Hey there!

Surprise! A new chapter! I'm so glad I got this chapter finished and ready to post tonight. Please forgive the errors, as usual, and enjoy!

EatMyFeels

Chapter Four:

Bait

Annabel watched as Silas's eyebrows furrowed and his cheeks blushed. His mouth opened then shut. His light grey eyes looked at her then darted away. Annabel grinned and she placed money on the bar top.

"Wh-Where are you going?"

"Back home," she said over her shoulder as she walked towards the door.

She exited the bar and with a chuckle, she appeared in the bunkers kitchen. The air around her vibrated and her skin tingled. A pair of brown eyes stared at her. Ashton sat at the table in the kitchen with a mug in her hands.

"Where were you?" Ashton asked.

"Alberta," Annabel averted her eyes, "Had a drink and a burger. I just needed to get away."

"And Silas?"

"He'll show up soon," Anna said, "He found me there."

"I see."

"Mom," Annabel sighed, "Please don't be upset."

"I'm not upset."

"Yeah, you are Mom," Annabel sat down across from Ashton, "I can tell."

"You can't run away from situations like that," Ashton sighed and took a drink from her mug, "We're all family and we can't just disappear when things get rough."

Anna looked down at her clasped hands.

"Your father and Dean have finished their discussion," Ash said, "And I think they both realize their roles going into the future."

"But dad-" Annabel began but stopped.

"I know," Ashton said with a light chuckle, "He wasn't a part of your life until a couple of weeks ago and neither was I."

Anna pried dirt out from under her nails, "But you couldn't help that. You were kidnapped."

"That's true," Ash said, "And I'm not excusing Crowley's actions, but when you love someone you get tunnel vision."

"Yeah, I know," Anna clenched her hands.

"Your father has learned his lesson," Ashton sighed and sipped her drink, "He feels a lot of guilt for these past twelve years."

"You know," Annabel looked up at her mother, "I never really blamed him because I could see how much he missed you. And besides, Dean, Sam, and Castiel raised me well. I had a good childhood, I just wished that you could have been a part of it."

"So do I," Ashton's eyes became glossy with tears, "I wished for that every day I was away. It truly was Hell watching you grow up without being there."

"Mom," Annabel reached out and grabbed her mother's hand, "We have the rest of our lives to be a family. Let's not dwell on the past we can't change."

Ashton squeezed her daughter's hand, "You really have grown into a wonderful woman."

"Thanks, mom," Annabel smiled.

Someone cleared their throat from the doorway of the kitchen. When Annabel looked over she saw Silas leaning against the doorframe. Anna let out a silent sigh but saw how her mother looked between Silas and her.

"Come sit down," Ashton said, "There's something I want to ask."

As Silas walked towards them, Annabel took that moment to really look at her mother. Her brown eyes were focused on the angel. Her brown hair had grey streaks and was cut an inch above her shoulder. There were shallow wrinkles around her eyes and in between her eyebrows.

"Now Silas," Ashton began with slightly narrowed eyes, "How long have you been watching Annabel?"

"Only a few d-"

"Don't you dare lie to me Angel," Ashton crossed her arms.

Silas glanced as Annabel, and then back at Ashton, "I'm not a liberty to say."

Annabel's eyes widened for a moment before she narrowed them on the angel.

"That answers my question just fine," Ashton sighed.

"You're unbelievable," Annabel spat.

"I've got my orders," Silas said, "I don't expect you to understand."

"And what about our deal?"

"Wait," Ashton jumped in, "What deal?"

"If I capture Rowena then he'll stop following me around," Annabel said.

Ashton looked at Silas, "Wouldn't Heaven send another angel to watch Annabel?"

"No," he shook his head, "Once Rowena is taken care of there doesn't seem to be any worries about Annabel, especially after yours and Crowley's return."

"Sometimes I really think Heaven causes more issues for us than Hell ever did," Ashton grumbled under her breath.

"Says the Queen of Hell," Silas retorted.

"Says the one that has kept Crowley in line for how many years?" she raised an eyebrow.

The kitchen went silent.

"Right," Ashton cleared her throat, "So I will be assisting Annabel to get back at that bitch of a mother-in-law."

Anna raised an eyebrow at her mother, "Jeez mom, language much?"

"We're all adults here," Ashton rolled her eyes but smiled.

Silas shifted his light grey eyes towards Annabel, "And what about the rest of the family?"

"I don't think they'll like my plan much," she replied and shifted in her seat, "Especially dad."

"And what's this plan?" Ashton narrowed her brown eyes on her daughter.

"I'm going to be bait to trap Rowena," Anna said with a shrug, "No big deal."

"No big deal?" Ashton seethed, "Seriously Anna?"

