Chapter 1

"Moose. Squirrel." Crowley greeted as he popped up in the backseat of the Impala. Both Dean and Sam jumped startled, their conversation ceased. Dean hit the brakes, Sam turned around, ready with a knife.

"Easy, boys. I'm here to help." Crowley smiled smugly.

"Oh, really? Enlighten us then?" Dean snapped and turned to face Crowley, armed with a gun as soon as the Impala were still.

"You see, my dear mother visited me just a few hours ago." Crowley started.

"We don't need to be involved in your family drama, Crowley," Dean noted sarcastically.

"What did she want?" Sam inquired, his curiosity seemed to be piqued by Crowley's words.

"She wants to revive her dead sister." He said preposterously and like it explained everything.

"Rowena has a sister?" Both the Winchesters said in unison.

"She died before I was born. Pneumonia." Crowley quickly explained.

"And how does she plan on doing that?" Dean asked deflated. He had a feeling where this conversation was headed and he was already tired of the prospects of it. Rowena was a real turncoat and often when that side of her surfaced, it meant troubles. Especially for him and his brother.

"Apparently, she needs to assemble a set of jewelry that belonged to her before she deceased. As I said, she came and visited me. She asked for my help. Thought I would be delighted to hear my aunt could possibly return." He smiled and then rolled his eyes. "Mother in a nutshell."

"Get on with it already, Crowley." Dean scolded.

"Well, boys, here's the best part. I played along to hear how she was planning on doing so. The set of jewelry consists of a necklace, a bracelet, and a ring. Bringing them together, the emeralds embedded in them will create a gateway from beyond, allowing dear auntie Sevira to return to this world."

"And now you want us to stop her?" Sam said knowingly with a raised eyebrow.

"We don't wanna get involved in your family drama, Crowley," Dean repeated as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I think you won't have a choice, Squirrel. The reason she wants to bring her back, is so that they can channel powers from each other and then they can basically do whatever they want. Sevira is as strong, if not stronger than Rowena."

"How do you suggest we stop Rowena from getting Sevira back?" Sarcasm marred Sam's tone.

"Find the jewelry and destroy them. I can help with that last part, of course." Crowley made it sound a lot easier than it was. "Oh, and I forgot to mention, she already got the necklace."

"Awesome." Dean sighed.

"But, I might have an idea where the ring is. She's going after it next."

"Where?" Sam demanded to know.

"In your little archives back at the bunker. Rumor has it, that a Man of Letters once found a cursed emerald ring. So if I were you, I'd hurry back to that bunker of yours." Crowley disappeared as suddenly as he had materialized.

Both the Winchesters let out a string of expletives. Sam found his phone, Dean hit the pedals and turned the Impala 180 degrees to head back to the bunker.

"Hi Cas, it's Sam. We need you in the bunker."

Dean couldn't make out exactly was Cas said to his brother, but he listened to Sam retelling everything that had just happened while he thought of a way to effectively track down and stop Rowena.

"He's already there warding the place further against Rowena," Sam informed when he had hung up.

"Awesome," Dean said in a tone devoid of emotion.

"The place is safe against Rowena." Cas formally noted when Sam and Dean stepped inside from the garage.

"Awesome." This time there was actually a little enthusiasm to trace in Dean's voice. "Good work."

"Now we just need to find the ring." Sam made it sound like it was the easiest part, but it was far from. There were endless archives in the bunker and they had no idea where to begin. It could just as well be hidden under a secret floorboard. There wasn't just a section anywhere called 'cursed objects' they could look under.

"Hey Cas," Dean said as an idea dawned on him. "Can't you like feel the ring with your angel mojo or something?"

"It doesn't work like that, Dean," Cas said though he looked around with narrowed eyes to see if he actually could do what he suggested. After a few seconds of squinting, he imperceptibly shook his head.

Dean sighed as he had a feeling he wouldn't get much sleep this night. Just what he needed. He had looked forward to a couple of days off after the last case, but then came Crowley and Rowena and screwed that up.

