Gabriel was irritated. He had another run-in with a magical yesterday, most of whom still didn't get that Gabriel had no intention of returning to England to reclaim the Potter gold or all the fame. Then again, with all the trouble that the tricksters were putting them through on his behalf it was unlikely they would bother him for much longer until the got rid of them.
Today, however, he had another reason for being annoyed.
"So let me get this straight... You two were at Bobby's house when these dumbass magicals showed up looking for a Harry Potter, mistook Sam for me, and they proceeded to wreck Bobby's safe room under the house?"
Dean nodded, pressing an ice pack to a spectacular black eye from a book that had been launched in his direction. They had barely been able to fend the witches off with their guns.
"How bad was the damage?" asked Gabriel.
"See for yourself," said Bobby nursing his third beer.
Gabriel took one look at the mess and growled.
"Dammit. I had hoped they took the hint when I set the Pack on them... should have known all that inbreeding ruined what little common sense they had..." he said angrily.
Gabriel went to work clearing up the mess left by the magicals, his mind working overtime on adjustments to the house.
Once he finished cleaning up, he went to Bobby with his offer to keep a repeat from occurring twice. And the older hunter accepted without a second thought.
"So...what exactly is this?" asked Dean two months later.
"Magical Faraday cage."
"What's a Faraday cage?" asked Dean.
"It's a cage made of certain metals constructed solely to absorb and redirect electrical energy. You could stand in one that's secured and closed during a thunderstorm and not even feel a spark," said Sam. He had heard of the things, but never seen one before.
"This is my special secret to how I can sleep in a magically-expanded tent on the side of the road and feel more secure than in a roadside hotel," said Gabriel.
"You sleep in a tent?" asked Dean.
Gabriel pointed at an unassuming tent next to his motorcycle.
"Go inside and tell me what you think. Oh, and don't bother to duck or Loki will just laugh at you," said Gabriel.
Dean complied, though he ducked instinctively anyway. Gabriel could hear Loki's mocking laughter from the open door and the camera going off at the gobsmacked look on Dean's face.
"WHAT THE HELL?!"
Sam went in after, though he had to duck only slightly to get inside because he was taller than Dean was.
"How...?"
"Magicals have a charm that can allow them to have full-sized houses in the weirdest places. It's easier and cheaper than renting a hotel all the time. Frankly I have no idea why more of the poorer magicals don't use this charm more often. It's not that difficult to cast," said Gabriel.
Sam decided to ignore the weird fact that his brother practically lived in a mansion inside a tent. He was more interested in this Faraday cage Gabriel had created mostly out of paranoia, boredom and a lot of help from Loki.
"So how does this thing work?"
"The first is the cage itself. Once the tent goes up, the Faraday cage automatically comes into life for a good chunk of the outside area. And because paranoia is our bread and butter, it doesn't just rest on the ground, it goes under it for at least two feet deep. This stabilizes the cage, making it hard for anyone to simply push the tent that's resting inside and as an added bonus makes the entire thing rather resistant to tornadoes and high winds. The next round is the runes etched into the metal...this makes it incorporeal unless a certain energy attempts to break in."
"How can the metal become incorporeal?" asked Sam.
"That's my contribution. I happen to be a rune-master, and when he told me what he wanted I simply helped him find the right combinations," said Loki, snacking on a sucker.
"Here's the tricky part. The metal itself is solid, but while the runes are active they become invisible and incorporeal. The problem is that the metal can only be set to one energy signature at a time before the entire thing fails and the ward is broken. So I came up with a rather simple, but very time consuming solution."
"And what was that?" asked Dean, raiding Gabriel's fridge for a beer.
"Layering it. The first shell is for magical energy set to human standards. Basically the idiots who broke into the house. The first layer is about the size of the average two-story house in a perfect square shape. This is the layer that anchors to the ground and insures that I won't be moved by high winds. The second shell is set to demonic energy, basically an anti-demon ward... it's slightly smaller than the first one and barely provides three feet of breathing space for any demons that come knocking. Third is spiritual, and it prevents ghosts, reapers...anything spiritually inclined. It's got more room to maneuver mostly because this is the layer my Pack generally stays on the outside of. It extends roughly three feet from the tent."
"What about the last one?"
"The last is one of Loki's creations. I have no idea what it does," said Gabriel.
"It's an identification ward. The only ones who can enter the tent are those invited, which was why the flippant way Gabe told you to see for yourself allowed you to come in. If Gabe doesn't allow you inside, then the ward turns solid if you manage to get past the first three and the Pack, only allowing air in."
"So what happens to the Pack if the tent turns solid?" asked Dean.
"There are several 'houses' inside the third ward that the Pack sleeps in. Basically they have their own little dog houses inside the ward itself so they don't need to stay in the tent. In the event that the fourth layer turns solid, they go into their area and wait for the tent's ward to return to normal and allow me out. So far that's never happened, but I'll not lose my Pack just because they were caught between the second and third wards."
"What do you mean caught?" asked Dean.
