I called Mrs. Tran to let her know I would be home late, if at all. "Something came up." I explained. "I can't tell you about it just yet, but I promise when it's safer I will."
"You better be home by breakfast, then." She said. "And with your homework done."
"It's no problem." I assured her. "Homework is taken care of, I promise."
"Alright…" She thought for a moment. "Tell Crowley I owe him a hard slap."
I stared at the phone, aghast. "You… You…"
"You wouldn't run off with the Winchesters, and if it were Castiel you would've told me." She explained. "As much as I hate that demon, if you're working with him, then it must be important."
"It is." I promised her, my voice much more serious.
"Then good luck." She said. "And I hope you bartered for something good." We both laughed before hanging up, and I got to work. Crystal balls were so cliche, but in this case I wanted a face, a person. A crystal ball on top of a map, and I could get an estimate on a location. The only problem was a lack of supplies. Whenever I was trying to find Dean or Sam or even Cas, I had things to go off of. Hair, feathers, some sort of DNA or representative of THEM. With Lucifer, however, I had jack shit. No hair. No feathers. Nothing short of a handful of crack-induced "Satan Summoning Rituals" from the friendly local chapter of the Satanist fan club.
This was gonna take some mixing and fixing, but I had a few ideas. Crowley was right, after all. I'd been doodling a few different things. Summonings. Trackings. Healings. Expulsions. The only thing I hadn't really touched was time travel, but that was on principal. I'd seen enough Doctor Who to understand that the cardinal rule was to NOT mess with time, or else things would change, and not always for the better.
After a few hours though (with a decent part of that time filled with Crowley complaining about how long it was taking, grabbing me some supplies and paper, and more than one failed attempt), I finally had something worked out that I was certain would work. "Quaerite et invenietis." I muttered. Seek and ye shall find.
Crowley stalked over to me, his steps as impatient as ever. "What's the bloody hold-up?" He demanded. "He's the one and only Satan in the phonebook."
"It's witchcraft, not Google Maps." I reminded him. "And last time I did this, as well as every other time I did this, I had a piece of hair or something with their DNA on it to start my search from. Even with Cas, I had a name, face, and a few feathers. With this," I shook my head, working hard to focus. "It's like trying to find a vial of airborne disease among a shit ton of empty ones."
"He's the Devil. He has an aura." Crowley stated. "Supreme evil. Lock on to that. You were able to do it with Amara." He let out a sigh. "Do I have to do everything?"
"I get that he's got an aura, everyone has an aura, that's what I cover up when I throw on my good disguises." I said. "However, even with exposure to his aura, this isn't like Amara's. The exposure isn't nearly as recent, and Amara was packing enough power and energy that I could physically sense when she blasted out even a small bit. Lucifer would have to do something big, like torch a freaking metroplex or something, to give me that much power to check out."
"Isn't the body-dropping enough?" He asked. "Can't you get something from that?"
"Well, did you bring me any of the bodies?" I asked.
"You didn't ask for the bodies."
"Look, bring me the most recent one you've got, and see if you can extract any residue angel grace from it." I requested. "That should give me a more specific idea instead of…" I glanced at my set-up. Light beaming through the crystal had burned a hole in a couple different states and almost every major geological rock formation. "Well, it seems as though I'm getting something about California, Colorado, Nebraska, Tennessee, and New York, as well as a crap ton of mountain ranges, which I know for a fact is more than we had hours ago."
"I bet you Rowena could've been done sooner." Crowley stated.
"Speaking of which, why didn't you ask her?" I had been wondering this for a while. "She didn't chose to be out, and has as much against Lucifer as I do."
"I did ask her, just so you know." Crowley said.
"And?"
"She said no."
"I believe I said no a lot sooner."
"And yet, here you stand."
"Yeah, and I still can't believe I'm once again teaming up with you, seeking some form of bad to further what I'm assuming is another attempt on Hell by you." I retorted. "When does this end, by the way?" No answer. I let out a small huff, returning to trying to figure out what in the hell my spell had gotten me info on. I was certain that it would work, and I wasn't sure what it's success had just earned me. "This is exactly why I'm going to college." I muttered.
"Community college, which is boring and beneath you and something that you jumped to leave without much persuasion."
"And yet, you are actively avoiding why you didn't get your mother in on this first." I reminded him. He let out a small sigh.
"I did." He said again. "And she said no."
"You accepted that because?"
"Because she's trying for the same thing." He answered. "Mother is… dating. A rich man. She wants out, and wants to live a life with a rich, albeit also extremely boring, man."
"Really? You accept her normal life but not mine?"
Crowley said nothing, and I stopped, thinking for a moment. "You care." I said, everything finally clicking. "You care about your mom. And about her happiness and safety. You missed me, wanted me around, and your mom said no so you went for the next best thing for company. You couldn't not have someone around a second time." I stared at him for a few moments. "The King of Hell is lonely."
"And you aren't happy in that normal life either." Crowley said softly. "That's why you agreed so easily. You missed this just as much. You miss Cas."
We both stood in silence for a while. A demon missed companionship, missed a common cause and friendship (and maybe even being a good guy). A witch missed the supernatural, missed an angel, missed the life she'd given up to keep what used to be her family, well… a family together.
Crowley took a few steps towards me, reaching in to his pocket. He pulled out a small vial of angelic grace, maybe a fourth of the way full.
"I figured you would need this." He said. "But if not, I wanted to save it in case of an emergency. Snagging it from a dead body was a little tricky, though. Definitely took every last drop."
"Thanks." I said, smiling. I took the vial from him, staring at my ball and map once more. I poured the contents straight on to the crystal ball, and watched as it seeped inside and swirled around for a moment.
"Ostende illum mihi quen quaero." Show it to me, show me what I seek.
The ball started crackling, and I could see an image and a name forming inside of it. The image was a place, and the name was more than likely his vessel.
"Lucifer?" Crowley asked. I nodded.
"Yeah, I got him." I confirmed. "You want the location or the name?"
"Just the name, for now. I only want to know who we're dealing with before we attack." That we didn't sit quite as well with me.
"By 'we,' you mean the Winchesters and Castiel, right Crowley?" When he didn't answer, I tried again. "Lemme say this a second time, right Crowley?"
"I don't need them." Crowley said. "Just you."
I let out a sigh. "Chuck-dammit."
"Look, it's obvious." Crowley argued. "We've got to put Lucifer back in the cage. You're the only one that can do it, now. Probably even better and faster than Mother."
I took the crystal ball and took it off its pedestal, shaking my head.
"I should've known it would be more." I muttered. "I don't want to get involved again, Crowley. I can't."
"You already are involved." He answered. "Nobody remembers you're alive except for four people. Myself, Mrs. Tran, you, and Lucifer." I grimaced. "With him still around, he could spill the beans, put the Winchesters back on the one-way train to hating you. And if he doesn't," Crowley shrugged. "I might."
"You wouldn't."
"I think we both know that that's not true."
"You're a righteous, manipulative, self-centered ass."
"And you haven't outright said no, again." Crowley pointed out. I thought it over in my head.
"Lucifer can't be sent back to the cage." I told him. "Not while he's in a vessel, which he definitely is at this point. A more semi-permanent one, at that. Not one that he burns out in a few seconds or days."
"He won't be." Crowley assured me. "Not by the time we're ready."
