Bad Moon Rising
Chapter 9
A/N: A chunk of this chapter is borrowed from the show and that's on purpose. Omega is just a wrench in the works. The other events in Season 13 are still happening.
Castiel pulled up in front of an isolated dive bar off of the freeway. Omega eyed the entrance with distaste, but reached for the handle of the Inverness green 67 Mercury Cougar that Dean had picked up for the Winchesters to use when they needed a second car. They mostly took it for grocery runs so the engine wouldn't rot, but they had made it clear that Castiel was welcome to use it since his Lincoln had ended up in a junk yard where they couldn't retrieve it without proof of ownership.
"I will return before midnight," the angel said. "If anyone is dead..."
"You'll smite me into next week. I know." Omega huffed as he slid out of the car and slammed the door behind him. Cas pulled out of the parking lot with a spew of gravel and the vampire headed for the door.
As soon as he stepped inside, a bouncer blocked his path, arms crossed and eyes narrowed. Omega glared up at the towering mass of muscle that would make even Sam seem short by comparison and resisted the urge to bare his fangs at the man.
"Hey, kid. If you're looking for your parents, you give me a name and I'll ask around, but you can't come in. No minors allowed."
Omega sighed and dug a wallet out of his back pocket.
"I'm not a kid," he said, pulling out a Texas drivers license. The date of birth on the fake ID put him at eighteen years old. He couldn't stomach alcohol, so there wasn't any point in trying to pass for drinking age. The bouncer took the card from him and squinted at it with a suspicious scowl. Omega schooled his features into a belligerent, but otherwise innocent look. Finally, the bouncer pulled out a massive black permanent marker and drew a black X on the back of Omega's hand.
"You cause any trouble and you're out on your ass."
"Duly noted," Omega said, taking the license back and stalking inside. For appearance sake, he ordered a soda at the bar and made his way to the pool table. He leaned against the wall and surveyed the room, mentally marking likely targets.
He dismissed the bar tender and the waitress immediately. They would be missed while they slept off the effects of his venom and as much as he would like to bring the bouncer down a peg or two, he had to mark him off for the same reason.
There was one female customer in the place and she glared death at any man that dared to approach her as she nursed her tumbler of whiskey. The two college toughs trying to hustle pool would miss each other if one disappeared for a couple of hours, but the guy losing to them might work. He had an air of sad desperation about him and no one else seemed to know him.
Omega was eyeing him and plotting how to get him alone when he noticed a pair of hungry eyes watching him from a booth on the other side of the room. The man wore a beaten ball cap with a logo that matched the feeder of the semi truck parked outside. He knocked back a swig of his beer and licked his lips as his eyes travelled down Omega's body. A thumb stroked the neck of the beer bottle, sliding over the smooth glass and circling the mouth suggestively. His gaze worked its way back up the vampire's body and their eyes met. Omega arched an eyebrow at him and tilted his head toward the door. The trucker swallowed hard and dug in his pocket for a wad of cash to leave on the table for his beer. He gave Omega the barest nod and headed for the door. Omega gave him a couple of minutes lead time before he followed him. Perfect.
When Castiel returned, he had company. The man with him exuded an air of frustrated desperation that clashed with the obnoxious arrogance he wore like a second skin. His eyes shifted around the bar, suspicious and angry.
Omega watched them out of the corner of his eye as they took a seat on the far side of the bar. The trucker had long since slept off his venom and headed on his way, a pint or two low on blood and with a subliminal suggestion that nothing had happened.
Castiel didn't acknowledge the vampire with so much as a glance, so Omega kept his distance. Something seemed off about the angel. Whatever he had learned tonight did not sit well with him and Omega couldn't decide whether he wanted to get involved or not.
Pretending to nurse the drink in front of him, he mentally sorted through the music and voices in the bar to zero in on what the pair were saying.
"Will you…will you do me a favor and stop looking at the door every five seconds like you wanna get outta here?"
