactic on his part. He'd seriously considered just bringing the decanter over to his desk and chugging the entire contents down, but if there was ever a time he needed to keep his wits about him, it was now.
He sighed heavily and put the glass down. He couldn't put this off any longer. They needed to be told.
Bobby's blood ran cold, and he gripped the phone receiver so tightly in nearly broke in two.
"How in the hell could you let him escape?" he yelled at Crowley. "You told me you had the situation under control!"
Crowley's jaw clenched. "It was Aurielle. She got into the damn wing with the Demon Tablet, and I can only surmise that it was her blood, mixed with Lucifer's, that destroyed the cage." He'd seen the Tablet lying in fragments on the floor, and the shard with blood on it, and Crowley could do the math.
Bobby was fuming, and he was also very, very scared. Lucifer, Metatron, and Aurielle were all on the loose, presumably roaming around the Earth somewhere, plotting Heaven knew what. Plague, famine, destruction? A little genocide, maybe? His first thoughts were of Sam and Dean, and Cas and Gail. They would have to be told immediately, and they all needed to get together to work out a strategy to take care of the situation. Lucifer and Metatron were Original Angels, and God only knew what kinds of additional powers they possessed because of that. Literally. Bobby himself had no idea. Come to think of it, he had no idea what Cas and Gail could do, either. They'd never gotten around to having that conversation.
"I know you're going to want to get together with the Angels and the boys," Crowley said. "I think I should be at that meeting, as well."
Bobby sighed. Of course he did. Every time Bobby turned around, it seemed, he was forced to align himself with the King of Hell. He frowned. Some King. He'd let Lucifer slip through his fingers, after he had assured them that that would not happen. Probably off somewhere having his designer suit pressed and his shoes shined. On the other hand, Crowley was the fifth Original, and Bobby needed all the intel he could get.
"All right, Crowley. Meet me outside the bunker. I'll Cas and Gail and have them bring Sam and Dean," Bobby told them. Then he hung up the Hotline phone and sent the call out to Cas.
Cas and Gail were watching TV and cuddling when Bobby called. They had held each other and talked until the power had come back on, and Cas was now flipping from channel to channel with the remote. He'd come upon one of those programs on the Christian Network that were so amusing to him. The host of the show was usually a slightly paunchy, middle-aged white male, who called himself a Minister. He would typically start the show with a monologue, preaching against sin and exhorting the studio audience and the viewers at home to live their lives in the right way. God loved them, and He was watching over them. So far, so good, for the most part; Cas could get on board with those sentiments. But then the sermon always became tinged with a tone of judgement. His flock meant well, the Minister would say, but they could do better. If they wanted true salvation, they should send money in the to address shown on the bottom of the screen, and then they would be further on the path to getting it. Then there would be a hymn, then a reading from the Bible, then usually a guest would come on, talking about how Christianity had saved them from a life of sin and debauchery. Then a few commercials, then more appeals for money, and more gentle guilt and condemnation. Some of these men even had the temerity to state that God was speaking directly through them.
Gail rolled her eyes. "Why do you watch that junk?" she asked him.
"I don't know, really," Cas said thoughtfully. "Just curious, I guess. It's amazing what some humans are willing to believe in, and who they're willing to follow and listen to."
Gail nodded. Unfortunately, that was true. In the absence of any real information, people tended to follow those who spoke in the loudest and most forceful tones. She told Cas this now, making a face as the man on TV was now talking about how the Bible said that homosexuality was a sin. Admittedly, she had never actually read the Bible from cover to cover, but she highly doubted that. But then, a lot of people put their own spins on Bible passages, didn't they? "They should call this the FP; the False Prophet Network," she quipped.
Cas was impressed by her comment. "I agree," he said, giving her a squeeze and a kiss on the cheek. "Basically, a False Prophet is a servant of the Devil, attempting to lead people away from the Truth."
Gail was thinking about that as Cas received the call. The trouble was, these televangelists were the only ones doing the talking. How were people supposed to decide what the truth was when they were only presented with one viewpoint, and a slanted one, at that?
She'd opened her mouth to say so when Cas suddenly swung his legs off the bed and stood up. "What's wrong?" she asked him, seeing the look of alarm on his face.
Cas held his hand up. "It's Bobby," he said shortly. Gail fell silent, letting him receive the message. But she felt a sense of dread creeping in now. Cas was pale, and his expression was grim.
After a moment, Cas looked at her. "Lucifer has escaped," he told her. "Aurielle is with him, and Metatron is also missing. The cage has been destroyed, and the Demon Tablet is broken."
Gail's mouth dropped open in shock. "But Crowley said he was going to take care of that," she said.
Cas frowned. "Well, he obviously didn't," he replied.
Gail climbed off the bed and went to him. "What are we going to do?" she asked him, panicked. Metatron and Aurielle were bad enough, but now the Devil himself was out there somewhere, too? Every child learned from a very young age that Lucifer was the Babe Ruth of evil, worse than Crowley, worse than anyone or anything. Crowley no longer scared her, not really. She knew him fairly well by now, and she thought she knew how his mind worked. Lucifer was the great unknown, and he was a legend. But she'd never met him, so Gail had no idea what they were actually dealing with here. In this case, God's modification of her memory had been merciful, indeed. If Gail were to remember having met Lucifer, not just once but twice, she wouldn't have been merely scared, she would have been terrified.
But Cas was terrified enough for the both of them. What did Lucifer have planned? His Brother had been locked away since Creation, and Castiel knew that Lucifer was extremely angry about this fact. But Lucifer also liked to toy with people. A swift execution wouldn't be his style, not for the individuals that Lucifer hated the most. Like Castiel himself, of course. Lucifer would be gunning for all of the other Originals, and he'd had years upon years to plan his vengeance. Castiel couldn't sense him anywhere, though, nor could he sense the other two. Had his recent incarnation as a hybrid Demon messed with his radar somehow?
He put his arms around Gail and hugged her fiercely to him. Lucifer may not hate Gail as much as he did the other Originals, but Cas was afraid she might be in the most dangerous position of them all. She had mocked Lucifer during their meeting about his being a virgin, and he had alluded to his desire to use her to change that condition. Castiel had better not let her out of his sight, not even for a moment.
He reluctantly broke the embrace. "We're to report to the bunker immediately," he told her. "I'll call Sam and Dean. We'll have to collect them and transport them there."
Gail nodded, and she went to the closet to get a change of clothing. "Do I have time for a shower?" she asked him hopefully.
Cas already had his cell phone in his hand. "Better not," he told her. "Sorry."
She understood. This was an emergency situation; creature comforts would have to wait. She undressed quickly.
Cas punched Dean's number into the phone. He'd thought about just calling the hotel but decided to call Dean's cell phone at the last minute instead. If he knew his friend, Cas was willing to bet that Dean had not gone straight back to the hotel. He'd seen how Dean and Nicole had been looking at each other.
That thought almost made him smile, and Cas would have, had the current situation not been so gravely serious. Good for Dean. Cas had the feeling that Sam might not have made it back to the hotel, either. Good for Sam, too. With that much evil out there somewhere now, it was good to think that his friends might have received some much-deserved love last night. He and Gail had had a wonderful night, too. The calm before the storm, he supposed. He watched Gail undress while waiting for Dean to pick up, and now Cas did smile. She was so sweet, and so loving. Once they got past this current crisis, he would have to take steps to ensure that their arrangement became more permanent.
Dean had heard his phone ringing, and he'd seriously considered just ignoring it. He was just coming out of the shower, and the phone was in his pants, which were on the floor of the bathroom. Nicole was in the kitchen making coffee, and Dean had wanted to smell good for her this morning. Maybe they could have one more go-round before he had to leave.
He grabbed his pants and rooted around for the phone. Probably Sammy, wondering when Dean was coming back to the hotel.
"Yo," he said into the phone.
But it was Cas, and he told Dean the shocking and horrifying news.
