Gabriel was groaning. It had been another swap week with Sam (Dean still couldn't tell the difference between the two) and he had gone in to get some munchies for them...when he had been ambushed by a demon.
The damn thing had knocked him out cold and dumped him in some no-name town.
Gabriel suddenly realized what was going on when he saw Andy.
"Shit. We've just landed smack in the middle of the blood tournament."
"Blood tournament?" asked Andy.
"Yellow eyes, the one who got your brother to commit murder... he has a tournament where we have to kill each other until only one remains. And we're right in the middle of it."
He heard a soft whine from nearby, and carefully looked around.
There, in the corner of his eye, was one of his spirit hounds or perhaps a distant cousin of one...though he was seriously considering re-naming the breed spirit 'wolves' because of the fact that they were all taking a distinct wolf-like appearance.
Besides, he had come across a series he was now almost totally addicted to (to Loki's amusement) about wolves that could shift between human disguise and wolf form.
Loki had taken one look at the main antagonists and realized that they were basing it off his oldest 'son' Fenrir. Who was still missing since Odin got pissed about one of Loki's pranks.
Loki knew he was still alive, because he would have felt his death after the spell he had cast on all his children.
If only so he knew who to bring fiery wrath on should they be murdered.
This hound was entirely white, almost snow in color. He would have thought it was Kiba except the eyes were the wrong color. This wolf had red eyes within red eyes...and he didn't see a distinct sign of a male in the undercarriage, which meant it was a female.
Gabriel walked around and found other unlucky psychics...and ignored the banging of Ava inside the shed.
She had been missing for six months, taken early on by the demons. If she was alive here and now, that meant she could get her own ass out of there.
And he said as much to the twit.
"Isn't that a bit cold? I mean she is one of us right?"
"I can see salt lines from here on the windows, and I'm betting there's iron inside. She'll be fine without us to get her out," deadpanned Gabriel.
It took Gabriel little convincing to get behind salt lines after the soldier got attacked by an Acheri demon. At this point he was glad Sam hadn't been grabbed...his powers were still under-developed compared to Gabriel's and he didn't have his wand on hand or know how to use blood spells.
Plus Sam didn't know how to make an instant trap specifically for psychics...something Crowley had given him in advance just in case he found the site. It shut down all psychic and magical abilities, leaving them vulnerable for demons or anything else he might bring...like his pack for example.
Gabriel immediately started scratching the necessary runes in places most people would overlook. On poles, in the ground on the grass, on the walls inside the buildings. Places no one would think twice about as they passed them unless they were really bored or actively looking for it.
By the time someone finally let Ava out, she had no idea that Gabriel was just waiting to unleash his trap. If she really had developed to the point she could control demons, he wanted to be ready.
Good thing he always had a weapon on him. If a demon couldn't tell he wasn't Sam, then there was no way they would detect his favorite shot gun loaded with various types of shells.
(Holy water, silver, iron, holy oil, salt, bean bag and regular rounds. Gabriel was a firm believer of being prepared.)
Andy had to keep a watch out since Jake and Gabriel were both too exhausted to stay awake another minute.
Gabriel knew that the demons had hit them with a sleep spell... he had gotten plenty of sleep and had gone without it for three days before.
That had been around the time the wizards had hit America with a spell just to draw him out...and ironically brought him and Loki together in a way he hadn't considered until that moment.
Gabriel fought off the spell as long as he could, but without Loki around to boost his energy levels (another reason he ended up with the Trickster) it was a losing battle. At least, not unless he wanted to blow his cover as Gabriel and not Sam.
Finally he passed out from the spell, but his mind was fully awake.
A side effect of having magic and knowing how to fight off such things.
He saw the night of the attack on the nursery. How yellow-eyes had placed blood in the mouths of both twins, then consider whether to keep them together.
Gabriel was livid as he watched Azazel hand him over to his daughter Meg (who he was very glad he got to watch die painfully via a sword to her stomach by his hand) who dumped him in England without a second thought. His rage was strong enough that he didn't care about how his mother was killed. He had seen enough.
Azazel turned with a smirk to face 'Sam', only to find pure cold rage in his eyes.
"So you sent Gabriel over to England on a whim? Destroyed both our lives just because you felt 'I' didn't need the competition simply because of who I am?" he snarled.
Yellow eyes narrowed in confusion. Last he checked the Winchesters were in contact with Crowley's pet hunter Potter. How did Sam know about Gabriel?
More to the point, how did Sam know something was different about himself compared to the other psychics he dosed?
"Oh? And what do you mean by that Sammy boy?"
