Gabriel sighed in relief when his brother and father came out smiling. He was bitter and a bit jealous yeah, but the world was supposed to be more important than his hurt feelings.

"Great. So, what now?" He asked.

"We trap Amara, put her back in the box." Chuck smiled ruefully.

"Wait, what?" Dean said, obviously disagreeing.

"You're right, she needs to be destroyed – but I won't kill her." Chuck sighed.

"Why the hell not?"

"Amara's been caged for billions of years, but she was always there. She had to be there. You know – yin and yang, dark and light."

"English Chuck" Dean growled.

Chuck huffed, but to their surprise it was Hermione who answered.

"There is a certain balance in the universe. There can't be light without the dark or dark without the light. They cancel each other out. If you destroy one, the balance will be ruined and everything would – " She searched for words.

"It wouldn't be a good thing" Lucifer glared at her.

"It really wouldn't be good. Like 'end of reality' not good." Chuck finished.

"Okay, so we gift-wrap Amara. I mean, we got the team back together, so – "

"Not quite. We're still a few members short of the original line-up." Chuck grumbled.

"Yeah, first time, it took the combined strength of the archangels before dad finished her off" Gabriel pointed out.

"Even then it was close. Now, with just us, we'll lose." Chuck continued, sighing.

"I'm afraid Michael might be indisposed" Lucifer winced.

"And Castiel killed Raffie." Gabriel wrinkled his nose.

"Well, can't you just bring them back? Like you brought Castiel back?" Sam asked.

"No. Archangels are different, it would take time that we don't have." Chuck shook his head

"So, what do we need?" Dean asked.

"What've we got?" Chuck looked pointedly at Gabriel and Hermione, but Gabriel shook his head imperceptibly and Chuck nodded.

"We could look for more Hands of God?" Sam suggested. Gabriel gave him a deadpan look.

"A little redundant" Chuck answered, waving his hands.

"What about Crowley. Demon power? King of Hell?" Dean suggested.

Lucifer rolled his eyes. "You want to bring your ex-boyfriend in?"

Chuck sighed. "I don't like it, but you have a point. He does have some juice."

"We also have the angels." Lucifer pointed out. Chuck winced. "Don't worry dad, you don't have to deal with them."

"And you think they'll listen to you?" Dean pointed out.

"Maybe not. But they'll probably listen to him." Lucifer pointed at Gabriel, who sighed in defeat.

Chuck nodded.

"Then there's Rowena. I mean, she's a snake, but she's a powerful witch." Sam proposed.

Hermione's eyes widened and she gulped. "I thought you didn't work with witches."

Sam made a face "We don't generally, but we've been kind of forced to. She's powerful and she's got this book – the Book of the Damned."

Hermione's blood ran cold. She had heard of the Book of the Damned – She was an academic after all, and what she had heard about it made "Secrets of the Darkest Arts" and "Magick Moste Evile" seem like children's fairytales, including the instructions on making a horcrux.

"I don't like the sound of her."

"You're willing to work with a demon, but not a witch?" Dean scrunched his eyebrows at her in confusion.

"No, that's not it. It's just, that I've heard of that book." She raised her hands placatingly.

"Well, it is kinda gross." Sam conceded. "She's actually Crowley's mother and she – "

"But I thought it took centuries to turn a human into a demon." She interrupted.

"You'd be surprised." Dean mumbled to himself, looking at the floor.

"She's old, but don't say that to her face. She's from the 17th century, Scotland. She claims to be born with magic, but the witches we generally deal with, make deals with demons for their power. So far, what we've seen, she can't die." Sam continued.

"Yeah, I snapped her neck myself." Lucifer said nonchalantly.

Hermione felt sick to her stomach, and not because of Lucifer's flippant remark. Everything in her mind screamed horcrux, and Scotland was a little too close to home. Gabriel seemed to sense her distress and took her hand, squeezing it.

"Anyways, getting these groups to enlist and work together isn't going to be easy." Sam pointed out.

"Couldn't you just compel them?" Dean asked, and Hermione looked at him horrified.

"I invented free will for a reason." Chuck argued.

"So, we're tying our hands, on principle." Dean made a face. Hermione was just about to give him a piece of her mind, but Chuck came first.

"No, you can't make an effective soldier by force. They have to choose this fight." Hermione looked at him incredulously. Damn straight, she would tie her hands, on principle and not efficiency.

"They're going to want to know they're backing a winner."

"So, we play the God-card. We assemble our band of brothers, hit Amara with everything we've got. Then when she's weak – "

"I finish her off." Chuck finished.

"We might want to move base though." Gabriel pointed out. "The warding on this place makes it harder to work any sort of power. It's possible to do small stuff, but we're going to want to be on full capacity."

Lucifer nodded. "You have a point."

Hermione sighed. She was very tempted to give Harry a call. Some wizards would be good for backup, but the question would be if they could get people assembled with such a short notice. Then again, working with demons and dark witches might not be high on the wizarding community to-do list after just coming out of a war. Best case scenario, she would be called insane and thrown in Azkaban for collaborating with Rowena. She had really become more pragmatic – sometimes the end did justify the means, even if she wasn't down with mind control.

…

As Sam, Dean and Hermione looked for a proper setting for the stand-off, Lucifer went to heaven, where he was immediately surrounded by angels.

