Chapter 2: Summoning Spells

"Lucifer," Dean repeated carefully, disbelief coloring his voice and his scent. "That's the name of the damn Devil, Balthazar."

The lean omega shrugged, completely unperturbed by Dean's reaction. "A great deal of the Christian religion is appropriated from other belief systems; why do you find it so hard to believe that they stole the names of their angels from a collection of well-known Faeries?"

Adam, staring at the pages of Enochian as he made a few notes with his digital pen. "Ok, if the second son is Lucifer, are the other three Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel?"

"Yes," Balthazar answered slowly. "You know the names of the High Princes?"

"In Christianity, these are the most popular named archangels. We can't summon Michael or Raphael if we plan to live into old age, but what about Gabriel?"

"You want to summon a High Prince?"

Adam shook his head. "No, not a chance in hell. But if Gabriel is a bit of a trickster, as you say, and if he has never killed a human indiscriminately, perhaps Sam could summon him."

"Why me?" Sam reached over and turned Adam's tablet so he could read his brother's notes, sighing as he realized that the page was written in Enochian so he couldn't possibly read it.

"Dean is more of a warrior, an alpha's alpha as Dad would say, and he wouldn't get along with someone who is not really a soldier. I think you would be able to relate to someone who only fights when he truly needs to, using his wits and his powers to protect his family."

"Summoning Gabriel will be dangerous," Balthazar warned, reaching out a hand in a silent request to see Adam's tablet. The man, barely an adult though he had presented three years earlier, passed it over, eyeing Crowley's new mate as the omega scanned the page. "Most of this is correct, actually. Gabriel would never kill his summoner, even if you botched it. He's pretty fair, and he certainly knows that Lucifer is missing and needs to be retrieved. I imagine that the only reason he hasn't been sent here to search for him is that the King hasn't ordered it yet and the youngest Prince is not known for listening to his older brother."

"You can read Enochian?"

"Sam, Balthazar is one of the finest experts on Faeries in the country," Crowley answered smoothly, letting the omega cover his blush by hiding against his side. "He taught me a few words, enough to run a summoning spell, but he will be most helpful in picking the right ones to call. He also knows the areas that the noble Faeries frequent."

Sam sighed and ran his fingers through his shoulder-length brown hair, squeezing his hazel eyes closed as he considered the implications of Adam's suggestion. Dean always wondered how his giant of a brother passed for an FBI agent so often with his long, luscious locks. "Yeah, okay, I can summon Gabriel, if we can find him. He can't stop Lucifer alone, I would assume."

"No, he can't. He can track him, though, through his explosions of power, something that many other noble Faeries wouldn't be able to manage." Balthazar pointed at one of the passages under Gabriel's name, clearly the one outlining the High Prince's powers.

"For your second Faerie, you'll need someone accomplished in stealth and more mundane types of tracking. Someone who can get close to Lucifer without being seen. Zar, do you have a suggestion for them?"

Balthazar nodded. "There are a number of suitable Faeries, though none of them noble. I don't think it will matter for a rogue, so anyone on these two pages will do." Adam took the tablet back, highlighting the names as he read through them.

"There are a lot of interesting names here. What's this one—Samandriel?"

"He's good," Balthazar murmured. "He's an assassin who has never missed his mark. He is not known to spend time with Gabriel, however, so I doubt you'll summon him. I do know where some of the other rogues tend to congregate, though, and it won't be hard for you to attract one."

"Fine," Dean interjected, "but that leaves us short of actual muscle. We have the tracker and magic user, now we need a warrior."

"Agreed," Crowley murmured, his fingers dancing across Balthazar's red bite mark. Clearly, this meeting was going to have to end soon in order to allow the newly mated men time to bond. "Zar, do you have a suggestion for a suitable warrior?"

"Yeah, a few, but only one who spends time with Gabriel. That Prince is generally a loner, often with only his younger brother to keep him company. This warrior is the leader of most of the Fae armies, a general outranked by only a few among the elite nobles, and he made his name fighting back the demon hordes nearly twenty thousand years ago. He's a son of the King, but not a High Prince, just a Noble. He won't be happy if you summon him, though."

"Will he fight for us? His happiness is immaterial; we'll release him as soon as Lucifer is contained." Dean leaned forward slightly, his green eyes darkening to emerald as he pressed Balthazar for an answer.

"Yeah, he'll fight, but he'll try to kill you. Frequently. Castiel does not like being bound."

"Castiel," Adam murmured, glancing through the names in his book. While the hunters couldn't understand Enochian, they had figured out all of the letters so he could read the names. "Wait, are you sure about that? Castiel has the omega symbol by his name."

