Chapter 2 - Trouble
It had taken a while, but the legendary butterflies were apparently as eternal as the Angels. And now, they had finally gotten their revenge.
The consequences of Ammit's murder in the past had a ripple effect in the present, and at first, it appeared as though the results were going to be very positive for the God Squad.
Sam and Dean were having a beer in their motel room in Cheyenne, Wyoming, winding down before hitting the sack. Rob and Eric were still out on the town somewhere, but they were half the Winchesters' age, and they weren't driving. As it was, the men were only a six-hour drive from home, but when Dean had started weaving the car on the highway, Sam had put his foot down and insisted they stop for the night. It was obvious his brother needed the rest, too, because Dean hadn't raised much of an objection. They'd gone to a roadhouse on the way into town for a drink and a bite. The younger brothers had chatted up a couple of young girls, and they'd told their "uncles" to go on ahead. They would take a cab to the motel later. How much later would be determined, depending on how accommodating the young ladies cared to be.
So the Winchesters were just about ready to call it a night when Dean's cell phone rang. He answered it and, to his surprise, it was Nicole.
"How's it going?" she asked him in a pleasant tone.
"Uh...fine. Good. How are you?" Dean said, puzzled. Hadn't she told him to take a hike recently, before he, Sammy, Cas and Gail had gone to the Caribbean?
"I miss you," Nicole told him. "Do you think Cas could give you a lift to come and see me here, soon? We'll be going on location next month to start the next movie."
Dean was at a loss for words. She'd been so pissed off at him after he'd confessed to her that she had been possessed by that Demon bitch Ammit, and none of them had told her about it.
"Are you upset with me for leaving the bunker so abruptly, after we got back from Quinn's?" Nicole asked, misinterpreting her boyfriend's silence. "I'm sorry about that. I guess I felt guilty for not going on the location-scouting trip. I should never have told Richard I had the flu. My conscience bothered me after that. But, I'd like to make it up to you. I'll tell you what: I'll cook you whatever you want in the kitchen, and I'll let you order a la carte in the bedroom, if you know what I mean," she added mischievously.
Dean started to smile. He still wondered about her sudden about-face, but he was over trying to analyze it. "I'd like that," he told her quickly, "but Cas is...out of town right now. Me and Sammy are on the road, but we'll be home tomorrow. Can I call you when we get back to the bunker, and we'll figure something out?"
They chatted for another couple of minutes, and then Dean hung up, looking at Sam. "OK; that was weird," Dean said to his brother. "Not that I'm complaining, but...it's like she doesn't even remember that whole Ammit thing."
Sam shrugged. "Maybe she's decided to overlook it. She's had some time since then, and maybe she's come to the realization that she likes you too much to hold what happened against you. Although why, I don't know."
Dean gave his brother the one-finger salute, finishing his beer. "Well, I'd better get some rest, then," Dean said, starting to undress. "Maybe Bobby'll send somebody else to take me up there to Vancouver. I didn't wanna tell her where Cas is. I'd probably never see her again. She'd think I was screwing around with her."
A couple of minutes later, Dean was snoring loudly. Sam smiled, shaking his head slowly. He wondered how Cas and the group were doing.
The other positive consequence to Ammit's death, of course, was the fact that Gabriel was still alive, thanks to the unexpected assist from the King of Hell. As Gabriel rode his unlikely and recalcitrant steed into the town, he was still going over and over the events back at the Pyramid in his mind. Had Gail been able to get the entire body of the Texts down, before Metatron had sent her and Paul to their servitude at the Palace? They didn't have all that much of a head start on him, at least. But how long did it take to whip somebody, or to rape and beat them?
"Come on, camel, let's go," Gabe exhorted the beast. "The Royal Palace is still about a mile from here."
The camel halted abruptly and tilted its body to the side, dumping Gabriel unceremoniously onto the dusty ground. He landed with a grunt, then got to his feet slowly and painfully. "Hey! I thought we were building a relationship!" Gabriel yelled at the animal. It made a "Hmph" sound that was eerily similar to that of Leah's, when she disapproved of something Gabriel had said or done. Which was most of the time, he thought with a sigh. Then the camel defecated on the ground by Gabriel's feet, and then it trotted away.
"Nice touch," Gabe said dryly, looking at the sky again. "I'll try not to read anything into it." He sighed again, put his head down, and began the trudge to the Palace.
Mark was utterly shocked to find himself standing on line in Hell, waiting to see one of the intake clerks. How had he gotten here? One moment, he had been screaming in agony, drowning in the Lake of Fire, and the next, he'd found himself here.
When he got to the head of the line, an alarm bell went off, and Crowley suddenly appeared. "Well, well," the King said calmly. "I was wondering if I was going to get you now, or later, after Castiel killed you."
"Castiel?" Mark said, "I was being held as a slave at the Lake of Fire, and then, Ammit cast me into it. I appealed to Castiel to help me, but he laughed in my face."
Crowley smirked. "As I would have. You aligned yourself with Lucifer, Mark. You, a writer of the Gospels. I may be the ruler of Hell, but, you? You were supposed to be one of the good guys."
"That didn't stop you from making John one of your lieutenants," Mark pointed out.
Crowley tilted his head in acknowledgement. "True," he admitted. He was fairly impressed by the fact that Mark had picked up on that, right away. John had been a great lunk of an individual, long on muscle but short on brains. Crowley had often wondered if the man's Gospels had been ghostwritten by one of the others, because John had seemed incapable of finding a coherent sentence with both hands and a flashlight. But before the King had had to decide whether or not John was more of a liability than he was worth, Rowena had decided the issue for him by dispatching the former Angel with a blade.
Mark was looking at Crowley with a puzzled expression. "How did I get here? The Lake of Fire is the second and final death, isn't it? Ammit scooped my organs out of my chest on Earth, and then she threw me into the Lake, later on."
Of course, Crowley thought. Ammit was dead, in the past; therefore, Mark lived, in the present. This day just kept getting better and better. Now, he just had to figure out how to use the unexpected acquisition of a Gospel writer to his advantage.
"Come to my office," he said to Mark. "We'll have a little chat."
But the butterflies weren't done yet. In the unkindest cut of all, when Cas had killed Ammit in that Pyramid, he had sealed his own fate, too. He reappeared in that little house in the Netherworld, but with one very important distinction: this time, he remembered everything.
This was unbelievable! Killing Ammit had been the right thing to do. Of course it had been. She was a Demon Goddess, a menace to all, and she had been planning to usurp Death. Death! The entity who was responsible for Castiel being in the Netherworld in the first place. But Cas had killed Ammit now, thereby living up to the promise that he and Gail had made to Death, that they would kill Ammit. It was enough to make your head spin.
Cas went out into the backyard and lifted his head to the sky. "No! I do not accept this! I delivered on our promise!"
No response. He was shaking with rage now. Where was Gail? What had Metatron done to her, and to Paul? Metatron had the jawbone, and Gabriel was probably laying dead back at that Pyramid, a broken and bloody victim of Anubis. They had done all the right things. Then, how was it fair that everything had gone so wrong?
"Fine. Then I will have no choice but to cause you as much trouble as possible," Cas fumed. He still had his sword in his hand, and now he reached into the pocket of the pantaloons he still wore and pulled out Ammit's claw. But, wait: that wasn't the pocket he'd put it in. He checked the other pocket and, lo and behold, he had her other claw, too.
"My Father was an expert on vengeance," Cas said almost conversationally, smiling grimly. "And, as you well know, I studied at His knee. I will torture and then kill every occupant of this realm, until you set me free. And if you send more, I will do the same. Again, and again, and again, for all of eternity. Our debt to you is paid. Liberate me."
Death appeared in front of him, frowning deeply. "You are speaking like a common thug," Death said with distaste. "I expected better from you."
"I expected better from YOU," Cas shot back. "Ammit is dead. Therefore, she is no longer a threat to you."
"Technically speaking, she never was," Death said calmly. "She died thousands of years ago. I only released you from this realm because Gail threw herself upon my mercy, promising that Ammit would be no more. Now, Ammit is no more, so there is no reason for you to be released from the Netherworld. It's quite the paradox, isn't it, Castiel? Now, do you see the inherent dangers of time travel?"
