Book 41 - The Cycle Of Death

by GailDunn2

WARNING: MAY CONTAIN ADULT THEMES, AND SITUATIONS. Castiel's concern about his family members turns out to have been warranted. He tries to take matters into his own hands, but will that make things even worse?

1. Slipping Through My Fingers

Chapter 1 - Slipping Through My Fingers

While his family had been in the library exchanging nervous glances, Frank had gone to work on Rowena.

He hadn't honestly thought that threats and intimidation were going to work on a woman like her, anyway. The cuffs had just been a way to hold her here in the bunker, once the burning ingredients of the summoning spell had been snuffed out. No, Rowena was the kind of person who would dig her high heels in all the more if menaced, especially by a man. Frank had seen her go toe-to-toe with every kind of nasty low-life scumbag in Hell without batting a mascaraed eyelash. But even if she was trying to reform herself, which he was still skeptical about, Frank knew that Rowena was, at heart, only out for herself. She might appear to be doing favours for them gratis, but she would be looking for something from them at some point, Frank was sure. So he had decided that he was going to offer her the farm right away. No dicking around. This was far too important to him. He needed Jody back, and he would do whatever it took to make that happen. Frank would definitely owe his sister a big fat apology, after all of this was over. He'd had no idea what she had gone through when Cas has died. None.

So Frank had looked calmly down at a seething Rowena and said, "I know the secret to immortality."

When Frank and Rowena came out to the library area together, everyone else was silent. How in the hell had Gail's brother convinced the witch to help him?

They found out a moment later, and the answer astonished them. Frank had told Rowena that if she gave them the revival spell, they would take her to the cove at the beach with the black sands, in Saint Vincent. If Rowena was interested in becoming immortal, Frank had told her, all she would need to do was to swim in those waters with a guy of her choosing, do the deed, and they would both become immortal, just like Vincent and Placida had. Of course, Frank had no way of knowing that Vincent had actually managed to kill Placida, a while back. It was not the water itself that made the swimmers immortal, it was the fact that they had conceived a child there, after having done a specific voodoo ritual. And, as it was, Vincent had been able to dispatch Placida quite easily, because he was the Alpha Priest. So if Rowena actually did what Frank was telling her now, she would be no more immortal than the fish who swam in that cove.

But Rowena was intrigued by the notion. She knew that Vincent had always bragged that he was immortal, and the idea of becoming immortal by having sex in some sort of enchanted waters didn't cross Rowena's eyes one bit. If the people she was standing with now had been at some of those Solstice celebrations that Rowena had attended back in the day, or gone to a Druid ritual, they would be shocked speechless at the things that went on there. The only caveat, in Rowena's mind, was that if she intended to indulge in that ritual, she had better choose her partner wisely. Because as far as she understood it, at the end of the transaction, the man would be immortal, too.

Rowena had sized Frank up, considering whether or not he was telling her the truth. But he was Gail's brother, and Gail was Vincent's daughter, and Frank and Gail were as thick as thieves, the witch knew. So she was prepared to believe that he was. At any rate, it was worth the gamble.

"If you have a pen and paper, I'll begin," Rowena said to Sam, who grabbed one of the legal pads he always kept on the library table to make notes.

"Gail will know if you give us the wrong ingredients," Dean piped up. "She used that spell to bring me back, remember?"

Rowena eyed him, and then she looked at her daughter. Gail's heart sank into her stomach. Was Dean kidding with that? She'd done that spell several years ago, under stressful circumstances, and it was the most complex spell she'd ever seen. How the hell was she supposed to remember all the ingredients? But she returned Rowena's gaze as calmly as she could. Hopefully, the witch would believe what Dean had said.

After a moment, Rowena looked back to Sam and started to list the ingredients and their measurements. Then she paused, glancing at Gail again. "I will hold back one ingredient," the witch said. "If you remember all of them, you will know which one it is."

"Why? Why would you do that?" Frank said sharply.

Rowena eyed him coolly. "Because. Because I have been ill-used and double-dealt for centuries, by men such as yourselves. I believe you would use the expression 'screwed over'. I have been screwed over more times than you could possibly imagine. I know what you think of me. I know what you ALL think of me; that I'm an evil, selfish, self-centered bitch. And I am. But I have had to be, to ensure my own survival. Just as you have trouble trusting me, I have trouble trusting all of you. So, I will give you all of the ingredients but one. Then, when you have taken me to the cove, I will give you the final one. Unless my daughter can supply it now, of course. Can you, Gail?"

Gail sighed. "No. No, I can't. Dean was just bluffing. I don't remember."

Rowena nodded. She'd thought as much. "Thank you for being honest with me," she said.

"Bobby, can I speak to you for a minute?" Cas said. He touched Gail lightly on her arm. "Can you please stay here and assist Sam?" he asked his wife. "Let's go outside for a moment," he said to Bobby, and they popped out.

Rowena looked at the spot where the men had vanished from, her eyes narrowing a bit. What had THAT been about? Was she about to be screwed over again? Castiel was not to be trusted. Of all the men here, he was the one who would be the most likely to kill her. That was one reason why Rowena was intrigued by the possibility of becoming immortal. The only saving grace, no pun intended, was that Castiel was talking to Bobby, not one of the others. Bobby wouldn't let him kill her, she was sure.

Meanwhile, Cas was looking intently at Bobby. "Should we really be considering this?" the Angel said to God. "I know we all miss Jody, but..." He trailed off.

"What are you saying, Cas?" Bobby asked him coolly. "Put your cards on the table."