"Don't give me that bullshit Azazel. Yes I know your name asshole. I know that the Winchester brothers are all vessels. The only normal one of the lot was John and I say good riddance," said Gabriel with a snarl.
Azazel looked at him with shock...then suspicion. It took a few moments for realization to set in.
"Where's Sam?"
"With an arch angel, behind enough wards that you won't get your fucking claws into him. Even Crowley wouldn't be able to get to him."
"Gabriel. How did you survive?"
Gabriel's smirk wasn't pleasant, nor was it friendly.
"Didn't you know dumbass? Your daughter dumped me in a wizard's family and I survived long enough to see England's precious pure bloods ripped apart by hell hounds."
"Potter," said Azazel, more out of a desire for confirmation than anything.
"And to you I say...fuck off," said Gabriel as he forced the demon out through sheer strength of will. He could hear the bastard's cry of pain from that move, and Gabriel's eyes shot open.
Sam was worried. He had just gotten a panicked called from Dean (who realized belatedly that Gabriel had swapped, again) that their brother was missing.
Loki, when he heard how Gabriel had gone missing, swore rather impressively (Sam took notes for use on Dean later) before he started casting out his magic to find him.
Nothing. So he called Crowley.
"WHAT IN HEAVEN DO YOU WANT?" shouted the rather irate crossroad demon.
"Azazel just snagged Gabriel, probably mistaking him for Sammy. You got a way to permanently bind a psychic boosted by demon's blood?"
"No. Not unless you're willin' to bleed you damn tosser. With a demon as strong as yellow-eyes, the only counter that would be available in time to do any good is angel's blood. Call me if he pops up anytime soon," said Crowley, rather bitchy.
Loki grimaced. He hated doing that, because while the wound healed quickly it took weeks for his remaining Grace to equalize the balance.
He infinitely preferred the longer term way he had taken with Gabe, because it didn't feel like someone was taking a chunk of his energy in the process. He had only done it for Sam as a favor to Gabe.
"What do we do?"
"Gabe knows the blood spell to temporarily seal psychics. Knowing him he'll put it in place long enough to keep them in one area before he walks out of whatever's blocking me from finding him so we can sort this out without killing the others."
The big problem was that there was a chance Gabriel would get stuck in the circle as well. The spell Crowley had given him wasn't discriminate about who it trapped, so long as they had a higher than normal Psi in their bodies.
Gabriel was pissed. Ava had just tried to kill Andy, an idiot, but still rather likeable guy and he had barely been able to stop her. To make matters worse, Jake had clearly been told that the only way out was to kill everyone else.
Damn yellow eyes.
Gabriel slipped out of the buildings. He had enough, and because he had killed the Acheri demon Ava had no others to summon without alerting them to what she could really do.
No one noticed him leave...but they certainly noticed when he cut his hand and slammed it on the freshly carved activation rune. It had enough iron and salt in it that the demons couldn't near it, and it was in the middle of a devil's trap to boot.
It took him fifteen minutes to find a road, and he realized this was the area he had sense the psychic energy months ago.
Time to call Crowley.
Crowley answered the phone, still a little bitchy about being woken up so abruptly.
"If this is another call about..."
"Crow, found the tournament area. I need someone to come clean out the other morons before we kill each other...oh, and feel free to kill Ava. Dumb bitch tried to set an Acheri on me," said Gabriel.
"Winchester. Where the hell are you?"
Gabriel told him...then the line abruptly went dead.
Gabriel was flung into the circle by a cloud of black smoke. Azazel was pissed off...especially since Gabriel had made sure to knock each of the other psychics into the iron jail cells that made it impossible for them to get out without their powers. Jake looked ready to kill him barehanded.
Gabriel tried to get out of his own circle. No such luck. And if he broke it, then he would give Jack the opportunity to kill the others.
Not a chance.
"Now Gabriel, let's be reasonable. You aren't leaving here without dealing with the rest of these losers, and you know that eventually it will be down to you and Sammy boy," said Azazel sneering.
"Yeah no. You sound just as smug as that bitchy daughter of yours. What was her name again? Megara? She screamed real good when I stabbed her with my blade," said Gabriel in kind. Azazel's expression became very pissed. He had been unaware up to that point who had killed his daughter.
"And that son of yours! What a piece of work! Took me two seconds to catch his ass because he got cocky. He was a screamer too, though he didn't last nearly as long as that girl of yours."
Oh, there was the twitchy eyebrow. He was really pissing off Azazel now.
"So now what? We going to glare at each other all day or do I get the pleasure of holding your sorry ass down while Dean shoots you in the face with the Colt? Or maybe Sammy and I can play how many times we can bleed you with an angel's blade until you finally croak?" smirked Gabriel.