"You will release me, or you will regret it," Cas said through clenched teeth. He removed one of Ammit's claws from his pants pocket, showing it to Death. "She is dead. I killed her. Here, take it. And every time you look at it, may you be reminded of what a dishonourable individual you are. Take a look around you. By this time tomorrow, the roads will be flooded with blood, and that blood will be on your hands."
Death regarded Cas silently. He couldn't believe the Angel's audacity. Was Castiel actually trying to blackmail him? But, on the other hand, if Death was not honourable, then what was he? Ammit WAS dead. Did it really matter when and how her killing had taken place? Castiel would be his, eventually. And probably sooner rather than later, considering the reckless way the Angel went about his business, and the number of enemies he had. Yes, Castiel would be back. And the next time, Death wouldn't owe him a thing. But Death would remember the events of today, and he would make sure that Castiel did, too.
Death waved his walking stick, and Ammit's claw was transferred to his own hand, from Castiel's. He regarded it for a moment. Then he waved his walking stick again, and Cas disappeared.
"Cas!? What the hell?!" Dean exclaimed. He and Sam looked up from the library table as their Angel friend suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs. Cas stumbled, and then he staggered down the stairs.
"Is Gail here?" he asked the brothers in desperation. When they shook their heads, Cas collapsed at the foot of the stairs, unconscious.
Vincent opened the box that the courier had brought to Becky's place, and he started to smile. This was Blackbeard's skull, all right. He felt the difference right away. It just had a vibe to it. He lifted it out of the box, holding it aloft in triumph. But then, just in case, he turned it upside down. Phew. No manufacturers' label. He'd just had to make sure.
"Bring me a bottle of the strongest liquor you have," he ordered Becky. "Then, make yourself scarce."
Becky's forehead wrinkled. She'd thought the skull was for Sam, to drink the potion from. Maybe Vincent had to test it first, or something. But she knew better than to argue with him by now. He could get really pissy when she did. And Becky needed his help to get Sam. So she scurried into the kitchen and returned a minute later, holding a bottle of wine.
Vincent regarded her scornfully. "Is that the best you can do? Don't you have any alcohol? Rum? Tequila? Anything?"
"I've never really been much of a drinker, and a model shouldn't drink much, anyway," Becky replied, setting the bottle on the table in front of him. "Empty calories."
Vincent nodded. Of course. "Well, it won't matter, soon. When you're pregnant with Sam's brat, you can get as fat as you want."
Becky smiled. That would be kind of neat, actually. Imagine being able to scarf down any kind of food you wanted, as much as you wanted. And then, even when you got fat, people treated you like gold. The more she thought about it, the better the whole thing sounded.
Vincent picked up the bottle of wine and sneered at the label. She called this liquor? It was hardly even worth his while. But he was impatient to have his vision, the one he should have had at The Embarrassed Tiki, where there was real alcohol.
"Get lost," he said irritably. "Go upstairs and get out that box you think I don't know about from your nightstand, and practice. I'll let you know when you can come back downstairs."
Becky rushed out of the room and Vincent poured the wine into the skull, then drank it down.
Gabriel finished his perimeter check of the Palace grounds and walls, satisfying himself that everything was pretty much as he remembered it to be. He was also convinced that wherever Castiel was now, he was not here. There were way too many guards walking around, alive and un-maimed.
The majority of those guards were in the courtyard, and they were well into their cups by now. If Gabriel was very careful, he should be able to scale the wall on the South side of the Palace, and sneak into the area where Hakeem kept the harem.
Once Gabe was moving quietly down the corridor, he could hear the voices of some of the ladies, talking amongst themselves.
"I told her to stop arguing with him, and comply," Athena was saying. "But she kept talking about 'no means no', and 'womens' rights', and other words like that. Things that made no sense."
"I know," Letitia said. "She said the same things to me, and to the others, as well. So when you were bathing, he came to get her, and took her to his chambers."
"I hope he's not too rough on her," Thena went on. "She's new. She just has to learn his ways."
"How was the balm I gave you?" Letitia asked her. "Was it able to soothe the pain?"
"Yes, thank you, my friend," Athena replied.
Gabriel's hands closed into fists. That son of a bitch. He'd better get over to Hakeem's chambers, right away.
Vincent saw a map in his mind's eye a few minutes after drinking from the skull. A small, rocky island in the Baltic Sea. Sometime in the early-to-mid 1800s.
He watched as a woman with a horse-driven cart pulled up in front of one of the private chapels on the island. Wealthy families housed their dead in vaults underneath the chapels back then, in that region. The less well-heeled townspeople tied their horses to posts by the chapels and walked to the nearby cemetery, to visit their relatives' graves.
When the woman Vincent had seen drive up returned to where her horse was tied, it was foaming at the mouth; highly agitated. She obviously couldn't chance driving the horse in its terrified condition, so she summoned a nearby veterinarian, who treated the animal.
Vincent next saw the woman in the Baron's office, reporting the strange occurrence to the official. But the man was shrugging it off. He spoke condescendingly to her, telling her that her horse had probably just been stung by a bee, or frightened by another animal.
But the next week, several other people who had tied their horses in the same location reported their animals in the same agitated state, when they returned to them. Vincent peered closer at the family name on the chapel: BUXHOEWDEN.
Now, he could see other villagers passing by the spot on foot, hearing heavy rumbling sounds coming from the vault below the chapel. Then, more frightened horses.
Pressure was put on town officials to investigate, but the family was being resistant, fearing for their reputation. Instead, they went to the vault themselves, to do an inspection. They opened up the door, and were shocked to find that heavy coffins had somehow been lifted from their biers on the walls, and were piled on the centre of the floor. Vincent grinned. Coffins. Now, they were getting somewhere.
The family members patiently lifted the heavy coffins back into place on the iron racks around the walls of the vault. Then they left, locking the door and pouring lead into the locks to guard against tampering.
For a few days afterwards, all was quiet. But then, the horses that were hitched in front started to rear up, frantically trying to break their hitching lines. Several of them appeared to die of fright, right on the spot.
And then, as the pressure on the town officials to do something about the situation mounted, a member of the Buxhoewden family died. Family representatives melted the seals and unlocked the vault door. Once again, the coffins were heaped in the centre of the floor. But this time, some were upside down, while others were battered-looking, as if they had been thrown, hard.
The family was completely bewildered by now. The townspeople were very upset, begging officials to do...something. But, what? This time, before they locked and sealed the vault again, an investigation was done. They opened a couple of the coffins to see if robbery was a motive, but the jewelry was still on the corpses. And how could any intruders have entered the vault, anyway, considering that the door was locked and sealed with lead? Had they tunneled into the vault, maybe? The officials dug underneath the floor of the vault, all the way around. Nothing. No tunnel.
Not knowing what else to do for the moment, they locked and re-sealed the vault, but not before trying something else: the officials sprinkled fine wood ashes all over the floor of the crypt, and on the steps leading to the chapel. Then they posted armed guards outside the vault door, for good measure.
Three days later, the investigative team returned. The guards reported that they had neither seen nor heard anything unusual. The committee marched down the steps, pleased to see that the wood ashes were undisturbed. They broke the seals and unlocked the vault door.
This time, most of the coffins were standing on end, all the way across the room. But the wood ashes on the floor of the crypt were intact.
As the vision started to fade, Vincent heard the officials requesting the family members to bury their dead elsewhere, and the family agreeing to do so. And then, the vision was gone.
Hmmm. Vincent sat back in his chair. What was the significance of what he had just seen? It must be about the Coffin Texts, but it had been maddeningly vague. Just an eerie story, and an unsolved mystery.
Vincent grabbed Becky's laptop. He preferred the old ways, but Google was sometimes useful, too. He searched the subject, and was a little surprised to see that there had been several of those types of incidents, in the past 300 years, or so. Buxhoewden, French, MacGregor...Chase.
Chase! Wait a minute. The Chase vault was in Barbados, in Vincent's backyard. He clicked on the story. Yes, it was very similar to the vision he had just had. Very similar, indeed. He read on, intrigued. The account of the Chase vault was likened to the Masonic legend of a secret vault, which the ancient lore stated was symbolic of death, "where Divine Truth is to be found."
