Chapter 22

Never Needed Anybody

"Call me by some animal pet name one more time, and I just might smite you."

"As if you have the power, deer. You're better off trying to use those doe eyes."

"Um, can you not do this in my house, please..?"

"I might not be able to kill you, but I can certainly make it worth my while!"

"Angels… Never can take a joke."

"It'd help if you'd stop antagonizing her," Gabriel pointed out.

The archangel had planned on watching for a bit longer, but upon seeing that Kemuel was reaching her patience limit, he decided that he should step in. While Kemuel was normally a fairly level-headed angel, Gabriel could tell something had her on edge already, and Crowley was not helping. Clearly they had gotten off on the wrong foot.

Kemuel huffed and glared at the wall across the room from Crowley while the demon casually turned his gaze to Gabriel, rhetorically asking, "How else am I supposed to entertain myself in this sleepy hollow of a town?"

Gabriel raised an eyebrow at that. The main reason Crowley was here was so that he couldn't get into any trouble; it was really just a bonus that Crowley was in a position to keep an eye on Lucilia and Donatello while he was here. Donatello, who was looking rather peeved about having an angel and a demon squabbling in his very nice and quaintly out-of-the-way house.

Originally, Gabriel had plotted moving the prophet closer to Lucilia if only to make it easier to keep an eye on both of them. He hadn't expected the two to meet, let alone get along – especially since Donatello was missing a soul (and he lived on the outskirts of the town, so Gabriel wasn't quite sure how they'd even met). But apparently Lucilia was channeling whatever Charisma EX that had rubbed off on her from him (and Gabriel may or may not have sat down to have a serious contemplation on whether or not that statement had any validity), so it all ended up as a melting pot of supernatural entities hanging out in the little town that Lucilia Bennett lived in with her mom and extended family, the Dawsons.

(For the record, at this exact moment, those entities consist of the current Prophet of the Lord, the current/former King of Hell, one of the last high ranking angels, the youngest archangel, and a few relatively harmless supernatural creatures who had all been more or less been told to 'be nice or die'. Oh, and one could consider Lucilia herself to be at least partially supernatural, given her ties to aforementioned archangel.)

Anyways…

"Gabriel," Kemuel started, a concerned note clear in her voice. "The last time we met, you asked about Heaven…"

The archangel nodded, motioning for her to go on even as Crowley didn't even bother to hide the fact that he was listening in to whatever she had to say. Donatello, meanwhile, politely went to his kitchen.

Kemuel sighed, bracing for an impending reaction, which she must have expected to be unavoidable. "Raphael has been in Heaven for at least two months now," she said as quickly as she could without actually sounding rushed.

Gabriel… wasn't all that surprised.

He waited a moment, taking a split second to watch as Crowley hid whatever he was feeling about the information behind a careful frown. There were a lot of ways to respond, a few of which weren't exactly forgiving while others were rather panicked and only one that would solve anything. So Gabriel nodded slowly, allowing yet another moment passing by.

"Luce and I kinda figured," he said, rubbing the back of his head and shrugging when he got levelled with a Look. "With the appearance and subsequent disappearance of Michael's grace an' all, it was only a matter of time before Raphael revealed himself—"

"Female vessel," Kemuel muttered, though the angel wasn't looking at him – instead staring off while deep in thought.

"… Herself, then. I take it she hasn't done anything to threaten us or humanity; otherwise, you would have tried to get in contact with me sooner," Gabriel pointed out.

Refocusing on the conversation, Kemuel very pointedly didn't respond to the statement. It must have been bugging her, Gabriel realized. To be fair, Raphael had been pushing for the Apocalypse before her demise via Godstiel. It would have made sense to assume that Raphael would still be after that Paradise God had promised them.

