Disclaimer: Nothing Supernatural belongs to me.
…
Chapter 6: Black Blade
I have this feeling that my luck is none too good
This sword here at my side don't act the way it should
Keeps calling me its master, but I feel like its slave
Hauling me faster and faster to an early, early grave
And it howls, it howls like hell
…
"I know you know something, demon. I know you're working for Lilith—there's no reason to lie now," Gabriel stated, waving her blade under Ruby's chin. Gabriel had made short work of chaining her inside a devil's trap, but he hadn't started torturing her. Yet.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm trying to stop her," Ruby stated, glaring at the angel. Gabriel smiled tightly.
"Right, because stalking Lucifer's vessel with intentions to addict him to demon blood is going to stop her," she remarked, crossing her arms over her chest. "Maybe you didn't hear me when I introduced myself. I'm Gabriel, God's Messenger. Lies don't work on me."
"You can't do anything to stop her, messenger. Sam Winchester will kill Lilith and free Lucifer. You have to see the truth in that," Ruby mocked. Anything else she was going to say was drowned in screams as Gabriel carved into her abdomen.
"Listen to me very carefully, Hell-bitch: I will kill Lilith. No one else. And I won't be letting big brother out of timeout when I do. Now, you can help me find her and guarantee yourself a quick smiting or we can take our time with it. Either way, I'll kill you both."
"Go fuck yourself, feathers."
…
Gabriel was covered in blood and bits of demon when Castiel found her. Cas stood silently as Gabriel cleaned her blade, not looking at the havoc she'd wrecked.
"Gabriel, you need to break your vow. It will be painful, but keeping it is harming you," Castiel stated after a long moment.
"I can't, Castiel. Archangels are absolute. A pledge in our Grace is as certain as the Word of God," Gabriel answered quietly. A moment of silence followed before she added, "The blade won't get clean. It's stained black with the blood of the demon. You know what that means."
"Your Grace is tainted," Castiel acknowledged. Since an angel's weapon was a manifestation of their Grace, the inability to clean Gabriel's blade meant that her Grace was stained. "Let me help you, sister."
Gabriel snorted. "'Sister,' you say. When Lucifer started to Fall, did you call him brother?"
"We can find Lilith together, Gabriel."
"Before or after I become something just as bad, Castiel?"
"Gabriel, please. Come back with me. Let us help you."
"No. It's better if I stay away. I'm dangerous, Castiel. An archangel losing control isn't something to keep in an enclosed space."
"Gabriel…"
"No, Castiel. I can't."
They stayed silent for a long moment, Gabriel still refusing to look at Castiel as Castiel stared at her. A bundle manifested in Gabriel's hands and she lifted it toward Castiel without looking.
"The Horn of Gabriel to call Heaven to your aid, a spell to bind even an archangel, and an Archangel's Sword to kill one. Take them and swear to me that you will use them when necessary."
"Gabriel…. I have faith that it will not come to that, sister, but I give you my word." Castiel knelt beside his sister as he took the bundle. "Now let me help you in your search."
"No, Castiel, you need to protect your charges. You are the last defense in this war. Hold your post and protect your charges at all costs."
"No harm will befall them, Gabriel."
…
"Duck, Sam!" Dean exclaimed before throwing the knife in his hand. Thankfully, Sam obeyed and the knife caught the vampire square in the right eye. Sam followed up his brother's attack by taking the vamp's head off.
"Dude, how many are left?" he asked, joining his brother.
"I don't know—three maybe? It's the biggest nest we've seen in a long time, Sammy," Dean answered, taking the knife his brother returned.
"Yeah, I know. You counted seven earlier, right? All right, three left then, yeah. Should we wait for them here or go after them?"
"They might try to run. Follow my lead, all right?"
"Right, 'cause I was planning to go off on my own in the middle of a hunt."
"Sam."
"All right, all right."
Carefully, the brothers made it out the door and headed toward the entrance of the warehouse, knowing it was the only way anyone—vamps or otherwise—would be getting out. Once they were securely stationed there, the silence and stillness of the warehouse became overwhelming.