"Holy crap," Dean breathed.
"I agree," Cas said grimly. "Where are you right now?"
"At Nicole's," Dean told his friend.
"We're coming to get you," Cas said. "Where's Sam?"
"I don't know," Dean replied. "Hopefully, at Zoey's."
"We'll have to collect him, too," Cas said. "Bobby wants to have a meeting at the bunker, immediately. We have to plan a strategy. I believe the phrase is 'all hands on deck'. Crowley's even going to be there."
Dean rolled his eyes. He'd just had the night from Heaven, and now he had to sit down and make nice with the King of Hell. But this was an emergency, and Dean would just have to suck it up.
"OK. But do me a favour, and come to the front door. Nicole knows pretty much everything now, but I don't want you just popping in here and scaring her."
He hung up and dressed quickly, then went out to the kitchen. Nicole was getting mugs out of the cupboard, and she turned to him and smiled. "Do you want breakfast?" she asked him.
Dean crossed the kitchen and put his arms around her. He kissed her on the lips and said, "No time. I'm sorry, but I've gotta go. There's an emergency situation."
There was a knock on the front door of Nicole's apartment. "That'll be Cas and Gail," Dean told her. "They're here for me. We have to go and get Sam, and then they have to take us back to the States the Angel way." He frowned suddenly. What was he going to do about the Impala?
"What's going on, Dean?" Nicole asked him. If this was an excuse for him to slink out of here now that morning had come, it was certainly an elaborate one if he had enlisted the others' help.
"I can't really tell you that," Dean said. "But only a situation like this could get me out of here this morning. I hope you know that."
Nicole smiled. OK, she'd accept that.
The knocking had become a pounding now, and Nicole moved quickly to the front door. As soon as she opened it, Cas strode in. In his panic, he was in full-on Angel mode now. "Is everyone all right?" he asked.
"Yeah, we're fine, Cas," Dean said, coming out from the kitchen.
"Sorry, Nicole," Gail said. "We wouldn't be barging in on you like this if it wasn't an emergency."
Nicole smiled at her. "I know, Dean told me," she said.
"He told you?" Castiel exclaimed, incredulous.
Nicole looked at him. He seemed different this morning. More abrupt, more businesslike. This must be his Angel side. Whatever the situation was, it must be very serious. "He didn't tell me what it was, only that it was urgent, and that you all had to go back to the States right away," she said. She turned to Dean. "What about your car?"
"We'll have to come back for it," Castiel said. He grabbed Dean's arm. "Come on, we have to go."
"OK, Cas, relax," Dean said. "Give me a second." He took Cas's hand off his arm, then turned to Nicole. "I'm sorry," he said to her. "I'll call you as soon as I can." He put his arms around her and kissed her again.
Castiel was agitated, but he gave them their moment. This, he understood.
"Go, go," Nicole said, shooing Dean towards the door. "Go save the world, then call me and you can tell me how it went." She smiled at him, then at Cas. "So I guess I can tell Richard that you're calling in sick today?"
Castiel frowned. He hadn't even thought about that. "I suppose you'd better," he told her. "I don't know when I'll be back, though. Maybe not for quite a while. Make my apologies to him, please. If he has to fire me, tell him to do so. This is much more important."
Nicole was nervous now. They all looked so grim. How serious was this? "OK, Cas. I will," she said softly. "Please take care of yourselves, all of you."
"We will," Dean said, frowning. And hopefully, they would be able to take care of Lucifer, too, before he took care of humanity, for good.
Sam was standing on the street outside Zoey's apartment building, already waiting for them. He had kissed Zoey goodbye upstairs, telling her not to bother coming outside with him. He'd wanted a moment alone to think, anyway. Lucifer was on the loose somewhere here on Earth, and Sam was terrified. He remembered his time in that cage all too well, and the way that he had been when he had come out of it. Lucifer had the power to drive people insane, and now he was out there free, planning God only knew what.
Castiel, Gail and Dean appeared on the street. The hour was early and luckily, Sam was the only one there. But Zoey was watching from her window, and her mouth dropped open. Even though they'd told her and Nicole about it, seeing it with her own eyes was another matter. She hoped that they could get through whatever this mysterious crisis was. Zoey considered all of them her friends now, and she wanted them to be OK.
The group talked for a moment, then Gail put her hand on Sam's arm and Cas put his hand on Dean's, and all four vanished from the street. Wow, Zoey thought. Cas had been working with them all this time, and they'd had absolutely no idea. It just went to show; people had no clue as to what was really going on around them most of the time. Just before the four of them had disappeared, Cas had glanced up at the window, looking straight at her as if he'd known that she'd been watching them. And he probably had, too. Weren't Angels supposed to be able to sense those things? She wondered what other kinds of powers he and Gail had. She hoped they and their friends were going to be OK.
Bobby had been asking Crowley questions along those same lines while they were waiting for the others outside the bunker, and he was getting frustrated. His questions were being met with nothing but evasion.
"That's not for me to say," Crowley said uncomfortably. He was thinking of those times in the warehouse, when he and Castiel and Gail had briefly been on the same team, ostensibly, at least. Crowley did know about a few of their special abilities, but their sessions had been cut short when his Brother had had an attack of conscience and had given himself up to the Winchesters to be held in the bunker until he was cured. So there were a lot of things they hadn't yet had the chance to cover, but Crowley didn't feel like sharing any of this with Bobby. That was between them and God. Crowley was just here to help coordinate the search for Lucifer, Metatron, and Aurielle.
Bobby was fuming again. Why was Crowley even here, then, if he wasn't going to give out any useful information?
The Angels suddenly appeared, with Sam and Dean in tow.
"You're invited inside," Sam said to Crowley tersely. He didn't feel like screwing around right now.
They all sat around the library table as Sam moved to put the coffee on. "I didn't have the time to get any," Sam shrugged when Bobby asked him what he was doing. "And if I know Dean, he didn't get any coffee, either." His brother would have been making the most out of his night and morning with Nicole. "You want us alert, don't you?"
Castiel was glaring at Crowley, who took a seat across from him and Gail.
"What?" Crowley asked him.
"How could you let this happen?" Cas asked him. "I thought you said you were going to take care of it. How incompetent are you?"
Crowley's blood boiled. "I did everything I could," he said shortly. And while that wasn't entirely true, he wasn't going to sit here and let Castiel insult him like that.
"Really?" Cas scoffed.
"I suppose you think you would have done better if you had been on the throne," Crowley shot back.
Gail looked at him. What a weird thing to say, and what a strange momentary picture had formed in her head at that. Cas sitting at Crowley's desk, ruling Hell. She had never been to Hell, of course, but she could somehow picture Crowley's office in her head very clearly. What an imagination she had.
"What I would have done is immaterial," Castiel retorted. "It's what you didn't do that is in question."
"I thought you said you were putting in some extra security there," Bobby said.
Crowley squirmed. "I did, but Aurielle overpowered the guards I had stationed there."
"How many guards are we talking about?" Dean asked him.
"What does that matter?" Crowley snapped. The truth was, he had underestimated Aurielle. He was as bad as the rest of them. Just because she was a female didn't mean that she couldn't perform as efficiently as any male did when the chips were down. He should have known that.
"Anyway, the damage has been done," Crowley continued. "The question is, what are we going to do about it now?" He leaned forward, looking at Castiel intently. "Can't you at least sense her?"
"Sense who? Aurielle?" Cas asked him.
"No, the bloody Queen of England!" Crowley exclaimed. "Yes, Aurielle! She's just an ordinary Angel, isn't she? Even though Metatron and Lucifer can shield themselves from us if they choose, you or Gail should still be able to pick her up, shouldn't you?"
Cas and Gail exchanged glances. "But Aurielle was in Hell, with you," Gail said to Crowley. "She wouldn't be an Angel any more, would she?"
"It's complicated," Cas and Crowley said simultaneously.