However, that didn't take into account the state of Heaven itself. It had been brought up before, and Gabriel wasn't stupid either. He knew that with so few angels in Heaven, it wouldn't have been too long before the need for either him or Lucifer to return became critical. Like pretty much everything in the universe, Heaven ran on energy, but more specifically, it ran on the type of energy that was constantly released from grace (unless it was suppressed like Lucifer's currently was).

That being said, Raphael had always been more responsible than Gabriel or Lucifer. He— She would have taken one look at the situation and gone with the best course of action. And given the situation – Michael currently missing, Lucifer subdued, Gabriel hovering over him, and nothing else inherently wrong going on that needed attention – the best course of action would be to simply stay in Heaven while keeping a careful eye on the happenings of Earth.

But this was only an obvious conclusion to Gabriel, knowing Raphael's current stance and having known his sister's way of thinking since they were first created. Perhaps Kemuel would understand it on her own, in time – the fact that it wasn't just Gabriel and herself who could think for themselves. As haltingly as some of the angels used their free will, it was there for all of them, including the archangels.

Being human certainly helped with that. (Though, getting a free revive didn't really count… Ah, well, Raphael knew what she was doing.)

"So, ah…" a somewhat hesitant voice spoke up. "Meeting adjourned?"

Gabriel looked over at the current prophet, who was fidgeting restlessly at his dining table, which was covered with papers and drawings of… things. Even though Donatello Redfield was soulless, Gabriel knew that he was still technically a prophet and therefore needed some sort of protection from supernatural factors that would try to interfere with the rest of his not-so-normal life. Gabriel had eventually gotten the man to move closer to Lucilia and had kept tabs on him while visiting her. But after the incident with Crowley, Gabriel was forced to have Crowley do that for him while he focused on Lucifer.

Now that Lucifer was… better, Gabriel should have made Crowley do something else; however, it was starting to look like Crowley didn't actually mind all of the babysitting he was doing. In fact, Gabriel suspected the demon might be enjoying not dealing with Hell on a regular basis. Which was… good.

After all, justice was not only upholding equity wherein punishment fit the crime but also (and more importantly) making sure it didn't happen again.

And it didn't look like Crowley was particularly inclined to try that again. Meanwhile, Gabriel mused, his mother was slowly (ever so slowly) getting there. He supposed there was something ironic about a demon going through rehabilitation better than a witch was. Then again, maybe it had something to do with the stunt Sam pulled with the demon trials a while back…

"That is all I had to say. If my presence is no longer needed, I shall leave," Kemuel acquiesced, clearly wanting to leave if only to get away from Crowley.

The demon seemed to pick up on that too. "Why the rush, Faline? Ready to run home so soon after your night with Bambi?"

Kemuel didn't seem to get the reference, but the insult didn't go over her head. "Are all demons this suicidal, or is it just you?" she asked in a deceivingly sweet voice.

"Come on, guys. Play nice," Gabriel cut in before it could go any further. "You're making me feel like an adult."

"Tch."

Well. That was not a noise one heard everyday. Gabriel stared at Kemuel and her subtly peeved expression. Why did he suddenly have the feeling that she was teasing him but in a very, very passive-aggressive way?

… So mean.

But then her expression softened, and a small smile graced her lips. "Until next time, Gabriel."

Gabriel blinked, and she was gone. "She always does that," he muttered.

"Are you sure there isn't something going on between you two?"

"There's really not. Mind your own business, Crowley."

~o-O-o~

"You know, sometimes I miss having you or Crowley being completely evil dickheads."

Dean glanced over his shoulder to see if Lucifer had heard him or not, and it really didn't look like he had. They were currently walking along one of the main forest trails that ran along the base of the mountain. The local police force had been moderately helpful, but it was kind of hard to justify why they were there.

Eventually it had simply come down to investigating the 'odd happenings' that had apparently been occurring on and off for the past couple centuries. It was just their luck that the most recent occurrence had taken place not even a month ago, involving a dead hunter too. And by hunter, Dean meant hunter.