That got Vincent's attention. He continued to read, scrolling avidly down the page. Before the Chase family had bought the vault, the man who had built it had interred his wife there. But the next time the vault was opened, her body was gone! Vanished. Disappeared.
Vincent grinned again. Bingo. He quickly checked the other stories, but the Chase vault was the only one that referred to both the Divine Truth, and a missing corpse. The Chase vault remained in Barbados to this day, and apparently, it stood empty now.
Vincent called for Becky.
Gail was sitting in a chair in Hakeem's bedchamber, eyeing him with suspicion. He hadn't been aggressive towards her so far, but she had the feeling he was just biding his time.
"I understand you've been talking to the other women," he said in a deceptively calm tone, pacing the room. "Telling them all kinds of nonsense about women, having rights."
"Yeah, so what? We do," she retorted. "We have the right not to be raped, or beaten."
"You have NO rights!" he shouted. "You are a whore! You will do as I say!"
"Ummm...just so you know, I'm not a prostitute," she said dryly. "But even if I was, or if those women are, that doesn't give you the right to hurt them like you do."
"They belong to me, as you do, now," Hakeem said haughtily. "I will do as I please. If you continue to talk like that, I will cut your tongue out."
Gail said nothing. She had been looking surreptitiously around the room to see if there was anything she could use as a weapon, but...
A servant entered the room, bowing low. "The refreshments you ordered," he said, putting a bowl of fruit and a bottle of wine down on the table beside Gail. He bowed again, then left the room.
"You will peel an apple, cut it, and feed it to me," Hakeem said to Gail. "Then, I will have my way with you. And if I hear one word of protest, you will be taken to the servants' quarters and whipped, until you are compliant."
"Can I ask you just one tiny, little question?" Gail said in a timid voice. "What would you like me to peel the fruit WITH?" She held up her hands. "As you can see, my fingernails are very short."
Hakeem rolled his eyes. "Look in the bowl, you stupid woman. There will be a paring knife in there." He lay down on the bed, propping some pillows behind his head.
Gail rose from her chair and looked in the fruit bowl, smiling internally. A paring knife, eh? She could work with that.
But just as she was digging the knife out of the bowl, a high, feminine voice called out from the doorway. "Master? Could I please see you for a moment? It's urgent."
Hakeem let out a frustrated breath. "Very well. Come in."
"No, Master, I cannot. Please, you have to come here. Please," the woman said.
Hakeem got off the bed and stalked angrily to the door. "This had better be important, or - " His sentence cut off abruptly.
Gail looked up. What the hell?
Gabriel rushed into the room, wearing a dress and a veil, covering the lower part of his face. Gail burst out laughing. She couldn't help it. This was too funny. "Oh, please tell me that Cas is right behind you, dressed like you are," she pleaded with him. "Please. I've been good."
"Nope. It's just me," Gabriel said vaguely. "Come on. We'd better go. I knocked him out, but a guy with a head that hard won't stay unconscious for long." He touched her arm. "Did he hurt you?"
"No, we hadn't gotten to that part of the program yet," she said sarcastically. She showed him the small paring knife. "He's lucky. I was just about to 'Bobbitt' him, if you hadn't come."
Gabriel's eyebrows shot up. "With that little thing?"
"Dammit! That would have been a perfect line to use on HIM!" Gail quipped, and they laughed together.
"Let's go," he said, grabbing her hand and tugging her towards the door. "Where's Paul? And where's the stone?"
"Paul's got the stone, or at least he did, when we first got here," Gail replied. "He's probably in the servants' quarters, but I don't know where that is."
"I do," Gabriel said, steering her in that direction.
Gail was starting to smell a rat now. "Where's Cas?" she asked the Archangel.
Gabe sighed. "I don't know, Gail. He disappeared from the Pyramid, after he killed Ammit."
"Ammit's dead?" Gail said. "That's the first good news we've had in a while, anyway."
"Anubis is dead, too," Gabriel told her. "But, I'm sorry, Gail: I have no idea where Cas went. We've got to get Paul and get that stone and get out of here. As it is, I'm hoping that Portal is where it's supposed to be."
"Well, if Cas isn't here, we can't go," Gail insisted stubbornly.
"I hate to tell you this, Kitten, but I'm not giving you a choice. You're going. So is Paul, and so is that stone. We've already lost the jawbone. The Portal will be closing soon. If I have to, I'll stay behind, but you and Paul are going back. There's no kind of life for either of you, here. You've seen that."
She frowned, but there was no time for a debate with him right now. "These are the servants' quarters," Gabriel announced in an acid tone, and Gail made a groaning sound. They were looking at a series of cages. Literally. Cages. Wow. Gabriel was right. They had to get Paul out of here.
They found him sitting on the floor of his cell. The hard, stone floor. There was no bed, and nothing to sit on. He looked up at their approach. "Hey, Boo, Hi, Gabe," Paul said mildly. "I was hopin' you were coming soon. I didn't know how many more whippings it was gonna take until they had to kill me."
Gail was dismayed. "Oh, Paul. How are we going to get him out of there?" she asked Gabriel frantically.
Gabriel smiled grimly. "At last, my misspent youth is paying off. Give me that paring knife." He stuck it in the lock of Paul's cell as Paul rose gingerly to his feet. "You look lovely, by the way," he said to the Archangel, and Gabriel's eyes crinkled briefly. If Paul was well enough to joke, he would be all right.
"Where's the stone?" Gabriel said, still fiddling with the lock.
"Sorry, I have no idea. They took it from me before they shoved me in here," Paul replied.
Gabriel tripped the lock, opening the cage door. "Great," he fumed. "Well, we're not going home empty-handed."
"Where's Cas?" Paul asked him, exiting the cell.
"I don't know!" Gabriel said, raising his voice in frustration.
"Who are you women, and what are you doing here?" A guard had come around the corner, brandishing a sword. He looked suspiciously at Gabriel. "I don't recognize you. Hakeem's concubines are not allowed to be here. Get back to the harem. And give me that sword. You'll hurt yourself."
"You want this sword?" Gabriel said in an exaggerated falsetto. "Then come here and get it, Big Boy."
The guard fell for it, approaching the trio. Hakeem must have his servants so cowed that they were too afraid to fight back, Gail thought with disgust. It was the same with the women in the harem. She had been trying to exhort them all to stand up for themselves, but she had met with nothing but resistance. She supposed it was because they knew of no other kind of existence. But it made her sad and angry, at the same time.
Gabriel thrust the sword he was carrying at the guard, and Paul wrestled the guard's sword out of his hand. The men pushed him into Paul's cell and slammed the door shut.
"Let's see how YOU like it," Paul said to him.
The three of them rushed down the hall. "I have an idea," Gabriel said. "When you said they took the stone from you, Paul, I remembered: there's a guy here who they call a scholar. He's sort of like our Kevin Tran. Whenever Hakeem found any old papyri or anything like that, he would take it to this guy for translation. Maybe he's got it."
He hustled them down the corridor towards the library, where the scholar spent most of his time. But just as the three of them rounded the corner, Athena and Letitia stopped them in the hallway.
"What are you ladies doing here, and with a slave, no less?" Athena confronted Gail and Gabriel. "Hakeem will have you whipped, if he catches you."
Gabriel removed the veil from his face, eliciting a gasp from the women. "I'm here to rescue my friends," he said. "They don't belong here, and neither do any of you. Leave here, 'Thena. You too, Letitia. You can have a better life. You don't deserve to be raped and beaten."
"That's what SHE said, too," Letitia remarked, nodding her head towards Gail. "But, where would we go? What would we do?"
"What would become of us without the protection of the Royal Palace?" Athena chimed in.
"You're your own protection," Gail insisted. "I've defended myself against men twice my size. You can do it. You just have to decide that you're not going to take it any more."
"You're too beautiful to have bruises all over you," Gabriel said to Athena softly. "And your soul is too beautiful to let him take it away from you, piece by piece. Please, 'Thena. Promise me you'll leave this place."
"It is you who will leave this place," Hakeem said from behind them. "Guards!" he called out.
