Disclaimer: Nothing Supernatural belongs to me.
Chapter 10: If You Want Blood (You Got It)
Blood on the rocks
Blood on the streets
Blood in the sky
Blood on the sheets
If you want blood
You got it
I want you to bleed for me
…
"What the fuck—whatever, sure—Cas, stop trying to friggin' take the phone—Sam, Bobby can be there in an hour. Stay put, d'ya hear? Put up the wards Cas showed us and don't leave your room," Dean instructed, his voice tinny over Sam's phone.
"Okay," Sam replied, subdued. He could hear Dean sigh over the line.
"Cas and I are heading toward Bobby's now. I'll see you soon, dude, okay? Just—just don't anything I wouldn't do, all right?"
Sam snickered despite himself..
"Yeah, man. See you at Bobby's."
The call ended and Sam leaned back against the headboard of his bed, flipping on the television. He kept the volume low to prevent worsening his already significant headache. He felt drained. Wasn't love supposed to be uplifting?
Sam closed his eyes, letting the quiet droning of the television soothe him.
A knock on the door startled him and he realized he must've dozed off. He sat up and wiped his face with his hands, shaking his head in an attempt to wake up. The knock on the door repeated itself and Sam walked tiredly toward it.
"I'm coming, give me a second, Bobby. I must've fallen asl—."
"No words of love, Sam? Didn't you miss me?" Lucifer asked with a smile. Sam, struggling to breathe, didn't respond, merely standing motionless and pale in the doorway. "That's fine, Sam. We can talk later. For now, we're going to go on a little trip."
Sam managed a hardly-articulate "no" as Lucifer yanked him out of the hotel room and touched his forehead.
…
"The hotel room's empty? You're sure, Bobby?" Dean asked for the fifth time.
"Nah, I'm sure he's hiding in the bathtub. Of course I'm sure, you idjit! His bag's still here and everything. Door was open when I got here. I hate to say it, kid, but I don't think he left this room willingly. Now get your ass here as quick as you can. We gotta figure out who got him," Bobby instructed before hanging up. Dean's knuckles tightened on the steering wheel.
"God-fucking-damnit! It's Lucifer, I know it is!" Dean shouted.
"We will find him, Dean," Cas murmured quietly. Dean shot him a biting look and stepped on the gas. "I will return shortly. We cannot leave Gabriel unattended."
"Whatever, man," Dean grumbled to the now-empty car. His heart was racing, pounding violently against his ribs. Sam was in so much danger and he didn't know if he could save him. All he knew was that he had to. Somehow. Please, God, I have to save him somehow. He's my brother and I've got to protect him.
"I could transport us to the hotel," Cas offered quietly as he reappeared in the vehicle, Gabriel's charred form shielded in his arms again. Dean swallowed. He wanted to get there to help Bobby find clues, but he was scared too. He could pretend it wasn't real until he actually got there.
"Gimme a minute first," Dean ground out. Castiel nodded minutely and turned to look out the passenger window. A few minutes later, Dean gave the go-ahead and took his foot off the gas. He closed his eyes and opened them again to find the car parked beside Bobby's in a cheap motel parking lot. "Let's see what Bobby's figured out so far."
They climbed out of the car and headed toward the open door. Bobby spotted them and stepped out to show them inside, closing the door behind them as Cas placed Gabriel on the empty bed.
"I can't find anything that might help find him, boy. Maybe your angel'll have better luck," Bobby said gruffly. Dean considered protesting the term of possession, but decided not to in favor of watching Cas investigate.
"I can feel vestiges of Lucifer's presence near the doorway. I do not believe he entered the room," Cas informed them.
"He must've tricked Sam outside, then," Bobby reasoned. Cas nodded.
"Most likely. He may have created an illusion to trick him. There is evidence of use of Grace and more than would be needed to simply sedate Sam," Cas stated. "It may be possible to track the movement of his Grace, but I do not believe I am strong enough to do so. It is too subtle for my powers."
"So what do we do, Cas?" Dean asked, rubbing a hand over his face tiredly.
"We can monitor for signs of Lucifer's presence," Cas offered, his forehead scrunched in thought. Bobby and Dean watched in silence, waiting for another option. There had to be a more useful plan. "Perhaps, given Gabriel's pagan involvement, we could find a spell to increase her recovery rate. She could track Lucifer."
"How would we find a spell that would work?" Bobby asked, already thinking through his catalogue of books.
"I may know someone with the necessary information. Remain here and I will return soon."
"It'd be better if I started heading to my house to look through the books."
"Then I will transport you all to your home before I go to determine if there is a spell that would work."
…
"Wakey-wakey," Lucifer singsonged, his voice making Sam startle awake. Sam felt like whimpering and closing his eyes until the nightmare he was in ended, but he didn't. He locked a glare on Lucifer's face and waited for the Devil to say his piece while he considered how funny it was that being captured by the devil had so suddenly changed his view on selling the world. "Aw, what's with the face, Sammy? You're the one who left the warding so I could get to you. Aren't you glad I came and picked you up?"