"It's not," she said, "As long as we catch Rowena before she catches me."

"Right," Ash said in a sarcastic tone, "Because that will be so easy."

"You know mom," Annabel grinned, "They say that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit."

"Do you understand how dangerous this plan is?" Ashton asked as she brushed passed the comment.

"Of course I do mom," Annabel said, "But I'm not just regular human. I can teleport. I can turn Rowena into a rat if I really want to. I can handle her, especially since she doesn't carry the Book of the Damned around."

"And you're confident in your powers?" Silas asked.

"Yes."

Annabel looked at her mother and then to Silas. They wore similar expressions. Their mouths were pulled at the edges, into straight lines and their eyebrows creased their foreheads. She smiled at them in a way that said I've got this. Ashton sighed and returned the smile, but Silas's face remained unchanged.

"What's going on in here?" Sam asked as he poked his head into the entrance of the kitchen.

"Nothing much," Annabel said and stood from the table, "Just chatting and now going to bed."

"Okay," Sam said with a smile, "Sleep well."

"I will," she gave him a kiss on the cheek as she left the kitchen.

As she walked to her room she could hear Silas's boot steps behind her. When she got to her door she looked at the angel with narrowed eyes.

"You're not coming in," she said, "So either you get your own room or you're going to have to sleep outside my door."

"Who said I needed sleep?" he raised a brow.

"Well," she paused, "Whatever. Just don't be a creep."

She entered her room and quickly shut the door behind her. She sulked towards her closet and got changed into her pyjamas as she grumbled to herself.

"Awesome comeback Annabel," she said under her breath, "Just awesome."

She got into bed and snapped her fingers. The lights went out in her room as she got herself adjusted into a sleeping position. Don't be a creep. God, how lame was that? She shut her eyes and swore she heard a soft chuckle from the other side of her door. Damned angel creep.

The next morning Annabel woke up from a knock at her door.

"Mmmm?" was her response.

"May I come in?" Castiel asked.

"Yeah, sure," she said with a yawn.

Castiel opened the door and entered her room before shutting the door behind him. As the door shut Anna could see Silas as he glanced into her room from the threshold. She felt a scowl pull on her face as she sat up in her bed.

"What's up Cas?" she asked and smiled at her uncle.

"I wanted to ask you if you really planned on using yourself as bait to trap Rowena."

"Jesus," she groaned, "Who all knows about this?"

"Your mother, Sam, and myself," he replied.

Annabel let out a growled sigh, "To answer your question. Yes, that's my plan."

"Why haven't you told your father or Dean?" Cas asked.

"Honestly," Annabel said, "I only told mom, but only because she asked."

"So you don't plan on telling them?"

"I don't know," she mumbled, "I wasn't planning on telling anyone."

"Annabel," Castiel said and sat on the edge of her bed, "You can always rely on your family."

"Even when I know they're going to over-protective and mad?"

"Especially when they get over-protective and mad," he chuckled, "It means that they love you and will protect you no matter what."

"Well," she said with a small smile, "Our family is good at that."

"So, are you going to tell them?"

"Oh, hell no," she laughed.

"Fine," Castiel sighed and stood up from the bed, "I will be the one to tell them."

"You don't have to do that Castiel," Anna said.

"I think they have a right to know," he said and walked towards the door, "Since you won't tell them, then I will."

"Wait," Annabel sighed, "Let me get dressed and I'll talk to them."

"Are you sure?"

"Well you're the one guilt tripping me," she scoffed, "Do you want me to back out now?"

"No, no," Castiel cleared his throat, "You should do what's right."

"Yeah, yeah," she rolled her eyes and threw her sheets off, "Try saying that after they've started their rampage."

Castiel didn't respond as he left the room. Once she was dressed, Annabel went to the library where everyone was gathered. Dean and Ashton had bowls of cereal in their hands, while Sam drank a smoothie. Crowley sipped at a mug of coffee and Castiel let his blue eyes followed Annabel. She could feel Silas's presence behind her as she walked towards Dean and her father.

"Dad," she looked at her father then at Dean, "Dean. I have something I need to tell you."

"What is it, Annabel?" Dean asked with a slight frown.

"I-I'm setting a trap for Rowena," she said and gulped, "And I'm using myself as bait."

There was silence in the library. Anna watched Dean and Crowley's faces as she waited for a response. Dean wore a frown with his lips parted. Her father had pursed lips and a neutral expression on his face. Dean licked his lips before he spoke.

"Wh-what?" his eyebrows untangled and shot up, creasing his forehead.

"Do I really need to say it again?" Anna asked in a quiet voice.

"No need Darling," Crowley finally spoke, "Because it's not happening."