"Are you able to fight?" Gabriel asked Paul, and Paul nodded. He was in a lot of pain, but there was no way. This asshat was going down.
Gabriel grabbed Gail's arm. "The library is down that way, on the left. See if you can get the stone. Me and Paul will be there in a minute." Or we'll be dead, he thought.
Crap! Gail wanted to protest, but Gabriel was right. If they didn't at least have the stone, this would all have been for nothing. Well, except for Ammit being dead, of course. That was the one good -
She froze in shock. The Butterfly Effect! Cas had killed Ammit, and then, Cas had disappeared. No. It couldn't be.
"I think I know where Cas is," she blurted out. "He's in the Netherworld, again! We've got to get home, right away!"
"Go get the stone," Gabriel urged her, as four guards ran down the corridor towards them. "GO!"
Gail ran in the opposite direction, to where Gabe had directed her. She found the library and ran into the room, startling a man in robes who was examining the very object she was looking for.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you," Gail said, thinking fast. "Hakeem sent me here. He wants to see the stone. I was hurrying to do his bidding because I didn't want to be whipped again."
The man looked at her for a moment, and then he picked up the stone with both hands, extending it to her to take. "Here you go, my dear," he said in a kindly tone. "Watch it; it's a little heavy. We wouldn't want anything to happen to it."
Gail nearly cried. He was the first man who'd been halfway decent to her since they'd gotten here. "Thank you," she said, taking the stone from him. She hurried back out to the corridor, just in time to see Gabriel and Paul running towards her, holding bloody swords. Athena and Letitia were following them.
"Keep going, that way!" Gabriel shouted to Gail, pointing in the opposite direction. "The alcove in the courtyard is around the corner. We've got to get out of here before Happy Hour's over, and the rest of the Royal Guardsmen come for us!"
They all ran outside, to a little spot off the main courtyard that had a low stone wall, climbing ivy, and a reflecting pool. Gabriel glanced at Athena. Six months from now, the two of them would have spent a considerable amount of time here, kissing and talking softly, while Cas kept a lookout at the entryway. But that would never happen now, because they had altered the timeline with their visit.
"Please, convince all the women that you can to leave here, today," Gabriel said to Thena now. "This is not a good place. You know that. It doesn't matter who's running the show."
"You have liberated us," Athena said, looking at the trio. "Thank you."
"We will go to the slaves' quarters and free them, too," Letitia added, showing them the key ring she had taken off the dead guard's belt. "Then, we will leave. I'd rather take my chances in the desert than be beaten again."
"Where's Hakeem?" Gail asked Gabriel. But she was pretty sure she knew the answer.
He smiled grimly. "Most of him is in the corridor, where you saw him last."
"Gabriel!" Gail exclaimed.
"Oh, so what?" he retorted angrily. "I was gonna kill him six months from now, anyway. So, I avoided the Christmas rush and did it now. That's six months' less suffering these poor people have to do."
"Amen, Brother," Paul said fervently, and Gail nodded. She couldn't fault his reasoning, there.
Gail looked at the women. It was funny; when she'd first gotten here, she had been prepared to dislike Letitia, because of what she knew about her interest in Cas. And then, when Gail had actually met Letitia, she had been prepared to hate the woman. Gabriel was right; she was drop-dead gorgeous. But now, Gail could understand. Considering what these ladies had to put up with on a daily basis, Cas and Gabriel must have seemed like the Holy Grail to them, as far as men were concerned. A lifeline.
Well, Cas was GAIL's lifeline, and she needed to get back, so she could figure out how to get him out of the Netherworld, this time. She looked at the corner of the alcove. The air there shimmered, for lack of a better expression. Kind of like the waves of heat on a really humid day. "Is that it?" she asked Gabriel.
"Yep, that's it," he confirmed. He looked at Athena once more. "Promise me," Gabriel said again.
Athena smiled. "I promise."
Gabriel led Gail and Paul over to the Portal. "Allow me," he said, taking the stone from her. Then he pushed her through the Portal, then Paul. Then, with one last, longing look at Athena, Gabriel stepped through.
Vincent told Becky he had some business to attend to, and he would be back in a day or so. Sam and Dean had just gotten back from an extended road trip, so Sam would need a couple of days' rest, minimum. Becky didn't ask Vincent how he knew that. She just knew that he did.
He went to Barbados immediately, and as he had read about, there was no one there, and there was no security, that he could see. The goings-on at the Chase vault had been quite a while ago, but still, he would have thought...
Oh, well. It didn't matter. So much the better for him. He climbed the steps down into the vault, turning on the flashlight he'd brought with him. The former crypt was completely empty now; just a hole in the ground, really. He shone the flashlight all around, and then he started at one side of the stairs, working his way methodically around the chamber.
He saw that there was some writing on the far wall, so he hurried over there, telling himself not to get too excited. This place had been standing open for who knew how long. It was probably just graffiti. Something about how someone loved someone else, or something like that.
But what Vincent saw when he drew near enough to read the writing was some sort of riddle. It had to be. The words were English, but they made no sense. Vincent gritted his teeth in frustration. God, he hated riddles. Mean what you say, and say what you mean. Why all the pussyfooting around? Splitting the Book of the Dead in two parts was bad enough, but now, he was expected to read the mind of whoever was trying to show how wonderfully clever they were by posing a riddle for their acquisition. Whoever's bright idea this was had better have the good sense to be long dead, or Vincent was going to kill him. Better still, once he got a hold of both the Pyramid and the Coffin Texts and was able to call forth the dead, this guy would be the first one that Vincent would resurrect, just so he could kill him all over again.
"Seven verses, seven modern Wonders," the writings read. "The Gods' own words will provide release from the Underworld. These Utterances are the Coffin Texts."
Well, thank you for that last part, Vincent thought with maximum sarcasm. Otherwise, I might have thought you were talking about my Aunt Mildred's recipe for beef stew. He took his cell phone out of his pocket and snapped a few photos of the riddle, and then he recited it aloud several times for good measure, committing it to memory. Then he exited the former tomb quietly and calmly, walking up the steps until he was standing in the churchyard once again.
Then Vincent lifted his head to the skies and waved both of his arms out to his sides, and several gravestones uprooted from the sod and toppled over, smashing to bits. The storm clouds gathered as his eyes glowed bright red, and a bolt of lightning came down, striking the church spire and igniting the wood of the old structure. Vincent watched as the church began to burn, and only then did the frown leave his face. "My son will destroy you all," he said spitefully. Then he vanished.
Gabriel, Paul and Gail stumbled into Bobby's office through the Portal, right where they'd started from. At least he'd gotten that part right, Gabe thought wryly. He placed the stone on Bobby's desk so that he didn't drop it, because he could feel himself fading already.
Bobby stood quickly from his chair and came around the desk. "What the - ?" he said, but Gabriel held up his hand. "I only have a second," he told Bobby. The men looked down at the floor, where Paul and Gail had fallen, unconscious.
Gabriel pointed to the stone. "Pyramid Texts. We lost the jawbone. Paul's been whipped, and Cas is in the Netherworld."
"No, he isn't," Bobby shot back. "He's at the bunker. And why are you in a dress?"
But before Gabriel had the chance to think up a really good, smartass answer to that, everything went black.
Paul was laying on his stomach on his bed at his and Henri's place, and a concerned and angry Linda was laying the poultice gently on his bare back. She blessed Chuck, and his directory. As soon as Bobby had called, she and Henri had rushed over to fetch Paul from the High Office. Bobby told them what Gabriel had said about the young Angel having been whipped, so Henri had lifted Paul gently into his arms and took him back to the house while Linda looked up a nurse in the directory and received instructions on how to treat Paul's wounds.
Henri's lips were pressed tightly together. They had whipped his boy. He'd love to march right over to Bobby's office and tell their friend to send him back, right now, so he could punch each and every one of those mothers right in the face.
Linda pressed the poultice gingerly to Paul's back, grateful that her fiance was so deeply unconscious that he didn't seem to feel the pain. She felt terrible, not only for what he must have gone through, but for all of the lectures she'd given him about his views on racism. It didn't take a genius to figure out why Paul was the only one of them who had been whipped.