"So Lucifer and Metatron can hide from our radar?" Bobby said. "Great."
"That's part of being an Original," Crowley told him. "However, we should be able to sense each other, no matter which vessel we might be using at the time. But I can't pick up on them, either.
Castiel thought about that. It wouldn't surprise him to learn that Metatron had the ability to shield himself. When they had gone to Dallas to find him, he had only let Castiel sense him when he was ready to be found. And Lucifer could very well share that ability, too. There were a few abilities that some of the Originals had in common. He wondered if he and Gail could do that, too. They would have to test that out, and soon.
"If they can shield themselves, could they be able to shield her too, maybe, even from Bobby?" Gail asked.
Crowley looked at her. "It's entirely possible."
But Sam was thinking about vessels. "They're all Demons though, right? For the most part?" he asked Crowley.
"Yes, of course," Crowley replied impatiently.
"So that means they can possess any vessel they want, just by taking it?" Sam said.
Dean's blood ran cold. "Fantastic. That means they could be anyone. Anyone at all. And we would have no way of knowing. That's what you're telling us?"
Crowley was frowning. "Yes, that's what I'm telling you."
They all sat there, thinking about that. How the hell were they supposed to fight an enemy that could be anyone, at anytime, anywhere?
"Any ideas?" Bobby said dryly.
"Unbelievable," Dean groaned. "At least, if they kept their original appearances, we would know what they looked like."
"Well, you would know what Metatron looks like," Sam pointed out. "We only saw Aurielle briefly in Dallas; she was already dead when we got to the cabin. And you've never even seen Lucifer. Fortunately for you," he added, exchanging glances with Bobby. Being in Lucifer's cage was the dubious common bond that Sam and Bobby shared. Dean was lucky to be excluded from that club.
Dean looked at Castiel. That was right; as far as Sam and Gail were concerned, Dean had never met Lucifer, nor had Gail. Dean had almost screwed up. "I know evil when I see it," Dean said defensively.
"Let's hope you do," Crowley said briskly. "They all have to be found, and quickly." He turned to Bobby. "I'll send a number of my minions topside," Crowley told him. "Maybe we'll get lucky."
"You want to put a bunch of Demons on Earth?" Dean asked him, frowning. "What for?"
"We need all the help we can get," Crowley replied. "If you think your little group is going to be able to handle this all by yourselves, you're sadly mistaken." He turned to Bobby. "In fact, I think you should deploy as many Angels as you can spare and have them roam the earth, as well. Sooner or later, Lucifer will reveal himself; I'm sure he will. He won't be able to help it."
Bobby thought about that. Great. He was supposed to send a bunch of paper-pushers down to Earth to defeat the Devil? He should have started up that training program that he had been thinking about. If Crowley had screwed up, so had Bobby. And there was no excuse for it, really. As eternal beings, they had all the time in the world, didn't they? Well, not any more, they didn't.
"I screwed up," Bobby admitted. "I should have been preparing them for battle. Instead, I got obsessed with the damn paperwork. New laws. What good are new laws gonna do if we're all dead?"
"New laws?" Gail said, puzzled. "What new laws?"
Crap. Now Bobby had he'd screwed up. He and Cas hadn't had that conversation yet either, the one where they were going to have to figure out how to tell Gail that not only were there new laws now in Heaven, but she was the Chairwoman of the board that had written them. That whole timeline had been erased from her memory by God's own hand. Bobby tried to brazen it out. "The new laws we wrote together," he said lightly. "Come on, Gail, did that Canadian air affect your brain?"
She frowned. "I don't know what you're talking about, Bobby." Gail turned to Cas. "What's he talking about?"
Cas smiled, trying to match Bobby's tone. "If you're looking for more praise, all you have to do is ask me for it," he said to her, taking her hand. "You did a wonderful job this summer while I was on the set. I only wish I could have been at more of the board meetings. You did great, Gail. The first female Chairperson Heaven's ever had."
Gail was astonished. What the hell was this, all of a sudden? Was it just her?
Crowley could see what was going on here. If they were all going to have to work together to recapture Lucifer, he supposed he'd better back Bobby and Castiel up on this one. "Yes, and I'm still annoyed with you about some of them," he told her. "I'm going to lose souls to Heaven, thanks to you. But you told me your mind was made up, and there was nothing I could do."
Dean looked at Gail. "I remember you telling me about that," he said to Gail. "Atta girl."
Gail looked at the mens' faces, open-mouthed. Were they all crazy, or was she? Why did she still have no idea what they were all talking about? Heaven had a new board now, of which she was apparently the Chairperson? And they had rewritten the old laws, pissing Crowley off in the process? How did she not remember any of that?
"The new laws have made Heaven a much better place," Castiel told her, still smiling. "And I know they've made me happier. It's nice to be able to express our affection for each other so openly now, both in public, and in private. Not that we ever let that stop us before," he teased her.
So that was why they had been able to do what they had done last night and the night before, Gail thought. So, what everyone was saying was true, then. It had to be; they were all talking about these things as if they were already established facts.
"Why am I the only one who doesn't remember any of this?" she said.
"PTSD, from the tribunal, and the events at the cabin," Bobby replied quickly. "I told you she should see someone, Cas." Bobby felt like crap now. In a way, what they were doing to her was cruel. Now she thought that she was nuts. But the last thing they needed now was Sam or Gail, going off the rails, when they had the current crisis to deal with. He looked at Sam, who had been frowning throughout this entire exchange.
Sam was as puzzled as Gail was. He had no recollection of any of this stuff, either. Wouldn't Cas and Gail have told him about it at some point? Dean seemed to know what they were talking about, but Sam didn't. Then again, this was Angel stuff they were talking about, and he and Dean didn't generally pay very close attention to that kind of thing. Really, who cared about Heaven's politics and laws right now? They'd worry about all of that when they got there. But it was still strange to Sam that Gail wouldn't at least have mentioned the fact that she was now apparently running Heaven's board to him. Heaven was not exactly a beacon of enlightenment when it came to womens' rights; at least, it hadn't been under the old regime. You would think it would have been a pretty big deal to her. And Cas rarely missed an opportunity to sing her praises. Maybe their Angel friends had attempted to mention it, and Sam and Dean had just shut them down. That happened sometimes, when the brothers had had enough of Heaven and all its crap for a while. And they definitely had recently, after the events at the cabin. Sam could understand what Bobby was saying about Gail, though. All you had to do was look at the expression on her face to know that everything was not all right with her. PTSD was real, and it was serious. Sometimes, a person's mind would just shut down after a particularly traumatic event, and Gail had suffered a couple of big ones recently, what with Cas's execution and their harrowing ordeal at the cabin both having happened almost back-to-back.
Gail was looking at Bobby. She'd heard about PTSD. It was prevalent in soldiers who had come back home from the battlefield. What they had been through was so traumatic to them that they repressed their memories of it. But if that was the case, how come she remembered all of the trauma, but had seemingly forgotten about all of the rest, which apparently comprised the better part of three whole seasons of her recent life? She asked Bobby this now.
"Stress affects different people differently," he told her, cringing inside at the evasion.
"Shall we get back to the problem at hand?" Crowley interjected. "How are we going to apprehend Lucifer?"
But they were no closer to a solution to the problem an hour after when they'd first started talking.
"Maybe we should read Revelation," Sam said suddenly.
Dean looked at him. "Why?" he asked.
Sam nearly rolled his eyes. Wasn't it obvious? "Because it refers to the coming of the Antichrist," he said.
"Yeah, but isn't the Bible just a book written by humans, full of nothing but allegorical tales?" Bobby said. Sam looked at him, impressed. But he shook his head. "Not necessarily, Bobby," Sam said. "But why don't we ask these two about that?" He gestured to Crowley and Castiel.
Oh. Right. Bobby was talking about the Bible as if it were pure fiction, and they were sitting here at the table with Cain and Abel.
"What do you think?" Bobby asked Castiel.