"Dad," Annabel crossed her arms.

"Don't dad me," his gravelly voice hit a low note, "There is no way in Hell that I'm letting you become bait."

"Yeah, what he said," Dean inputted.

"How else are we going to trap her?" Annabel raised an eyebrow.

"We can use a grimoire," he said.

"Do you think there's a grimoire she'll want when she has the Book of the Dead?"

"She's a greedy bitch," Crowley said, "She'll want to dig her nails into anything that can make her stronger."

"And how are we going to get our hands on a powerful grimoire she'll want?"

"We can check the archives here," Sam jumped in and walked away, "I'll get the files."

"Fine," Annabel sighed, "But if we don't find anything then just go along with my plan."

"No," Crowley growled, "Well keep looking for something else. I'm not allowing you to be bait."

"Two weeks," Annabel said, "If we don't find something else in two weeks, then we'll use my plan."

Crowley inhaled, but Ashton cut him off.

"That sounds fair to me," she said.

The demon's face went red, but with an exhale he returned to his normal colour, "Fine."

"It's a deal," Annabel smiled.

She took a step towards her father and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Crowley sighed but had a small smile on his face. Sam came back with a few files in his arms. He passed one to Crowley, the other to Dean, and kept the last one for himself. The remaining occupants of the bunker split into groups to help the three go through the files. Annabel sat with Sam and scanned over the indexes of the bunkers cache.

"Liber Fieri Daemoniorum," Annabel said, "The Book of Demons. That sounds promising."

Crowley's head shot up and glared at Sam, "So that's been here all this time?"

"You know what it is?" Sam asked.

"It's not a book of spells if that's what you're wondering," Crowley scoffed, "It's a record of all the demons that have been created. It's been lost for ages."

"Seriously?" Dean raised a brow.

"It'll be out-dated now," Crowley sniffed, "Since it's been missing for so long."

Annabel returned her page back to the pile and continued to search for something useful. With a grumble under his breath, Crowley too returned to his search. The only sound coming from the library was the rustling of paper and the slurps from coffee mugs. After another twenty minutes, someone spoke up.

"Quod Sanguis Grimoire," Ashton announced to the group.

"The Blood Grimoire," Crowley said, "It's a book of binding spells and summoning rituals."

"That's good, right?" Ashton asked as she read over the paper, "Oh."

"Oh, what?" Annabel asked.

"It's a mid-grade grimoire," Crowley said, "It's like a children's book compared to the Book of the Damned."

"So no go," Annabel sighed.

"I'm going to dig a bit deeper," Sam said and stood from his chair, "There should be some more indexes of their hidden cache."

They spent the next few days like that. They exhausted the Men of Letter's resources and were grasping at the dust that floated in the air. That was when they turned to the Internet for ideas. They all researched supposedly real grimoires and spell books that could be powerful enough to catch Rowena's attention.

"The Oera Linda Book," Annabel said to the group.

"A hoax that the Nazi's praised," Crowley scoffed, "Useless."

"How about the Book of the Dead?" Sam asked.

"More of a ceremony book than a book of spells," Crowley hummed, "It has a few spells, but not worth it."

"I think I found it," Ashton exclaimed, "The Grand Grimoire or The Red Dragon. Wikipedia says that there are spells for summoning Lucifer and how to make a deal with the devil."

Annabel saw most of the people in the room shudder.

"That would definitely pique my mother's interest," Crowley said, "Where is the book."

"The Vatican has claimed ownership of the grimoire," Ashton said as her eyes scanned over her computer screen.

"I believe this to be true," Castiel nodded, "I would also suggest not using it."

"I'm not sure if there will be anything else that will draw Rowena out of hiding," Annabel said.

"But if that book was to be used it could mean the return of Lucifer, again," Cas said, "And possibly the end of the world."

"When hasn't there been an end of the world scenario?" Dean scoffed, "And we seem to always make things right again."

"I insist we look elsewhere," Castiel crossed his arms.

"Or just let Annabel be the bait," Crowley narrowed his eyes, "Is that what you're saying?"

"Of course not," Cas sighed, "I don't like the idea any more than you do."

"Well, then why don't you find a grimoire?" Crowley said in a low growl.

"I'm sure there is something that we can use other than the Grand Grimoire," Castiel said, "We just need to look."

"We have been looking," Dean said, "And been coming up with bupkis."

"I have to agree with Castiel," Sam said, "Rowena's powerful enough with the Book of the Damned and if we screw up she could get her hands on the Grand Grimoire too. It's too risky."

"Let's keep it on the table," Dean said, "And at the end of the two weeks Annabel has given us we'll take a vote. Majority wins. Got it?"

There were nods around the room.