"All right, I will," Cas said. "I don't think Frank should have just arbitrarily proposed that deal. Is one man's grief reason enough to subject the world to all of the damage that Rowena could cause in the future? I am extremely skeptical of her claim that she means us no harm. So far, the only deterrent, the only check on her behaviour, is the threat that we can kill her, or that she could die by other means. What if that threat were to be removed? If she cannot die, she is liable to do anything. Anything at all. Who would stop her, then?"

Bobby's forehead wrinkled. "Don't you think you're being just a bit melodramatic, Cas? What do you expect her to DO? As far as I can tell, she hasn't done anything, to anybody. She admitted that so-called teddy bear hex bag was harmless. And besides, I don't know if I believe this 'immortal' bullcrap, anyway. I'll believe it when I see it."

Cas was agitated. "Are you taking up for her because of your past relationship?"

"No, Cas, of course not," Bobby said, and his tone was icy now. "Any more than you're lobbying to kill her, because of your relationship with Gail." He sighed. "Look, Cas, I know where you're coming from. I really do. But it's pretty much a done deal, now. If we renege, we'll lose our only chance to get Jody back. And, if we screw Rowena over, she'll probably go full dark side. She's obviously trying to turn over a new leaf, Cas. I think we should give her the opportunity to do that."

"And what if SHE screws US over, instead? What then?" Cas demanded.

"She's not gonna do that," God said. "I know her, and I believe she's being sincere."

Cas's lips pressed tightly together. He completely disagreed. And, even if by some miracle Rowena fulfilled her end of the deal without incident, he didn't like the way she was looking at Gail. Every time the subject came up, Rowena seemed to be using centuries of male oppression, either real or perceived, to excuse every bad thing she had ever done. And then, the witch would look at her daughter, and appeal to Gail's feminist sensibilities. Cas wondered if anything that Rowena had been saying was influencing his wife. Gail had come down firmly in Frank's corner earlier, though, so at least there was that. Cas would expect no less from Gail, but still, the notion troubled him. The longer that they spent with Rowena, the more opportunity she would have to make inroads.

But for now, God had spoken, and God had the ultimate say. Still, that didn't mean that Cas was prepared to kowtow to Bobby, either. "I'm going to our house to get our Angel blades," he told Bobby. "Please tell Gail I'll be back in a moment."

"What do you want with those?" Bobby inquired warily. Actually, he'd been a little surprised that Cas didn't already have his on him. They'd been relieved to discover that Cas was unarmed when he and Gabriel had been acting like little boys under the spell of that mystery potion. "Playing swords", as Gail had called it. That blade was like a second skin to Cas, Bobby knew. But he and Gail had been attending a family barbecue, so Bobby supposed that Cas had figured it was OK to leave the weaponry at home.

Cas was incredulous at Bobby's question. Really? "If we intend to engage in this folly, I refuse to be unprepared," he said, with an edge to his voice. "How do we know that Vincent won't be there? How do we know that Rowena hasn't been lying to us, this whole time? Maybe she's still in league with Raguel, and only wants us to THINK she's not."

"That's ridiculous," Bobby snapped. "Why would she give you a way of locating Raguel if she was conspiring with him?"

"To convince us that she was not," Cas insisted. "After all, there's really no harm caused to him in our knowing where he is at the moment, if we can't kill him. That would be a brilliant strategic move. In fact, who is to say that she did not administer that potion to us in the first place, knowing that we would have to call her for the antidote? This whole thing could have been one big setup. It's what I would have done."

Bobby was gazing at Cas now, and he was not happy. "Ya know, sometimes I'm not sure if I'm talking to you, or Crowley," he growled. "I don't know what they did to you in Heaven before I got there, but whatever it was, they sure didn't do you any favours. Or me, either. But listen up, because I'm only gonna say this once: Reviving Jody is not 'folly'. She's family. Just like Sam, or Dean, or Frank, or Gail...or you. If you had seen the way Gail tore around here looking for that damn spell book, when you were dead..." Bobby's throat caught for a moment. "She even made me send her to Hell, because she was so desperate to get you back. She never gave up on you. So why shouldn't Frank have the chance to get his wife back, if he can? Unless you think you're better than him, somehow." There was silence for a beat, as Cas digested that. "And another thing," Bobby continued. "Just because you think that everybody is always conspiring, that doesn't mean that they are. Did you go to Angel Academy under Machiavelli, or something? I thought that being an Angel involved compassion, and mercy. I know you have those qualities, Cas. I've seen you use them. Maybe you need to dust those off."

Cas stood still, in his best soldier stance, his face expressionless. But his mind was racing now. What Bobby had said about Gail had hurt him deeply. Any time Cas thought about the agony she must have gone through, he felt agonized, too. Bobby was right, at least in that regard, and Cas knew it. Of course he was. Frank loved Jody. She was his wife; his life partner. His person. Who would Cas be to tell Frank he shouldn't do anything he had to, to get Jody back? Gail had, for Cas. He wasn't better than Frank. He wasn't better than anybody.

But, try as he might, Cas couldn't seem to let go of the notion that they were being played, somehow. Certainly he was capable of compassion, and mercy. But those were privileges that needed to be earned. They only had Rowena's word that the hex bag in that teddy bear had merely contained potpourri. They only had her word for a lot of things. Bobby was letting his past association with Rowena cloud his judgement. Cas was sure of it.

"I'll be right back," Cas said tersely, and he vanished.

Bobby stood there for a moment, shaking his head slowly. Cas. When the Almighty Lord had made Castiel, He had sure thrown all His leftover pantry ingredients in the stew. The current God let out a frustrated breath. He guessed there would be no harm in arming themselves, just on the off chance that they ran into any trouble. Bobby should be able to handle pretty much everything by himself, but it didn't hurt to be prepared, either. Cas was right about that part, at least.