"It's pretty hard to be glad that Satan kidnapped you, you know," Sam replied drily. A dangerous facsimile of a smile flickered onto Lucifer's face.
"Now, now, Sam, there's no need to call names. I'm hardly the adversary if you were coming to me for help. That is what you were doing, isn't it? Coming to sacrifice yourself so I would save my little brother?" he asked, his tone taunting.
"It's your fault Gabriel was hurt in the first place," Sam retorted.
"No, it really wasn't. He was weakened because of his stunt trying to recover that little trickster you got killed. If it's anyone's fault, it's yours, Sam. But that's okay. You can fix it, if you can convince me to help."
"You won't help. It'll be a trick."
"Hmm, I think you're forgetting which archangel you're talking to, Sammy. I'm not a trickster—or a liar, for what it's worth. If I tell you I'll heal my brother, I will."
"And, let me guess, all it'll take is a three letter word and you'll do it?"
"Got it in one. Agree to be my vessel and Gabriel will be up and walking the very same minute."
"All the way healed? Still with his powers? Walking isn't necessarily fully powered."
"I give you my word that he will be completely recovered in that moment with all due power and skills he had before his injury."
"You'll kill my brother, though. I can't let that happen."
"Well, that's just a choice you'll have to make, isn't it? My brother for yours. I mean, it's not that hard a choice. You and yours are mortal—you're going to die sometime or other. Mine shouldn't die and you can keep it from happening. Wouldn't it be worth it to know that your pitiful mortal existence provided the means for an immortal to survive?"
"Not at the price of my brother—or the world."
"We'll see what you think about that after you and I have a bit more quality time together. Your brother may think he learned torture from the best, but no one knows the art better than I do. A little blood and pain and you won't be trying to save anyone but yourself."
"That's a lot of talk without any actions backing it up," Sam remarked, realizing he was either stupid or suicidal. Lucifer's smile sparked again and then a pain like ice spiking through all of Sam's organs made him unaware of anything but misery.
"All I need is one little word, Sam," Lucifer whispered in his ear when the pain dimmed. Sobbing, Sam shook his head. He couldn't give in, no matter what Lucifer did to him. The fate of the world depended on it.
…
"Jesus, Cas! Warn a guy before you appear an inch away from him!" Dean startled.
"My apologies, Dean. I have discovered a ritual that may recover Gabriel and therefore aid us in finding Sam," Cas remarked.
"What do we need? Should I wake Bobby up?"
"Quickly—we must prepare before sunset and there is much to do."
"All right, give me a second," Dean replied before dashing upstairs. Fifteen minutes later, the hunters had downed a cup of coffee each and Castiel had begun telling them the ingredients they would need.
"Where the hell are we supposed to find Asgardian mead?" Bobby asked incredulously.
"Gabriel has shown me how to…procure…the beverage before," Castiel answered. "As for the other ingredients, I believe you will be capable of gathering them without me. It may take me several hours to acquire the mead."
"Well, you better go get started, Cas. We'll start rustling up the rest of the ingredients," Bobby answered.
"Be safe out there," Dean grunted.
"Do the same," Castiel instructed sincerely before he disappeared. Bobby and Dean sat down with their list of spell ingredients—half of which Bobby had lying around already. Although the spell called for angelica root, Castiel had marked it off and indicated that the persimmon in Bobby's stores would be an adequate substitute. Sunflower petals would take nothing more than a trip to the florist. Finding black agate would be easy enough as well. The ingredients that would be harder to get we a hair from a Valkyrie, tears of a motherless child, and the blood of a virgin.
They decided to tackle the Valkyrie hair first. True to form, Bobby's first instinct was to start calling other hunters even as he pulled down books that might have more information. When it looked like it may take longer than hoped, he sent Dean off to get the tears and blood. Dean returns an hour from sunset and knows from the harassed look on Bobby's face that he's been more successful than his father figure.
"Ain't nobody ever seen a freakin' Valkyrie, kid, least no one that I know or anyone that I know knows," Bobby grumbled as he slammed the phone down again, taking his cap off and scratching his head.
"So what are we gonna do?" Dean asked, feeling the beginnings of panic growing in his soul. If they couldn't heal Gabriel, after all, the chances that they could find Sam while Lucifer had him were reduced to almost nothing.
"Calm down, boy. I'll think of something," Bobby said gruffly. Despite the lack of help in the statement, it comforted Dean a little and enabled him to think. His thoughts were interrupted by Bobby suddenly cursing.
"What? What is it?"
"There's one more contact I ain't tried—a demon named Crowley," Bobby answered.
"Son of a bitch, all we've got's a demon?" Dean cursed in agreement with Bobby's earlier assessment while Bobby went to the phone and started entering a long number. "Wait, you got a demon's number?"
"I ran into the bastard at an auction once and he's less skanky than some of the other demons I've met, so I summon him first if I need info from Hell. Last time, Crowley and I agreed calling each other'd be better than summoning him every time," Bobby replied absently as he lifted the phone to his ear. Dean listened with bated breath as Bobby negotiated, the older hunter's face rage with anger as he argued with the demon on the other end of the line.
