Back in the cavern of sacrifices, Gabriel hid the worst of the scene from Mia's view as they made their way around the underground area. He gently guided her between the bodies as he spoke in Enochian to lay the wards. His magic had to be light enough to not be detected, but strong enough to work. It was a very fragile balance.

Mia's constant barrage of questions didn't help, though they were definitely welcome as opposed to her silence from before.

"How far down are we? Why's it so cold? Where are all the bodies? What are you saying?"

Gabriel broke off his spellweaving to chuckle at her. "Slow down, kiddo. One at a time. We're probably a good two hundred feet underground. That's why it's so cold. I'm hiding them and before you ask, no I won't show them to you. And I'm laying an Enochian spell to let us know when the Pagans come back."

Apparently satisfied, Mia asked no more questions and seemed to be content to follow the angel around. He was completely focused on his task until a prayer rang loudly into his head. A smile stretched across his face as he listened to Sam's simple but heartfelt message.

"Love you, too, kiddo," he sent back. A few minutes later, he was done. Before leaving, he grinned at Mia. "Wanna go explore?" he asked cheekily. He took Mia's eagerly-offered hand and the two took off. With nearly four hundred miles of passageways and caverns, and more than three hundred feet down to explore, the angel and human were not at a loss for places to go.

They found colonies of bats, watched the streams and pools for eyeless cave fish, and even floated down the River Styx in a boat Gabriel snapped into existence.

Two hours after they had left the Pagan's cavern, they returned to the hotel. Mia, smiling and exhausted, plopped onto the couch and allowed her head to rest on Sam's leg in lieu of a pillow. Gabriel stood behind the couch and leaned over the back of it to give Sam a short kiss. When Sam made a noise of protest as Gabriel pulled away, the angel smirked and leaned back in to kiss his hunter more thoroughly.

Mindful of Mia and their brothers, they kept the kiss casually intimate. Gabriel's hand came up to tangle gently in Sam's hair even as Sam's tongue lightly brushed the angel's bottom lip. Dean's cough broke them apart. Sam grinned at Gabriel's scowl as the angel glared at the other hunter.

"What? I don't want to see you two making out. It's gross." When Cas glared at Dean, he hurried to clarify. "Because it's my brother!"

Gabriel and Sam snickered at Dean's backtracking. Mia murmured in her sleep and curled into the fetal position. Gabe snapped and a blanket dropped onto the teen's form. The angel himself sat on the other end of the couch and willed a sucker into his hand.

"Okay, guys, we have a plan on what to do once we find Freyr, but we still have to actually find him."

"Well, I thought we were going with doing a simultaneous summon. It may not work, but even if it doesn't, I'll be able to see him. When are we gonna do this?" Gabriel asked, ready to be done with this hunt.

"I guess...now?" Sam said questioningly. Dean sighed and stood, Cas right behind him. Gabriel stood and picked Mia up to take her to her room. Sam followed and they tucked the sleeping girl into her bed and each took a moment to silently say goodbye. Sam felt a lump in his throat at the thought of not making it back to take her home.

Gabriel appeared at his side and laid a hand on the hunter's shoulder. "I'll ward the suite so nothing can get in. She'll be safe, Sammy."

"What if we don't make it back, Gabriel? If Freyr is anywhere near as powerful as Kali and the rest of the Pagans, Dean and I don't have a chance. And then if you or Cas gets trapped with him... I've never had to worry about not coming back from a hunt like this. It's always been just me and Dean, and I knew he could take care of himself if I died. Mia's thirteen, Gabe. She'll go back in the system, ignored because she's too old to adopt, and grow up miserable."

"Sam, stop. We're going to make it back. We're going to take Mia home, she's going to be a brat and say she hates us, and we're going to embarrass the hell out of her when her friends come over. You know how I know that?" Gabriel asked softly as he pulled Sam's head down to look him in the eye.

"How?" Sam croaked as his hands clutched at Gabriel's sides.

"I have faith," the angel whispered. "In you and me and those chuckleheads we call brothers. We're gonna get through this, Sam. We have to. I haven't had a chance to ravish you yet."

Sam let out a choked, watery laugh. "I love you," he whispered as he leaned down. Gabriel met him halfway and the two shared a bittersweet kiss.

Cas knocked lightly on the doorframe. "We are prepared."

Sam sighed as he pulled away from his angel, casually wiping at his eyes to remove any evidence of dreaded chick flick moments. "We're coming, Cas."

The seraph nodded and retreated. Gabriel snorted as he tangled his fingers with Sam's. "He's such a dork."

Sam raised a brow at him. "And you're not?"

"Samuel! Do I detect sarcasm?"

Sam's level stare cracked as Gabriel laughed. "Come on, Gabe. Let's get this over with."

The four men met up in the living room, loaded down with equipment to summon and trap a god. Before they left, Gabriel took a few moments to weave the tightest protection spell he could manage without draining himself. That done, he snapped and transported them to the cavern. Cas and Sam immediately began setting up the summoning spell while Dean and Gabriel checked the area to be sure they were alone.

Five minutes later, they stood around the spell altar, gathering fortitude to wage war against their enemy. The hunters looked to their respective angels and said a million words in a single look. Sam glanced at Dean and nodded, unwilling to put it off any longer.

As Sam began chanting, Dean began adding the ingredients in the order they had worked out earlier. The last ingredient, blood of a willing sacrifice, was given with barely a flinch as Dean cut a shallow line in his palm. The scars there from years of doing similar spells kept him from feeling much of the sting as blood dripped from his clenched hand and into the bowl below.

Meanwhile, Gabriel called out in a booming voice, "Freyr, ég kalla yður. Komið, heilsa gamlan vin."