"You'll forgive me if I'm a little on edge," Cas said, leaning forward with a narrow look. "The last time we were together you killed me."
Omega lifted an eyebrow at that tidbit of information, but Castiel was an angel. He'd never met an angel in his own world. Who knew what they were capable of? Maybe returning from their version of death wasn't unusual.
The most he could glean from the following conversation was that this other person must be an angel as well, but not an ally. Not really. Maybe a necessary evil, but not someone to trust, and he believed something big, bad and dangerous was on its way to destroy this world. Omega scowled. Could it be the thing that brought him here? Maybe. Not that it mattered. He had no intention of destroying the Winchesters at this point, so the odds of going home were slim and none. If something threatened this world, it threatened him as well.
"Work this out with me. Hypothetically, um, let's say you're lying, and I help you find your son, and then you kill me again." Castiel narrowed his eyes at the man sitting across from him and every line of his body conveyed barely controlled hostility.
"Cut me a little bit of slack. Please?," his companion said, gesturing toward the ceiling as though a higher power might step in to convince the angel if he just pleaded hard enough. "That unhinged thing and that meth head Kevin Tran are about to bust through that door. God isn't here! It's just us. We're all we got, in case you hadn't noticed."
Castiel sighed and sat back in his chair. Omega tensed. Was he actually considering working with this creature?
"Well, I-I-I have to talk to Sam and Dean."
Omega relaxed as the stranger dropped his head to the table in defeat, but it quickly became apparent that the man wasn't going to allow Castiel to contact the Winchesters and he had some kind of hold over the angel. For whatever reason, he continued listening to him and Omega scowled into his drink, wondering what, if anything, he should do. Castiel knew he was there. He must know Omega could hear them, but he still hadn't acknowledged the vampire.
Tired of waiting while Cas listened to the arrogant asshole, Omega rose and made his way across the bar to the table. Cas looked up as he drew near and he huffed an exasperated sigh.
"Maybe we should just head back," Omega said, glaring down at the stranger. The man looked him over with cool assessment.
"And who, exactly are you?"
"A friend. Who are you?"
The stranger smirked.
"Lucifer, King of Lies. Although, ya know I don't really lie. I just…deliver the truth creatively."
Omega lifted an eyebrow at the name. He knew it, of course, but he'd always thought of the devil as a religious construct meant to keep the less ethical in check. He might have been more impressed with the fallen angel if he hadn't exuded more bluster than menace. Dismissing the devil with a flick of his eyes, he turned to Cas.
"I agree with you. Sam and Dean should be consulted about whatever you've been discussing, especially considering…recent events."
"Recent events? What recent events?"
Omega ignored Lucifer and stared down at Cas, trying to convey without words that he wanted to help with whatever was going wrong, and if something other than guile held Cas hostage in this bar, he would help with that, too. He didn't like the angel, and he didn't hold any illusions that Cas liked him, but he didn't have to like someone to ally with them. It just helped.
Cas sighed and his eyes slid to Lucifer with an expression of strained patience.
"Does this have anything to do with my son?" Lucifer said, his eyes narrowing. The bluster fell away and Omega caught a slight glimpse of what made the devil a source for fear. Reassessing his original impression of the fallen angel, he took a step closer to Cas and Lucifer glanced at him with a knowing smirk.
"Jack! Your son's name is Jack," Cas said, sitting forward and glaring at the devil. Omega lifted an eyebrow at his vehemence and tucked the reaction away in the back of his head as a tidbit of information to consider, later.
"Jack. Wow. Is he awesome? I mean, is he a chip off the old block?"
Omega rolled his eyes and sighed as Cas hedged his answers and Lucifer worked his way to the conclusion that the Winchesters and their angel had no more idea where this Jack person was than he did. From there, the conversation petered off into a series of sniping insults and Lucifer complaining about the Winchester influence on his son.