"Sam's idea could have some merit," Cas said thoughtfully.
Then Bobby looked at Crowley, who shrugged. He supposed it couldn't hurt. The King of Hell, about to read the Bible. No wonder many wanted him off of his throne.
Sam rose and went to the bookshelves. There were several different versions of the Bible there, but he supposed it didn't matter which one he chose. They were all basically pretty much the same in the spirit of the message, if not in terminology. He'd always thought that Revelation, not Revelations as most people insisted on calling it, was the most fascinating part of the Bible, and the most frustrating, at the same time. Sam had read it numerous times after returning from Lucifer's cage. He'd told himself he just wanted to understand what the book was trying to say, merely as an intellectual exercise. But really, who had he been trying to fool? Deep down, hadn't he always known that this day was going to come?
"Trying to decide?" Gail's voice, at his elbow. She had risen from the table and come over to join him, seeing his hesitation. "Why don't we just bring them all, so everyone can have their own copy?" she suggested. Sam nodded, and he handed her three copies. She took the books back to the table and started passing them out.
"Are you going to be able to touch this, or do you need a page-turner?" she quipped as she held out a Bible for Crowley to take. He couldn't help but smile. That had actually been a pretty good one.
"I think I'll be all right, sweetheart," he said, taking the book from her and putting it in front of him on the table. "Let's see, Revelation," he mused aloud. "Where is that, again?" he asked Castiel.
"How should I know?" Castiel said. "I haven't looked at one of these in quite a while."
Crowley shook his head slowly. I'll just bet you haven't, he thought. Too busy doing all of the things this book says you shouldn't. But he'd better leave that alone for now. They were here for a common goal. Gail put a copy of the Bible in front of Castiel, kissing him on the forehead as she went back to get more Bibles from Sam. "We can share," she told him, smiling. "It'll give me an excuse to sit closer to you."
Crowley rolled his eyes. "Go ahead and start to read as soon as you can, Moose," he prompted. "A little dose of Armageddon will do me some good. All this Angel sweetness is beginning to become rather cloying. Everybody's got a little Demon in them, you know," he said pointedly to Gail.
Castiel gave him a sharp look. "Watch your mouth," he cautioned Crowley. His Brother was skating on very thin ice now.
But Gail was smiling at Crowley. "I know that," she said to him. "But that just means you've got a little Angel in you, then, doesn't it?"
Crowley smiled again, tipping an imaginary hat to her. "Checkmate, luv," he said. "And checkmate doesn't mean you've simply cornered the enemy King. It's a declaration that the enemy King is yours."
Castiel closed his Bible with a snap. "You are really trying my patience," he said to Crowley in his quiet voice. "What exactly are you trying to say?"
"Nothing, Castiel, just being a gentleman," Crowley said, feigning innocence. "You remember how to be one of those, don't you?"
Gail was re-taking her seat now, and Castiel cursed himself. In his anger at Crowley, he had missed the opportunity to pull her chair out for her. Crowley was smirking now. What Cas wouldn't give to go over there right now and punch that smile right off his face.
Bobby cleared his throat. "Settle," he growled. "Sam, read," he ordered, glaring at Cas and Crowley. They mercifully lapsed into silence as Sam began to read.
"I won't read the whole thing aloud," Sam said. "We can just skim the material together and point out any words and phrases that stand out as significant. This is the most enigmatic chapter of the Bible, and everyone seems to have their own interpretations of what many of the passages may or may not mean."
"'The time is at hand'," Bobby read aloud. "That one seems fairly straight-ahead."
"One would think so," Castiel said, "but then again, not necessarily."
Bobby frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Many people think this chapter refers to the second coming of Christ, after Armageddon takes place," Castiel said. "But many of these passages and stories were translated from the ancient language, and therefore, the facts may be distorted, and the truth obscured."
Dean was looking at him. "How do you know all that?"
Castiel looked at him, smiling faintly. "I was there, remember?" He jerked his head at Crowley. "So was he."
"Longer than you were, that first time," Crowley pointed out with a wicked grin. He was still smarting from the way Castiel had just spoken to him, and Crowley had no problem whatsoever with sticking the metaphorical knife into his Brother now. Castiel was acting like a stick-up-the-bum Angel once again, and his superior tone was rubbing Crowley the wrong way. It wasn't all that long ago that Gail had been looking to Crowley for help and comfort, not Castiel. Cas would do well to remember that, or Crowley would just have to remind him. And he would make sure that Gail was within full earshot when he did it, too.
Castiel did a double-take but refrained from making a retort. Crowley was obviously referring to the fact that he had murdered Castiel in the Garden. But the both of them had had other incarnations since that time, ones that no one else in this room knew anything about.
"It just so happens that Castiel is right," Crowley continued. "Many of the stories in here that you lot would be familiar with were based on actual events, but sometimes the stories behind the stories are far more interesting. Aren't they, Castiel?" His smile grew wider now.
Now it was Castiel who was uncomfortable. He knew full well what Crowley was alluding to. It had been one of Cas's most embarrassing and distressing moments. Now he was sorry that he had riled his Brother up.
"What are you getting at, Crowley?" Bobby asked him.
"We should just be concentrating on the matter at hand," Castiel grumbled.
"Your friends shouldn't miss out on an opportunity like this," Crowley said. He was positively crowing now. "They'll be the only ones on Earth who will know the real story behind the Flood."
Cas sat back in his chair, pouting now. "They don't want to hear about that," he said in a low voice.
But Dean could smell a rat here, and he didn't think it was Crowley, for a change. His interest was piqued now. "I do," he said.
"So do I," Sam said, grinning. "What happened, Cas? What about the Flood?"
"Nothing," Cas said. "Forget it."
"It wasn't exactly God's vengeance that caused the Flood," Crowley said cheerfully. "Our Father just used the opportunity the Flood brought to try to teach humanity a lesson."
Dean was smiling now. "How did the Flood happen, then?" he asked.
"Castiel?" Crowley prompted.
"I could happily kill you right now," Cas said to him.
Gail had no idea what might have happened, but she was getting angry now. "Would everybody just stop it?" she said. "You're making Cas uncomfortable. Maybe he doesn't want to talk about it. Not everything is your business, you guys."
Cas threw her a look of gratitude, but he knew that it was too late. The can of worms had been opened now. Crowley wasn't going to shut up until he had gotten his pound of flesh. "I caused the Flood," Cas said miserably.
"YOU did?" Bobby blurted out. "And how did you do that?"
"I don't know, exactly," Cas confessed. "I was just a new Angel, and I was testing out some of the powers our Father had given to me. So I made it rain, but I couldn't stop it. For fourty days and fourty nights it rained, and there was nothing I could do about it. I tried everything I could possibly think of. I had to go to our Father and tell him what I'd done. Needless to say, He was not too pleased with me."
Sam and Dean looked at each other, then they burst out laughing. "Are you kidding me with this?" Dean said. "That is too funny."
"Did you have to pay Noah back for all the building materials?" Sam joked.
Gail turned to look at Bobby so Cas wouldn't see her lips twitching furiously. She had to admit, it was pretty funny. Even Bobby's beard was moving now as he was trying not to crack a smile.
"It's not funny," Cas said archly.
But of course, this struck the brothers as even funnier, and they laughed some more. Dean was wiping his eyes with the backs of his hands now. "Thanks, Cas. We needed that," he said, trying to compose himself.
Cas looked at Gail. She was trying to keep a straight face, but she was failing miserably. It had been so good to see the guys laugh like that, almost as if in the face of the extreme tension and fear that they had all been feeling with Lucifer's escape.
"Do YOU think it's funny?" Castiel asked her.
"No," Gail said, but now she was grinning. "OK, yeah, Cas. I'm sorry, but it is kind of funny." She put her hand on his arm. "I mean, come on."
Cas's lips started to twitch now. "All right, Gail. I guess it is kind of funny, after all."