"Deal," a man in a dark suit agreed as he suddenly appeared in the room. "One Valkyrie hair in return for that bottle of apple pie moonshine you've been hiding all year."
"Apple pi—you brought a Valkyrie hair?" Dean asked, setting aside the knowledge that Bobby had been hiding a potentially perfect alcohol from him.
"Who is this idiot, Robert? Yes, squirrel, I brought the Valkyrie hair—though what you need it for is still something of a mystery. Dangerous things, Valkyries, and their hair is only used in dangerous spells," Crowley remarked. Bobby ignored him and bent down to search the cabinet behind him for the moonshine, seemingly oblivious to Crowley's gaze following him.
"What we need it for is none of your business, demon," Dean grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. Crowley redirected his attention to Dean.
"I didn't ask, squirrel. I just said it's bloody likely to be bad," he answered with some irritation. Dean rolled his eyes like he hadn't started yelling at the demon over nothing about the time Bobby stood up with a mostly filled mason jar in his hand.
"Here's your moonshine, Crowley," Bobby said, holding out the jar.
"Uh-uh-uh, Bobby. Have to seal the contract first," Crowley returned.
"Do we really need a contract for a simple exchange of goods?"
"With you lot, yes. Now pucker up."
Dean made gagging noises in the background as Crowley planted a perfectly chaste kiss on Bobby's lips.
"Here you are, then. One Valkyrie hair for the contents of that jar," Crowley said amiably with a smirk, trading the items absently. He opened the jar and took a sip, sighing in happiness. "It's not Glencraig, but it'll do."
"Yeah, well, you oughtta get out of here. Dangerous spells and all that," Bobby remarked gruffly. Crowley winked at him with a smirk again.
"You're right, of course. Ciao, darling," he answered before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Almost instantly, the place he had been standing was filled with Castiel.
"Is there something wrong with your eye, Bobby?" he asked.
"No," Bobby answered curtly, his face flushed bright red. "We got the ingredients."
"We should go outside. I will bring Gabriel," Castiel answered. He vanished before reappearing with his sister's charred remains in his arms. "Bobby, are you in any way attached to the ash tree Gabriel used to store Grace before?"
"Not particularly, why?" Bobby asked warily.
"It may be damaged by the spell. Although I would prefer to use something more associated with Loki, I will use the tree as a grounding point for Gabriel," Castiel explained. They walked the remainder in silence, each contemplating their part in the spell. Carefully, Castiel wrapped Gabriel in a winding sheet and laid her under the shade of the tree with her feet pointing northeast. The wind made the ash leaves rustle as it tugged at them all.
"When I begin the spell, say your parts, but remain outside the circle no matter what happens. You may not enter until the spell is completed," Castiel warned as he began marking sigils on the ground, watching them as they made the circle and placed the candles where he indicated. They waited until Castiel was ready to light the candles and say their beginning spells, Dean's in Enochian and Bobby's in Old Norse. Castiel scattered the herbs over Gabriel's almost-corpse and placed the agate on her forehead. As he spoke the spell, he dropped the childless mother's tears and the virgin blood carefully onto the agate.
He poured the unused portion of each ingredient into a central fire under the tree, which turned bright green with the addition. Lightning shattered the sky as the wind picked up and the green fire glowed brighter and bigger between Gabriel and the tree. Castiel's voice grew louder, more commanding as he wove the spell demanding Gabriel's healing. Finally, he heated the mead over the fire and placed the Valkyrie hair within it just before removing it from the flame. Once removed, he poured it at Gabriel's feet. The fire and candles went out when the last drop touched the ground, surrounding them all in the darkness and silence of night.
The hunters outside the circle stayed silent as they waited for Castiel to give the all clear.
"It is done," Castiel said finally, waving his hand to light a fire outside the circle so they could see. He looked haggard and Dean staggered forward to help him.
"Did it work?" he asked urgently as Bobby went past him to the sheet-wrapped body on the ground.
"Gabriel's vessel and Grace are restored enough to ensure safety. A few days of rest will still be needed," Castiel assured him.
"Er, was the spell supposed to make her a man again?" Bobby asked. Castiel and Dean looked over, seeing that it was indeed the Trickster they'd met first lying there, not Ase's body. Castiel frowned in thought before his eyes lit up in realization.
"Using persimmon instead of angelica—although they are both used for healing, persimmon is used in spells to change sex. I knew it would work for the healing spell, but it seems to have had the unexpected consequence of changing Gabriel's body back to a male one. I…pray he does not notice soon," he remarked.
"It doesn't matter. You need rest. Let's get you 'n' him inside," Dean said decidedly. The hunters helped the angels inside to safety and pretended not to be concerned that Gabriel hadn't woken up and that Castiel had fallen asleep the second they got him onto the couch. As long as they woke up soon, everything would be okay. Or at least so they hoped.
A/N: I don't know where the hell Crobby came from but it's apparently staying. For all that the plot and notes were planned out before this story was started, it's a trainwreck as far as ships go. There weren't supposed to be anything but squint-to-see-it Sam/Gabe. Idk. Enjoy?