Bored with the whole proceeding, Omega stalked toward the pool table, now unmanned since the hustlers had gone home with their take. Most of the place had cleared out by this time and the bar tender washed glasses and wiped down surfaces, casting alternating irritated and exasperated looks at the angels that refused to leave and let him close up early. The vampire found a seat at the far end of the bar and shook his head when the man headed his way with a defeated look. Smiling gratefully, the bar tender headed out into the room, wiping down tables to hint that Cas and Lucifer might want to head on out if they weren't going to order anything. Instead, the pair migrated to the bar itself, Castiel still scowling and Lucifer still complaining.
Omega sighed and watched them bicker like brothers, drumming his fingers against the pitted wood of the bar. He'd just about decided enough was enough and he could walk back to the bunker when a deafening crash of thunder pierced his eardrums and the doors of the bar flew open. A distinguished gentleman dressed all in white with a salt and pepper beard and mustache stood with hands clasped behind his back and a gloating smirk on his face. Men and women in black suits followed him, the ones on the edges entering first and standing to attention like an honor guard.
Cas stood, brow creased with consternation and a touch of panic. Lucifer glanced over his shoulder, assessed the new comers and then turned his back on them as though he considered them of no consequence, but his face belied the relaxed set of his shoulders.
The gentleman sauntered into the room, eyeing the bartender. He raised a hand and snapped his fingers. The man exploded into dust and Lucifer flinched. Omega slid off his chair, every sense suddenly on high alert.
"Hey, man." Lucifer nodded over his shoulder as though the instant annihilation of a full grown human was an everyday occurrence. The gentleman's gaze flicked over the room and landed on Omega. He lifted his hand and snapped again. Pain ripped down the vampire's spine, curling in his gut and sizzling down the nerves of every extremity. He collapsed in place with an agonized shout. It had felt similar when Cas smote him, but unlike the smiting, the pain blew through and then disappeared again in a flash. A strong hand gripped his upper arm and he blinked in surprise to find Castiel bent over him.
"Are you okay?" the angel asked as Lucifer and the gentleman he referred to as Asmodeus exchanged thinly veiled hostile pleasantries.
"I'm fine," Omega said, getting to his feet with the angel's help.
"Good. Stay close."
"I see you must've taken over Crowley's spot? Yeah," Lucifer said, still trying for cool calm, but only a fool would fall for his act. "That's okay. You can stand down, now. Skipper's back!"
"Well, here's the thing, Lou," Asmodeus said, stepping forward. "I'm real satisfied with my current position. Hell is humming along quite nicely, thank you. But I do hope you and your little lap angel will pay me a visit."
Castiel moved up, eyeing Asmodeus with belligerence. The demon glanced at him and his eyes flickered over Omega, still intact and standing. Those eyes narrowed a little, but then dismissed the vampire as unimportant as he turned back to Lucifer. The devil turned, a sneer curling his lips.
"Yes, well…see, that's the thing. We're all booked up, buddy."
"Oh, I won't take 'no' for an answer," said the demon. Lucifer had reached for Cas as though he would escort him out, but the demon's defiance brought him around, the fear that tightened the corners of his eyes morphing into anger.
"Now you know better than to screw with me, Asmodeus," Lucifer said in a low, dangerous voice.
"Oh, I knew better than to screw with the old you." The demon didn't seem terribly impressed by Lucifer's bravado. "But this new version seems a little more…screwable."
Lucifer pressed his lips together and breathed deep, shrugging his shoulders to loosen them. As his shoulders relaxed, the irises of his eyes glowed a bright, cherry red. Omega unconsciously bared his fangs at the devil.
"So help me," the devil said with a threatening shake of his head.
"Aw, please," Asmodeus said, singularly unimpressed. He raised a hand and flicked a finger at Lucifer.
A wall of force threw the fallen angel behind the bar and tossed Cas into Omega. They went down in a tangle of red hair and trench coat. The demons bracketing Asmodeus rushed forward, intent on capturing the devil, the angel and the vampire for their master.