But at least they were back now, and Paul would probably sleep through the worst of the pain. Gabriel had cautioned all of them that the four time travelers would probably be out for about a week after they got back. Linda looked at Henri. "Did they at least get what they went for?" she asked wearily. "Did Bobby say?"
"They gave him a stone that Gabriel said has the Pyramid Texts on it," Henri replied. "Bobby called Kevin. He's going to get to work on it immediately." Then he frowned. "But Gabriel said they lost the jawbone."
Great. Just great. Well, at least they had the stupid Pyramid Texts, Linda thought. She was sure that Kevin would be able to translate them pretty quickly. Then they would be one step closer.
Liz was sitting by Gabriel, waiting to see if he was going to stir. When it became evident that he was down for the count, she wet a washcloth and began to clean the blood from him, washing him gently. She was glad to see that he only had a couple of scratches and bruises underneath. When he woke up, she would have to make it a point to tease him about the dress, though. Maybe something about it not being his colour, or that they should hem it up, so he could show off his legs. She could only imagine the stories he had to tell. She leaned down and kissed him gently on the cheek. Her poor, tired hero. She would wait here as long as it took for him to regain consciousness.
Bobby transported Gail to the bunker himself, carrying her into her and Cas's old bedroom, where the boys had taken Cas when he'd first arrived. Bobby lay an unconscious Gail gently next to her husband, who was still out cold.
"Let's leave these sleeping beauties alone," he said to Sam and Dean. "Gabriel said they might be out about a week."
"It's so weird, seeing them sleep like that," Sam remarked.
"Yeah, and Cas doesn't even snore," Dean groused good-naturedly. "Maybe we should hang out for a few minutes and see if Gail does. Can you imagine? I'd love to have that on her. She bitched enough times about ME snoring."
"Well, ya do," Bobby pointed out.
Suddenly, Cas stirred. He rolled over, putting his arm around Gail and spooning her. But neither Angel woke, although Cas smiled gently.
"Awww," Sam said. "Let's leave them to sleep, in Heavenly peace."
"You did not just say that," Dean said, rolling his eyes.
The men closed the door softly and then walked out to the library area.
"We cleaned the sword he had in his hand, and put it in the weapons room," Sam told Bobby. "And, he had a bloody claw in his pocket, so we put that in the cabinet."
"Did they get that jawbone?" Dean wanted to know.
Bobby's forehead wrinkled. "Gabriel said they lost it, whatever that means. We'll have to wait for them all to wake up, to find out what happened. They did get the Pyramid Texts, though. I gave them to Kevin to translate." He looked at Sam. "I might tell him to call you, if he needs help. How was your trip with the boys?"
"It was good," Dean told him. "You know what? Those kids are okay. They still need a bit of training, but they make a pretty good team. Frank did a good job with them. Jody, too." He smirked. "Don't tell Frank I said that."
"You realize you just called them 'kids', right?" Bobby said, his beard twitching. "Welcome to the Old Guys' club."
"You're God, right? Shouldn't your beard be white by now?" Sam wisecracked.
"Don't sass me, Boy," Bobby said automatically. "Do me a favour, and let me know when those two wake up." Then he vanished.
Several days passed, with no change in the status quo. Then finally, Cas awoke. He was still spooning Gail, and he heaved a huge sigh of relief. "Thank you, Father," he said, giving her a gentle squeeze.
Gail started to come to, and then she felt her husband's arm around her. She smiled. Oh, thank God. He wasn't in the Netherworld. He was here, with her. But, wait a minute: where was here? She opened her eyes, letting out a relieved breath. Their room at the bunker. She would always consider it their room, no matter how long they'd been living elsewhere.
She rolled over to face Cas, and he was smiling. "I was so frightened. I didn't know where you'd gone," he told her softly.
"I thought you were in the Netherworld," Gail said to her husband. "Gabriel told me you killed Ammit."
Cas was impressed. It was very astute of her to have made the connection. But right now, he just wanted to savour the fact that they were both here together, safe and sound. He kissed her on the forehead, and then tilted her face up so that he could kiss her on the lips.
"Boy, have I got some stories for you," Gail said. "Remind me to describe, in great detail, what Gabriel looks like in a dress. Man, the next time we go on a mission, I'm taking a cell phone."
Cas laughed, cuddling Gail to him. It didn't matter one bit to him at the moment how successful or unsuccessful their mission had been. As long as he and Gail were together, things were all right.
Sam and Dean were staring at each other, open-mouthed. They had never seen anything quite like this before. Cas and Gail had come into the kitchen hand in hand this morning and asked for coffee and breakfast. Lots and lots of breakfast. So Sam had whipped up a big breakfast for them all and Dean had put on the coffee and they'd all eaten together. The Angels wolfed down a big plate of food each, and then asked for seconds.
Gail finally sat back, rubbing her stomach. "Wow. I wonder if I'll be able to fit into my pants, after this." She looked at Cas, who was still scooping scrambled eggs into his mouth. "I feel like a human. We just had a good sleep, and a yummy meal. We're not going to have to go to the bathroom after this, are we? That would kind of ruin the whole experience."
Cas put his spoon down. It was kind of funny that he hadn't used a fork, the Winchesters thought with amusement. Maybe it had been so long since he'd eaten that he'd forgotten how to do it.
"Don't worry, my love," Cas said, smiling. He glanced at Dean. "From what I've heard, it's often the exact opposite."
They had talked about the mission the Angels had just undertaken over breakfast, and the brothers told Cas and Gail that Bobby wanted to debrief them as soon as possible. "I'll tell you what," Gail said. "I just want to give Frank a quick call, and tell him we're OK. Maybe we can pop over there and see them after we talk to Bobby, and we make sure Paul and Gabriel are all right."
"Allow me," Cas said. He had recovered his cell phone after he'd showered and changed into a shirt and jeans. He called Frank's number, but got the Voice Mail. He left a quick message, letting Gail's brother know that they were back and they were fine, and they would be in touch later on.
"Thanks for taking care of us, and for the yummy breakfast," Gail told the brothers, giving each of them a hug and a kiss. "We'll see you soon."
Then she and Cas popped themselves to Heaven.
Rob still couldn't believe it. He and Eric had been home for a couple of days now, and after a night's rest, they had let themselves into the kitchen of Frank and Jody's house, to raid the fridge for some food that hadn't gone bad. Jody had been sitting at the kitchen table having a cup of coffee, and the instant the young men had entered the room through the door that connected to their wing of the house, Jody called out for Frank.
Eric smiled. "Sorry, but we're starving. We'll replace what we eat, I promise."
But Rob was looking at his mom, and he realized something: she wasn't annoyed. She was...
Frank came into the room, bouncing Angela up and down in his arms. "Aww, geez. They're back. The human garbage disposals," he said, but Jody said, "Do you know these guys? They just walked into our house!"
"Yeah, yeah. Very funny," Eric said, taking some things out of the fridge. But Rob's eyes narrowed. He approached the kitchen table slowly. "Mom?"
"What are you talking about?" Jody said sharply. "My son's dead." She got up abruptly, and strode out of the room.
Aw, crap. "Do me a favour?" Frank said to an astounded Rob. He handed Angela to his son. "Take your sister to her room, and then come back. I'm gonna go see your mother for a second, and then we've got to talk."
Then the three men had their chat, and now, a couple of days later, Rob was sitting with his mom in the living room. She was back to herself today, she'd told him. She had good days, and she had bad days. Luckily, the bad days had been few and far between, but they would probably get more frequent as her disease progressed, she'd cautioned Rob.
He had started to cry, and Jody had opened up her arms and held him, just as she had when he'd been a little boy, all those years ago. After he'd let it out for a few minutes, Jody broke the embrace, looking into her son's eyes.
"I'm so proud of you," Jody told Rob. "If I have a bad day, please don't take it personally. I'm going to fight as hard as I can, for as long as I can. But I don't want you to feel bad, Robbie. No matter what happens, I want you to remember that I love you very much."