Dean rolled his eyes and threw up his hands. Naturally. "You were mad at us for laughing," he pointed out, "and now, SHE says it's funny, so of course, you think it's funny."
Gail grinned at Dean. "That's because I'm special," she said to him.
Dean started to look around the surface of the table.
"What are you looking for?" Sam asked.
"Something to throw at her," Dean grumbled. "Besides the Bible, that is. My karma's bad enough without throwing a Bible at an Angel with maiming in mind."
They all laughed at that, and even Crowley smiled. Gail looked at him curiously. The King of Hell, providing them with some much-needed levity. Even though it had been at Cas's expense, she was pretty much OK with it. She took Cas's hand and gave it a brief squeeze, and he smiled at her.
"OK, we've had a little fun, now let's get back to business," Bobby said. "What else ya got, Sam?"
"This chapter refers to 'seven spirits, and seven golden candlesticks'," Sam said, his brow furrowing. "I have to say I never understood what that could represent."
"Seven Angels," Castiel said promptly.
"How can you be so sure?" Sam said.
Cas frowned. "I don't know, exactly. I just know. Seven spirits, bearing golden light. That sounds like Angels to me."
"Doesn't sound like Angels to me," Dean said.
"Yeah, I've never seen you bearing any golden light," Sam said, still grinning.
"I've seen golden light coming from Gail," Crowley said suddenly. They all looked at him. "Well, I have," he said defensively.
Cas was nodding. "No, he's right," he confirmed. "Her essence is golden."
Dean was about to make another smartass comment, something about where that gold essence might be emanating from, at least from Cas's viewpoint. But Gail held up her hand, cutting him off. "What would that have to do with anything?" she asked them. How in the world could Revelation be referring to her? She didn't know if the notion was ridiculous, or if it was just frightening as hell. She remembered back to when she had first died and had become an Angel. Right before she had made the big decision, she had asked Castiel to take her back to see the very beginning of his existence. He had taken her back to the Garden, very near the time of Creation itself, and she had witnessed mankind's first murder in the form of Cain, aka Crowley, killing his brother Abel, aka Castiel. She had rushed to Castiel's side, attempting to heal him, but it had been too late, of course. But she hadn't actually been there, had she? She'd always thought that was only a vision, an illusion. Yet God had apparently seen fit to designate her as an Original, and had apparently imbued her with special powers, quite a few of which remained a mystery to her even now. Were they seriously trying to tell her that the golden light carried by the Angels, foretold in Revelation, was supposed to have come from her somehow?
She asked Castiel this now. He was looking very thoughtful. "Yes, I think so," he told her. He turned to Bobby. "I think you need to designate seven Angels to come to Earth, and Gail can confer the light upon them."
Dean stirred in his chair. "What does that even mean?" he grumbled.
But Bobby was nodding. He thought he was getting it. "Those Angels will be sent out to look for Lucifer," he said.
"Makes sense to me," Sam agreed. "Lucifer's Hebrew name is Helel, which means brightness. "Son of the Morning'."
Sounded more like a 60s song to Bobby, but he kept his mouth shut, letting the brainstorming happen.
Gail was shaking her head. If she were to ever try to think of any entity that represented brightness, it certainly would not be Lucifer. "So, what, I'm supposed to give them some of my essence, or something?" she asked.
"I know it sounds weird, but it also sounds right to me for some reason," Bobby remarked.
Dean finally saw his opportunity. "Cas will be one of them, of course," he said, grinning. "He's always thought the sun shines out of Gail's - "
"Watch it, Dean," Gail interrupted him. "I'm not above using my powers on you, you know."
The brothers and the Angels smiled, but Crowley was frowning.
"What's the matter, Crowley?" Bobby asked him.
"Can I talk to you for a moment?" Crowley said, jerking his head in the direction of the hallway.
Bobby was about to refuse, but he noticed the way that Crowley was glaring at a now-smiling Cas, so he rose from his chair, sighing.
When they got partway down the hall, Crowley wheeled on Bobby. "How can you just sit there and pretend like it never happened?" he said angrily.
Bobby knew what the "it" was, of course. He sighed again. "Look, Crowley, we have no choice," he told the King. "God Himself modified her memory. And, I happen to think He did a merciful thing." But did he really believe that? In a way, he did, but in a way, he didn't. "And, it was her own choice."
"So he just gets away with it," Crowley said disgustedly.
"Why is this bothering you so much?" Bobby asked him. "Look, I know you and Cas have this Biblical sibling rivalry thing going, but you're gonna have to cool it on that for now. Stop winding him up all the time."
"ME wind HIM up?" Crowley said huffily. "You see the way HE talks to ME, don't you?"
Bobby rolled his eyes. Had he honestly ever thought he'd wanted children? "Well, suck it up," he told Crowley. "We have a job to do now, and the only reason you're here is because I thought you might have something to contribute. I could just throw you out of here right now, you know."
Crowley glared at him. Yes, Bobby probably could do just that; he had Godlike powers, didn't he? Even though it seemed that he seldom used them. "You'll want to stay on my good side," he said to Bobby. "Last I looked, I seem to be the only one around here who has the power of revival. I haven't forgotten that God didn't even confer that little gem on you, even though you're supposed to be doing His job. We're about to march head-on into Armageddon here, and if one of yours falls, you'll need me to step up. And I might, if you treat me nicely and ask me politely."
Bobby frowned. As much as he hated it, Crowley was right. "All right, Crowley. Just try to keep the snide comments to yourself. If for no other reason, then for her sake," he added.
Crowley gave him a sharp look. He had no retort for that.
Bobby smiled. He'd thought not.
The humans and the Angels were still flipping through the pages of Revelation when the men returned to the table. They had been keeping the conversation light, waiting for God and the King to return to the discussion.
"Hey, here's one about you, Sam," Gail said, smiling. "'Blessed is he that readeth'."
Sam smiled back. "I've always thought so," he said to her.
"How about he who bleedeth?" Dean quipped.
Castiel smiled absently, but he was looking at Bobby and Crowley, wondering what their conversation had been about. He raised an eyebrow to Bobby, but Bobby gave him an almost imperceptible shake of his head.
So Castiel turned back to the Bible. "The seven Angels have things to be commended about them, and things that are also wanting in them," he remarked.
"Oh, well, then, I guess you are qualified to be one of them," Crowley said, smirking. "I don't know about that first part of it, but I know that you're eminently qualified for that last part," he said to Cas nastily.
Cas glared at Crowley. "We all have our flaws, just as we all have our good points," he said to Crowley. "Some of us more than others, of course."
"Would the two of you just quit it, already?" Gail said irritably. Their constant sniping was really starting to get on her nerves. She was trying to concentrate on what she was reading. "They talk about an Angel with a book," she said. "That must be Chuck."
Bobby could see that. "OK, then we have three designates so far," he said to her. "You, Chuck, and Cas."
"But Chuck's book has sealed itself, and it won't open," Gail continued to read and interpret. "This must be talking about his journal. He told me once that he keeps a journal, and he writes down all his prophecies in it. But if his book is sealed, maybe that means he can't make prophecies anymore."
"Figures," Sam said. "Just when we thought Chuck was going to come in handy, for a change."
"But it says that a lamb who was slain comes along, and he's worthy to open the book," Gail went on.
"Cas," Dean said, gesturing to his friend.
Crowley rolled his eyes. "Why would you say that?" he asked Dean, annoyed. "He's the least lamb-like individual in Heaven."
"He IS a lamb, now," Dean shot back. He was also getting tired of Crowley's constant sniping at Cas. It was one thing for him and Sam to tease Cas, but Crowley's insults were another matter.
"What do you mean, 'now'?" Gail asked Dean.
Crap. They had to stop doing stuff like that. "I'm talking about before you met him," Dean said glibly. "He used to be a soldier, remember?"
"Oh," she said. "Well, he's very lamb-y, now." Cas smiled, taking her hand. God, she was cute.