"In the event the fourth ward is tripped, the three others start to constrict. If they are outside the houses, then they'll be crushed as each of the inner wards start to push into the one before it like that wall from the first Star Wars movie that nearly crushed the heroes in the garbage shoot," said Gabriel flatly. Dean winced.
"What if someone makes it into the houses before the wall start to move?" asked Sam.
Gabriel smirked.
"The only things allowed into the houses are the Pack and their pups...and the only things allowed out of them are the adults. If anyone makes it into a house they'll be faced with overprotective mother hounds who won't hesitate to rip them apart," he said.
Dean gave him an odd look.
"How many of these...dogs...do you have?"
"I started with a basic pack of ten. I now have three times that many, and I've found a booming trade with some of the more interesting sanctuaries who are hoping that spirit hounds can have the more violent temperaments from their hell hound heritage breed out through cross-breeding. So far we've found that two generations are still too violent to turn into guard dogs, though the invisibility trick seems to remain strong in each hound no matter what it's bred with. I currently have fifteen in the houses, the rest are around the country."
"You know I bet hunters would pay good money to have a safe house like this already made for them to crash in..." said Sam, looking at the schematics.
"Add a few armories and the guarantee that they'll know when it's not safe..." said Dean.
Gabriel paused in his etchings and actually looked at them.
"Huh...not exactly a bad back-up for the bounty business, and with charms it would be cakewalk to go through the normal construction businesses to make them...the biggest pain in the ass would be making the Faraday cages, but if I paid the goblins to do it..."
"How much would you charge for a night?" asked Sam. Somehow he knew what his twin was thinking.
"A hundred a night, and five for a week," said Gabriel immediately.
"That's cheaper than most five-star hotels, and they'd know it was safe," said Dean.
"Plus I would include free food, booze and medical supplies for everything that doesn't require a license to use," said Gabriel.
"Hell, for that kind of treatment I'd pay two hundred!" said Dean.
"How about an underground parking garage? So that you know your escape vehicle isn't going to have any surprises and you could do maintenance in safety?" asked Gabe.
"Gabriel, if you made something like that I would gladly pay three hundred a night just to stay," said Dean seriously.
"I'd have to get it worked out, but it's doable. But there's no way I could advertise the Faraday cage trick without telling them that it's made by a witch," said Gabriel.
"Claim it's a devil's trap made of iron. That would keep their questions from popping up."
"You mean like that huge ass one that's out in Wyoming?"
"How huge?" asked Sam.
"Several hundred miles huge, and it's all to protect a single devil's gate. And get this, it was made by Colt," said Gabriel.
Dean heard Bobby yelling for them, and Gabriel let him in. seeing the shock on the man's face was worth letting him come inside.
"What in the hell?"
"Welcome to my house. You think I would be stupid enough to sleep in a flimsy tent ("Flimsy? I've seen houses that could take less than this place!"-Loki) without some serious protections around it?"
Bobby looked at him seriously.
"Can you do the same for my panic room?"
"You mean add a bathroom and the like without compromising the whole circle? Yeah, that I could do. Hell I could make each line a new room if you wanted...a house within a house."
"...Could you do that for the Impala?"
"Dean, haven't you wondered why Sam has quit bitching about the lack of space in that car of yours lately?" asked Gabriel. Dean turned to Sam.
"What? After I found out he could expand things without you noticing I asked him to give me some more leg room and the ability to stretch out in the backseat. I would have had him do the armory in the trunk, but I didn't want you to get all snippy about him messing around with your baby," said Sam.
"I wouldn't have bitched about him making the trunk big enough to hold a demon and our weapons!" said Dean defensively.
"Dean, you're thinking way too small. Try a five-hellhound strong pack, two demons and an armory at least the same size as the Impala, and all you have to do is press a few gems on the lid of the trunks in the right sequence," said Gabriel smugly.
"He's not joking, by they way. If you go to that door frame on the far wall of the living room and press the three blue colored ones you'll get a real surprise," said Loki.
Dean blinked.
"Hell, I'm game," he said, going to press the three blue colored gems on the door. There was a whirl of color before Loki pushed him through.
Dean came up sputtering from the pool. Sam cracked up.
"You have a pool in a freaking tent?!" he said swimming back to the door.
"Not just any pool Dean-o. Try a holy water pool. Gabe hates having to pay some holy idiot to bless water, so he had one bless an entire large hose connected to a fire hydrant. Took him a few hours and several charms to avoid the cops, but he now has an entire pool full of holy water that he can toss a demon into."
"A holy water pool? What in heaven's name do you have in this place?" asked Bobby.
"There's the pool, a large library from when I robbed Hogwarts before I left while everyone was preoccupied with the demons and hellhounds eating the Death Eaters alive, a massive pantry, two different freezers..." Gabriel started to list. The more he told them, the wider and more disbelieving their eyes got, except for Loki's. When he finally stopped, the three automatically went to the kitchen, grabbed a beer and downed it.
