Part III
Castiel watched as the timer started counting down as soon as Balthazar had installed the battery in the cell phone. Time to get out of there.
"Merry Christmas, you bastards," Balthazar quipped as they headed back to the portal, only to pull up short the moment they emerged from the cleft.
A huge, hulking demon towered three stories above them, with crackled, pewter skin and brawny muscles. It had a bullish head with a flat snout and horns that curved down and up around its jaw line. For a moment no one moved. The demon lolled a lazy eye down at them, pupil contracting as it registered their intrusion.
"Oh, bloody hell," Balthazar murmured.
Castiel tensed. Angel blades would do little good against a demon this old and foul. It must have been making its way to the surface to pass through the Devil's Gate.
And now it was blocking their escape.
"Go!" Anna shouted, unleashing her grace animal with an explosion of bluish-white light. A lynx growled as it took form around her, fangs bared against the demon. Her red hair billowed in the ethereal static.
The demon's nostrils flared and it let out a bellow as it reared up to bring its massive, clawed hands slamming back down on the ground. Castiel dove to the side to avoid being smashed. The impact shuddered through the soil, but he still rolled into a crouch, his grace erupting around him.
Anna had held her ground, and now the demon snapped its gaping maw at her. She raked several claws down its face before darting aside to avoid a blow. Balthazar had ignited his grace animal as well, and now the three of them were blazing blue beacons in a ghastly landscape. In the distance, a cry of alarm went up.
Castiel slashed at the demon's flank, trying to get its beastly mass to move away from the Gate. It whipped around so fast that Castiel couldn't dodge getting sideswiped. Brute force slammed into his side, throwing him against the crags. He scrambled to get up.
Balthazar slapped his palms together in pantomime of prayer and stretched them above his head, channeling his grace fox into a stream that shot upward in an arc and then dove back down onto the demon's back. It roared and stumbled back. The portal sizzled as one leg stepped through it.
Castiel's heart dropped into his stomach. They had to make sure the creature was on this side of the Devil's Gate when the bomb went off. Surging to his feet, Castiel charged straight at the demon. His panther let out a roar and went for the jugular, fangs sinking into tough flesh with a fizzle of electricity. With his human form, Castiel also clenched his fist and drove it into the demon's shoulder with a thunderous ripple.
Anna leaped up to attack the other side of the massive beast's neck. The demon reared back again and twisted in an attempt to throw them off. Castiel felt a split second of relief when it veered away from the portal, but then the demon surprised him by flinging itself at the nearest cliffside. A cry of pain tore from Castiel's throat as he was crushed between the rocks and the demon's brute strength. He fell to the ground, another cry echoing in his ears, and he saw Balthazar get trampled underfoot. Castiel tried to push himself up. The path to the portal was clear.
He raised his head, and spotted dozens of black shapes stampeding over the hills and converging toward their position. Balthazar was unmoving on the ground, and Anna was still clawing at the ancient demon.
Somewhere behind these rocks, a timer was counting down its last few seconds.
They weren't going to make it.
Gabriel clenched and unclenched his fists as he watched the portal simmer stagnantly. He hadn't expected it to take this long, but then, he also shouldn't have expected such a foray into Hell itself to be a walk in the park.
Hester approached from behind. "Gabriel, we should start now."
"We'll give them a little more time."
"It's been too long already," she pressed. "They might have been caught, or the bomb detonated early."
Gabriel resisted the urge to snap at her. It should have been him to take the bomb through and set it. Except, the might of his archangel grace would be needed to instigate sealing the Devil's Gate from this side. Which meant he'd had to send his soldiers into danger instead.
Gabriel had never been one to give orders in Heaven; he didn't like to command the way Michael and Raphael did, with angels snapping to attention like they were God's own generals.
Well, okay, technically that's what the archangels were. But they all were also the Heavenly Host, brothers and sisters, comrades in arms set with a noble and divine duty. They were family.
Or they had been, once. And Gabriel had allowed the corruption in Heaven to jade him to the point where he stopped caring. At least, that was what he'd told himself when he'd hidden among the pagan deities, relishing in decadence and debauchery and trying to fill the hole his severance from Heaven had left behind.