So Bobby popped back into the bunker and told them where Cas had gone and why, and he told Dean that the elder Winchester might as well go to the weapons room and get a few things.

Gabriel glanced at Liz. This was getting pretty real, and Liz wasn't a fighter. "Uhh...I think I'd better take you home," he said to her. Then he looked at Bobby. "Do you want me to come back?"

"Nahhh. We've got this," Bobby told him.

"Tell Alfalfa we'll see him later," Gabe quipped, and then he winked himself and Liz out.

Dean took off down the hall towards the weapons room as Cas popped back in, handing Gail's blade to her wordlessly. Rowena looked at Bobby, who gave her a half-shrug. "If we're going into Vincent's territory, they need to have protection," he told her.

Sam was looking at the ingredients for the spell. He and Gail had shopped together for many of these ingredients, the ones that he and Dean hadn't already had on hand. It looked about right to him. He tore the sheet off the pad and offered it to Bobby. Bobby gave it a cursory glance, then folded it and stashed it in his shirt pocket.

Dean was standing at the weapons cabinet now, and his brow was furrowed. They hadn't done a real inventory for a while so he couldn't really tell, but something didn't look right to him. He stood there puzzling for a minute. Then, it dawned on him: there was an Angel blade missing. He grabbed an assortment of weapons, shoving them into various pockets, and then he returned to the library. He handed weapons to Sam and Frank, and then he glanced quickly at Bobby. Yeah, no. Dean had better not offer God any weapons, or the first person to receive the smiting would be Dean.

"Sammy," Dean said under his breath, nudging his brother. "How many Angel blades are we supposed to have in the cabinet?"

Sam thought for a second. "Seven," he replied. "We had a few more, but Cas took them back up to Heaven, remember?"

"Well, we're missing one, then," Dean said, frowning.

The brothers turned around to look at Rowena, and she smiled slyly, spreading her arms wide. "As you can see, I have no pockets. But you're welcome to check, if you like."

"OK; we'll worry about that later," Bobby said authoritatively. "Let's get this done."

He waved his hands, and suddenly they were standing on the beach on the island of Saint Vincent, at the cove where they had taken the pirate chest. And the instant they arrived, Rowena flung her arms out towards the group and said, "Dulcio non extrica!"

"What the hell, Ro?" Bobby said angrily. "What was that?"

"A spell to render you all immobile," the witch replied. "Not to worry; it won't harm anyone. In fact, I don't expect that it will work on you and the Angels for very long. But it should be long enough for me to do what I need to do."

"What do you mean?!" Bobby exclaimed. "What do you need to do?"

But Rowena didn't reply, because she was too busy lifting her long skirt up to her thigh. She pulled out a hex bag. "Just as you lot have to be prepared, so must I," she said tartly. She threw the bag down on the sand, and by the time the smoke had cleared, she was gone.

Bobby was struggling to extricate himself, and because he was the most powerful of the Angels, he was already able to move a bit. And, because he was God, he could feel Cas's glare boring into him from behind. "Stop looking at me like that, Cas," he said irascibly, trying to move.

Cas had indeed been glaring at him. Hadn't he just warned Bobby about this very thing? As Bobby was finally able to stagger a few steps and turn his body around to look at the others, Cas was starting to break free of the spell. So was Gail, but she felt as if she was trying to walk in a hurricane. Frank, Sam and Dean were still rendered completely immobile, of course.

"Son of a bitch!" Dean exclaimed. "All that talk about us screwing her over, and that's what she was planning to do to US, all along!"

Cas took a halting step towards Bobby, but before the Angel could say anything, Bobby held up his hand. "Save it, Cas. If I hear one 'I told you so', I'm gonna start smiting people, and you're gonna be the first." Bobby was livid. He felt like Rowena had screwed him personally. And not in the good way, like the old days. Now he looked like a great big idjit, all because he had trusted her.

"Why did she have us bring her down here, if she wasn't going to - " Sam said, but Frank interrupted him. "Can we do the spell, Sam?" Gail's brother asked their friend. "I saw you looking at the ingredients, and I saw your eyes do that thing."

"Thing? What thing?" the younger Winchester asked, puzzled.

"That thing they do, when you know something," Frank replied. "Why do you think you always get knocked out first, when we play poker? You have a 'tell'."

"Cool," Dean remarked, smirking at his brother. "Good to know."

Sam sighed. "The good news is that I remembered how many ingredients were in that spell. I even remember what most of them were. But the bad news is, I'm pretty sure she left at least one off the list, if not two or three. Trouble is, I don't remember exactly what they are."

Great, Frank thought. Just great. Here they were, with an incomplete spell, a missing witch, and egg on their faces. Bobby was shaking his arms and legs out now, trying to get his motion all the way back. Cas and Gail were starting to recover, too. But the human men were all still as motionless as statues. Terrific.

"I hate redheads," Frank grumbled.

Rowena knew that they were going to be very angry with her, but she couldn't worry about that right now. She had to look out after herself. She just had to. If she didn't, who else would? Frank, the former sidekick of her son's, when they had been in Hell? Not too bloody likely. Or Castiel, who looked at Rowena with murder in his eyes any time she even batted an eyelash in her daughter's direction? Or maybe the Winchesters, who had made it their life's work to destroy her kind? No. None of those men gave a flying fig about a woman like Rowena, or what she'd had to do to survive. She had genuinely been contemplating change, but if it came down to her or them, and Rowena was fairly convinced it would at some point, she knew which outcome she would prefer.