"You think they found another exit?" Sam grunted after half an hour of tense listening.
"I don't know, man. You watch the door while I check?" Dean requested quietly. At Sam's curt nod, Dean headed back toward the stairs. The three vampires dropped from the ceiling onto Sam as soon as Dean was halfway across the room. "Son of a bitch!"
"Dude, your knife," Sam reminded Dean as he scrambled up to block the door. Although it wasn't the easiest throw in his life, Dean managed to aim his machete at the largest vampire's back, stopping its rampage momentarily as he went to join the brawl.
Ten minutes later, the brothers were tending their wounds as the burning building got progressively smaller in the Impala's rearview mirror.
"Cut on your arm looks nasty, Dean. You should stop and let me look at it," Sam murmured from where he was applying pressure to a nasty gash on his own leg.
"Gotta make sure the cops don't find us first. I'll be fine 'til the motel."
"Just…get there soon, okay?"
"You okay, Sammy?"
"Yeah, man, just don't take your time, all right? I've had worse."
"You need me to call Cas?"
"Nah, we've handled worse without angels before. We're cool. Just get us to the motel." Sam's voice had turned softer, beginning to sound the slightest bit garbled and it made Dean look over frantically.
"You sure, Sammy? You ain't lookin' too hot over there."
"'m fine….Jerk."
"Sammy? Sammy, hey, stay awake over there," Dean instructed, hissing as he moved his hurt arm to shake his brother's shoulder. Sam mumbled indistinctly and Dean's heartrate skyrocketed as he noticed the blood sashing his brother's pantleg. "Sam, keep your eyes open."
Sam's eyes opened blearily at the blatant command in his brother's voice, his body shifting slightly in the seat before they fluttered closed again.
"Shit. Cas, we need help—Sam's injured pretty bad," Dean prayed absently, gunning the engine as he read off the streetnames to give Cas an idea of where to find him. When his phone rang, he flipped it open without thought. "Hello?"
"Dean, I won't be able to arrive quickly. I was following a lead in Hell. If it's an emergency, you'll have to call Gabriel," Cas answered slightly breathlessly.
"Shit, okay, man, just get out of there safely, I'll call you later," Dean answered all in one breath before dropping his phone. "Gabriel, Sam's in trouble and Cas is busy. We need your help."
When a minute passed without answer, Dean let out a completely undignified whimper before straightening his shoulders and further speeding up, the engine whining in protest. If Dean could get Sam to the motel, he could fix it—of course he could, it was his brother. He just had to make it to the hotel first.
…
"Sam will be fine now, Dean. You must calm down," Castiel's low, urgent voice broke through some of the heaviness in Sam's mind. "His leg is healed and his concussion is gone."
"He could've died, Cas," Dean snapped, his voice quieter than normal.
"He did not die and was not in immediate danger of doing so. Even if a horde of demons had attempted to trap me in Hell, I would have returned before his plight turned desperate," Cas soothed.
"That isn't the point. Gabriel—Sam likes her and trusts her, Cas. I haven't seen him like this in a long time and I don't want him to get hurt more than he already has. If Gabriel can't get her head out of her ass long enough to heal him, then I don't see how she's helping to stop the apocalypse at all. We need Sam to do that, even if she wouldn't heal him as her friend. I know she likes him."
"Gabriel has always behaved in unexpected ways, Dean, but this may have been out of her control. If she had a lead on Lilith, she would not be able to stop for anything—not even to save Sam's life. Now that her Grace is tainted by this revenge, it is harder for her than ever to focus on anything but the chase."
"What'dya me'n, tain'ed?" Sam managed inarticulately, blinking his eyes open. Cas froze to look at him as Dean came over and knelt at his side.
"Hey, how you feeling, man?" Dean asked, brushing Sam's hair back in a half-hidden check for fever.
"Kinda groggy," Sam admitted.
"Yeah, Cas said you might still be a little disoriented after the blood loss. It wasn't bad enough to warrant a hospital trip, but it was enough to affect you," Dean explained softly, instantly going to help as Sam started trying to sit up.
