"Raven Black. What brings you to my doorstep? And with a hunter no less?" asked the black man without even turning.
"We seek answers to a question, Papa Midnight. And we come bearing coin," said Raven easily.
"Ah, but what question is so troubling that you couldn't divine it for yourself? I've heard of those amusing tricks of yours. The St. Gabriel's ghost woman," said Papa Midnight, accepting the bag of coins with a smirk. When he first heard of where she had settled and what she was doing, he had a good laugh at the expense of the hunters. She occasionally sent him clippings of the hunters she sent packing.
"This. A contract which is too long and far too binding to be normal, and the strange thing is that we have no idea what the one who made the deal did to earn the ire of the higher demons," said Raven, handing over a copy.
Papa Midnight only needed to see the name before he knew what was going on.
"The Righteous Man. Heaven and Hell will do everything in their power to insure he breaks once in hell, to unleash the first Fallen of heaven and set events into motion. It would take something very powerful to insure that the first seal does not break in hell," said Papa Midnight.
Raven saw the look in his eyes.
"This is going to cost me more than just simple coins isn't it? This information is something most mortals should not have," she realized.
Midnight's smile was a bit more shark like.
"Dammit. Will blood work?"
"A natural witch blood's that hasn't been tainted? Should be enough to keep the Loa happy," said Midnight easily.
He noticed the sudden start the hunter gave. So they hadn't know Raven was originally a witch?
Raven held out her bare wrist to Midnight, who collected the blood inside a crystal decanter. It was rare enough to find virgin's blood that old, let alone one of such an old, pure line from the druids. Especially considering the problem with maintaining the old lines.
If she had stayed she would have become little more than a brood mare by now.
A quart of her blood could be used in many powerful rituals. Especially the darker ones. It was a sign of trust that she would willingly hand over so much of it without hesitation, and he liked her enough not to abuse it. Hell, she even trusted Constantine with some of her blood, and he was an ass!
"Well, at least now we have a direction to look in," said Raven. She noticed Sam's uncomfortable look. "What?"
"Witch?" he asked.
"For the love of... I'm a natural witch, not like that hack Ruby! I don't need a demon to power my magic, I get if from the Earth's natural lines of energy! The fact I'm strong enough to activate my psychic ability means I don't need hell's power to do the really powerful spells! And unlike Ruby I don't need ingredients like the burnt bones of infants or the blood of the innocent to perform spells!" said Raven annoyed.
"Then what was that about back there?"
Raven rolled her eyes.
"Papa Midnight is a witch doctor, and virgin's blood is extremely powerful, especially the longer it stays untainted. To add to that fact, I come from a long line of druids that maintained an unbroken line from the old world. It means my blood is extra valuable to someone like him for the more delicate rituals. The fact I gave it to him willingly is a sign of trust and will help him communicate with the Loa he uses the most," she explained.
"So...you're not evil?"
"Not unless you piss me off, and then I get bitchy. Consider this Sam, I've been spirit walking for years on foggy roads, and yet the most that's been attributed to the St. Gabriel's ghost is a few minor injuries. If I really were evil, then wouldn't there be a death by now?"
"When you put it like that," said Sam, relaxing once he thought about it from that angle.
"You have got to be kidding me. I read he was a man whore, but really?"
Dean was surrounded by women, not all of them sober. Sam snorted at her words and at the amount of beads covering Dean.
"Well how did it go? And what happened to your arm?" he asked.
"Later. I'll have to dig up a good chunk of my library to sift through half of what little Midnight was able to share," said Raven flatly.
"We'll give you the single," said Sam. Dean gave him a thumbs up, taking the hint. Raven had paid for two rooms, one with two beds, the other was a single. Clearly Sam had no desire to deal with a drunk and horny Dean during Mardi Gras with willing partners, and neither did Raven.
"Can we stay for the whole party?" asked Dean.
"Sure. I got a better discount for the entire celebration, and if I find something I wouldn't mind being able to ask Midnight directly. Who knows, maybe Sammy will pick up a new trick or two from a few voodoo rituals. At least those don't deal with demons," said Raven.
Dean suddenly sobered up.
"What exactly does voodoo entail?"
"I'll take you to a shop. Only the bokor would use it to do harm though, and there's no way I'd help Sam learn how to perform a proper ritual if he dared go down that road," said Raven flatly.
Dean was pacified when she took him to the shop. Voodoo wasn't something most hunters messed with, but unlike Sam's psychic ability it wasn't reliant on demon's blood. And according to a quick call to Constantine and a talk with his friend Chas, since Azazel was dead the only way Sam would be able to access most of those would be to imbibe more blood from another demon.