When they had first arrived here, she had felt it: a powerful vibration, almost like an invisible pulse of light, that indicated a strong source of magic. They had said that these islands were Vincent's territory, but even if Rowena hadn't known that, she would still have been able to sense it. She moved quickly and quietly through the jungle, like a tigress stalking prey. Finally, she came upon a clearing. There was evidence of a recent fire here, as well as some blankets on the sand floor, as if a group of people had bedded down here for the night.

There was no one here now, though...or, was there? Rowena lifted her head as a tall black man approached her quietly. He was looking at her calmly, as if he wasn't at all surprised to see a diminutive, red-haired white woman in a long gown here in the jungle. He bent down and began to gather up the blankets, and Rowena couldn't help but notice the muscles rippling in his arms as he did so. This man reminded her of John, her Demon lover from way back when she'd been living in Fergus's lair. John had had the same kind of physique as this man. He was looking at her again.

"And who might you be, then?" Rowena said softly.

"I am Barnabas," the man said, as she drew nearer to him. "And, you are...?"

"About to make you a very lucky man," Rowena purred. Her hand caressed his bicep. Hard, and firm. Just the way she liked them.

Barnabas was no fool. He dropped the blankets on the sand.

The humans were still immobilized. Whatever Bobby, Cas or Gail tried, Frank, Sam and Dean had been unable to budge an inch. They were all beyond frustrated at this point.

Gail was thinking furiously. "What did she say? 'Dulcio non...'"

"...'Extrica'," Sam finished for her. He looked at her speculatively. "Why?"

"I'm just wondering if the solution to the spell's effect might be in the verbiage," she mused. "She said that she didn't expect the spell to hold us for long. Hey, Sam, was what she said Latin?"

"I don't think it was, not exactly, but its origin could be," he said, looking thoughtful. He flashed her a brief grin. "It sounded like a spell from one of those wizard books."

Gail was thinking about that, too. She remembered reading somewhere that the author of those books had created Latin-sounding words for the spells she had written about, words that usually gave a pretty good indication of what the spell was intended to do. "'Extrica'. Extricate," she said aloud, and then she smiled. "Hey, Dean? Do you want to help us out, here? What do you think the middle word means?"

"'Non'?" he said, scowling. "You're lucky I can't move right now, or I'd be giving you the one-finger salute."

"'Dulcio'," Cas said. "Dulcimer? Dulcet?"

"Dulcet," Gail said, nodding. "That's got to be it. Soft; soothing." She looked at the human men. "Just for the hell of it, try speaking to us in calm, gentle voices. You know, like a late-night radio DJ."

Frank looked at her incredulously. "You've gotta be kidding me with that."

She gave her brother a half-shrug. "Hey, I'm just trying to come up with ideas, here. If it doesn't work, you're no worse off, are you?"

The men sighed. They guessed she was right.

"This is really stupid," Dean said, but his voice was calm and gentle now, like he was trying to coax a cat out of a tree. Not that he would know anything about that. If Dean wanted to get a cat out of a tree, he would just shake the damn tree.

"I don't necessarily agree, Dean," Sam said in the mellifluous voice he used when he was talking to baby Brian. He could feel his body quivering a little now. "Try it, you guys," he added, maintaining his gentle tone. "I'm pretty sure it's working."

Sam stumbled a little as the spell broke, and Bobby reached out to steady him. "See?" the younger Winchester said with a smile. "It worked."

Frank was trying to calm down enough to use a gentle voice, but it was difficult. That damn witch. She had double-crossed them. No; him. He probably shouldn't have tried to make the kind of deal that he had attempted to make, but it had seemed so clear to him at the time. He needed Jody back, and Rowena knew how to do that. And he'd offered her something of real value, in return. It should have been a win-win.

Dean was starting to stir now, and a couple of moments later, he too was free of the spell. Now Frank was the only one who was still immobile, and he was mad as hell about it. But it was impossible to speak in dulcet tones when you were that angry, so he remained rooted to the spot.

"Tell you what," Dean razzed Frank. "We'll come visit you every now and then, and water and prune you. Maybe you'll start to grow coconuts, after a few years."

"As soon as I can move, I'm kicking your ass," Frank growled.

Suddenly, Rowena and Barnabas emerged from the jungle. They exchanged glances, and then Vincent's lieutenant of voodoo waved his arms and shouted, "Escal nunc wadem fam!" Then he grabbed Rowena's hand. "What was that?" she asked him. "What did you do?"

"Don't concern yourself with that," he said to her. "We'll have to hurry, now. The properties of the water in the cove won't last much longer. I poured the last drops of Placida's blood into it last night, following the ritual. I was planning to take Blaise here, to conceive a child to take Vincent's place as our leader. Vincent killed Placida, for no reason at all. He'll be the cause of all of our destruction, if we don't stop him. But he took Blaise away after the ritual. I don't know where. You said you want to be immortal? Fine. If you and I can conceive the child here and now, it might just be powerful enough to take over."

Rowena's head was spinning. Wait: what? Conceive a child? She hadn't signed on for anything like that. She'd been under the impression that all she and Barnabas were going to do was have a little knee-trembler here in the waters of the cove. But motherhood? Please. Been there, done that. She may be centuries old, but Rowena still cared about maintaining her figure.

And now, Sam and Dean were falling to their knees, choking. "What was that spell?" she asked Barnabas again.

He still had her by the hand, and he was pulling her towards the beach. "The closer we get to the water, the closer to death they will all get," Barnabas said, matter-of-factly. Now Frank was retching. "Even the Angels," the voodoo cultist continued. On cue, Gail fell to the sand, and so did Cas. Rowena was struggling, trying to free herself from Barnabas's grasp, but he was too strong. They had reached the sands of the beach now, where the group of humans and Angels were. Everyone was too sick now to confront them, including Frank. He was still rooted to the spot, and he was still choking.