His mom had called him Robbie, Rob thought with a wry smile. She hadn't called him that in years. But it sure beat the hell out of not even knowing who he was. His dad had explained to him and Eric what the symptoms of the disease were, and told them they would have to be patient with Jody, if she struggled from time to time. She could go into remission, Frank told them. She could live on for years and years, yet. You never knew. They were coming up with new things all the time in the field of cancer research.
But his dad was full of it, and they all knew it. Predictably enough, Eric had been angry. He'd jumped up from the kitchen table and gone back to his and Rob's part of the house, and they'd heard the door to his room slam loudly a moment later.
Rob had looked at Frank, fighting about ten different emotions at once. He felt nauseous, sad, outraged, and depressed. He felt sympathy for his mom, of course, and for his dad, too. Jody had fought all the way back from breast cancer. How fair was this, now? Why didn't the stupid disease pick on someone else, for a change?
So he sat on the couch with his mom now, at a total loss. What should he say? What could he do?
The only thing he could do. Rob touched Jody's cheek. "I love you, Mom," he told her. "If there's anything I can do for you, anything at all..."
"Just live the best life you can, and be happy. That's all I want for you," Jody said softly. Then she tried to smile. "And, some cookies."
"Huh?" Rob said, confused.
"Remember how I used to tell you that you could only have one cookie, and then your dad would sneak you a couple more?" Jody said, smiling warmly at her son.
Rob smiled back. "You knew about that?"
Jody rolled her eyes. "Please. I knew, the neighbours knew, I think the whole town knew. You'd get all sugared up and run around the house, and then you'd tell us you couldn't sleep. Big surprise. I asked Frank why he didn't just give you a pot of coffee, while he was at it. But I didn't tell him to stop, because we were both so in love with having a kid. We were both so in love with YOU, Robbie." She took her son's hand. "Let's go to the kitchen. I'll make us some coffee, and we'll eat cookies until we puke. What do you say?"
Mother and son laughed through their tears, and then they went to the kitchen.
Cas was pacing the floor of Bobby's office, agitated. The four of them were all awake and back to normal now, and they had been filling both Bobby and each other in on the events of the past few weeks.
Now that everyone was settled and Paul's wounds had begun to heal, they were all analyzing the various elements of the mission. And there was one thing that bothered Cas, above all others.
"Where did that jawbone end up?" he fumed. "What did Metatron do with it? If he'd had it all those years, why didn't he ever use it?"
But none of them had any answers for him. None of them could even come up with a theory. Metatron had been one of the bad guys back then, an evil schemer. Why would he not have used a weapon of such strength, against one of any number of enemies he had made over the years?
In the end, though, it really didn't matter. The bottom line was that Castiel had had the jawbone, and then he had lost it. He took full responsibility for that, even though everyone else told him there was no way he could have foreseen Metatron's sudden appearance.
But there were bright spots, too. They had managed to get the Pyramid Texts, and Kevin was hard at work on the translations. He'd already reported some good news to Bobby, too; it looked as though the Pyramid Texts might contain a clue or two as to where the Coffin Texts were located.
And, Ammit was dead. One of the unholy triad was no more. In a lighthearted moment, Bobby told the group that Dean had reported that he was back in Nicole's good books again, because of it. He'd actually asked Bobby if he could spare an Angel to take Dean up to Vancouver for a quick visit before Nicole went back out on the road, and Bobby had scowled and said he wasn't running a taxi company, or a dating service, either. They had all laughed, and Cas said that he could probably see his way clear to giving Dean a lift. They had to wait on Kevin for the translations anyway, and they also had to regroup, and figure out where they went from here.
Gabriel had advised everyone how Crowley had suddenly shown up and helped him out with Anubis, but in exchange, the King had taken away Leah's keepsake. He said that he and Liz were going to see the older Angel after they left here, and tell her the tale. Cas said he didn't think she would mind too much, considering the fact that her keepsake had saved Gabriel's life.
Paul and Linda were going to see Kevin, and then Paul was going to try to get a bit more rest. His back was healing very nicely thanks to Linda's ministrations, but it would still take a little time for him to heal all the way.
And Cas and Gail were going to check in on Frank and Jody. They still hadn't returned Cas's call, and Gail wanted to make sure that everything was OK with them. They'd still never found out what Frank had been so concerned about with regard to Jody, because they had been away so much.
After the Angels had all departed his office, Bobby sat there, thinking about the whole operation. What a wild adventure. It had had its successes and failures, to be sure, but as a whole, he thought it could be counted as a win for their side.
He looked at the pile of files that Laurel had sat on the corner of his desk yesterday. She had very diplomatically reminded Bobby that there were still quite a few of them that needed updating. Cas hadn't exactly been the world's most efficient administrator, when it had come to the necessary paperwork.
Bobby hadn't even looked at the stack she'd given him yet. Geez. He'd better get to it. Laurel had this way of making him feel like he was letting her down personally if he shirked his paperwork duties. It was ridiculous, really. He was God, right? So he was in charge. Wasn't he?
He picked up the first file. Well, at least it was skinny. Laurel had decided to include one red file a week, just to get those done, too. This one was marked "Seven Wonders". Hmmm. As far as Bobby could recall, the original Seven Wonders of the World didn't even exist anymore. Oh, wait. Maybe the Great Pyramid at Giza was one. He could Google that, if it turned out to be relevant. Funny that Kevin was working on the Pyramid Texts, and Bobby was thinking about a pyramid. Or, was it?
He opened the file. Sure enough, there was a list of the original Seven Wonders of the World. Well, whoopie-doo. Six of them weren't even in existence any more. He could probably just destroy this particular file. What possible relevance could it have, nowadays?
But, wait: the next page had a list of attractions at Las Vegas hotels, with numbers that corresponded to the original Seven Wonders. As he read on, Bobby saw that there were notes on each attraction, which appeared to be instructions on where to go to find - something - at each location.
As Bobby sat back in his chair, wondering what all of this could mean, Kevin called, advising that he and Emma had translated a passage on the stone that read as follows:
"'Seven verses, seven modern Wonders'," Kevin read. "'The Gods' own words will provide release from the Underworld. These Utterances are the Coffin Texts'." There was a pause. "I know it sounds kinda weird, but that's definitely what it says. Does that mean anything to you, Bobby?"
Bobby started to smile. "I think it might, Kevin. I think it just might."
He picked up his cell phone to call Cas.
Mark walked into the wing of Hell that stood adjacent to the Torture Wing. He and Crowley had had their little chat, but to Mark's disappointment, the King had ended up summoning a couple of musclebound minions to escort Mark to his work assignment here, and that was that. Crowley had acted as though Mark was just another rank and file Demon, not even worth discussing deals with. But they would see about that. Yes, they would see. Crowley must have forgotten that Mark was one of the original writers of the Gospels, and as such, he had been privy to a few of Heaven's secrets. When Ammit had been holding Mark captive, he had tried to barter with her. But she'd had no interest in Heaven, or in God's Word. Mark was pretty sure that Crowley would feel differently. But he wasn't about to share his knowledge with the King, not without getting something in return. The problem was: what did Mark want? So until he could figure that out, he would bide his time, and do his time. This particular work detail didn't seem too onerous.
"Another apprentice?" Xavier said irritably. "How hard can it be? Keep the snakes in the pit, cast the victims in, and don't fall in, yourself."
"Well, unless you annoy us, that is," Lanister added with a wicked smile. "Then, we receive a new apprentice from Crowley, to replace you. I hope this one knows his place, at least."
"If worse comes to worst and he avoids the serpents, we can always smuggle him out to Alexander," Xavier said indifferently. "I imagine he's enjoying his new appointment."
"Being able to cast souls into the Lake of Fire? Hearing their screams of torment? Who wouldn't enjoy that?" Lanister asked Xavier rhetorically.
"Well, well. Would you look at this?" Mark said, smirking. "Two members of the Upper Echelon, turned snake charmers. I can assure you, those screams of torment aren't so terrific from the opposite end of the spectrum."
Xavier's eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"
"Oh, that's right. You wouldn't recognize me in this vessel. Mark. Of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Please, no autographs."
"Right. And I'm Pontius Pilate," Xavier said sarcastically.
"Yes, you are," Mark said, and he laughed.