"And here I thought I had made real inroads with you guys."

"You thought wrong, Serpent." An angel hissed at him.

"Serpent?" Lucifer mouthed incredulously.

"We loathe you. We'll always loathe you."

"I came here to ask a good-faith favor of you guys, but as you are clearly less than kindly disposed, perhaps you'll listen to this guy?"

Gabriel, took this as his cue, and appeared around the corner.

"Hi guys! Long time no see." He waved at then cheerfully

The angels stood, dumbstruck, looking at Gabriel.

"But you – you were killed. By him." An angel stuttered, pointing at Lucifer.

Gabriel shrugged "Yeah well, it didn't take. Thing is, we need your help. I imagine you've watched the news?"

"The Darkness" the angel shuddered

"I'll take that as a yes. Now who would you rather work with? Him or Amara?" Gabriel smiled at them, waggling his eyebrows.

Lucifer smirked. Even if the angels were conflicted, they were on board and they all knew it.

…

After driving around for what seemed like forever to Hermione, they finally found an abandoned power plant, that reminded Hermione of the home she shared with Gabriel. She missed the comforts of the library and her little garden and now she wondered if she would even ever see it again. It hit her, that she might not survive, but then again, when had she ever not been fighting for her life?

"You wanna remind me again, why you're here and not stashed away somewhere safe?" Dean grumbled.

"Because we need all hands on deck." Lucifer smirked, as he and Gabriel entered. Gabriel made a face at him.

"Hello boys" A gravelly voice interrupted from a corner. "And girl apparently. Enchanté"

When the boys had said 'demon' she wasn't sure what she had expected, but a bearded man in a black suit wasn't it.

"I suppose you must be Mr. Crowley then." She addressed him.

"Perfect English! And who might you be then?" Crowley smirked in a way she imagined he wanted to be seductive, but he just managed to creep her out.

"None of your concern." Gabriel ground out.

Hermione was about to put in her two cents, when the door opened and a woman entered. She was looking extravagant, with her long cobalt blue, glittery gown and her bright red hair perfectly coiffed. It made her look down and wrinkle her nose at her own jeans and jacket.

When the woman looked up, her eyes widened.

"I just don't feel comfortable with a civilian in the mix." Dean continued the previous conversation.

The woman started laughing hysterically. "You think she's a civilian? Whatever do you need me for? You've got a bleedin' war hero on your hands!"

Gabriel looked ready to murder her, and the others looked perplexed.

"Well, just because I'm an outlaw doesn't mean I don't get the news. I'm Rowena, my dear." Rowena smiled saccharinely and went to take Hermione's hand. Hermione however narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms.

"I've heard of you." She said measuredly as they circled each other.

"Then you know I'm a formidable witch. I singlehandedly destroyed the Grand Coven." Rowena pursed her lips.

Hermione snorted. "From what I've heard, that can't have been hard. The Grand Coven was disbanded in 1692 in favor of the Wizengamot because they used dark magic and stood against the enforcement of the International Statute of Secrecy that was signed three years previously. After that, they lost their influence and became a sort of secret society I suppose. Blood supremacists too, so I suppose it is a favor that you 'destroyed' the Grand Coven, but it's hardly impressive."

Rowena smirked "Indeed. I didn't defeat any Dark Lords."

"What the hell is going on?" Dean finally exploded after recovering from shock. "You know Hermione? How?"

"Well, well, Dean my boy. It seems the girl has been holding out on you. It's not often I'm on this side of the accusation, but she is a witch!" Rowena arched her arm to point at Hermione, who rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I'm a witch, but I'm a good one." She told them without the drama that Rowena was obviously fond of, ignoring Gabriel, who was continuously moving closer.

"Yeah, and I'm Chinese." Dean deadpanned, raising his gun.

Rowena sneered. "She's actually telling the truth – how disappointing as it may be. Witches and wizards were recently at war, and a couple of years ago it came a head, with girlie there on the front lines. What did they call you? The Brains of the Golden Trio?"

Hermione's face reddened. "Really, I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to help." She raised her hands, but Dean wasn't lowering the gun.

Gabriel narrowed his eyes at him.

"You put that peashooter down, right now" He growled.

"Uh, maybe you should listen to them, Dean. I mean, would god approve of her if she was evil? He is kinda rooting for their relationship." Sam interrupted.

Dean huffed, but put down the gun "I don't like it" He ground out.

Suddenly, flash of light illuminated the room, and Chuck appeared.

"Hello, my children" He said imperiously. Gabriel rolled his eyes in proper teenage fashion, unimpressed with his father's antics. Hermione nudged him with her elbow.

"Him?" Crowley asked incredulously

"Rowena. Crowley. It's good to finally meet you in person!" Chuck smiled at them.

Rowena winced "Sorry about, well, everything I've ever done in my life. Really, y-you can't have been a fan." She stammered.

"Oh yeah, I've been quietly rooting against you both for some time now." He answered flippantly "Although, I can't deny you're one of my guilty pleasures" He winked at her.

"Oh, God" She replied fake bashfully.

"Oh, God" Crowley sighed in exasperation.

…

Hey you guys! Thanks for reading so far! I hope you enjoyed this chapter – Please leave me a review to let me know what you think! It makes me really happy, even if it's just to say hi.

Until next time

Love from Leo