Not a chance in hell, if Dean had any say in it. He would rather have his brother dealing with pagan spirits and alters made with the bones and blood of animals than anywhere near demon's blood.
And that was before he learned how addictive the substance was to those tainted early on.
So while Dean partied with the other drunken idiots, Sam went to Papa Midnight to learn how to perform rituals properly and without offending the Loa. Considering he was a natural psychic who had the bad luck of being targeted by a demon, Midnight agreed to teach him. On the condition he never used his teachings to cause harm to civilians. The last thing he needed was for people to think he had trained a bokor.
"So where to next?" asked Sam. Dean was currently laying in the backseat groaning from the worst hangover he had had in years. But it was entirely worth it in his opinion.
"Well, there was some poor bastard who went missing when he went to debunk a tourist trap," offered Raven.
"Sold!" said Dean, before he groaned.
"You about ready to be reasonable?" asked Raven without an iota of sympathy.
Dean was told about the fact Raven was a natural witch and he did not take the news very well. Hence why Raven was withholding a hangover potion from him.
"I don't need stinking magic to get rid of this!" said Dean bravely, before a bump nearly made him throw up.
"That does it. Sam could you do me a monumental favor?" asked Raven sweetly.
Sam took one look at Dean, then at an evilly amused Raven.
"Absolutely. Want to make a bet how long it takes before he finally gives in?"
"Hell yes!"
"I give him an hour," said Sam.
"I bet ten minutes, tops," said Raven.
Dean was extremely pissed at his traitor brother for ordering the worst possible food for someone suffering a hangover the likes god had never seen before to have to smell. It was making his stomach rebel even worse.
After Raven wafted some hot fries in his direction, Dean finally caved.
"Uncle, uncle! Either fix me or for the love of god let me out so I can throw up!" said Dean. He looked really nauseous.
Raven dug into her bag, and handed him a vial.
"Hangover potion. No human parts required, though it does have some mashed up slugs in it. Drink it all, considering how bad yours is."
Dean grimaced, but downed it in one gulp.
"Oh god that is beyond foul!" he said. Two minutes later it kicked in and he was blinking. "Yet extremely effective."
"Still angry you're traveling with a natural witch now?" she asked.
"Not if a single vial of the most foul thing I've ever tasted can do that. You sure there wasn't any blood sacrifices or human parts?"
"For the sake of your continued survival and the survival of your precious car, never compare me to that hack Ruby ever again, Winchester. Unlike her I don't have to rely on hell's fake magic to use spells. The only rituals that require human body parts or human sacrifice are dark ones, and I refuse to dabble in that crap. I'm more of a Wiccan than a demon witch," she said insulted.
"She's more like the Charmed Ones than Ruby," clarified Sam.
"Why the hell didn't she just say so to begin with?" said Dean.
"Who or what are the Charmed Ones?" asked Raven.
"I'll show you the series later when we get a decent wifi connection," said Sam.
Dean immediately claimed the single, leaving Sam and Raven the double. Sam set Raven up with the Charmed series and after one episode she was hooked. She chose to stay in the hotel with the wifi and catch up to the series because she found it so interesting.
After the first time Sam woke up after Dean was abruptly killed, he was confused...and also very glad Raven had agreed to share the room with him. Knowing Dean he would have turned the radio on and left it blaring because it was right next to Sam's bed. Raven had headphones.
After the twelfth time, he was annoyed and extremely upset. It wasn't until he passed by Raven's computer that he realized she might also be left out of whatever the hell was going on, because she was already on season three.
She had started the series the night before this mess started. The only way she could have possibly watched up to the third season would be if she was left out of the spell and wasn't aware of it.
And after giving up on the Mystery Spot being behind this, Sam finally conceded defeat and asked her to join them for breakfast.
"Sure. I could use a break from this anyway," she said, confirming that somehow she had been left out of whatever was actually going on.
It was when they left the hotel room that Dean noticed something Sam had missed.
"Hey Raven, why's your lantern glowing? I mean your hair's still red," said Dean.
Raven stopped cold and took her lantern out from under her shirt.
"What on earth? I never activated this, so why... Sam, is there something you would like to tell me? Like why we've been here long enough that I've gotten to season four of Charmed?" she asked.
Dean stared at her.
"How could you have gotten to season four already? I mean they're over fifty minutes long each and I know you've never watched it before," said Dean.
Raven looked at him hard.
"Dean, when did we get to this town?"
"Yesterday. Why?"
"There is a time loop spell on this town. I don't know how I missed it, but it seems to be centered around you for some reason."