Lanister and Xavier exchanged glances. Whoever this man was, he was obviously unhinged. Oh, well. No matter. They'd had others. And, as Xavier had said, it did not take a lot of intellect to do their jobs.
"Very well. Let us show you what the job entails," Lanister said with a frown.
"I've got a better idea," Mark said, leaning casually against the wall. "How would the two of you like to bust out of here?"
Before Cas and Gail went to Earth to see her brother and his family, they walked down the corridor a ways with Paul and Gabriel.
"I just wanted to thank the both of you for everything you did, back there," Cas said to the men.
"I didn't do anything, Cas," Paul said. "All I did was star in bad remakes of the original 'Star Wars', and 'Roots'."
Gail touched Cas's arm, preparing to help explain what Paul was talking about, but her husband was shaking his head. "If you are referring to Luke Skywalker's discovery that Darth Vader was his father, I hardly think that's the same situation," Cas said, rather stiffly. Then he frowned. "Although, your reference to the TV mini-series about slavery is unfortunately much more apt." Gail was staring at Cas, and his expression relaxed. "It comes and goes," he told her.
"You were a valuable member of the team, and a very entertaining travel companion," Gabriel assured Paul. "When you're feeling a little better, let's you and me get together with Linda and Liz, and hang out." He clapped Paul on the shoulder, and Paul smiled. "I'd like that," he told the Archangel.
"I'd hug you, but I don't want to hurt you," Gail said to Paul. "Rain cheque?"
He smiled down at her. "I'll make you a counter-offer." He pointed to his cheek. "See that spot, right there? That's one of the few places on my body that doesn't hurt. Plant one on me, Boo. You can look the other way if you want, Cas."
Gail laughed softly, stretching up to kiss Paul on the cheek. "If I had to go on sale with anybody, I'm glad it was you," she joked.
"OK, now you're just being silly," Paul said lightly. He tipped Cas a salute, and then he was gone.
"I'm sore too, but feel free to hug away," Gabriel said to Gail, opening up his arms.
Gail smiled again, and she walked into his arms, embracing him tightly. "Thanks for coming to get us," she said to Gabriel. "And, thanks for having Cas's back."
Gabriel hugged her, smiling at Cas. "Always," he said.
"Give our love to Liz, and to Leah, too," Gail said, breaking the embrace. "We'll have to stop in and see them both, soon. I just need to see Frank, first."
"I get that," Gabe said affably. "Say hi to Frankly-My-Dear-I-Don't-Give-A-Damn for me."
"Wow, that was a stretch," Gail said, laughing.
"Hey, give me a break. I just travelled back in time, thousands of years. If you want wit, call a comedian," Gabriel said.
As Gail debated her retort, Cas stepped forward. "Brother?" he said to Gabriel. The Archangel lifted an eyebrow. "Ummm...yes, Castiel?"
Cas launched himself at a surprised Gabriel, giving the Archangel a hug. "Thank you for bringing Gail back to me," Cas said in a thick voice. "To us."
"De nada," Gabriel said, patting Cas's back. He was grinning now. He'd seen a lot of aspects of Cas's personality, but this was definitely a first. "I had to bring her back," Gabe wisecracked. "How else would I know about it, when she finally decides to divorce you and go for the upgrade?" he said, puffing out his chest.
Cas and Gail both rolled their eyes as Gabriel clapped Cas on the shoulder. Then, the Archangel vanished.
Now that Frank and Jody had spent a bit of time with the boys, getting them used to the new reality, the couple had agreed that they had to inform the others, too. So Frank had called over to the bunker, and he was talking to Sam when Jody reported that Cas and Gail were at the door.
Frank sighed. "You might as well let them in," he told his wife. "Maybe one of them can go over and get those guys, then." He told Sam to sit tight as the Angels entered the house. Just as they did, Cas's cell phone rang. "It's Bobby," the Angel announced.
"It's like Grand Central Station here, all of a sudden," Frank commented. He gave Gail a quick hug, then asked her to pop over and get the Winchesters. They needed to have a family meeting. Gail's forehead wrinkled, but she popped out obediently.
"Tell Bobby to come here, please," Jody said to Cas. "He needs to be included in this."
Bobby had been trying to tell Cas about the Seven Wonders, but he could hear a certain tone in Cas's voice now that he didn't like. Cas was distracted now, remembering what he had seen when he had attempted to peer into Jody's thoughts. She had that same dark look on her face now.
They walked into the living room. Rob and Eric were already there, but Angela was not. Jody had taken their little daughter to Rob's bedroom in his and Eric's separate quarters, and put on some cartoons for Angela to watch. The girl was a little too bright to have around during a conversation about the deadly, life-threatening disease her mother had.
Once they were all gathered there, Jody looked around at everyone. This kind of reminded her of the time she'd had to tell the guys about her breast cancer. But there was one major difference: Jody had been fairly confident that she was going to make a full recovery, back then. But now...She swallowed, hard, and told them about her diagnosis.
Bobby's look was grim. As a man who had been a human at a bit more of an advanced age, he had researched various types of cancer and their survival rates in the past, and he knew that the prognosis for what Jody was telling them she had was not good. Especially since she was telling the assembled group that the doctor had advised that there was no surgical solution. That spoke volumes, right there.
Cas was distressed. So THAT was what he had seen! A malignant brain tumor! He had no idea what to say. What to do. He could do nothing for Jody. Nor could Bobby. Nor could anyone. They'd had this conversation before, when Jody had been in the hospital for her mastectomy.
"No," Dean said suddenly. He held up his hand. "No. This is bull. We're gonna get you a second opinion. We're gonna - "
"We already got a second opinion," Jody said calmly. "And a third."
Eric looked at his Uncle Dean. He had bonded with both Winchesters on his and Rob's recent tour with the brothers, and Eric had taken to calling them his uncles, like Rob did. They didn't seem to have any objections. Eric respected Dean all the more for feeling angry, because that was Eric's predominant emotion about this whole thing. It was the same with Eric's dad. One minute, Eric's adoptive father was fine, and the next, he was dead. Eric's adoptive mother Alice had changed after that, shutting down, and shutting him out. And all the Bible-thumpers in his mom and dad's family said it was "God's Will", and "thank God he wasn't suffering any more". Well, he hadn't been suffering in the first place! Roger had been just fine, and then suddenly, he had dropped dead.
Eric was trying not to hold it against the new God, or Cas, or the Angels, but it was hard. Old perceptions were difficult to overcome. Eric had been brought up to believe in the power of prayer, and if you led your life a certain way, your reward would come in Heaven. But he was sure finding out the truth now, wasn't he? Yeah, there were good people in this extended family of his, and some of them were Angels. But, bad things happened to them all the time. There was death and there was suffering, and God was sitting right there beside Rob, just frowning, and doing absolutely nothing. That had been Cas's job when Eric had first gotten here, fresh from washing off the blood and guts of his and Rob's and Gail's brothers and sisters. Eric might as well have been praying to a lamp.
Frank was looking at Eric out of the corner of his eye. He recognized an Angry Young Man when he saw one. Hell, he had BEEN one. But Eric was gonna have to cool it. He was glaring at Cas and Bobby as if he was expecting one of them to pull a magic wand out of his pants and wave that tumor right out of Jody's head. There was nothing wrong with hope and optimism, but they weren't living in Fantasyland, here.
But the person Frank mainly had his eye on now was his sister. Gail's eyes were growing wide, and she had that tell-tale look now. They were going to have to put all the dog owners on their street on high alert.
Sure enough, a moment later, Gail wailed, "No! It's not fair! We have to do something!" She looked at Cas and Bobby. "Maybe we can talk to Death. Or, we'll take Jody back in time. Or..." She was thinking furiously. "Come on, guys, let's think. There's got to be something we can do!"
Jody was shaking her head. "No, Gina. Frank and I have already made the decision. Once I deteriorate to that extent, you're all going to promise to let me go."
"But, we - " Gail started to say, and then her mouth closed with a snap. Had Jody just called her "Gina"?
Jody sighed. "Look, we know how hard it is to accept what we're telling you. But it's my life, and my choice. I'm not going to live that way. I'm not going to become some stupid-ass vegetable, who can't even remember the names of her loved ones. Gail! Your name is Gail!" Jody burst out suddenly, pounding her fist on her knee.