Crowley felt like he was going to throw up. Sure, he was. Now. No marks on her anymore; none that he could see, at least. But Crowley just couldn't seem to let that go. He opened his mouth to speak again, and Castiel interrupted him hastily.
"There are horses referred to in this section as well, and they have been assigned different colours. The white horse with the crown would be Bobby, of course," Castiel said.
Bobby's beard twitched. "So I'm a horse now?" he said. "Well, I must be the front end, cause I sure see a couple of back ends sitting at this table." It was unclear whether he was talking about Cas and Crowley, who were still eyeing each other like participants in a duel, or Sam and Dean, who were grinning again.
Castiel turned back to the Bible. "And Crowley is the red horse who holds the sword and has taken peace from the Earth." He sat back in his chair, regarding his Brother coolly. "That sounds about right."
Crowley was still seething. "It wasn't so long ago your sword was much redder than mine," he said through clenched teeth. "Let's discuss that, shall we? Maybe we can get Gail's opinion on that subject."
Now Gail was glaring at Crowley, too. What was his problem?
Cas was alarmed. Once again, he had pushed Crowley too far. But Crowley was doing a lot of pushing of his own. How were they ever going to manage to co-exist long enough to deal with Lucifer and the others? He leaned forward, flipping to the next page of the Bible. He'd seen the look on Gail's face. He had to get her mind on something else.
"The black horse is Sam," Cas said. "Logical, balanced, and open-minded."
"Where are you getting that from?" Dean said, bemused. "I've got the same book, and mine doesn't say that anywhere."
"It's my interpretation," Cas said to him. "Sam told us, Dean, that this part is very open to interpretation. Feel free to dispute anything I say."
But Dean shrugged. He couldn't. But he failed to see how any of this was actually helping. What were they doing sitting around reading, when Lucifer was out there somewhere? They should be kicking the Devil's ass. But they had to find his ass first, didn't they?
"And you are the pale horse, Dean, who rides with Death, having killed many times over. Hell follows him," Castiel said grimly.
Now Dean had never felt less like grinning. Yeah, that was him, all right. Who would have ever thought the Bible would have a chapter which summed up him and his life so well in just a couple of sentences?
Gail frowned, seeing the stricken look on Dean's face. "That's harsh, Cas," she chided softly.
"Can anyone here deny its truth?" Castiel said, looking around the table.
Gail was staring at Castiel now. Maybe not, but he was being pretty cold about it. She hadn't seen this side of him for quite a while, and she hadn't really missed it much.
"There's a lot more to you than that, Dean," she assured her friend. "A lot more."
He gave her a grateful look but said nothing.
Bobby cleared his throat. Time to move on. "Great," he said. "I guess this is what we have to look forward to: earthquakes, hail, fire mingled with blood. A third of the world's forests burned up. Water becomes blood, a third of the animals are destroyed, and people are poisoned by the water. Days are dark, with no sun. One-third of man, dead."
"Hey, what are YOU worried about?" Sam asked him. "At least you can wait all that stuff out in Heaven. We're the ones who have to stay here and deal with it." He gestured to himself and Dean.
"I could kill you, if you like," Crowley said, a hint of a smile on his face. The King of Hell strikes again.
"It talks about the Angels who were bound being set loose," Gail said. "Sounds like them to me. So all of that horrible stuff will be their doing?"
"It would appear so," Castiel said. His expression was even more grim now. If they weren't able to stop Lucifer, all of that, and worse, would likely come to pass.
"I've always liked this particular paragraph," Crowley said lazily. "They didn't repent of their murders, sorceries, fornications, or thefts."
"Well, of course they're not repenting!" Bobby thundered. "They're here on Earth, planning to barbecue the human race!"
"I'm not so sure that passage refers to them," Crowley said airily. "It could also refer to everyone sitting here in this room."
They all fell silent for a moment. Crowley was right; they had all done most, if not all, of those things.
"It talks about two witnesses who die, but are resurrected, and they ascend to Heaven, after making prophecies," Gail said. "I wonder what that's all about."
"And more crappy weather," Dean grumbled. He was growing more impatient now, but he was also still brooding about himself, and what Cas had said that Revelation had said about him.
"The next part talks about some woman who's pregnant and has a son that a red dragon wants to eat," Sam mused. "Since when did this become Game of Thrones?"
"The woman flees into the wilderness after having her son," Gail said, picking up the narrative. She looked at Crowley, astonished. "Rowena?"
Crowley did a double-take. No, it couldn't be. "She left me because she's selfish. Not because she had a bloody dragon after her," he said to Gail sharply. "Stop believing in fairy tales."
"The Devil is cast down to Earth, and he's angry because he knows he's got just a short time," Sam continued. "Well, except for the fact that he wasn't cast from Heaven this time, it fits."
"The dragon persecutes the woman we were just talking about." Gail picked up the thread. Sam and Gail were both getting into it now, collaborating in their efforts to understand what the words they were reading really meant. "I guess the dragon is the Devil?"
"Now I'm hoping the woman IS my mother," Crowley quipped.
"She can't be," Castiel said. He had been skipping ahead. "It goes on to say that her seed keeps God's Commandments. That certainly wouldn't be you," he added sarcastically.
"Who was it, convicted at a tribunal hearing based on the Commandments and sentenced to death?" Crowley retorted acidly. "Hmm, let me think. Oh, yes, that was you, Castiel. A death I will remind you that I brought you back from, much to my daily regret."
Cas frowned, but he had to admit, his Brother had gotten him good that time. Gail's hand sought his, and he grasped it gratefully. The tribunal and his execution would always be a sore spot for them; most of all for Cas, because he was responsible for its horrible aftermath.
"So now there's some beast, making war with the saints," Dean said, breaking the silence. "This would make a great action movie, but it makes a lousy book. Is the beast Lucifer? Are the saints the Angels? Why don't they just say what they mean?"
Everyone shrugged. They knew what Dean was talking about, but it was what it was.
"And now they're talking about a second beast, who causes everyone to worship the first beast," Dean continued. "Must be Metatron. So the world's gonna be filled with Devil worshippers? Fan-freakin'-tastic. Time to restock the weapons, Sammy."
"It also says here that he who killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword," Sam pointed out, grinning.
Dean shrugged. "What else is new?" he said casually. "At least we can take as many bastards as we can with us when we go."
"Speaking of which," Crowley interjected, turning to Bobby, "I need your promise to have your people stand down when my minions arrive." He looked around the table at them all individually. "And I'll tell them the same, of course. We have a common enemy, or enemies. It's them we want to take down."
"Can you guarantee that?" Bobby asked him.
"If you can," Crowley said pointedly, looking at Castiel.
"What are you looking at me for?" Cas asked Crowley, annoyed.
"Really, Castiel?" Crowley said. "You don't know?"
"We promise," Bobby said shortly. "Right, Cas?"
Castiel was doing the slow burn. So he was supposed to allow untold numbers of Demons to walk around the Earth and be expected to do nothing about it? But Bobby had promised, and Bobby was God.
"Will HE guarantee THEIR behaviour?" Cas spit out.
"One cannot absolutely guarantee a Demon's behaviour, Castiel," Crowley said slyly. "You of all people should know that. Sometimes they behave badly, especially if they think they can get away with it. But we never do, Cas. We never do."
In one fluid motion, Castiel rose from his chair, rushed around to the other side of the table, and grabbed Crowley by the lapel of his suit, hauling him to his feet.
"You will mind that tongue, or I'll cut it out for you," Castiel said quietly, pressing the tip of the blade he'd drawn to Crowley's face.
Now Crowley looked scared. He'd pushed and pushed, and finally his Brother had snapped. And Crowley had no powers here.
Then Gail was pulling Cas away from Crowley, shaking her head. Wow. That had escalated quickly, she thought. But it wasn't as though she didn't know that about Cas. They'd even joked about him going to anger management classes, hadn't they? At least, she seemed to recall that they had, even if she couldn't quite remember when they had.