"Until then," he cleared his throat, "We keep looking for anything that will draw Rowena's attention."

After that, they continued researching and whatever sounded promising they traveled to investigate it. On the last morning of the two-week deadline, the group crowded a small motel room. Sam glared at Crowley as he rubbed his forehead. There were dark circles under his eyes and a small yawn slipped from his lips.

"What's the matter, princess?" Crowley chuckled, "Not enough beauty sleep?"

"Your demons burst through our door in the middle of the night Crowley!" he snapped, "At least they could've knocked or something!"

"Well, while you two were sleeping," Crowley retorted as his face grew red, "I was awake trying to find something to distract Rowena with so that my little girl wouldn't have to be bait! So suck it up!"

"Dad," Annabel sighed, "Enough."

"We're all working as hard as we can," Ashton said and placed a hand on his arm, "We can't run on empty just because today's the last day. We need to be awake and aware."

Crowley averted his eyes but didn't respond.

"I think it's time we vote on using the Grand Grimoire," Dean said, "It's our only option at this point."

"So basically we have to decide whether we want to put Annabel at risk," Sam said, "Or the whole world."

"That's a pretty glum way of looking at it," Ashton sighed.

"Let's just get it over with," Annabel said.

"I stand by using the Grimoire," Dean said.

"As do I," Crowley said and looked at the group.

"The Grimoire is too dangerous to use as bait," Castiel said, "I oppose to its use."

"I agree with Castiel," Silas said.

"I have to put my daughter's safety above all else," Ashton said, "I think we should use the Grimoire."

"I don't want to put Annabel in danger either," Sam sighed, "But we can't risk Lucifer escaping the cage. I can't agree with using the Grand Grimoire."

Six pairs of eyes were on Annabel. She was the tiebreaker.

"I'm sticking with my original plan," Anna said, "We're not going to use the Grimoire just to try and protect me. So that's that."

There were heavy sighs around the room, but the decision had been made.

"So let's start making the plan," Annabel said, "I'm sure with everyone's help there will be no way Rowena will get her hands on me."

Crowley grumbled something under his breath before they started to discuss the trap. Ashton recorded a list of materials and objects they would need, like witch-killing bullets and anything they thought could weaken Rowena. Crowley mentioned something about a witchcatcher, but also mentioned its rarity. After they agreed on the plan they assigned everyone their roles.

"If all else fails," Dean said, "Give her hell."

They ate lunch at a nearby diner and then got to the prep work. Ashton and Dean divvied out the witch-killing bullets, while Sam went out to prep the Celtic blood trap spell. Crowley disappeared to look for the witchcatcher her had mentioned. Silas, Castiel, and Annabel collected all the iron tools they could use against Rowena and placed them on the beds.

"I had to call in a favour," Crowley spoke when he appeared in the motel room, "But I got it."

He held up a collar with long spikes.

"That's it?" Silas asked.

"This will make a witch do whatever you command it," Crowley grinned.

"Seriously?" Dean raised a brow, "Looks more like some S and M shit."

"You would know," Crowley winked at the Winchester.

Dean's eyebrows furrowed and his open mouth flexed downwards.

"Okay boys," Ashton chuckled, "Leave that kind of talk for the bedroom."

Dean's body shuddered as he shook his head. Annabel snorted with a restrained laugh, which caused the elder of the Winchester to send her a narrowed look. Anna turned away covering her mouth and pretended to be busy with untangling some iron shackles.

"Is everything together?" Ashton asked.

"Just waiting to hear back from Sam," Dean said.

"As soon as we hear from him we'll all get into place," Ashton said.

"We're doing it tonight?" Silas asked.

"No better time than the present," Annabel shrugged.

Silas opened his mouth was interrupted by Dean's cell phone ringing.

"Hey," Dean answered his phone, "Okay, got it. Meet you there."

"Sam?" Annabel asked.

"Yeah," Dean said and slipped his phone into his pocket, "Everything's ready on his end."

"Okay," Annabel nodded and flipped her hood over her head, "Now to place the bait."

Before anyone could say anything Annabel transported herself nearby the setup spot. She walked down the empty sidewalk while dialing Castiel's number into her phone. She turned the volume all the way down and slipped it into the pocket of her sweater. She turned into the alley and waited. Hopefully she shows. Anna tapped her foot on the ground and looked around the alleyway.

There were a few large garbage bins and stacks of beer cases full of empty beer bottles. The smell of stewing garbage and stale beer mingled with the cool night air. The moon glowed behind a thin layer of clouds and a nearby lamppost flickered. She waved a fly away from her face when a figure walked into the opening of the alley.

"My dear," the redhead spoke, "Are you waiting here for me?"