Barnabas looked calmly at Bobby. "Even God," he remarked. He touched Bobby on the forehead, and blood started to trickle from Bobby's mouth and nose.

"Come, my beautiful witch," Barnabas said, turning his back to Bobby and grabbing Rowena by her upper arm. "Let us make the child. See how the water sparkles?"

Rowena's eyes were wide. The water WAS sparkling. Iridescent, like the bubbles in a glass of champagne. It was gorgeous. She could feel herself being drawn to it, and now she could picture Barnabas taking his shirt off, and lifting her dress with one hand, caressing her thigh...

Barnabas's grip loosened on Rowena's arm, and she blinked rapidly. Was the man trying to put a spell on her? On HER? The very idea! The witch turned in Barnabas's direction, preparing to rake her fingernails down his face, but Barnabas's face was glowing. Why was it glowing?

Bobby had his hand on the man's bald head, that was why, and he was smiting the life out of him. Bobby was still bleeding from his nose and mouth, and now his eyes were leaking blood, too. But he didn't care. Bobby was boiling mad. Who the hell did this guy think he was, dragging Rowena around like a caveman, thinking he was gonna kill God? And, maybe he even could. But if Bobby was going down, he was gonna take this voodoo bastard with him.

Barnabas's eyes glowed yellow, then orange, then red, and then they became blacked-out husks. He screamed in agony, but Bobby kept his hand on the man's head until Barnabas fell to his knees on the sand. And as he fell, the Angels started to rise. Because as Barnabas was dying, his spell over the God Squad was waning.

"Go to the water," Barnabas croaked to Rowena. "If you can get one of these men into the water with you before the enchantment is gone, you can still..." He fell face-forward onto the sand, dead.

Cas helped Gail up onto her feet, and now the Winchesters and Frank had stopped coughing and retching. Frank was still immobile, but at least he wasn't choking to death any more.

Rowena was looking at the water again. It was still sparkling, but the sparkle seemed to be fading. There wasn't much time left. She looked around at the men. Bobby and Castiel were Angels, so they were out of the running. Besides, they were already eternal beings, by definition. That left Frank, who she couldn't stand, and the Winchester brothers, who liked to kill witches. Great. Eeny, meenie...

Rowena approached Dean. Technically, she'd already had Sam, in Egypt. He just hadn't known it. And he'd been very good. But Dean Winchester had a reputation for being a real ladies' man, and he wasn't exactly hard to look at.

"How would you like to be immortal, dearie?" she said to Dean now, running her hands lightly along his shoulders and arms. "Think of all those wide-eyed, innocent people you could save from the nasty monsters. I could give you that child you've always wanted."

Dean laughed derisively. "Not a chance, lady. Bite me."

She traced his Adam's apple with a long red fingernail. "I could do that too, if you like that sort of thing," she said, leaning in closer to him. "You're passing up a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity, you know." She stretched up on her toes, speaking into his ear. "I've had centuries of experience, pleasing a man. You would not believe the things I could do to you, things you never dreamed of..."

"I'll bet you I HAVE," Dean said, raising an eyebrow to her. "But I can guarantee you, even though my dreams are Triple-X, you've never been in any of them."

Rowena glanced nervously at the water. The sparkle was almost gone. It had to be now, or it was going to be never. She pulled Dean to her by grabbing the waistband of his jeans. Then she reached up and nicked his cheek with her fingernail, drawing a couple of drops of blood. "You leave me no choice," she said softly. "Modica vogo." Then she licked a drop of the blood running down Dean's face and pulled his head toward hers, kissing him on the mouth. As soon as the spell began to take effect, Dean wrapped his arms around her, kissing her deeply. Rowena had suddenly become Nicole, and they were in Nicole's bedroom. His girlfriend was unzipping his pants as Dean kissed her hungrily.

"Dean! What are you doing?" Sam asked his brother, alarmed. But it was as if he was speaking from far, far away.

"Don't listen to him, Dean," Nicole said. "He's just trying to spoil our fun."

Dean smiled. "Yeah, Sammy can be like that, sometimes," he said, and now, his hand was on Rowena's breast. "He needs to get a life."

Bobby let out a frustrated breath. He waved his hand, but Dean was still kissing Rowena. "We have to hurry," the witch said to her would-be lover. "The water's magic is almost gone." She took Dean's hand.

BONK! Not knowing what else to do, Bobby had conjured up a coconut, and then pegged it at Dean's head. Hard. He could still throw the old fastball, Bobby thought proudly. There might have been a little celestial "oomph" on that one, for a couple of different reasons, but still...probably about eighty-something on the radar gun.

Dean shook his head vigorously, twice, and then he looked down at Rowena. She reached for him again, but he pushed her away. Yikes. What the hell had she almost made him do?

He'd pushed her harder than he'd intended, and Rowena went stumbling backwards into Frank. He had been making himself speak softly, picturing bedtime with Angela, when she would ask him for hugs and kisses. And that was doing the trick, slowly but surely. Frank's feet were still rooted to the spot, but at least he could move his upper body now.

So when Rowena stumbled into him, Frank did the only logical thing he could think of: he seized her with one hand, got out the Demon knife he had in his pocket, and stabbed her in the heart with it, ramming the blade into her chest as hard and as far as he could. "Potpourri, my ass," he said contemptuously, letting go of her.

Rowena's eyes were wide as saucers. She looked down at the knife protruding from her chest, and as soon as she did, she felt the pain. She had not seen this coming. Bobby rushed over there, and he caught her in his arms as she fell towards the ground.

As soon as Bobby touched her, he knew that it was already too late. But he put his hand on her chest anyway, and a soft white glow came out.