Balthazar nodded. "Yes, Castiel is an omega, but he is larger, stronger, and fiercer than most alpha Faeries. He has fought against Lucifer in the past, during a dispute over the distribution of forces along the realm border with Purgatory, and he won readily. The Faeries also won that dustup, and Castiel was promoted to General by Michael himself. I think he will relish the thought of hunting down his older brother and taking him home, but he will want to kill you."

Dean shrugged. "I think I can handle that. Do you know where this Castiel might be found?"

Balthazar sighed, distress coloring his gentle scent. "Yeah, I can point you in the right direction. I can't be there when you summon him, though; I don't deal with Faeries anymore."

"That's fine," Sam answered quickly, his alpha instincts insisting that he find a way to calm the omega. "Where should we look?"

Balthazar shook his head and reached across the table for Sam's map, flipping it over to the world map side. "Castiel hasn't been seen in America in generations. People here don't worship the right way, don't put out the right offerings. They don't understand him, and Castiel is easily offended. The only places he still visits are in the old country. England, Scotland, Wales. I think he went to Ireland five years ago."

"What's the best spot?"

Dean glared at Sam, fists clenched on the table as the faintest hint of nervousness colored his cinnamon-apple and leather scent. "Does it have to be overseas?"

Balthazar leaned forward, his blue eyes sparkling as he realized that Dean was uncomfortable. "I mean, yeah. You're going to have to fly to the British Isles, preferably Scotland, if you want to summon Castiel. He has a thing for green hills."

"What about Gabriel?"

Balthazar nodded, looking up sharply as Adam passed his tablet across the table, Scotland pulled up on Google Maps. "You'll summon Castiel first. Gabriel knows when any Faerie crosses the border, and he has the ability to see the tear where they passed through. Most of them . . . well, he's a High Prince and he really doesn't care. There are hundreds of thousands of Faeries and he likes his brothers and that's it. But when you grab Castiel, especially so soon after Lucifer was lured away, Gabriel will come. And, he's not stupid, he'll bring backup."

"An assassin," Adam murmured. "A rogue who can peek through the veil with him and see what kind of threat we pose."

"Yes, exactly."

Sam tilted his head, glancing at the mapping program as Balthazar zoomed in and scrolled around, clearly looking for something specific. "Why would Gabriel come through? I mean, I can see why Castiel might be tempted to cross the border, but the spells in our book can't force a Faerie to our side. The spell requests, but the Faerie can refuse."

"Yeah, you need a stronger spell." Balthazar made a few marks on the map, passing the tablet to Crowley who promptly connected it to his office printer and watched as it spewed out a few pages in glorious washed-out Google Maps green. "How do I get this back to the book?" His new mate tapped a soft button on the bottom of the screen, switching back to the book app as Balthazar grinned gratefully. "Look, here it lists things that each of the Faeries like. I can also give you a list of stones, flowers, herbs, etc that will create a ritual strong enough to compel them to come. With the right ingredients, Castiel, Gabriel, and the High Prince's assassin can be caught. It will still be exceedingly dangerous."

Crowley reached across the table and pulled a pad of paper towards him, placing it near his mate's hand and dropping a pen on top of it. The omega quickly scribbled a translation for the two pages he had been referencing, flipping to the pages on assassins and writing out a spell that would work on all of them. Adam leaned forward, frowning slightly as he read Balthazar's barely-legible scribble upside-down. "I can't cast a spell that complicated."

Rowena pulled her chair closer to Crowley's leaning close to her new son-in-law as her intense emerald eyes scanned the page. "Hmm, none of this looks too bad. No worse than some of the Equinox festivals I organized in my younger years."

Sam leaned forward eagerly, a clear question in his eyes, but the look of absolute murder in Crowley's suddenly red-rimmed eyes stopped him cold. "Do not ask her about that. Apparently yours truly was conceived during one of those festivals."

Balthazar chuckled and nuzzled his alpha's chin. "Rowena, do you think you can do this? I can but . . . I just can't, you know?"

"I understand, dear. Of course I can cast these spells, as long as the boys can find the rest of the ingredients. I have the herbs, wood, and some of the crystals, but you need these flowers fresh, I don't have any feathers in stock, and I don't have any of those." Rowena grabbed a red pen and circled the items that would have to be gathered together, memorizing the rest of the list quickly. "How are you boys planning to get to Scotland?"

"We're driving," Dean growled grumpily, red flashing in his eyes.

Rowena chuckled. "Oh, dear pup, you cannot do that."

Sam grinned and reached over to pat his brother on the shoulder. "Dean knows that. We're going to have to fly, and he hates planes."

Rowena grinned, the omega's gentle scent brightening. No matter how hard he focused, Sam couldn't identify the threads of her scent, possibly because she was so old that the aromas no longer existed. "Then I think I may have a solution."

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Getting upset isn't going to help us any, Dean."