And then the Apocalypse had started. Gabriel had been wandering, as he'd done for centuries since leaving Heaven; happening upon Anna had been pure chance. And he'd witnessed his little sister, the spitfire of her garrison, grieve over the world as it fell, over a friend she'd thought had fallen in battle, a battle she'd led him into. Gabriel had watched secretly as Anna drew forth her angel blade and prepared to fall on her sword, too.
And he'd intervened.
From that moment forward, Gabriel had finally taken up the mantle of General, as was his right to bear, and vowed to protect as many members of his family as he could. He'd convinced Anna to resume the fight once more, that together they would uphold their duty to protect humanity, and they would search for others who still believed in that mission. On some level, Gabriel had always known that the lower angels looked up to him, maybe revered his cheeky attitude and jocular impudence toward the other two archangels with sticks up their asses. But he had never realized before just how much they were willing to follow him with the kind of loyalty and devotion Michael had always coveted but could never seem to attain—that born of love.
So yes, there were times when Gabriel had to send his men and women into battle. But they were also his brothers and sisters, and he would not sacrifice them the way Michael or Raphael would treat pawns in a game.
"Tell everyone to get into position and start channeling their grace," he said. "But no one ignites it until I give the order," he added sharply.
Hester gave a curt nod and moved away.
Gabriel's eyes remained fixed on the Devil's Gate. Come on, guys.
He sensed the members of his garrison lining up along the edge of the crater directly across from the portal. One by one, the energy of their grace began to glow in a halo around their forms, their spirit animals just under the surface yet not fully unleashed.
Gabriel waited.
The portal rippled, but instead of it being from a shockwave, Gabriel caught a glimpse of a clawed foot partially poking through the rift before it slipped back into Hell.
"Gabriel!" Hester hissed.
"Not yet."
"Gabriel!" Inias shouted in alarm.
He jerked his attention toward the sky where bursts of light were beginning to pepper the air like fireworks. Dread coiled around his heart as the first volleys started, comets of grace energy shooting down and exploding the ground around them.
Heaven didn't want the Devil's Gate closed.
"Target the portal!" Gabriel shouted, even as he spread his eagle's wings with a flash of gold. They'd need his grace to trigger the collapse, but at least the others could weaken the portal, and still give Castiel, Anna, and Balthazar time to come back through.
Gabriel completely transformed into his grace animal and took to the skies in rippling bands of shimmering gold, intercepting the attacking angels with a trumpeting shriek. He knocked two out of the air mid-flight and slashed his beak at a third, aiming for only debilitating hits and not fatal ones. Below, his garrison began to shoot their concentrated energy at the Devil's Gate.
Gabriel banked around and snapped his wings taut, sending out a wave of celestial force that slammed into the descending soldiers of Heaven before they could reach the ground. As he veered back, the portal spritzed, and Castiel, Anna, and Balthazar came tumbling through. A split second later, it flickered again, only this time with a hiss and sputter that made the edges buckle a fraction.
Gabriel's heart soared, and he pulled up and around into a hovering position over the Gate. Time to finish this once and for all. Focusing his grace, golden light suffused around him like a miniature sun, gathering intensity for that one final blow.
Yet before he could shoot the concentrated power into the portal, a beam of crackling copper energy shot down from Heaven and struck Gabriel in the shoulder. It seared through him, disrupting his gathering charge and unbalancing his flight. His wings flailed as he suddenly found himself plummeting, the earth rushing up to meet him. He crashed down like a meteor, sending showers of rock and soil into the air.
Pain radiated through him, and Gabriel quickly morphed back into his human form to hide his grace signature from Raphael's view. The bastard. Always was too cowardly for a face to face confrontation.
Gasping for breath, Gabriel crawled from his trench in time to see more of that electric bronze energy firing down from above. The next beam hit Daniel, who exploded into stardust. More cries filled the air as Heaven's angels descended in blazing bands of light to attack those still trying to close the portal. The last of the concentrated energy targeting the Devil's Gate cut off, along with their chance at destroying it.
Gabriel struggled to his feet, stumbling as fiery pain lanced through his shoulder.
"Retreat," he gasped, then louder. "Retreat!"
He let his grace explode again with a screech that echoed above the onslaught. His angels started to slip into the ether. Some of Heaven's soldiers gave chase, but Gabriel hoped he'd disoriented them enough in that last display that they'd be easily shaken.