I better go make some coffee, he thought to himself.

As he came back with a pot of coffee, Cas and Sam had already buried the table in books, loose pages, records, and so on. Cas sat with a book he kept turning upside-down. He wasn't even gonna ask what he had or had not found so interesting that it needed to be studied from different angles. Sam's eyes repeatedly darted from the laptop to an open book by his side. They both absentmindedly thanked Dean as he handed them each a cup of coffee before he sat down as well and dragged the first book he got his hands on in front of him.

Three cups of coffee later, Sam had found a picture he thought might be the jewelry set. They all gathered around the laptop, next to it was an open book. The jewelry set was quite simple. It didn't look like much to Dean. The necklace was a simple silver chain with a teardrop emerald pendant. The bracelet was as the necklace, simple. Though there were emeralds embedded in the silver for every quarter inch. The ring stood out from the other two pieces of jewelry. Same teardrop shape, but it had a ring of diamonds around it. It looked familiar somehow.

Dean narrowed his eyes as he looked at the picture of the ring while searching his mind. The open book next to the laptop caught his attention. There was a hand drawn picture of the ring. But it wasn't a complete match with the one Sam had found. At the bottom of the teardrop emerald, was another perfectly round one. He had seen it somewhere before.

Without a word, he left Cas and Sam and started strolling around the room. He sought out every picture and painting hanging on the walls, looking closely at them one by one. Soon Cas and Sam followed suit.

"What are you doing, Dean?" Sam asked as he tried to make sense of what his brother was doing.

"Looking for something." He answered absentmindedly as he moved on to the next picture.

"Yeah, but what exactly?" Sam inquired confused.

"I've seen that ring before." He turned to Sam and saw how bewilderment flittered over his features. Cas simply looked disoriented back and forth between the brothers, unsure what to say or what to do that was socially acceptable.

"Where?" Sam demanded to know.

"I'm not sure…" Dean's tone was once again absentminded as he had continued his search of the pictures and paintings.

Three stops later and he shouted out, "Here! Come take a look!"

"You found the ring?" Sam instantly cheered hopefully.

"I found a painting of the ring." Dean corrected him.

"That's helpful." Sam couldn't hold a disappointed edge out of his tone as he joined Dean looking at the painting.

"The painting might be concealing the ring." Cas tried to suggest, though it didn't look like he believed it himself.

"Help me get it down. Maybe there's a hidden compartment or something behind the painting." Sam said as he grabbed the frame on the left side, Dean instantly grabbed the right side and together they lifted the painting off the wall.

Putting it down, they all three stared hopefully at the wall, but there was nothing but the wall behind the painting.

"Cas, is there anything there that our eyes can't see?" Dean asked with renewed hope in his voice. Cas stepped forward, put his hand on the wall and closed his eyes. Both the Winchesters saw a flicker of the blue angelic spark in his eyes before he closed them.

Sam and Dean both held their breath while Cas examined the wall meticulously. "Nothing." He finally turned around and declared.

Dean pinched the bridge of his nose and his shoulders slumped, Sam let out a deep sigh. Then Cas bent down and took a closer look at the painting. "I think this is the ring." He said hesitantly, the same tone he used when he wasn't sure if what he said was the social norm.

"Of course, it's the ring. It matches the picture I found with ninety percent." Sam exclaimed exasperated. Dean had to admit Cas annoyed him a bit too right now with his slow perception.

"No, I mean, I think this is the ring." He said with a look that clearly stated he thought they were slow perceiving now.

"As in, inside the painting?" Dean asked half sarcastically, half puzzled.

"Yes." Castiel simply answered.

"Well, can you get it out?" The brothers nearly asked in unison.

"No, this is witchcraft," Cas said and straightened up.

Of course, it was, Dean thought. Because this wasn't difficult enough as it was already. Dean fished his phone out of his pocket and dialed.

"Who're you calling?" Sam asked.