Once he was settled against the headboard, Sam repeated, "What did you mean by tainted? What's wrong with Gabriel?"
"An archangel's vow is absolute and must be completed. The delay to killing Lilith is changing the mark on her Grace, darkening and growing. Gabriel will become colder and more uncontrolled until the vow is completed and, even if it were completed now, it will take significant time and washing of brighter essences to return her to what she was," Castiel explained quietly.
"What…What if she doesn't complete it?" Sam asked cautiously.
"We'll have a mad archangel on our hands while we're trying to keep Lucifer caged against Michael's wishes. Sounds like a blast, right, Sammy?" Dean answered.
"Gabriel has made preparations for if she loses control," Cas remarked, keeping his eyes locked on Sam's. Sam swallowed uneasily and gestured for more information, throat too dry to speak. A bundle formed in Castiel's hand and he gave it to Sam with a warning look. Sam opened it to look inside. "The Horn is Gabriel's and will call Heaven's Host to our aid if necessary. They will join us and, facing a Fallen, will assist in eradicating her, but will not obey us or stay with us afterward, so we must be careful if we use it. The spell is the strongest binding spell known to the Host, trusted only to the Archangels. It was used by Michael on Lucifer to immobilize him before he could be thrown into the pit. The sword is also Gabriel's, an Archangel Sword to kill an archangel. She retains her Archangel Blade to kill Lilith, so it would likely require both the binding spell and the aid of the Host to successfully kill her armed against us. "
"She gave you something so powerful?" Dean asked curiously. Castiel gave some answer that sparked a conversation between them, but the gears in Sam's mind were turning too quickly for him to pay attention.
"Cas, do you understand any of the runes on the Horn?" Sam asked suddenly.
"Some of them, yes. Others are Words of God and may only be understood by the one to whom they were intended, in this case Gabriel."
"But you can read some of them?"
"Yes, I believe that is what I just said."
"Okay, well, what if we can use the spells on the Horn to create one of our own—one that could call out the First Demon? We could use some of those sigils and bits of a summoning ritual—then we can use the spell to trap her and the Sword to kill her. We've broken down spells before and if we could do that to this, then we could get Lilith and kill her without it being the last seal."
"Interesting. I believe that it may be worth attempting. If Lilith is killed with Gabriel's Sword, it should complete her vow as well. I will begin examining the Horn immediately."
"Let's head to Bobby's so we've got more resources to work with. You be okay for the ride, Sammy?"
"Yeah, I'm fine now, dude. Let's just get on the road so we can make this spell and gank Lilith."
…
"Why the fuck are we having so much trouble with this?" Dean grumbled exasperatedly, setting the book he'd been studying into his lap so he could rub at his tired eyes.
"Neither of the spells we are attempting to combine are simple, Dean," Castiel reminded him patiently from where he was taking neat notes as he examined Gabriel's Horn. "Better that it causes us trouble and works than that it seem simple and prove ineffective."
"Yeah, I guess," Dean sighed.
"Dude, go take a break for a few. Me'n'Cas've got it for now," Sam offered softly. Dean stood up and stretched, not quite willing to just leave.
"Want some coffee or something?"
"Yeah, that'd be great," Sam agreed absently before frowning. "Maybe pick me up a salad too?"
"Yeah, we've missed dinner by a few hours now. You need anything, Cas?" Dean asked. Cas frowned in confusion.
"I believe we have sufficient supplies to perform the ritual when ready," he answered uncertainly. Sam and Dean shared a small smile before Dean left the room. Sam and Cas worked in silence for a long while before Cas remarked, "Was I expected to request something?"
"Only if you wanted anything. Dean tries not to be rude and you know how much he enjoys convincing you to try human food."
"Yes, Dean does have a preoccupation with making me experience human things."
Sam wasn't going to touch that statement with a ten foot pole and instead returned to his reading. A sigh from Cas drew his attention, his eyes flickering sharply to lock on the angel's face.
"He is still upset over my behavior while drunk."