Rowena took his hand in both of hers. "Don't bother, Bobby," she said, coughing blood out of her mouth. "Save your strength. You're going to need it." She gave his hand a quick kiss. "It's all right. You can let me go." She coughed weakly, once more. "I always loved you, Bobby. I never meant to hurt you," she told him. "Now go, and take care of your family."

Her eyes closed, and Bobby slowly lowered her to the sand. Then he stood, looking at his companions. They were all standing there, stunned. It had all happened so fast. Even Frank himself was stunned. He looked uneasily at Bobby, the blade still in his hand, dripping with Rowena's blood.

Bobby waved his hand and they all vanished, leaving Barnabas and Rowena's bodies laying on the beach.

They reappeared in the bunker, and as soon as they did, Bobby waved his hand again, and a few bottles from the bar were sitting on the library table, along with some mix and glasses.

Bobby looked at Frank. "Go get cleaned up," he said to Gail's brother. "We're gonna have a little conversation. All of us." Then he sat down wearily, waving his hand over himself to clean Rowena's blood off of his clothes and hands. Frank stood there for a minute. If Bobby could do that for himself, why didn't he just...?

Dean grabbed Frank by the arm. "Go," he said softly, propelling his friend towards the hallway.

Bobby poured himself a drink. He just sat there for a moment, holding it. Then he knocked it back. "Ya might as well all sit down," he said to everyone, without looking up at them. "Have a drink. We have to wait till he gets back, anyway."

Sam, Dean and Cas pulled out their usual chairs at the table. Cas pulled Gail's out for her first, of course, and she sank down slowly into it. She was stunned, too.

"Have a drink, dear," Bobby said in a gruff but surprisingly tender voice. "There's some ginger ale there for you."

Gail looked at Bobby. God or not, he was looking like he was about a hundred years old, right now. All of them could feel however they each felt about Rowena, and right now Gail wasn't even sure how she was feeling about her erstwhile mother, herself. But Bobby and Rowena had been in an intimate relationship at certain points over the years, hadn't they? And even though his family had found that distasteful, maybe they should all take a moment to realize that her death would be hard on Bobby, regardless of whether she had deserved it, or not.

Frank came back out from the hallway, and he pulled out a chair beside his sister. He grabbed a bottle and a glass, and poured himself a generous shot.

"I'll let everybody have their say if they want it, but I just wanted to say something, first," Bobby said in a subdued tone. "I know that Rowena wasn't a saint, and I hafta take ownership of my own feelings about her. Those are my business, not any of yours. But I thought we should clear the air, here." He paused for a moment, pouring himself another drink. Then, he sighed. "Look, I don't know if she was trying to change for the better. I guess only she knows that. And, yeah, she didn't exactly fill me with confidence, doing what she did. She was right, though: there were obviously trust issues, on both sides. I wish I knew for sure if she was sincere, but I don't. So, even though a part of me loved her and always will, I'm not gonna come down on you for doing what you did." He was looking at Frank now. "Having said that, I'm gonna mourn her for a while, and if anybody - " he looked at Cas now " - gives me any guff about that, I'm gonna punch that guy, right in the face."

Frank let out a breath. "I'm not going to give you a hard time about that, Bobby. I've just had some first-hand experience on what it's like to lose somebody you've had that kind of relationship with. I can't apologize for doing what I did, but I will tell you that I understand."

"How are you doing, dear?" Bobby said to Gail now. She looked at him, startled. "Me?"

"Sure," Bobby replied. "However strange the history between you two, she was your mother, wasn't she?"

Gail was startled again. Oh, so THAT was why Bobby was looking at her the way he was looking at her. But, he didn't need to worry; she felt nothing about Rowena's death. Nothing.

"I'm gonna go back up to Heaven," Bobby said wearily. "I'll see you all later." He vanished.

They were all silent for a moment, and then Dean said, "Hopefully, he's not watching us right now, because I need to do something." He raised his glass, looking at Frank. "Congrats. Attaboy, Frank. Ding-dong, the witch is dead."

Frank raised his glass in response, but he was frowning. "And she took the damn spell with her to her grave," he said, sighing. "And I only have myself to blame." Suddenly, tears blurred his eyes. "I'm sorry, you guys. I went off half-cocked, with no clear plan, and I put you all in danger."

"You know what that makes you?" Sam said, pouring himself a drink now, too.

"No, what?" Frank asked curiously.

"An official Winchester," Sam quipped, raising his glass to Frank.

Now Frank did smile, but it was a sad smile. "You know, nobody ever tells you," he said quietly. "Nobody ever tells you how damn much it's going to hurt." He touched Gail on the arm. "I never understood before, but now, I do. I owe you and Cas an apology. I feel like somebody just ripped open my chest, grabbed my heart, backed over it with a truck, and then did it all over again. My life is so empty now. Job, house, kids...none of it means anything without Jody. I don't know what the hell I'm supposed to do with myself. I'm just going through the motions right now. I just thought, if I could get her back, things could be the way they used to be, you know? Before everything went to shit."

They were all silent. Gail took her brother's hand in hers, and now, tears were running down her cheeks. She understood very well the kind of pain Frank was feeling. There was no worse hurt in the world, in her opinion, than losing your spouse. The love of your life.