As Gabriel listed all the ways he could torture and kill Azazel (while wondering where the hell Loki was) he noticed that he was gaining a small glimmer of respect from the demon. It was hidden under fury and outright hate, but it was still there.
"Alistair would love having you as his apprentice. I don't think I've heard so many fun and creative ways to break someone outside of the Pit," said Azazel grudgingly.
"Ironic that I happen to be dating an angel," said Gabriel dryly.
"An angel who's rather pissed someone kidnapped his boyfriend," said Loki, looking angry.
"Lo! What the hell took you so long?"
"Had to round up Dumbass Dean and Bitchy Bobby," replied the Trickster.
"I heard that!"
"I know, you're right behind me," said Loki.
Sam was still in the tent, and under orders to use that time to train Kiba. At the moment they were still a bit iffy on the mental control that Gabriel had mastered months ago.
Azazel would have fled, except Loki had cast a floating devil's trap directly over him. It was made of angel's magic, so the bastard couldn't break it like he could most.
Loki shot just a smidgen of his real Grace at the demon. His superior smirk turned to outright fear and shock as he realized just what was there with him.
No normal demon could hope to match an arch angel, even one as tarnished as Gabriel was.
Everything was fine...except for one problem.
Azazel had gotten some extra help since Gabriel had killed off his children.
Without warning one of his runes was destroyed.
There was a loud crash from the jail as Jake immediately broke out.
Bobby had his gun out...it was loaded with normal bullets.
There was a a scream from the jail... Andy. A second sound came out of the jail...that of a neck being snapped.
Out of the jail came Jake.
Azazel sneered at them all.
"Looks like my side has a new player."
Jake was faster, younger and better trained. Bobby couldn't hold onto his gun, despite his best efforts. Dean had the launcher Loki had tossed him earlier aimed directly at Azazel. It was enchanted to kill any demon.
Gabriel leveled a look at Jake. He wasn't stupid enough to shoot him with an angel nearby...was he?
Jake took aim...and fired. He hit Gabriel in the heart, since he never wore any vests designed to catch bullets. He was dead before he hit the ground.
Loki was so surprised he almost dropped the circle around the demon. Instead he slammed one of Gabriel's little cages around him. He wasn't going anywhere.
Jake took off with the gun, and directions on where he had hidden the Colt.
If he wanted to get his life back, he had to open that gate.
Loki brought Sam out so he could witness the death of the demon who ruined his life. Dean shot Azazel with the modified crossbow which launched the arch angel blade into Azazel's heart.
The blade didn't need divine energy, it killed demons even in the hand of a human.
The yellow-eyed demon, the one who haunted their nightmares and killed their mother, was dead.
Sam went to Loki.
"Can't you bring him back?"
"He's in heaven. Angels don't have the power to resurrect people just like that...there's forms and crap we have to fill out months in advance, and even then we have to have the approval of most of the remaining arch angels. Even though I want him back, I don't have the power or the authority to bring the dead back to life just like that."
"Well who would?!" demanded Dean.
"Crowley. Crossroad demons have bring people back to life all the time. Doesn't Gabriel still have favors left?" said Loki.
Dean tossed Loki a phone.
"Call him, now!"
Crowley picked up the phone.
"What? Wait, slow down. What in the Pit do you mean he was shot and killed?"
Crowley's eyes immediately went to the odd calender he used to mark Gabriel's favors. The entire thing was black.
"Am I on speaker?" asked Crowley, an idea forming in his head.
There was a beep on the other end, and Crowley told them flat out "I can't bring him back with his favors. Once he died, they became null and void because he went to heaven instead of hell. Even though he's an arrogant tosser, Gabriel's soul was still untouched...coupled with his angel boyfriend and he had a clean enough slate to avoid the pit."
He could hear them curse on the other end.
"But...there is one way I could drag him back down. It would take up the remainder of his markers and cost one extra, but he would be alive and free to annoy me again," said Crowley.
The only way he could bring Gabriel back was if one of the Winchesters sold their soul. And with how valuable the brothers were, that alone would be enough to bring the youngest back.
"What do we have to pay?" asked Dean seriously.
"One of you two morons has to make a deal. One of your souls is valuable enough that I could bring him back, and with the slate wiped clean of markers, Gabriel will have to learn things the hard way," said Crowley. Gabriel had little over fifty markers left, and Crowley was more interested in getting Gabriel out of his hair.
There was a bit of an argument between the brothers, before they settled on Dean.
"Right, I'll be there in five. Don't lay any devil's traps or stick me in that damn cage of Gabriel's, or I won't make a deal," said Crowley irritably.