"Come sit down, Cas," she said softly. "He's just being an ass."
Cas was breathing heavily, but he did step back from Crowley. He and his Brother continued to glare at each other. Crowley was driving him crazy. How much longer could he maintain this grand deception, especially when Crowley continued to talk like that? But it would have to come from Cas himself, somehow. If Gail heard the truth from Crowley first, and if she were to believe him, Cas would be finished. But he couldn't tell her now, not with this crisis going on. No, he would have to wait until the three fugitives had been captured. Gail would probably storm out, at the very least, and he needed to be with her at all times to protect her from their enemies. A perfectly logical reason for keeping silent.
Gail's hand was on his face now, touching it gently. "Please go sit down, Cas," she repeated.
He gave a deep sigh, then took her hand and kissed it, stashing his blade with his other hand. Then he turned and walked back around the table, sinking heavily into his chair.
Gail wheeled on Crowley. "And, you? You need to shut up. One more word and I'll cut you myself."
"I was merely talking about Demons and their behaviour," Crowley said innocently.
"I don't know what you think you're trying to pull, but you never 'merely' do anything," Gail retorted. "When I told you we were revising the suicide clause, you tried to talk me out of it. And look how that worked out for you." Her mouth shut with a snap. What the hell had she just said? Suddenly, she did remember sitting at some diner with Crowley, both of them pretending to drink coffee and poring over the ancient language. "I remember that now," she said in a faraway voice. "You were pretty annoyed with me over that." Her face broke into a smile. "I remember that now!" she repeated. "Thank God, I'm not losing my mind!"
Castiel looked up sharply. How could she possibly be remembering that? God had wiped her memory clean. She couldn't be fighting God's modification, could she? How was that even possible?
Crowley was amazed, as well. Their Father was the most powerful being there had ever been. There was no way. God must have pulled back a little, leaving her with the capacity to recover certain memories. But why would this memory be the first one that had come back?
He smiled. "I am truly sorry, Gail. I meant nothing by it." There. He was smiling at her gently, apologizing like a gentleman, and Castiel was behaving like a violent lunatic. Shades of last Christmas.
But Gail rolled her eyes and walked back around the table to where Cas sat. He jumped up from his chair and pulled hers out for her. He knew what Crowley was trying to do, but that wasn't going to happen. He kissed her on the forehead once she was seated, then sat back down himself, staring evenly at Crowley.
Crowley sat down too, making a big show of smoothing the lapel on his jacket where Castiel had grabbed him.
Bobby glared at both Cas and Crowley. He didn't know who to be more pissed off at. Cas was going to have to start controlling himself better; he couldn't just go around pulling his blade on anyone who said the word "Demon". But Crowley was deliberately provoking him, and Bobby had already warned him.
"One more word to him and you're out of here," Bobby growled, looking at Crowley. Suddenly, he felt like a major-league umpire.
Crowley said nothing, but inside, he was sulking. Why was it that whenever something like this happened, Crowley seemed to be the only one who received the dressing-down? Which of the two of them had been threatening violence? Same stuff, different millennium. Crowley had always been the one who'd gotten into trouble, while his Brother always seemed to skate through.
Dean had been enjoying the floor show, but he broke the silence now. "It says here that anyone who doesn't worship the beast will be killed. His followers will receive some kind of mark on their forehead, or on their right hand."
He sat back in his chair, thinking about that. It seemed to him that their lives for the past few years had revolved around some kind of a mark. When they'd first met Gail, Dean had been dealing with the Mark of Cain on his arm. Then, this past year, Gail had suffered painful marks all over her body, put there by Cas. And now, he was reading about marks again. These particular marks sounded like tattoos, like being branded by Satan, almost. That was how he'd felt when he had had the Mark on his arm, and how Dean imagined that Gail had felt, as well. The fact that each had received their marks through no fault of their own was irrelevant; once received, the marks branded you for life. Even when they were gone. Dean now had all of his own memories of that dark period in his life, plus he carried Gail's memories for her, as well. Better him than her, he thought grimly. He was the pale horse; he could take it.
"So everybody'll run around with '666' tattooed on their skin?" Sam said sardonically. "Guess we'll have to go for all the bikers first, then."
"No, he won't be that overt," Crowley said in a subdued tone. "He'll be far more subtle than that when it comes to recruiting followers. The Devil doesn't come to you with red face and horns, boys. He comes to you disguised as everything you've ever wanted."
Silence, as they all digested this. Despite his anger at Crowley, Castiel had to admit that the King had spoken the truth, and he had phrased it very eloquently. But then, Crowley should know. He had built the Kingdom of Hell by making deals with people based on their fondest desires. Cas himself had fallen prey to that very same thing when he had elected to retain Crowley's Demon essence in an effort to alter his personality, to gain the power of revival, and to become the kind of man that he thought could hold on to Gail. But it had all been an illusion. And Lucifer was fully capable of doing the same thing, on a much larger scale. Hadn't Cas and Gail just been talking this morning about humans looking for strong leaders? Maybe they should be searching for a young, up-and-coming politician, or something. He made a mental note to bring that up after they had finished their review of Revelation. He didn't want them to get sidetracked again. There might be important information yet to be uncovered.
But Dean had found Chapter 14, and he snapped his Bible shut with a thump. "That's it, Sammy," he said. "We're done."
"What is it?" Gail said, alarmed. "What did you find?" She was flipping pages, trying to figure out what he'd seen that could make him react that way.
"Chapter 14, Verse 4," Dean lamented.
Gail found it, and she read aloud, paraphrasing. "The hundred and fourty-four thousand that will be redeemed from the earth...have to be virgins?" She looked up at Dean in amazement.
"Well, it's been nice knowing you, Gail," Dean said sarcastically. "Say hi to the other hundred and fourty-three thousand."
"Drop us a postcard when you get back to Heaven," Sam said, grinning. He wasn't too worried about that part. Cas had said that the Bible was translated from the ancient language, and it was loosely translated, at best. Sam was with MLK on this one. It wasn't the status of your physical body that was important, it was the content of your character, in Sam's opinion. He knew Bobby felt the same way, and Bobby was God, wasn't he? In fact, if this criteria were to be taken literally, Bobby wouldn't even be able to get into his own office, Sam thought with amusement.
"But I'm not...one, and Cas isn't, either," Gail said.
"Maybe you get a pass because you're already Angels," Sam said, still smiling.
"No, YOU get a pass, Gail. Cas doesn't," Dean said grumpily.
"What do you mean?" Gail asked him, puzzled by his comment.
Dean yanked the Bible off the table and flipped through the pages. "Right there," he said, thumping the book back on the table and pointing. "'Those are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins'," he quoted. "Women, Gail. So unless you have a whole other side to your life I don't know anything about, you're the only one going to Heaven here." Then he looked sideways at Crowley. "Maybe you, too. The jury's still out."
Sam and Gail burst out laughing. "What version do you have there?" Gail teased. "The one written by King James, or the one written by the patron saint of Gullible People?" Now Cas was smiling, too.
Bobby's beard twitched. He'd been flipping ahead while this exchange had been going on. He was amused, too, but he was growing impatient now. They were getting bogged down; it was time to move it along.
"It also says here that the seven Angels release seven vials of plague upon the Earth, and I'm sure as hell not gonna do that," Bobby stated.
"That's one of those passages that I feel is open to interpretation," Castiel said, his tone businesslike once again. "Of course we wouldn't release literal plagues upon the Earth. But the number seven is clearly significant, and we just have to figure out what might be meant by the word 'plague'. Gail? Sam?" he prompted.
Sam and Gail smiled at each other. Funny how the two of them were always the go-to for when the group needed something figured out. Gail was extremely flattered that the men generally seemed to view her as having the same level of intelligence as Sam.
"Plague," she said to Sam.
"To pester, bother, or annoy," he responded.