Cas was thoughtful. He was thinking about that very same thing. He didn't blame Frank for anything. Sam had been trying to be lighthearted, but he had been quite right: all of them here in this room had made rash decisions like that before, based purely on emotions. Every single one of them. But Cas had also thought that Frank's killing of Rowena had been warranted, and that it had been long overdue. He was glad that Bobby hadn't been too angry with Frank, because if he had been, Cas had been ready to step in, and defend Gail's brother's decision. Whatever she may have said about how ill-treated she had been over the centuries, the bottom line was that Rowena had used her last few minutes on this Earth trying to feather her own nest. She had planned to take a lieutenant of Vincent's voodoo cult to the waters of the cove to make some kind of Unholy covenant, and then, when Bobby had killed the man, she had almost succeeded in using Dean as a substitute. How on earth could she have expected them to believe that she had been contemplating becoming another kind of person when she had been behaving that way? No. They were well rid of her.

"OK, that's it. That's enough self-pity," Frank said, knuckling back the tears. He finished his drink, and then stood. "I'd better get home. See how much food and beer I have to stock up on, now that those human garbage disposals are back. Assuming they stick around, of course." He looked at the Angels. "So, who wants to take me home? Alfalfa, or Darla? Oh, and tell the other Little Rascal that your video should be on YouTube, just as soon as I get those boys on the case."

"I'd like to take you home, Frank," Cas offered. He stood from his chair, looking down at Gail. "Have another drink, my love," he said to her. "I'll be right back."

Then Cas took Frank by the arm and winked him out of the bunker, and Gail's eyes narrowed. "Have another drink? I'll be right back?" Then, she sighed. This was getting ridiculous. She couldn't be suspicious of her own husband all the time. She had finally gotten around to asking Cas about the Prophecies Gabriel had been referring to, and Cas had confessed that Laurel had given him a letter that Chuck had written, right before Paul and Linda's wedding. In it, the Prophet stated that he had foreseen his own death, and that Raguel had taken Chuck's Grace and given it to Patricia. Gail had been so shocked by the revelation that she hadn't questioned him any further. Which, of course, had been the whole idea. But as Gail shrugged and asked Sam to pour her another one, she had decided to give Cas the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he just wanted to assure Frank that Bobby wasn't going to hold a grudge. Or maybe Cas just wanted to have a bit of a heart-to-heart with her brother about Jody. The two men were very close, and there was no one who was more tender-hearted about love than Cas. No one. She should be happy that her husband cared so much about her brother. No wonder she loved Cas so much.

Cas did love Frank, and his heart was aching for Gail's brother. But he did have a bit of a hidden agenda in wanting to take Frank home, without Gail being present. The trouble was, Frank's brother-in-law was unable to articulate exactly what he was afraid of.

"So, you have decided to send Angela to school in the fall?" Cas said to Frank, once he had delivered Gail's brother back to the rear patio of the house. The boys weren't there. They had likely gone inside to watch TV, eat, or go to bed.

Frank started picking up cups and paper plates from the picnic table. A lot of times Rob and Eric would have already taken care of that kind of stuff for him. But they had just gotten home from a Hunting trip, and he knew how that kind of thing could take it out of you, both physically and mentally. Frank had practically pushed those guys out the door a few days after Jody's funeral, urging them to get out there and live their lives. So he could hardly bitch that they hadn't done a little light housekeeping the instant they'd come back, could he? As it was, now that they were back, Frank was going to have that little chat with them about getting their own place.

"Yeah, Cas," Frank confirmed. "Yeah. Angela needs to start meeting kids her own age, and making friends."

Cas nodded. He supposed that was true enough. Still, he lingered, as Frank continued to pick up the garbage. Finally, Cas's brother-in-law looked up at him in exasperation. "What?"

"Do me a favour, Frank," Cas said quietly. "Please do your best to make sure that Angela and the boys are safe."

"Do you know something, Cas? What do you know?" Frank said suspiciously. This wasn't his first rodeo with Cas. Like Gail, Frank had learned that her husband wasn't always the most transparent of individuals when it came to doling out bad news.

"Nothing specific, I promise you," Cas said uncomfortably. "Believe me, if there was a specific threat, I would act upon it. I just know..." He trailed off. What DID he know? That the End was coming? That the Lord God was preparing to rain down death and destruction? That Cas and his family were on the brink of suffering loss after loss after loss, until the Father finally decided that enough was, blessedly, enough? No, of course he wouldn't say that to Frank, or to anyone. Not even to Gail, although Cas thought that she was starting to get an inkling. God had never allowed any of them except for Castiel to retain any memories of anything that had happened before, thereby making the pain feel fresh and new, once the cycle ran out and it started all over again. Was that a worse feeling, Cas had always wondered, than the feeling of being the lone voice, crying out in the wilderness? He had always been the one who remembered everything. The love and loyalty, of course, but mostly, the pain and suffering. Within a month or two of Lance and Guinevere's executions, Arthur had gone on to have all of the Knights who had taken up for the couple tortured, and then put to death. Sam had not even been allowed to survive the boat crossing to the New World. And perhaps, in a weird way, that was the most merciful thing of all. After John and Priscilla were put to death on trumped-up charges of witchcraft, Brother Dean and his wife and children had been rounded up, charged, and executed, all within a number of days afterwards. There had been no defense lawyers and no long, drawn-out appeals process back in those days. Verdicts had been decisive, and executions had been brutal. But not always quick. Cas and Dean had both been pressed to death back then, and that was why Dean still suffered inexplicable pains in his chest from time to time that he nervously joked were signs of an impending heart attack.

No, Cas couldn't tell Frank that the signs abounded that this particular cycle was going to end with a number of deaths, and that it was going to feel like the slowest and most painful of executions this time, because Castiel had allowed himself to fall in love with all of these people. Quinn, Chuck, Jody...maybe even Nicole's grandfather, because that death had hurt Nicole, and she was part of Castiel's family. And now, Rowena, because her death had hurt Bobby. One could even argue that the beginning of the end had started when Vincent had pressed that button, back at the compound.