"I think you might've scared him a little bit. I know he feels deeply about you, but I won't pretend to understand exactly how. If he likes you the way you like him, he's probably terrified. He's never been with a guy before, let alone with an angel in a male vessel," Sam hazarded. He couldn't say he'd been dwelling on it, exactly, but he'd certainly thought about it all once or twice between learning the problem and now. It promised to be more easily resolvable than his feelings toward the other angel of their acquaintance.
"Do you…think he could…look upon me in the way I look upon him?" Cas asked, shifting slightly in his chair. Sam felt the breath leave his lungs, like it'd been punched out of his body.
"Cas, man, I..."
"I should not have asked. I apologize, Sam. Your brother can be hard to understand, even for you, yes?"
"Yeah, he can be, Cas." Privately, Sam considered Cas's question as they both turned back toward their work. Dean loved Cas—perhaps as unconditionally as he loved Sam. If that was the case, Sam had little doubt that Dean would make himself believe he loved Cas romantically to make Cas happy, but he also knew that wasn't what Cas wanted. If Dean came by that love of his own accord, fine, but if it was out of some ingrained desire to please, it would be unacceptable. Sam just wasn't sure if he'd be able to tell the difference for Cas. Hell, he wasn't sure Dean would be able to tell. It was almost as bad as trying to make sense of Gabriel's attentions to himself and he'd been working on that puzzle for weeks.
"You think very loudly, Samuel," Cas murmured quietly, not looking up from his work.
"Er, sorry."
"It's okay. Sometimes you project loudly enough that I can't block it out. Now I know you truly don't know if Dean does or could feel as I desire."
"Yeah, sorry, Cas. I wish I could tell you definitively."
"Do not apologize, Sam. I understand." The scrape of the Horn against the tabletop let Sam know that Cas had moved onto the next section of spells. He returned to the ritual he was studying, taking neat notes on what supplies would be needed, what runes should be written, and what words must be said. "After we kill Lilith, Gabriel will continue trying to push us all away, but she will need us, especially you and I, Sam."
"Why me?" Sam asked, setting his pen down absently. Castiel he could understand—an angel's Grace could help cleanse another's, certainly, and angels had the bond of brotherhood to draw upon as needed—he knew they'd been growing close after Gabriel had revealed himself. What he didn't know if how the boy with demon blood could possibly help.
"Gabriel is…attached to you…and human souls are brilliant. You would provide more cleansing power over his Grace than I possibly could."
"But what about the demon blood?"
"Sam, your soul is bright. The stain is slight and your soul has fought it since it was given. I have no doubt that your soul would be bright enough to help cleanse Gabriel of her darkness. Your soul is so much more than a stain unwillingly-received in your infancy."
Sam looked away from Castiel's gaze, his heart hammering. What was Cas saying—Cas, the one who casually called him stained, tainted, the boy with demon blood, abomination? Castiel, his first introduction to angels, was the first angel to dismiss him as something unclean and make him doubt the deep faith he'd always held, negating all the prayers he'd ever said. Was Castiel telling him he had some worth? No, impossible—better to assume he was misunderstanding.
"Samuel," Castiel suddenly said firmly. Sam looked up, meeting the angel's fierce gaze. "You are more than the demon blood, Sam. You are a bright, kind, good soul and I am sorry that I was too blinded by Heaven's brainwashing to see that at first. I should never have made you feel as though you were unworthy of anything good."
It took everything in Sam not to look away. After a moment, Castiel's eyes softened just a hair, receding from their righteous-fury-intensity.
"Perhaps you will see your worth more clearly when you save an Archangel from impurity."
A nervous laugh bubbled from Sam's lips.
"Dude, don't say it like that. It's intimidating as Hell. Besides, we've got to get this spell worked out and kill Lilith before we can worry about that."
"Of course, Sam." Another moment of silence passed as they resumed their work. "Is coffee really considered equivalent to the nectar of the gods?"
"Did Dean tell you that?"
"Yes, shortly before insisting pie was better than ambrosia both in taste and life-preserving capacity."
"I haven't had nectar and ambrosia, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say he was exaggerating."
"Pity. Do you believe he would let me try his coffee, just in case?"
"I'm sure he would."