Gail looked at Bobby. "Can we deputize Dean as an Angel for a day?" She and Sam laughed.
"Shut up, Gail," Dean said, good-naturedly enough.
"But they're visiting the plague on the followers of the Devil," Crowley pointed out. He'd been reading that part avidly. Couched in riddles or not, it was reading like a good horror story. Sores, pain, gnawing of tongues...now, that was more like it. Not this silly virgin nonsense. Good luck finding one hundred and fourty-four thousand virgins on Earth, or anywhere else. His Father didn't give a damn about what people did in bed; He was all about power, and vengeance. At least, that was how Crowley saw it. And he didn't see what was wrong with unleashing a little bit of vengeance upon the unfortunate souls who chose to throw in with Lucifer. They would soon find out that there was a lot of sizzle, but very little steak. Lucifer wasn't cut out to lead anything. He was a whiny brat who relied on a bag of tricks to play with people, that was all. Yes, it could be fatal to underestimate him, as Crowley had underestimated Aurielle. But in Crowley's mind, Metatron was the bigger threat. He was a loose cannon with nothing to lose, and if he was the brains behind the operation, everyone in this room had best be on their game.
"That doesn't make it right," Castiel argued. "If humans are willing to follow him, that just means they're desperate, or gullible; not necessarily evil, or bad."
Crowley let out an impatient breath. "That's the trouble with you Angels. Some people are just beyond redemption. Some deserve to die."
Dean was worried about himself for it, but he tended to agree with Crowley on that one. But he had been looking at the same passages Crowley was reading, and they looked pretty horrifying to him.
But they were getting bogged down again, and Bobby was flipping through the pages faster now. "More destruction, whore of Babylon, greedy rich folks, blah, blah. God as the white horse, laying down the law. I guess that's me. Great. I'd better get good and pissed off, then."
Sam and Dean grinned, but Castiel was ignoring them for the moment. His eye had fallen upon the passages which referred to the marriage of the Lamb. Now he hoped he WAS the Lamb. A marriage ceremony was mentioned, and the Lamb's bride was arraying herself in white. He allowed himself a moment to picture Gail walking down the aisle in a beautiful white dress, and him waiting at the altar in his suit, maybe even a tuxedo. Bobby could marry them, and Frank could give her away. Sam and Dean would be standing next to him, and he would need their support because he would be trembling as he took her hand and they said their vows before God and everyone assembled. Then he would kiss her, and she would kiss him back. Maybe they could ask Bobby to give them a wedding gift, and they could drink champagne and enjoy a feast afterwards. He would take her to Europe for their honeymoon, and they could see all the sights together that he had tried to see before but had not enjoyed because he'd been alone and miserable without her. She could take pictures and e-mail them to their friends back home, but they would stay away as long as they wanted because there would be no more threats, and no more enemies to defeat. It would be just the two of them, and it would be glorious. They would make love as often as they both wanted; maybe try a few more letters of the alphabet, if she wanted. Anything she wanted. They would lay in bed and cuddle, and talk. There was so much left for them to talk about. He didn't even know when her birthday was, and they had been together for almost two years now. Well, they had been together in his heart the whole time, anyway.
Cas looked at Gail now. "When is your birthday?" he blurted out.
She looked back at him, surprised by the question. "October 3rd," she said. "Why?" She leaned in to look closer at the Bible. "There's nothing in there about that, is there?"
Cas smiled. "No. I just thought it was about time I found out." He was glad he had asked; it was less than a month away. They would take care of this current crisis, and then he would go shopping for her birthday. And he knew just what he was going to get her, too.
"We'll throw you a big party," Bobby said, somewhat irascibly, "but right now, let's just finish, already. I'm starting to feel like I need reading glasses. And the fun's not over yet, kids. Chapter 20 says Lucifer will be locked up for a thousand years, but then he'll get loose again."
"I'm afraid he'll be your problem then, Bobby," Sam said with a grin. "I sincerely doubt I'll be around by then, and the way Dean eats, I know he won't be."
"I hate to tell you this, Sam, but you and Dean will be Angels by then, and we'll all still be together," Gail said with a smile.
Bobby nearly winced, but he kept his face straight. They'd be together, all right, but they wouldn't be Angels, and they wouldn't be in Heaven with him. They'd be stuck with Crowley for eternity, but not in Hell, either. All five were on Death's master list, slated for the Netherworld. As were Lucifer, Metatron, and Aurielle. And a few other names of note, though not Bobby himself. As the reigning God, Bobby was the only one who knew whose names were on that list, but he wasn't allowed to tell anyone, under penalty of death. He'd divulged to Dean that Sam's name was on that list under duress, when Sam had been in that coma and Dean had been about to pull the plug. But Bobby still had the scorch mark on his chest that he had received as punishment for that little stunt. He had no idea what the Netherworld was all about, though. Was there any kind of a life there? Would they have to fight their enemies for eternity, just like in Purgatory? Or would there be peace, and could they be happy there together? He looked at his four friends with affection. He hoped so. They's all gone through so damn much, and their greatest test was about to come. He'd once heard that God gave His hardest battles to His strongest soldiers, and that was certainly true here.
"Wait a minute," Sam said. "Could now be the period after a thousand years?"
Castiel and Crowley looked at each other, both of them trying to remember what had been going on a thousand years ago. Wars, famine, religious turmoil, probably. Same old, same old. Nothing special came to mind.
"Sorry, Sam, but I don't remember," Cas said.
Bobby was studying these passages too, and he hoped that Sam was right. If this was actually the second go-round, it appeared as if the Devil and the beast were going to be gone for good this time. But, this was interesting, now: the chapter was talking about the Book of Life, which was used to judge the dead. Did this book exist? If so, what was in it, and where was it? It also mentioned that death and hell would be cast into the lake of fire. Was the lake of fire the Hell they knew now, or was it something else? And, maybe most interesting of all, those whose names weren't written in the Book of Life were also supposed to be cast into the lake of fire. Hadn't Bobby just been thinking about a place where names were written: Death's list for the Netherworld? Was one connected to the other, maybe? After this was all over, he intended to get some answers.
"I like the part about there being no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain," Gail said softly. "Wouldn't that be nice." She was thinking about all of the adversity that they had faced in the last year and a half, and she didn't even remember a lot of the pain and tears she had suffered, Cas knew. He put his arms around her and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. "It will be," he told her. "That will be our future. You'll see."
Crowley snorted in derision. His Brother was living in a dream world. Life would never be like that for any of them seated at this table. But he said nothing. That had been nice to imagine for a minute, even for him.
Bobby closed his Bible. "Well, that's it. Unless anybody's got anything else, I think I've had enough for today."
"What's the plan, Bobby?" Dean asked him. He was eager to spring into action.
"I guess I'd better get up to Heaven and pick my other four Angels," Bobby said, rising from his chair. Castiel and Gail got up, too. "I'll bring all seven down here in a bit," Bobby told the Winchesters. "And I think you boys had better give them a crash course on how to fight." He sighed. "Or, at least, on how to defend themselves."
"I'll help with that, of course," Castiel said, "and Gail can help too, if she wishes."
Gail gave Bobby a tight smile. "If any of the Angels you pick are female, I can show them Dean's trick," she said. "Depending on how long they've been Angels, they might not know about that one." She looked at Dean, and they smiled at each other. He gave her a salute.
Cas and Gail moved to where Bobby stood. Gail blew a kiss to Sam and Dean. "See you soon," she told them. She looked at Crowley. "And thanks for coming, but the next time I see you, you'd better have an improved attitude," Gail said to him. "Or you may find out about Dean's trick first-hand."
The Angels disappeared, and Crowley couldn't help but smile. Gail was the Queen of the parting shot. Her time apart from Castiel had apparently done her a wealth of good. She was the same spunky girl that he remembered now, and he was glad.
He turned to look at Sam and Dean. "Drink?" he said hopefully.