The walls around them shook and rocks fell from the ceiling. Sam kept chanting, the words falling from his lips as he poured everything he had into this spell. Gabriel sent a pulse of Pagan magic outward, a beacon for Freyr to follow.

Suddenly, the shaking stopped. A voice echoed around the cavern, the Nordic accent heavy as it spoke. "Loki, my cousin! What brings you to this place?"

Gabriel forced a smile to his face. "Cuz, it's been a long time."

"Indeed it has! Tell me, why have you summoned me here?"

The angel found himself slipping into the persona he had used for thousands of years. An easy grin replaced the farcical one and he sheepishly scratched the back of his neck. "Well, old man, it's not exactly a social call."

Freyr's eyes narrowed. He glanced around and finally noticed the other three men staring at him. "What have you done, Loki? Consorting with humans? And an angel as well? You have fallen far, my kin."

"Well, actually," Gabriel – no, the Trickster – said as he stepped toward his adopted cousin, "that's exactly what I was going to talk to you about."

Freyr looked at his cousin in confusion. "What are you on about, boy? I do not consort with humans."

Gabriel raised a sardonic brow. "Oh, really? Look around, pal. All of these people were murdered in your name." As he spoke, the angel lifted his glamour and revealed the bodies he had hidden from Mia's sight earlier.

The Pagan god of virility looked around in confusion. "I do not understand. I do not ask for death. I ask for life. You know this, Loki!"

Loki snorted. "I know that things change. We change with the times to keep ourselves alive."

Freyr glared. "I haven't changed that much."

"Whatever, bro. How do you explain all the dead bodies here? And the fact that one of your little pets killed that kid over there last night in your name?" the shorter man asked, pointing across the chamber at Mark's body.

Confusion turned to anger on Freyr's face. "These mortals dare to defile my name with such acts?" With a low growl, he drew himself to his full height and disappeared in a bright flash.

Sam and Dean stared at each other in confusion, while Cas stepped to Gabriel's side and sent him a questioning look. The archangel shook his head and grinned at his brother.

"I guess that answers the question on if he's still mad at me," Gabriel quipped.

Sam snorted. "Yeah, Loki. Had me worried for a second there."

The sandy-haired angel raised a brow at Sam. "As much as I would love to go back to being just a Trickster, I like what I have now too much to do that."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Freaking girls, Cas. Both of them."

Before anyone could comment, Freyr reappeared with another flash of light. He was covered in blood and held the scruff of the man that Gabriel and Dean had witnessed the night before, murdering poor Mark.

With a hearty shake of the human, Freyr demanded of them, "Is this the one who you saw murder in my name?"

Gabriel glanced at the human. The man looked terrified. With no sympathy for him, the angel nodded his head and said cheerfully, "Yup. That's him."

"Why do you do this?" the Pagan roared with another shake of his fist. The human was shaken like a rag doll and whimpered.

"The park was dying! Trees were dying, the animals inside the caves were dying out. I had to do something to save it!" the man cried.

"But why start killing people?" Sam asked. "I mean, if you did your research then you would know that this guy doesn't really do the whole sacrifice thing."

"I cut my hand accidentally one night during the ritual to ask for a bountiful harvest. The blood hit the altar and the next thing you know, it was like spring in the middle of January. I started doing it on purpose and the blessings just kept getting bigger and bigger."

"Why did you murder these people?" Dean asked forcefully, irritated at the man's evasion of Sam's question.

The worshiper turned to the older hunter, a crazed look in his eyes. "They didn't believe me. I told them we needed more power, more blood! But they wouldn't listen. Bob tried to make them mutiny. I couldn't let that happen, though! We were finally starting to get visitors again! So I invited him down here to talk and slit his throat over an altar for you," he whispered, turning to look at the god he had been worshipping for over a year. "The others began to question me about his disappearance, so I had to get rid of them, too! But I made them useful in the end. Their deaths gave you power!"

Freyr looked at the man with disdain. "I am a deity of life, of vitality – virility! And yet you think to gain favor from me by taking away that life? You gain no favor here, only one last death. To repay me for besmirching my name, I will take your life as I have already taken the lives of the two remaining members of your circle. There will be no Valhalla for you, worm. You will go to Helheim and be at the mercy of Hel herself."

Gabriel smirked. "Tell her Daddy says hey."

With little more than a flick of his wrist, Freyr twisted the man's body so quickly that his head had little hope of following. Sam winced at the crack of his neck breaking, but couldn't dredge up much more caring. After Freyr had dropped the body onto the cave floor, Gabriel snapped and the bodies of all the deceased burst into flames that burned so hot, they were blue.

The taller Pagan turned back to face Gabriel. "I will leave this place now, Loki, and will return to the Ǽsir. I find myself suddenly weary of this planet."

"Look, you know I don't do this often, so listen up. I'm only saying this once. I'm sorry. Should have known better."

"Yes, you should have. But all is forgiven. Family is family, cousin."

Gabriel sighed. "I know."

Freyr laughed, the sound cutting off abruptly as he disappeared.

"Well," Dean said as he hefted his machete, "that was anticlimactic."

Sam chuckled, agreeing with Dean but not willing to complain about it. He ran a hand through his hair and breathed deeply as it sank in that they had come through this unscathed. It was a rare thing for a hunter, and even more so for a Winchester. "Hey, guys," he piped up, "can we get back to the room? We didn't actually let Mia know where we were going."

"Oh. Well, shit." Gabriel snapped and they were back in the living room. He and Sam stepped quietly to Mia's room and both let out a sigh of relief when they saw that the teen was still asleep. They shut the door and rejoined their brothers. Cas and Dean were still standing where they had appeared, but quickly went to their own room when it became apparent that their niece wasn't awake.