"Never mind, Frank. It's just me, being a worrier," Cas said now. "You know what I'm like. I'd better say goodnight, now. But remember, Gail and I are only a phone call away, if you need us."

"I know that, Cas," Frank said. He put the stack of paper plates down on one end of the picnic table and walked around it to the place where Cas was still standing.

Frank put his hand on Cas's shoulder. "Look, Buddy, I know you. I know you're worried about me, and I appreciate it. And, yeah, I'm depressed as hell right now. But I'll work through it, Cas. Because I have to. I've got Angela to take care of, and even though the boys have one foot out the door, they look up to me, for some reason. So, don't worry. I'm not gonna be the poster boy for self-pity, here. I'm gonna get up every day and go about my business, despite this giant hole in my heart. And you're gonna help me do that. You, and Gail, and those Winchester guys, and Barry and Tommy, and Bobby, even though he's kind of mad at me right now, and Gabriel and Liz, and all the Wacky Winged bunch of characters. Because that's what family does. They support each other. And, hey, try not to worry too much. Leave that to those of us who are parents. Trust me, I do enough worrying for the both of us. Now, come on: let's hug it out."

Frank opened up his arms and Cas walked into the embrace, as if Frank was the father and Cas was the child, seeking reassurance that everything would be all right. But everything was not going to be all right, because Frank wasn't Castiel's Father, God was. And, God was God. His Word was the Word, and when the Almighty Father decided that you needed to do penance, you simply bowed your head and waited for the lash.

And now Cas was crying, because his family were good people, who didn't deserve what was happening to them. His Will be done, but that didn't mean that Cas had to like it.

"Come on, Buddy, get it together," Frank said, patting Cas on the back. "I know a hug from me is an overwhelming experience, but let's not get too carried away. Imagine what Dean would say, if he could see us now."

Cas half-sobbed and half-laughed, and then he pulled out of the embrace, wiping his eyes. "I'm sorry, Frank, I just..." he started to say, and Frank nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. You love me. And, yeah, OK: I love you, too. Now, that's it. Let us never speak of this again. Geez, in a minute Gail's gonna show up, and then we're going to have to explain why we're standing here practically making out. And you know what my sister's like, when she gets mad. You'll be on your own, there," Frank joked.

The two men smiled at each other for a minute. "Goodnight, Frank," Cas said softly.

"Good-" Frank started to say, but his brother-in-law was already gone. Cas. He shook his head, then went back to cleaning up.

A huge gust of wind came along, rippling the waters of the cove. They rushed onto the beach, like the pounding tide waters that surfers sometimes ride. And with the mysterious change in the tidal patterns at that particular beach, two separate things happened.

A rush of water formed a big wall that strangely resembled a gigantic hand, and it washed up to Barnabas's body, pushing it higher up on the beach, above the line of the tide. And with the water came a school of piranhas, even though none had ever been recorded in this particular area of the Caribbean. The fish started to go to work on Barnabas's flesh, and even though Vincent would have preferred that his lieutenant still be alive when this was happening, it was still satisfying. Had Barnabas really thought that Vincent didn't know about his plan to impregnate Blaise, and try to use that child to usurp Vincent and his own child? That was why Vincent had taken Blaise away, after the ritual. It had seemed as if Barnabas had had to abandon his plan, but when Rowena and her unlikely group had shown up so unexpectedly, Vincent had been watching very carefully. It had appeared for a split second as if they were all allies. But then, when Rowena had immobilized them and taken off on her own, Vincent had decided to wait and see what she intended to do. And he had to hand it to her when she had come upon Barnabas, and decided to seize the moment. How could he fault her for that? Vincent would have done exactly the same thing, if he had been in her high-heeled shoes. No, the thing that had concerned Vincent about that whole thing was the fact that the witch had shown up with the God Squad in the first place, and that she'd obviously known about the water in the cove, and its potential properties. He'd thought about that, and the only conclusion he could reach was that Rowena had something of great value to offer, something that group would want badly enough to warrant their willingness to offer her immortality, in order to obtain it.

Could Rowena have the Books, or know where they were?

Vincent sent another wave crashing onto the beach, and this one seized Rowena's diminutive body and washed her into the cove, where she floated face down for a minute or so. Was it too late?

Suddenly, Rowena gasped for air, and in doing so, she took a couple of inadvertent gulps of the water in the cove. The magic was almost gone, but it was enough. She was able to get on her hands and knees, and then she stood slowly, looking down at herself. Her dress was sodden and bloody, but as she touched her chest, Rowena realized that the knife wound had been completely healed. She took an experimental breath, then another, deeper one. No bleeding, and no pain. She sloshed up to the beach and looked over at the piranhas stripping the flesh off of Barnabas's body. Rowena had no idea if those fish were indigenous to the area or not, but she could sense Vincent's hand in this. In all of it.

Rowena smiled. "Thank you, Vincent. I suppose I may owe you a favour, now. We'll talk, sometime."

She waved a hand over herself. "Tiar wigem," she said, and suddenly, her hair and gown were dry, the bloodstains were gone, and she was perfectly made up again. It was a good thing that hex bags still worked when soaked wet. She still had a couple tucked into her garter belt, way up on her thigh, strictly for emergencies. But no one was going to get their hands on those unless she wanted them to. She spared one more glance at the unfortunate Barnabas. That had been a real shame, in a way. It had been a bit of a dry spell for Rowena lately. No pun intended. Of course, she could seduce any man at any time, if she really wanted to. But they all came with so much baggage, and sooner or later, they all wanted to be on top. And not in the good way.

Rowena smiled at the humorous thought. She shook the sand off the bottom of her gown, stood up straight, and walked off the beach, into the jungle.