It was exactly thirty minutes later, down to the second, that Crowley reappeared in the warehouse, holding onto a rather large suitcase. He looked a bit pained but handed it over to Dean who opened it, the lights from the souls illuminated his face and he smiled, mentally counting them.
"Not bad, seventy four souls." Dean said in appreciation, nodding as he closed the suitcase again. "Oh don't make that face, I'm sure you'll grow the collection again soon."
"It took me years to get that much." Crowley complained. "And despite the rise in deals that doesn't mean a rise in people getting in the way."
"Should've thought of that before you snitched to the hunters." Dean said simply, shrugging. "Pleasure doing business with you uncle Crowley, like always."
"Oh stop with the formalities, you're making my heart a flutter." Crowley said rolling his eyes. "And a bit of advice, at least from hell. The Princes are on the move."
That got both of their attention, even when Sam had to bring his head up from Juliet's flank. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that the other three are coming more regularly to hell now." Crowley told them. "Sam just missed Ramiel's return. He spent the time with Azazel and then disappeared again."
The brothers shared a look. "And the other two?"
"The same, most wouldn't notice it but...it's been happening more and more over the past few months." Crowley said. "Even Asmodeus has been taken to walking along the racks, taking a peek at the newly formed demons. Something is happening, and I'm not sure if it's a good something or not."
"If something is happening, then grandfather might call on us." Sam said slowly, looking at Dean. It had happened only twice before, but whenever all the Princes would meet they'd bring their 'blood' with them to compare.
The last time had been when Sam and Dean were young, about six and ten, and Mary had been there as well. It was a tense, stressful situation where they had no power and no control over what will happen.
More often than not one of the Princes would tell their brood to attack another Princes, just to see who was stronger. Thankfully none of Azazels were asked, even if they were Meg had been front and center to try to either prove herself or protect them.
It was never a good thing when the Princes called on the demons, family or not.
"Just a bit of a warning." Crowley said. "And to be prepared should a certain person do a summoning."
Swallowing hard Dean nodded his thanks, tightening his grip on the suitcase. "Got it." he said stiffly, moving his jaw from side to side. "Thank."
Crowley nodded as well and then gave a short whistle, Juliet groaned and whined but obediently got to her feet. She licked at Sams cheek and then quickly moved to Dean, doing the same to him, before she came back to Crowley's side. Sam stood up and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Take care girl." he said softly, his voice fond as the demon and hellhound disappeared.
Neither of them said anything for a few moments, taking a deep breath. "Wonder what's got the Princes worked up for this." Sam murmured.
"Don't know, nothing good." Dean said, shaking his head. He looked down at the suitcase in hand. "For now, let's just...keep going and keep collecting, no such thing as too much."
Sam nodded. "I'll get the other spell ready." he said. "At least to have it handy at a moments notice."
"Good idea." Dean agreed, taking a deep breath. He shifted the suitcase to one hand and reached out to take Sam's hand in his, holding onto it tightly. The both of them left the warehouse, going back to the impala. "Lets just find another town and get to..." he trailed off and Sam looked towards the impala, feeling his stomach sink.
On top of the car was a simple scroll with red string around the middle, innocent enough, yet the seal binding it together was what made them stop and freeze.
It was Azazel's symbol and the fact that he was using this instead of, say, the radio meant that this was official Hell business.
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