"He keeps getting killed in random ways and I keep waking up on the same morning of the day he died. I think the only reason you missed that is because you were catching up on the Charmed series," said Sam.
Dean winced at that news.
"Anyway, let's get breakfast," said Raven.
Not two seconds inside and she knew the culprit was in the diner. Watching Dean die seemed very familiar. After three repeats she figured out why.
Time to catch a Trickster.
Gabriel was initially surprised by the appearance of the witch girl (he could sense her natural magic a mile off) but it wasn't until she cornered him and then brought out her wand that he knew he was busted.
It was the lantern she brought out and shined on him before he could hide that told him how badly he had screwed up.
The mere fact she knew how to use it was also a surprise.
"So...why is the arch angel Gabriel targeting the Winchesters?"
Gabriel winced.
"How the hell did those two morons find a psychic with a St. Christopher's lantern? Hell, why haven't they gone after you yet?"
He had a strange flip in his chest at her mischievous smile.
"I'm the St. Gabriel's ghost girl. They came looking for me out of boredom because the hunting was dead, and Sam figured out by accident I was causing the haunting out of boredom. They just decided to take me with them because they didn't like the fact I was stuck in a ghost mansion without any human contact for over a decade. Should have seen Bobby's face when he found out he had been hunting a ghost only for it to be the psychic he was crashing with," said the girl smiling.
Gabriel stared at her, before he broke out laughing.
"You're the St. Gabriel's ghost? Do you have any idea how many of us have been trying to find out who was causing those rumors when anything with any real power knew the only haunting was the mansion?" he said laughing.
Boy, she had a lot of Tricksters running around trying to find out who was behind that prank. Even Puck was impressed at whoever was pulling that one off, because they had hunters running around in circles with no luck whatsoever in finding out how to end it!
"I'm a witch who's strong enough to have psychic powers. Where else was I supposed to live without magical Europe coming down trying to force me to return? Suburbia?" she said annoyed.
Gabriel wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes. Yeah, a ghost mansion was probably the safest place for her to hide without Europe being able to find her. No one would be able to find a psychic amidst the energies of a place haunted by a burned down building.
"So why exactly are you killing Dean off anyway?"
"Trying to teach the Moose a lesson he can't save his brother."
"Considering how long and complicated his damn contract is, we've figured that out already Sherlock. I'm still trying to look up any references to whatever this 'Righteous Man' nonsense is!" said the girl rolling her eyes.
"You actually got a copy of the contract?" said Gabriel in disbelief.
"I had Dean sit down for a few hours and wrote it out once I was connected to his soul. Papa Midnight was the one to teach me about astral walking to begin with, and that included referring me to a book about demons," she explained.
"Ah, that would explain it. What's your name anyway?"
"I go by Raven Black."
"Do me a favor and call me Loki around the idiots. I'm currently trying to hide from my brothers at the moment, and the last thing I want is for Dean to spill my identity while he's on the rack."
Raven stopped cold and stared at him.
"Loki as in the Trickster Loki?" she asked slowly, as if in absolute disbelief.
"Yeah..." he said, wondering why she cared.
"Dammit, of all the ways I finally get to meet you and it's before I know those two will shoot you in the ass for this... My luck must really suck for this..." she muttered.
Gabriel perked up.
"You wanted to meet me?" he asked, pleased. It wasn't often people actually wanted a run in with him.
"My father, godfather and werewolf uncle were the Marauders," she said cryptically.
Gabriel ran that name through his head and stared at her.
"You're... Do you have any idea how much chaos you left in your wake when you vanished like that? England has an actual warrant out for your return! Especially since you accidentally took the Hallows with you when you fled!" he said in impressed shock.
"YOU!"
Dean very nearly shot the arch angel when he realized who was following Raven.
"Boys, meet the idiot responsible for the trauma done to Sam. Loki, say your sorry or I won't keep them from shooting you in the ass for this prank. And you have to actually mean it or else," said Raven firmly.
Gabriel winced.
"Well how the hell was I supposed to know they found a psychic with enough power to read Dean's contract on his soul?!" he said defensively.
"Loki," said Raven warningly.
Gabriel grumbled under his breath.
"Fine. I'm sorry for traumatizing the moose. I was trying to get it through his thick head that there's no point trying to get Dean out of his contract. There is one thing I'm curious about though...why did it take so long for you to ask her for help?"
"I didn't know if she was in the loop or not until I realized she was already on season four of Charmed when I just introduced her to the series the night before," deadpanned Sam.
Gabriel choked back a laugh. That was a hell of a way to find out if someone was caught in a loop spell or not.