King of the Damned Part 2

Sam, Dean, and Angela were in Castiel's office.

"It's unbelievable," Sam muttered. "I mean, he was fine when we left him."

"I barely touched the guy," Angela added.

"Still shackled, no weapon. It wasn't suicide." Dean grunted.

"No." Castiel pursed his lips. "This was an angel kill."

"Okay. Well, I'm gonna say it." Angela shrugged. "Maybe your operation's been hacked. You know, Metatron's got somebody on the inside."

"I was sure everyone here was loyal." Castiel shook his head disappointedly. "Finally united by a common cause."

"Well, that's the problem. See, you don't think anybody's lying. I think everybody's lying." Dean replied. "It's a gift. Let's do some nosin' around."

Dean and Angela walked out of the room. Sam went to follow when Castiel stopped him.

"Sam," he started. "You have a moment?"

"Yeah. What?" Sam asked as Grace wiggled in his arms.

"I wanted to ask you about Gadreel, the time he possessed you," Castiel replied.

Sam cleared his throat uncomfortably. "It's not really something I like to—

"Sam, please." Castiel pleaded.

"He didn't possess me completely—more like we, uh… shared housing." Sam explained. "I was still me."

"Did you ever sense a presence?" Castiel questioned.

"I don't really know what I felt," Sam admitted. "I mean, maybe that I was completely alone."

"Did you ever feel threatened?"

"No." Sam shook his head. "More that he… wasn't at rest, l-like he had unfinished business. Now that we know more about him, I-I'd say he felt misunderstood."

"But not—not a danger, not hostile." Castiel's brows furrowed.

"No. I was wrong, obviously." Sam scoffed. "He killed Kevin."

~/~\~

Angela was seated at one of the tables in the command center, flashing back to Magnus's house.

~/~\~

"Give me your hand. That's it." Magnus encouraged.

Angela took the First Blade, and the Mark of Cain glowed.

"Drop the blade, Angie," Sam begged.

~/~\~

"Angie!" Sam exclaimed. "Angie. Angie. What's wrong with you? You hear your phone?"

Angela shook herself from the memory and picked up her phone. "It's about time. Where the hell have you been?"

"I told you I'd be in touch when I'd found Abaddon," Crowley replied. "Well… I'm in touch."

"Where are you?" Angela demanded.

"First things first. I'll give you the location of the First Blade." Crowley replied. "You three fetch it, I'll keep her in my sights, then we'll remove her from the payroll for good."

~/~\~

"Oh! Come on, Crowley!" Sam groaned as he opened up the coffin. "You really, uh, uh, have to hide the blade in a corpse? Not—not with a corpse but in a corpse?"

"I got to say, it's not the first place I'd look." Angela shrugged. "Alright, here we go."

Suddenly, the three hunters heard growling in the distance.

"Do you guys hear that?" Sam frowned.

"I'm guessing Hellhound," Dean replied as he clutched Grace protectively. "Go! Go!"

The three hunters ran quickly and locked themselves behind the gate. The Hellhound growled as it tried to break the gate down. Angela immediately pulled out her phone and dialed.

"Hello?" Crowley's voice rang through.

"Dammit, Crowley, the grave is guarded!" Angela yelled.

"That's absurd." Crowley scoffed.

"A Hellhound!" she snapped.

"No, no, no, she was collected," Crowley argued.

"The hell she was!" Angela growled.

"Guys!" Sam yelled.

"Time was, no one would dare disobey the king," Crowley grumbled.

"Guys!" Sam stressed.

"I'm gonna put you on speaker!" Angela told Crowley.

"Juliet?" Crowley called out. "It's papa. Stand down."

Suddenly, the growling stopped, and the Hellhound did as she was told.

"You're welcome," Crowley added.

~/~\~

"Alright. Goin' in." Angela muttered as she rolled up her sleeve.

"Hey, you know what?" Sam stopped her. "Maybe, uh… Maybe I should do this."

"Sam, it's fine," Angela assured. "I—I-I can safely grab it without… you know…"

Sam ignored her and reached into the corpse to retrieve the First Blade. Sam visibly cringed in disgust.

"Well, let's go kill a knight of hell, huh?" Angela stood up.

"Yeah." Sam and Dean replied simultaneously.

~/~\~

Angela waited for Crowley to answer her phone call as Dean drove.

"Bambi." Crowley greeted. "I hope you were nice to your father."

"What?" Angela's brows furrowed. "Shut up. Look, we got the blade."

"You do? Well, you need to get it here at once." Crowley replied. "Cleveland, Humboldt Hotel. Penthouse, of course. When you get here, I'll take you to Abaddon. I'll draw her out, and then you can skewer the ignorant hag."

"Alright, we're on our way," Angela assured.

"Oh, and, Angela, you need to get a move on. It's a good day's drive from Poughkeepsie." Crowley added.

Angela frowned in confusion. "What are you talking about? We're not even near there."

"Yeah, like I said, you need to leave Poughkeepsie right away," Crowley stressed.

Angela's frown intensified and she hung up.

"So, we good, kiddo?" Dean asked curiously.

"Yeah." Angela nodded.

~/~\~

Cleveland, Ohio

The Impala came to a stop near the Humboldt Hotel. Sam, Dean, and Angela got out of the car. Sam had the blade and Dean lifted Grace into his arms.

"Alright. Let's do this." Sam sighed.