If that Reynard shmuck hadn't directed them to the supposedly draconic supernatural creature that was hanging out inside the mountain, then that would have been the tip off for a legitimate case. Unfortunately, the dead hunter's partners must have cleared out not long after their buddy's death, probably figuring whatever it was would be too much for them to handle by themselves… That wouldn't explain them not calling it in to someone else, but it was a decent assumption.

Anyways, Dean had asked if Lucifer cared to check out the area around the mountain while Gabriel and the others were still making their way to the small town they'd made their rendezvous.

"I mean, it was a lot simpler back then. You two were just assholes that we had to kill in order to keep you from doing evil shit," Dean went on, still staring at his traveling companion, who was clearly running on autopilot. "Then everything got all complicated with sob story backgrounds and petty grudge motivations, you know?"

Nothing.

Dean narrowed his eyes and then shook his head, returning his gaze back to the path he was following. "Oh, come on, that definitely should have gotten a reaction," he grumbled.

"It's not like I'm trying to help or anything. Nah, just poking and prodding to piss you off so you'll quit staring off into space like a depressed puppy. No need to tell me what's troubling your troubled mind. Nope, no siree—"

"Dean, stop."

Dean stopped, turning his upper body to look back at Lucifer with a questioning frown.

"It's too quiet."

Lucifer's form was tensed with concentration and a certain wariness, and Dean paused to listen. Lucifer was right. Dean couldn't hear the wildlife anymore.

"Shit," he swore under his breath, scoping their surroundings and making note of how very vulnerable they were right now. He didn't have anything on him beside his pistol and a silver knife, and whatever had caused the birds and other critters to shut up was decidedly not good.

"It's not the draconian. Even without access to my grace, I would know if we were close to it," Lucifer murmured just loud enough for Dean to hear him, which didn't make Dean feel any better about their situation.

"Then what the hell is it?" he demanded in a low hiss through gritted teeth. "Do we need to call Gabriel or Cas?"

Lucifer paused, tilting his head slightly and biting his lower lip in consideration. "I don't know."

Well, Dean had to give him points for honesty, but that really, really didn't make him feel any better.

There was a tense silence that held in the area while Dean and Lucifer waited for the thing to make its move. But after another five minutes of his subconscious screaming at him, it was starting to look like whatever it was had either moved on or was watching them.

"I think…" Lucifer trailed off as his words came out louder than they normally would have in the silence. He swallowed and started again. "I think its guarding something."

"Wanna explain that theory?" Dean asked, keeping a wary eye out for any sign of movement aside from Lucifer's shifting as he turned his gaze towards the mountain.

"Those 'odd happenings'. What if they were only because someone got too close to the entrance of the draconian's lair?"

"That still doesn't tell me what it is," Dean stressed, gripping his pistol tightly before loosening his hold into something more sensible. "So, what? It's, uh— a sentinel of some kind?"

Lucifer met Dean's eyes and made a one-shouldered shrug. "Gabriel would likely know more about this," he admitted.

"Well then, we're going back to the hotel. Right now. We don't know what it is, and I am not risking getting mauled by—"

A low growl sounded behind him, and Dean spun quickly on his heel, gun aimed and ready to fire. Except there was nothing there. Oh, there was a cluster of trees that made a perfect hiding place, but there was nothing to suggest any sort of creature had been near enough to make the noise.

"Dean—"

Then, a baying howl made his blood run cold.

~o-O-o~

A baying howl, somewhere far off in the distance, sent a shiver down his spine.

"Did you hear that?" Mick asked in a low voice, frowning in the direction of the sound.

Ketch didn't even bother to glance his way as he pulled out his bag from the back of the vehicle. "Hear what?"

That would be a no. Still… "It sounded like a wolf or something."

The other man paused mid-action of closing the door. "A wolf, you say? They wouldn't be making any sort of noise you could hear at this time of day," he dutifully informed Mick.

"But—" he tried to protest, thinking Ketch had dismissed the idea.