Everyone was silent as the truth of the situation set in. Jody was on the verge of tears now, and Gail's heart was breaking for her. She got up out of her seat next to Cas and walked over to the couch, kneeling on the floor in front of Jody and taking her hand. "It's OK, Jody. You can call me anything you want. As long as you don't take suggestions from my brother. Or Dean," she quipped lightly, and Frank looked gratefully at his sister as the women smiled at each other.
"And now that we've completely ruined your days, I'm going to go spend some time with my daughter," Jody announced. "Thanks for caring, you guys. I'll talk to all of you soon. If I can remember who you are," she added wryly.
"Hold up, Jodes," Sam said as Jody rose from the couch. "Can I come with, for a minute?"
She looked at him. Out of all of them, Jody had always felt closest to Sam. This must be killing him. It was certainly killing HER, she thought with bitter humour.
"Sure. Come on, Sam. You and me and Angela can watch cartoons for a while," Jody said, waving him over to where she was standing. Then she looked at the others. "Maybe, if you guys aren't doing anything, you could have a drink or three with my husband. I'm sure he could use the company." She kissed Frank on the cheek, then left the room with Sam.
Gail burst into tears as soon as Jody was out of earshot. Frank was closest to her, so he grabbed her and hugged her to him. Predictably, Cas rushed over to where they were standing. Frank wasn't really sure which of them Cas was coming for, but he wasn't in the mood. So when Cas arrived, Frank passed his sister off to her husband and grabbed Dean by the arm. "Let's go have a drink," he said to his friend, pulling him away from the Angels. Rob and Eric trailed after them.
"I'll be right there," Bobby called after the men. He looked at Cas and Gail. "Look, I hate to bug you at a time like this, but I have something to tell you."
As Gail sniffled, wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands, Bobby told them what Kevin had said about the stone with the Pyramid Texts, and the red file with the list of the original Seven Wonders, and their corresponding Las Vegas locations.
"The Seven Utterances," Cas said, dazed, as if he should have known the answer all along. "We will have to talk to Kevin right away, and then have a look at that file."
"I thought you might say that," Bobby said, nodding. "I left the red file with Laurel. I'm gonna stay here and talk to Frank, for a bit. Maybe Jody, too, if she's feeling up to it. Go ahead and do your thing, Cas. You don't need my permission."
Cas looked at Bobby coolly. He hadn't been asking for it. But he was certainly not going to say so out loud, not right now. They were all upset about Jody at the moment. But, he had a duty to perform. If he could get the Coffin Texts, they would have the Book of the Dead, and Vincent and Raguel would be out of luck. Then they could concentrate on finding the Book of Life, and finding another way to eliminate Raguel. Vincent, too. For the first time in a long time, Cas felt that they were making some very real progress. But his heart was still heavy with the news about Jody. It was going to be so hard for them all to let her go. They would all have to make sure to rally around her family, and help them out any way they could.
"Are you finished your conversation, Gramps?" Rob said, walking into the room with a bottle of beer in his hand. "I've gotta talk to these guys for a minute."
Bobby left the room, and Gail put her hand on Rob's arm. "How are YOU doing?" she asked him.
"Not good," the young man answered honestly, frowning. "But I needed to tell you and Cas about a vision I had, before I forget. It could be important."
So he told them about the blade he'd seen, and where he and the guys had been at the time. A blade with intricate markings, blood, the Mississippi River...and a paddlewheel boat.
"That's got to be Gabriel's blade," Cas remarked, his mind working furiously now. Suddenly, the missions were just pouring in. Maybe that was a blessing, though. With the devastating news they had just received, perhaps it was best to keep as busy as they could.
Frank came into the room, holding a tumbler of whiskey. "Go into the kitchen, Rob," he said to his son. "I need to talk to these two alone, for a minute."
Rob left without another word, and Frank looked down at Gail. "Don't give me the doe eyes," he said to his sister. "I can't handle that right now."
"I don't know what to say, Frank," Cas said soberly. "You know that if there was anything we could do..."
"I know, I know," Frank said irritably, "but with respect, I don't want to hear a bunch of cliches, right now. I just wanted to ask you guys for a favour."
"Name it," Cas said immediately.
"I know you guys have these missions and things, and I know how important they are," Frank said. "But I want to know if we can do Christmas up really big this year. I'd like to have it at your house, and I want to do that snowman thing again this year. Angela would love that. Jody and I were talking about it, when I reminded her about it, and we both agreed that it was the best Christmas we ever had. We'll invite everybody, and go nuts with the presents, and the food, and..." His voice broke. Then he cleared his throat and continued, "...we'll take lots and lots of pictures. Would you do that for me, please?"
"Of course we will," Gail told him. "We'll have a Christmas that's so big and so much fun that Santa Claus will be coming to us for lessons on how it's done."
"And, no crying," Frank told them. "No crying. Only laughter, and good times."
"We promise," Cas said, but he was being a hypocrite, because all three of them were crying right now.
Frank pulled them both to him for a hug, spilling his drink. Who cared? He could always buy more booze. They all wept together for a minute, and then Frank released them. "OK, now, get lost," he said, wiping his face with the sleeve of his shirt. "Bobby says you've got some important stuff to do in Heaven. And yes, I'll call you if we need anything."
He turned abruptly and left the room. Cas and Gail looked at each other sadly, and then they joined hands and vanished.
Casey was helping Greg pack for college, and the brothers were reminiscing about the celebration they'd had when Necromancer had deposited the money in Casey's PayMate account.
"I hope he's not gonna be pissed off that we drank from the thing," Greg said to his older brother.
"I guarantee you, he's not gonna have any idea," Casey responded. "I washed it twice, and then I sprayed some of that room stuff that Mom uses into it, just to be on the safe side." Then he grinned. "And even if he does get a whiff of rum, so what? That's what pirates used to drink, right? That'll just make it smell more authentic."
Greg nodded. He supposed that was true. He quit packing for a minute, sitting down next to his brother on the bed. "So...what did you see?"
"See?" Casey echoed evasively. "What do you mean?"
"Come on," Greg said insistently. "I'll tell you mine, if you tell me yours."
Casey sighed. "OK. But you're gonna think I'm crazy."
"No, I'm not," Greg said, shaking his head. "What did you see?"
Casey was silent for a moment. Then he said, "Remember those Damien, The Omen movies we used to watch when we were kids? It was sort of like that. Some evil kid. Pretty, young mom. Some really tall guy, and another guy, with a black mark on his face. But, it wasn't his real face. You could see something just underneath it, like some kind of creepy...I don't know, Greg. To tell you the truth, I really didn't want to look."
The two of them sat there for a minute, and then Casey said, "What did YOU see?"
Greg frowned. "The end. The end of everything."
When Vincent got back to Becky's place with nothing but a few cell phone pictures and a nonsensical riddle bouncing around in his head, he was spitting mad, vowing vengeance on everyone and everything. He picked up the skull and hurled it at the wall, smashing it into tiny pieces.
What he had no way of knowing, of course, was that because both of the young brothers had drunk out of the skull prior to Vincent, its power had been greatly diluted by the time he had received it. The young men had received the true visions, while Vincent had received a vision which, although genuine, had misled him.
As the expression went, Vincent was barking up the wrong tree. He'd received the correct information from the Chase vault, but without the red file that Laurel was at that moment handing to Cas, he had no idea what the hell the riddle was referring to.
And contrary to the other expression, in this instance, Vincent was looking for horses when he should have been looking for zebras. He had keyed in on the Chase vault because it was in his back yard, so to speak, in Barbados. And indeed, he had gotten information there about the Book of the Dead. But, he should really have focused on the vault he had seen in his vision, in the first place: the Buxhoewden vault. The spelling of the family name had become garbled in its retelling, but that was the key to it all, right there.
Vincent took a deep breath, and then another. Becky wasn't home at the moment, which was just as well. Not that he gave a damn what she thought, but his little show of temper might have put a bit of a damper on the romance of the occasion. Because tonight, Becky was getting laid, and tomorrow morning would be the beginning of the end.
- END OF BOOK 37. -