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold on a sec." Angela stopped him and Dean. "We should give this place a once-over before we go up there. Crowley said he thought he saw some demons headed down the basement. He'd have checked it out himself, but if word got back to Abaddon that he'd been seen…"

"When did he say all this?" Dean frowned.

"On the phone." Angela lied. "Look, it might mean that she knows he's here, okay? So, why don't you two check out the basement? I'll, uh, take a look on the main floor."

~/~\~

Angela walked into the suite gripping the First Blade, a sinister look in her eyes.

"Hello, Angela." Crowley greeted. "Love the crazy bloodlust in your eyes. Let's not waste time. I'll take you to Abaddon. It's not far."

"A girl and her blade." Abaddon sauntered into the room. "And still no match for the new queen."

~/~\~

Sam and Dean were in the basement of the hotel. They looked around, noticing that it was empty.

~/~\~

"So, first… You'll die… Painfully." Abaddon grinned evilly. "And then Crowley will watch his son die—ditto—and then the king himself. And blade destroyed. That's quite a to-do list."

Abaddon pinned Angela to the wall with a single gesture and she struggled to break free. When she did, she fought to get to Abaddon, almost as if she were walking through a heavy wind. Abaddon tried to keep Angela away, eventually managing to pin her to the wall again. Angela dropped the blade, but with extreme concentration, called it to her with telekinesis, causing her to break free fully just as Sam and Dean burst into the room.

With the blade in hand, Angela stormed over to Abaddon and stabbed her in the stomach, lifting her off the ground with unnatural strength. Abaddon died in a massive burst of red light with a roaring scream. Influenced by the mark, Angela stabbed Abaddon several times more.

"Angie," Sam called out to her. "Angie! Angie! Stop! You can stop."

Angela dropped the blade and stared at it and her bloodied hands in shock as Sam, Dean, and Crowley did the same. Dean covered Grace's eyes, making sure she couldn't see the sight.

~/~\~

Crowley groaned as he removed the bullet from his shoulder with a large knife. "You could at least—aah!—help me with this."

"We didn't kill you, Crowley, even though it would have been very easy." Dean retorted. "Isn't that enough?"

"You owe me," Crowley argued. "Do I get no credit for warning you this was a trap?"

Both Sam and Dean looked perplexed.

"Poughkeepsie ring a bell?" Crowley raised a brow, noticing that Sam and Dean turned to Angela. "I sense drama."

"I just still can't get over the fact that Crowley has a son." Angela changed the subject. "How's he doing by the way?"

"Ow!" Crowley groaned. "How do you think?"

"You get that he's got to go back, right?" Dean quirked a brow. "To his own time?"

"If the lad goes back, his destiny is to board a ship bound for America. That ship went down in a storm." Crowley explained. "All hands were lost. He had one chance in this world to change his life. You want that to all end in tragedy?"

"Well, I don't know what to tell you." Dean shrugged. "Them's the rules. He goes back."

"The lore all says the same thing—you change any one thing in the past, the ripple effect impacts everything that follows," Sam added.

"Please." Crowley scoffed. "No one bends the rules like you three bend the rules. He's one misfit kid. He impacts no one."

"You don't bend that rule, okay? You don't." Sam shrugged. "We'll take him back to the bunker, figure out the spell. That's the way it's got to be."

"Can I at least say goodbye?" Crowley asked. "I'll cheer the day when the last trace of humanity leaves me. Feelings."

Crowley entered the bedroom where Gavin was waiting. After a moment, Crowley magically closed the doors. Sam, Dean, and Angela opened the door to find the room empty.

"Dammit, Crowley!" Angela yelled to the air.

~/~\~

The Impala sped down the dark road, an uncomfortable silence between the hunters.

"I didn't tell you guys about the warning because I knew exactly what you would do." Angela broke the silence. "You guys would make sure that you were right alongside me going in that room."

"Of course we would, kid," Dean replied obviously.

"You mean like we always do?" Sam snapped at her. "Because we're actually a team in this and we watch each other's backs?"

"You don't understand," Angela argued.

"Try us," Sam responded.

Angela pursed her lips tightly. "First time I touched that blade… I knew. I knew that I wouldn't be stopped. I knew I would take down Abaddon and anything else if I had to. And it wasn't a hero thing." She explained. "You know, it wasn't… It was just calm. I knew. And I had to go it alone, Sammy."

"Oh. Of course." Sam shook his head. "So, it was just another time where you had to protect me."

"You, Dean, and Gracie could have been nabbed by Abaddon, and she could've bargained her way out." Angela defended. "We couldn't afford to screw this up."

"Look… we're glad it worked out, okay? We are." Sam assured. "And we're glad the blade gives you strength or calm or whatever, but, Angie, I got to say… Dean and I…"

"We're starting to think the blade is doing something else, too." Dean finished.

"Yeah? Like what?" Angela raised her brows.

"I don't know. Like, something to you." Sam replied. "Look… I'm thinking until we know for sure that we're gonna kill off Crowley, why don't we store the blade somewhere distant? Lock it up somewhere safe? Okay?"

Angela pursed her lips tightly and shook her head. "No."

A/N: Hey, guys, I hope you liked this chapter! It's going up a little late because I had to work. I'm so happy with how this chapter turned out! As always, thank you for the recent reviews. Love you guys, xoxo :)

~Emily