"What?"
"Dude...how do you pay for all of this?" asked Dean.
"Twenty already condemned souls."
"What?" asked Dean.
"Crow was pitching one hell of a fit to have twenty Death Eater souls in hell to get some arch duke off his ass, so I cut him a deal. I got a house that I could pack up and move, I/E a magical tent that had a particular feature installed. Any room I could think of that could reasonably fit into a magical tent, it would be made and added to that door. Though it doesn't do holy water pools or cages built to keep a demon out, so I had to have Loki help me with that."
"It was a fun project...and the rewards for my help were worth the week off from pranks," said Loki with a wriggle of his eyebrows.
Dean gagged.
"I so do not want to hear the details of my baby brother's sex life unless it's with some insanely hot chick!" said Dean.
"Well if you want to hear about an insanely hot chick..." said Loki, before Gabriel stopped what he was doing to hex his boyfriend silent.
"No. Absolutely not. I thought we agreed never to speak of the time you dosed me for an April Fool's day prank," said Gabriel glaring.
"I have got to hear this!" said Dean cackling.
Loki smirked and broke the spell...and then proceeded to tell Dean in exactly detail what he had done. Gabriel poured himself into the etchings on the metal, if only to drown out Dean's cackling and Sam's snorts of laughter. Even Bobby was snickering a little.
By the time Gabriel had finished the first series of strips for the layer, the others were howling.
"Lo', do we have any..."
"I think we still have enough for the first layer, but the other two will need more metal. We might have to hit Midnight's again," said Loki.
"What's Midnight's?" asked Dean.
"A neutral bar, one that's frequented by hunters and demons alike. The neutrality is maintained by a former witch doctor who will kick the ass of any hunter who tries to exorcise or hunt the patrons. If you have a beef, you have to take it outside or else."
"How do you know about it then?" asked Dean.
"I took him. Midnight doesn't care about heaven or hell. If you can pay, he'll help you out. He's strictly neutral and doesn't care who knows. There is, however, a small catch to entering the bar."
"What catch?" asked Sam.
"You have to have a small amount of the Sight to get in. The bouncer holds up a cheap Tarot card laced with certain energies, and if you can see what's on the other side you can get in. If not, you can't enter. It's a simple trick to keep out the fakers and enthusiasts," said Gabriel.
"Seriously?"
Loki grinned, before he went to a nearby bookshelf and pulled down a box.
"I bought one of Midnight's spares to help train Gabe here in how to See. If you can tell me what's on the other side, you could enter Midnight's no problem. Did you know he has a booming trade in artifacts? You could find something belonging to a witch and sell it to him for a good price."
"I'm surprised Dad hasn't heard of this guy," said Sam.
"He probably had, but I doubt Midnight would let someone like John in. The man hates demons so much he would have gotten kicked out before he had a chance to make any deals," said Gabriel.
Loki nodded his head in agreement. With the way he reacted to Gabriel's line of work and the fact he willingly helped demons...it was highly doubtful he would have entered Midnight's without getting kicked out for trying to kill the demons.
Loki held up a few cards, and to Sam's private surprise he could see vague pictures on the backs of them. Dean could see blurs too, but it wasn't much. Bobby couldn't see a thing.
"Interesting. You two might be able to get in, if it was a little stronger. Hey babe, come here for a minute. I want to try something."
Gabriel slapped Loki's head, but came over anyway.
"So?"
"Try grabbing Sam's shoulder."
Gabriel blinked, but grasped his twin's shoulder.
"Now, Sam try looking through the card again."
Sam looked at the card again and to his shock he could see a bird on a ladder clear as day.
"How...?"
"Twins. Being around Gabriel, who's more powerful than you will boost your own powers a little. Perhaps to the point that your powers will be amplified. See the thing about twins is that when they are close, natural psychic ability is amplified with physical contact."
"Would it work on Dean?"
"Possibly, but I wouldn't bet on it."
Gabriel grabbed Dean's shoulder and Dean tried again.
"It's a little clearer... Rat in a dress I think..." said Dean.
"There is a way to boost powers, if you have any. But you wouldn't like it," said Loki.
"What would it involve?"
"Dean seeing hell for exactly three seconds and nearly drowning," said Loki flatly.
"What?"
"Water is a natural conduit, and the crash course for waking up any ability towards Sight is to hold the person underwater until the bubbles stop and time seems to stand still. Then you drag them out. Another way is to own a cat, but Gabe doesn't really like them since the Pack has a bad habit of chasing the things."
"Is it safe?"
"Considering if we did give you a crash course, it would be in the holy water pool and with a specialist nearby to drag you out? Yeah. But the problem is that when you see them, they can see you."
"Not to mention that doing this gives you the ability see full-blooded hellhounds and well as seeing when someone is possessed by above or below," said Gabriel, braiding the cage. Thanks to magic, the metal was malleable enough that it could be braided by hand like yarn. All without burning his hands.
Dean thought about that a moment.
"I'm in," he said finally.