He spun around, refusing to leave until he was sure every one of his people would escape. He spotted Castiel and Anna dragging Balthazar across the crater, Castiel brandishing his angel blade against some scavenger demons that hadn't been frightened away by the aerial battle. He was seconds from being overwhelmed.
Gabriel launched himself toward them and used his bare hands to rip the ravenous creatures off Castiel. Then he took hold of both Castiel and Balthazar and yanked them into the ether, with Anna keeping up.
None of Heaven's agents slipped in behind them, but Gabriel still planned to take a circuitous route back to their base. They had failed in their mission, with heavy casualties.
Dean handed Jo a cup of water. She took it with a mumbled thanks and shaky fingers, huddled on the floor with Ellen's arms wrapped protectively around her shoulders.
"Anyone ever seen anything like that?" he asked.
"No," Bobby replied. "But a lot of new, or should I say old, nasties have come out of that Devil's Gate since it opened."
"Well, it's obviously some kind of Khan worm," Dean said. Sam rolled his eyes.
"Which the anti-possession tattoos don't protect against," Ellen added tightly.
Jo shuddered, her complexion still pale after her ordeal. "I don't remember…I mean, looking back, there are a few gaps of blackouts. I just thought I was so exhausted and fell asleep."
Dean frowned. So it wasn't a full possession?
Bobby's wheelchair squeaked as he shifted. "So there's probably no way to determine when you picked it up."
Jo looked at her mom, expression full of horror at the implication. Ellen's lips pressed together into a bloodless line, and after a moment she shook her head.
"But why would it want to go after the wards?" Sam brought up. "If they didn't keep it out, why would it bother?"
Dean crossed his arms and tucked his fist under his chin as he thought back to yesterday when Ellen and Jo had arrived. Jo had gotten dizzy…right when she crossed the first line of warding at the gate.
"Jo almost collapsed when she entered the camp," he said. "So maybe the wards didn't keep it out, but they weakened it when you crossed over them."
Sam's brows rose sharply. "And it disfigured the wards either to escape or reassert full control."
Dean shrugged. "Best guess I got."
"All of which is academic at this point," Bobby interrupted. "We need to figure out how to track it down and kill it."
Dean's gut clenched. What if it had already found a new host? "We'll have to go back to our original plan of testing everyone first."
Again, he wished they could call Cas for help. Maybe the angel would know which protections would work against this thing. But Cas had his own problems to deal with, and this wasn't the first time the Winchesters had been in a hairy situation; they'd figure it out.
"How much holy water do we have?" Sam asked.
"Enough for an initial inspection, but if we have to do repeated ones…"
"Dean!" someone shouted from outside.
Dread started turning his stomach to knots as Dean hurried for the door, Sam right behind him. Keith and Ryan, two of their more capable men, each had a restraining arm on a guy named Jorge and were manhandling him forward.
"We found him hacking at one of the wards," Keith reported.
Shit.
"Here." Bobby had wheeled out behind them and was now shoving the flask of holy water into Dean's hand.
He took it and descended the steps.
Jorge's eyes were wide and fearful. "Please," he blurted. "Please don't send me away. I would never—"
Dean held up a hand. "Just drink this." He held the container out.
Jorge's brows furrowed in confusion, but he nevertheless took the flask and lifted it to his lips. Dean watched him with a ruthless gaze as he gulped down some of the water.
"He's clean," Dean declared.
"Clean of what?" Ryan asked.
"I'll explain in a minute. You two next." Dean gestured for them to take the flask as well. They did, and neither had a reaction to the holy water. Dean didn't know whether to be relieved or not.
"Alright," he said, "round everybody up. We have an intruder. If you see anyone acting strangely, do not shoot. Use holy water and nonlethal means to restrain them."
"Is it a demon?"
"We're not sure," Dean replied. "Whatever it is, it's not that strong. Now go." He turned back to Sam and Bobby as the men proceeded to follow his orders. "We're gonna need more holy water."
"Yeah," Bobby huffed resignedly, and spun his wheelchair around to head back inside his cabin. "I'll get my rosary."
"I'll get some water bottles from the mess," Sam said.