The older alpha growled and punched the seat between them, his other hand wrapped in a death grip around the steering wheel. Adam, wisely staying silent to avoid any misplaced aggression, was reading thoughtfully in the back seat while Sam struggled to calm his older brother. "This is so stupid, Sammy. How are there no American locations where this damn Faerie likes to hang out? Why does it have to be Scotland?"

"Dean, Scotland is nice this time of the year, and Rowena offered to fly us there in her private jet. You won't have to deal with any other travelers, delays, or in-flight issues."

"It's still a plane, Sammy. We have to get on a plane."

"You have a few days to get used to the idea. Rowena says she'll even pick us up at Sioux Falls Regional, so we get to spend time with Jody, Bobby, and Ellen before we have to leave."

Dean relaxed, if only marginally, and let his lips twitch in a smile. Bobby and Ellen had been as much their parents as John and Mary while they were growing up, and Jody had taken to all three of them quickly as soon as she was introduced to the hunting lifestyle. She also had four adopted daughters, all of them orphaned or impacted by the supernatural in some way, who hung out with Ellen's daughter Jo in a small all-female pack that managed to keep Sioux Falls and most of southeastern South Dakota free of monsters and demons.

"Dad says we have most of the supplies that Rowena doesn't at the bunker, but we need to pick up some of these crystals and I'm pretty sure we don't have any feathers in stock."

Dean glanced over his shoulder at his youngest brother, one eyebrow raised in a question. "Why the hell do we need feathers to summon Faeries?"

Adam looked up at Dean and offered him one of Sam's patented Bitch Faces, number thirty-six if Dean remembered correctly. "Didn't you read any of these books? The noble Faeries and a large cohort of the more powerful common ones all have bird-like wings, so they demand an offering of a feather the most like theirs. Castiel is known to have black wings that shine blue in the light, so he likes raven feathers. Gabriel has golden wings, so we use golden eagle primary feathers for him, though the shade is a little dark. I have five of the stealthy Faeries listed here, so I'll get a type of feather that will work on each of them. None of them are nobles so they tend to answer to a range of options, and Mockingbird shows up on each list."

"Alright, we'll stop in Lawrence at that hunter shop Dad likes to go to. I'll assume that we will need certain crystals, as well."

"Yeah, I think we have most of them. I'll also check with Jody to see what the girls keep in their house. There is one more thing, and it'll be expensive."

Sam sighed and pulled out his phone, glancing at the scans of the pages that Adam had sent to him earlier. "What do we need?"

"Collars. We have to get some collars, preferably gold, and engrave them with certain symbols that will bind the Faeries to us. Also, each one has to be set with a certain type of opal."

"Opals aren't cheap, Adam. Neither are gold collars, to be honest. Why gold?"

"Faeries like gold. They'll look like chokers, and the symbols will be on the inside where no one can see them. A lot of omegas wear fashionable collars, so they won't be conspicuous. The opals, however, are going to stand out. We need a black one for Castiel, a fire for Gabriel, and one in blue for our rogue. Sam, can we get those, oval, in gold settings?"

Sam sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, tapping an app on his phone. "Yeah, yeah, I guess I can figure that out. Jody told me about a woman in Sioux Falls who is teaching Kaia to cut gems and make cabochons. I'll speak to her."

"Good, that's handled." Dean settled back in his seat, reaching out to turn the radio on as most of the tension from the meeting with Crowley finally faded. "Is this a good idea? Should we really be summoning Faeries? I mean, Balthazar reads Enochian and is incredibly familiar with the upper echelons of Faerie society, and he refuses to be within three thousand miles of a summoning. If he's that afraid . . . shouldn't we be?"

"Yeah, Dean, but we never are. There are so many things we should be afraid of, but we're hunters and we're John Winchesters alpha sons, so we're going to do it no matter what." Sam grinned as he patted his brother on the shoulder, catching the older Winchester's eye. "Besides, you're the one summoning a bloodthirsty general. If anyone's gonna die, it'll be you."

If Dean laughed at that, it was only because he was no longer worried about his brothers being killed by the Faeries they summoned. He did, however, still worry about that damn plane.

"Boys, good to see ya'. Been too long."

"Same at you, Bobby," Dean grinned, letting the grizzled alpha pull him in for a hug. Sam leaned down for his and Adam sidled up shyly as he waited his turn. Ellen, who had mated Bobby almost five years earlier, smacked Dean in the head, scolding him for being gone so long before offering him a cookie and sending him into the living room. "Mixed signals, Ellen. We've talked about this. Where's Jo?"

"Hunting. She took the girls up to Bismarck to hunt a nest of vampires. They won't be home until next week, but I'm sure they'll be happy to see you when you return from Scotland."