However, Ketch quickly interrupted with something far more worrying (at least to Mick). "A howl like that, it's more likely that there's something else out there besides your dragon."

It wasn't until later that Mick realized he'd never specified exactly what kind of sound he'd heard to Ketch.

~o-O-o~

"Son of a bitch."

That was the thirty-seventh time that Dean had exclaimed the words as he and Lucifer hiked their way back to the Impala. And while Lucifer was more than a little tired of Dean cussing every couple of steps, he was inclined to start swearing right along with the Winchester. However, that wouldn't be at all productive, and so Lucifer refocused on thinking of all the supernatural creatures it could have been.

It being the thing that had made Dean lose his shit with its howl. It being the thing that had then proceeded to jump on Dean, knocking him on his ass but not killing him when Lucifer pressed that he didn't move. It being the thing that let them go after staring at Lucifer for a long, tense minute.

It was no ordinary wolf – that was for sure. But it wasn't a hellhound either, and Lucifer couldn't think of any other canines – supernatural or otherwise – that matched its description and had a reason for being here.

However, the sheer size of the wolf indicated some kind of supernatural enhancement at the very least, and even if it was a regular wolf, the coloring of the wolf's fur suggested it wasn't naturally from this area. Something else had relocated it here.

That didn't bode well.

"—couldn't even see the damn thing until it was right on top of me. Friggin'—"

Perhaps it was some kind of pagan, though it wouldn't be a fully mature one. Which could make it a thought form, come into being centuries ago and able to keep its existence through the local legends it had produced... But that still didn't explain why it was here, guarding the creature inside Mount Storm King.

Unless...

No. No need to come to any conclusions before Gabriel and the others got here. That could lead to something rash. It was best to have Dean take them back to the hotel room and wait. They weren't too far away from the Impala now. Maybe only—

Lucifer just about had a heart attack when Dean's phone started ringing. Turning slowly, he leveled an incinerating glare on the Winchester, who was fishing out the offending object. Using the same hand he was holding the phone with to flip Lucifer off, Dean answered with a succinct, "This is Agent Stark."

After a pause, Dean pulled the phone away from his ear and put the call on speaker. "So you did go with the Game of Thrones aliases. Huh."

Sam's voice sounded less fizzled with static than Lucifer would have expected given the lack of cell towers in the area. Then again, the geography could be giving the signal a slight boost. He supposed that as long as Sam had full bars then it would help the sound come out clearer – at least on his end.

"And you thought I wouldn't do it," Dean huffed. "Hey, so we might have a problem over here—"

"What happened to waiting until we all got there?" Sam asked in a tone that sounded vaguely reprimanding.

Dean readjusted his grip on his gun. "Well, Luce and I decided to take a stroll…"

"He means we encountered a supernatural creature that is decidedly not the draconian," Lucifer said when Dean took too long to come up with a suitable excuse.

There was some shifting on Sam's side, and then Castiel's voice came through. "Any idea what it is?"

"If I knew what it was, I wouldn't have just called it a supernatural creature," Lucifer snapped, quickly reining his frustration back in as soon as the words spilled out.

"Did something happen?" Ah, there was Mary.

"I may or may not have almost gotten mauled by a huge-ass ninja wolf."

Lucifer snorted. "I doubt it would have killed you… unless you threatened it. When you didn't move to harm it, it let us go, remember."

"Still don't know what the hell it is," Dean grumbled just loud enough for Lucifer and the phone's microphone to pick up.

"Well, we should be getting there around lunch tomorrow, and I think Gabriel is going to head straight for you guys instead of stopping by us first," Sam spoke up, quickly changing the subject. "We'll see you then."

"Later, Sammy," Dean said and then hung up.

They made it back to the Impala and then the hotel as fast as they dared. Neither noticed the foreigners they passed by on the way to their rooms. Not that the foreigners noticed them either.

A/N: Next chapter, next week and then who knows.