"I'll go with you," Ellen called, stepping outside.
Dean gave her a nod of thanks as she headed off with Sam. He went back inside the cabin to check on Jo. She'd gotten off the floor, but still looked rather shaken.
"How you doin'?" Dean asked.
She shook her head, expression pinching. "I'm so sorry I brought this thing here."
"Hey, no, it's not your fault." He reached out to lightly touch her arm. "None of us could have seen this coming." He hesitated. "You up to helping us stop it?"
A muscle in her cheek ticked, and she looked away for a moment. But then she took a deep breath and slowly lifted her chin. "Yeah, I'd like to fry this thing."
"Good," Bobby spoke up gruffly. "Because we ain't exactly got a lot of experienced hunters in this bunch." He raised the rosary dangling in one hand. "Let's do this."
They headed back outside where the members of camp were beginning to assemble, and Dean could see paranoia starting to take hold in some of their eyes. The last thing they needed was to turn on each other. Sam and Ellen were returning with arms full of water bottles, though, so they could get on with the testing soon enough.
"Ryan said a demon's infiltrated the camp," Risa said to Dean as he passed.
"Some kind of demon, though not one we've seen before," he replied. "First we make sure everyone's clean and then we explain the situation."
The good thing about Risa was she was good at taking orders. Wasn't bad with an automatic rifle, either.
Dean started going through a mental checklist of camp members, eyes peeled for signs of nervousness. The Khan worm had to know what they were up to.
"Make sure no one's at the perimeter!" he called. He'd be damned if he let this thing escape with one of them.
Dean only saw it in his peripheral vision, too fast and unexpected to do anything about—one of the men drew a gun, and pointed it at Dean.
The bullet never left the barrel, as Sam tackled the guy to the ground. Risa stepped in just as quickly, shooting him—Brian—with a taser. The prongs struck his chest, making his whole body jerk into a rigid spasm as electricity coursed through him. He opened his mouth and a high-pitched squeal rose up. Dean saw the worm frantically wriggling its way out of Brian's ear and onto the ground…where Sam was still laying after having knocked Brian down.
Dean didn't even have time to yell his brother's name before the worm rushed straight into Sam's ear.
Sam gave a minor twitch, and then his features smoothed of all expression. He slowly got to his feet, everything about his posture screaming an alien presence. Those who had weapons were suddenly aiming them at Sam.
"Hold your fire!" Dean shouted.
The creature inside Sam made his mouth crack into a grin. "That's right, you wouldn't want to shoot your brother."
"You get the hell out of him," Dean growled.
The demon sneered. "Sorry, but he's who I came for."
Dean stiffened. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"I was sent to find Sam Winchester and deliver him to her." His face scrunched up in revulsion. "But the moment I entered your little camp, the wards significantly weakened me. No matter now. I'm going to leave, and you're going to let me."
Dean's hands clenched into fists. "Like hell."
The demon spread Sam's arms. "Or you could shoot your brother. But I don't think you have it in you."
Dean's jaw ticked, and he held himself perfectly still as Ellen and Jo moved in behind Sam with iron chains they'd grabbed from under the ramp of Bobby's cabin. Iron worked on a lot of monsters; maybe it'd work on this one, too.
The demon smirked, and started to take a step forward when they lunged, flinging the chain around his torso and yanking hard. Dean surged forward and grabbed one of Sam's arms as he tried to fight them off. In seconds, they had dragged him to the ground and pinned him.
"Who were you taking my brother to?" Dean demanded.
The demon merely hissed and spat at him, bucking with renewed fervor.
"Seemed like electrocution did the trick," Bobby spoke up.
Dean gritted his teeth at that, but had to admit the older hunter was right.
"Risa, that taser recharged?"
"Yes."
Dean held out his hand for it. "Sorry, Sammy," he said before stabbing his brother in the side with the charged prongs. Sam threw his head back and screamed, along with that same shrill shriek. Dean didn't let go, even though it made every fiber in his being scream along with his little brother.
The worm finally slithered out of Sam's ear, a viscous, smoking slug. Ellen and Jo jumped back, while Dean simply stood up and drew his gun. He aimed it at the Khan worm and pulled the trigger, blasting it to smithereens for good measure.