Dean shuddered and fell on the couch, dropping his bag carelessly onto the floor. "Damn, I had almost forgotten about that."

Ellen grinned and sat next to the oldest Winchester, patting him on the shoulder. "You'll be alright, boy. On the plane, anyway."

"You don't agree with us summoning Faeries?" Sam's tone and scent were cautious as he chose a chair nearby, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. Adam gingerly took his own seat, still getting used to being included in "adult" conversations with his brothers.

Bobby groaned and fell onto the loveseat across from the couch, running his hand over his face. "I don't agree with it, but I can read newspapers, too."

"Mostly we use the internet now, Bobby," Sam teased.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, kid. Anyway, I can see what this dark Faerie is doing out west. It ain't pretty boys, and someone's gotta stop him. I'd rather you didn't do it, but your dad's right. The Faeries . . . they only come to the unmated. They won't even like you if you're scent-marked."

Dean chuckled and shook his head. "So we're suited for this job because hunters aren't known for their luck in the dating arena?"

"Hunters aren't unlucky," Ellen soothed, the beta's gentle scent wrapping around the boys as it had when they were pups. "You three will find your partners, I swear. It's harder for hunters because you have to be pickier, but you're going to bring your pups to see me one day. And I'm gonna spoil them rotten."

Adam grinned and ducked his head, obviously embarrassed at the thought of a mate or pups, but Dean was certain that both of his brothers would settle down one day. He couldn't wait to see that. "You haven't given up on Jo having pups, have you?"

Ellen shook her head. "Not at all, Sam. It's not her priority right now, but I think that she plans to settle down one day. She likes leading a pack too much to want to give that up."

"That's fair. What about Rufus?"

"That old asshole? He'll never settle down," Bobby groused. "Figure he'll die hunting some monster too big for him to handle and I'll have to bury him."

"Bobby," Ellen scolded. "That's your best friend you're talking about."

"Which is why I'll bury his ass," Bobby answered, grumpily readjusting his hat. He and Rufus Turner had a long, tumultuous relationship that involved hunting almost every monster known in the continental United States before semi-retiring to teach others to hunt better and more safely than they had. Bobby also acted as agency supervisor for the FBI, the CIA, and whatever other groups hunters claimed affiliation with in order to do their jobs.

"Did you hear about Garth?"

Bobby nodded. "Yeah, heard he got himself a mate. Beta lass by the name of Bess."

Dean nodded slowly. "You heard she's a werewolf?"

"Yeah, I heard. Garth said her pack is all born to it, none bitten, and they don't hunt humans. Hell, he said they go to the butcher shop and local farmers and buy animal hearts. Can't fault someone born with an unusual dietary requirement finding a way to eat."

"You believe him? That they don't hunt humans?"

"We do," Ellen answered confidently. "Garth is one of the finest young hunters we know, and he isn't stupid. If they were hunting humans, he would surely know. Besides, Asa has been in that area for almost four years and said that sometimes the werewolves he was hunting would end up dead before he got there. The local pack protects their land and their people. Garth's a lucky boy to mate into that."

Dean nodded and stared at his hands, biting his lip. "How is everything else going?"

"Good. I got a new cook over at the Roadhouse and he's working out great. I even get some nights off now."

Sam smiled and leaned back, accepting a beer from Bobby as he leaned across the table. "That's good, Ellen. I know that it's been hard for you to get time off since Jo left."

Ellen glanced at Bobby, reaching up to run her fingers through her hair before sighing. All three boys, who had learned her tells over the years, sat up straighter, focusing all of their considerable attention on her. The scent of so many anxious alphas was almost overwhelming, but thankfully betas didn't have the same sense of smell as the other two subgenders. "The new cook . . . Jo and the girls found him during a hunt in Louisiana. He was a vampire, a newly turned one."

Adam sucked in a quick breath, clenching his hands into fists. "Did they cure him?"

"Yeah, but he was pretty shaken up. And his mate . . . being turned doesn't break the bond, did you know that? The omega almost went insane. Bobby and I took them into the pack, gave them a place to live, but . . ."

"But what, Ellen?" Dean had known that mating bonds weren't broken when one partner was turned, and he had seen the gruesome end to that situation once when he was younger. The fact that Jo had been able to save one couple from that fate . . . she was becoming a pretty impressive young hunter.

"The boy is pregnant," Bobby murmured, glaring at a spot on the carpet not far from his feet. "The beta is worried that his mate will lose the pup."

"What can we do?"

Bobby threw his hands in the air and leaned back in his seat. "I don't know. I think they need to get away for a bit, travel, whatever. They'll be home for supper; I thought you boys might take them with you to Scotland, maybe talk to the beta a bit about taking up hunting. I think he needs an outlet for his . . . frustration."

Dean nodded. "Yeah, alright."