"Crowley," Dean answered gloomily. He wasn't fond of having to ask Crowley for a favor. At some point, he probably wanted something in return. And in his opinion, they probably already owed him because he had warned them about Rowena.

"Crowley, you son of a bitch, get your ass up here. We need you." Dean snapped as soon as Crowley answered the phone.

"What a way to ask for a favor, Squirrel." He chuckled deviously.

"We found the ring, but it's stuck in a painting," Dean explained impatiently.

"I see. Well, your little angel friend warded the place thoroughly, so I wouldn't be joining you for night tea." Crowley drawled out his incessantly fawning tone.

"I have a suggestion. If don't you find a way to get the ring out of the painting, we're not helping you with your little mommy-problem." Dean cut straight to the case.

"Fine, Squirrel. Have it your way. I'll call when I find something." Annoyance saturating Crowley's tone before he hung up without saying goodbye. That fact satisfied Dean a little. At least he couldn't just lean back and let them do all the hard work, now he had to work a little for it as well.

After enlightening Cas and Sam about the conversation with Crowley, they cleared the table as much as they could and brought the painting to it. Sam continued searching on the laptop, Cas stared at the painting like he could extract the ring by will, and so did Dean. But after another two cups of coffee, his eyes grew heavy-lidded and before he knew it, he had fallen asleep with his head resting on top of his crossed arms.

A shrill ringing made them all three jump in their seats, especially Dean, he even knocked his coffee cup to the floor where it shattered. Luckily there weren't any coffee in it. He ripped his phone out of his pocket. '666' stood on the display. The display also told him it was two hours since he had talked to him last time. "Crowley," Dean greeted as he answered the phone.

"I found a way to extract the ring from the painting." His voice was almost rollicked.

Two minutes later, Dean hung up, "We need to burn some sage from a church candle and let the smoke seep through the painting of the ring from behind, then it should come out." Dean told Cas and Sam.

It was actually quite simple, which Dean was happy with. Stopping Rowena would be far from simple and he really felt like he needed a break from the supernatural. Just for a few days.

"I think we have some sage somewhere, but we don't have a church candle." Sam quickly got up and spoke as he searched for the sage.

"Cas, would you?" Dean asked.

"Would I what?" Cas asked confused.

"Get a church candle?" Dean elaborated. Sometimes you really needed to spell it out to Cas.

"I'm not comfortable stealing from the house of God." He mumbled, his eyes dropped to the floor.

"For God's sake." Dean flung out his hands in an annoyed gesture before he found his leather jacket. "Sam, I'm gonna go get a church candle." He yelled as he walked towards the garage.

He faintly heard Sam yell an, "Okay, see you."

As he opened the door to the garage, he stopped. The spot where he had parked his beloved car was empty, the Impala was gone. He felt the panic rising in his chest. "Sam, where's my car? Where's my car?" He yelled first angrily, then anxiously.

Halfway back to the main room, he nearly bumped into Cas and Sam that had headed towards the garage when they had heard Dean's calls. "Where's my car?" Dean asked gravely and then turned around to walk back to the garage. His eyes darting around like if he missed something obvious along with his face getting more and more panicky. "Sam, where's my car? Somebody stole my car!" Now his voice was edging towards desperate and became more high-pitched, his breathing accelerating quickly while Sam looked around the garage to find a logical explanation. All Cas did, was to look wonderingly at the spot where the Impala was usually parked. Like a little kid staring at the blank spot where a magician had just made a dove disappear.

"Hey, hey, calm down." Sam hushed, putting a hand on Dean's shoulder.

"I am calm!" Dean yelled back, but his breathing was nearing hyperventilation now.

"Whoa, whoa, Dean. Take it easy. Take it easy. The place is warded, there must be an explanation." Sam helplessly tried to calm his brother.

"Somebody stole my car, Sam! I can't take it easy until I find my baby!" He yelled out of breath.

"But, Dean, I'm right here." A honeyed, melodic voice said softly as a figure came forward from its hiding spot behind one of the antique cars.